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 carn.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.

Everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call, as usual, all you got to do. Is dial 8772072276. I want to hear from you.

Give me a call. And uh let's see. Um So, I don't know if you can see that, Laura, but the go-live thing, something isn't working on one of them.

So, we'll just disable that one and go in and see if it'll go in. There we go. That was a weird little thing happened. Anyway, there you go. Hey, look, folks, if you want to give me a call, you can.

877-207-2276. And I expect Stu Epperson to call in pretty soon. And he's probably on the phone right now. He's driving. We got talking today about some stuff, and he's going to call in.

And uh Also, if you want to email me, you can do that. The number, I mean, number. The email address is info at carm.org. Info at CARM.org. We have 89 questions that have been coming in over the past few months.

I haven't got to a lot of them, but we want to get to a lot of them, and we can do that.

Alright, let me see. Let's see. Let's see. Do that, and we've got nobody waiting right now. That's all right.

So last night. Um Last night I went on TikTok and I do a, it's called a live where you go you go live. And Um, a lot of people don't know this, but I've said it before. What I could do is field test. things.

I field test. And uh What that means is I try I have an idea. And Then I'll go online and I'll test it and see if I think I have some good arguments or not some good arguments or whatever it might be. And uh I'm trying to develop arguments. against Islam.

And Because they are are They're trying to attack the Trinity from varying directions. And I've I've uh Looked at those attacks, and I've got responses. I'm going to have to write some responses, and they're pretty detailed and philosophically and logically. Let's just say detailed.

So, when I write this kind of stuff as an answer, what I'm going to do is write up an answer, and then I'm going to run it by some of the philosophically-minded individuals that I know. and C for loose ends and things like this. because well I I think it's necessary to um To provide well, to provide a good answer. And uh So, anyway, this is what I'm trying to do. Um And let's see, I'm looking some of my notes.

So uh Here's some of the stuff that I'm going to be working on going against them. And Here's an argument, just one of the arguments. which I'm gonna right hang right hang out. I got different ones I'm working on, but this one, I like this one because it's the simplest and it's the easiest. And I used it last night against a Muslim and he tried to answer, but you could tell he was fumbling because it really was a difficult issue for him to address.

So Uh This is an argument dealing with the greatest act of love.

So, the definition of the greatest act of love by Jesus is to lay your life down for your friend. And I asked the Muslim, Do you agree? And he says, well, I I would guess so maybe. I forgot the exact answer. I'm not trying to misrepresent him at all.

And I said, if it's not the highest or the best, can you please offer something that surpasses that? And he couldn't.

So at that point I said, okay, so that's what the highest uh Act is.

So Is God your God? able to perform the greatest act of love. And This is when the wheels came off his cart because he tried to say that the greatest act of love is different things. He doesn't have to do the greatest act. I didn't say he has to.

He said, he doesn't have to express his love. I said, it wasn't about having to express it. I said, can he perform it? That's just an issue. Finally, I got him to admit: well, no, he can't.

Well, then I said, well, if that's the case, then creatures can do something greater than Allah. namely, demonstrate the greatest act of love.

so the creatures can surpass Allah in love.

Now that's a problem. Because uh It means that Allah, who is supposed to be the greatest of all, and the standard of all righteousness can even perform the greatest act of love. It's a problem. I call it quick and slick, and I'd like to get on things like that. And I'll be releasing that argument with some points and counterpoints and things like that.

And the idea is to equip Christians on how to respond to Muslims who are now on the intellectual assault of the very nature of the Trinity. Let's get to Stu. Hey, Stu, welcome. Hey, you've been on the radio with me. Matt Slick.

Hey, buddy. Hey, man, how are you doing, brother? I'm doing great. It's great having you on the East Coast. a couple of weeks ago, man, you really blessed us and we had that little pastors get together and then you are You were on our show on our national show, Truth Talk Live, and then we had a pleasure being on your show, and we just were so grateful for how God is using you and the ministry of Carm.

You know, I you know, I I talk well about you. Behind your back, and I say good things about you. You're a good guy. But your standards are a little bit low. If you have someone like me on the radio on your network, then it makes me wonder.

But you know what? I was going to say, those pastors, I remember being in that room with them, they were great. I loved that. It was so bad. They're good guys.

Yeah. But Well, they they sure enjoyed you and I've had some very positive uh feedback uh subsequent to that that event. And I just I you know, honestly, I just wanted to call in a lot of things happen behind the scenes to make shows like this possible And The resources you provide at the Karn website are just rich. I'm telling you, I bump into pastors all the time who. They know you because you've been in their churches, because they've been using your resources, because they get stuck with.

You know Some great Muslim evangelism opportunities, and they go to your website, and it has just got all kinds of. of amazing things. And I know you're In the middle of an upgrade that you mentioned, and some things like that. But I just want our listeners to, I want to kind of say some things real quick that you normally wouldn't say. may not even be comfortable saying, but I just want to encourage our listeners Two be generous with your ministry and to support you and it supports the Ministry of Carm financially It is not easy.

You're supporting missionaries. You're a ministry that is what I would call very open handed. And I don't mean that in a doctrinal loosey-goosey way. I mean that in a Way of generosity. You are always trying to give ahead.

You're always trying to. to give away. You're always trying to support people who are advancing the gospel. in strategic places all over the world.

So You can't do any of this Mm-hmm. People supporting you financially, writing checks, going to the CARN website. and clicking on the donate button. That is so critical. If someone has been blessed God has blessed you.

And brought something to you so he could give through you.

So you can be a blessing, and when you give to ministries like Carm, my friends, you're helping advance the gospel. It takes a lot for these radio stations to carry this program. You think other stations are going to carry this program like this? It's gonna you know step on some toes and talk about the truth and talk about what's right. and talk about what the biblical doctrine is and take some of these stands.

This is not for the weak at heart, but in these dark days, There's a battle for truth. In Matt, there's a whole spiritual warfare. Every show that comes on, there's a whole unseen battle going on, sir. You maybe could speak to the nature of this. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

You've felt it, you've seen it, haven't you? Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, and getting swatted, threatened with lawsuits, followed, pursued. Um, yeah, I I've had my my share. Oh yeah.

Quite a few.

Well We we lose ya? Have we lost him or not? 'Cause I know he's driving. Yeah. Well, just hold on until he comes back on.

But I talked to him today. I just said, Hey, Stu, you know, let's talk real fast. And we just got talking behind the scenes and stuff like that about some things. And then it was his idea to call up. And he's a great guy.

I'm here. I'm here, Matt.

Sorry. I thought I was being pulled over. I'm driving. And it. It was an angry motorcycler who wanted to go by me 90 miles an hour or so.

All right. Talking about spiritual tax day, God is good. I yeah, but no, I I want to I I want to tell you my con can you hear me okay if I t talk like this? Oh yeah. Okay, so my my daughter my daughters regularly c call me.

And college campus who's got some real screwy ideas. And this was not too long ago And I have my uh my thirdborn daughter and she And immediately I gave her the Carm website. And Then She never called me back, you know, and I found out why later, because she went and just found article after article about how to share the gospel with this particular. Sect. out there.

that uh you know misrepresents the truth So, I mean, you know, these things are this is so important and people are so. Uh Um Hurting But there also there's so much Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Those that are speaking the truth are attacked. And I would just encourage people: just bless this ministry, friends. Show some generosity.

This is a good ministry to support because he's taking it all He's a humble guy, and he's living definitely within his means or less. His wife has had a lot of health. issues and attacks, and I just really believe that Um I really believe we need to get behind Matt, Slick, and Carm.

So, friends, from my heart to yours. Uh pray about and consider a gift to Carm That could really help them during this season and to help them reach more people. If this ministry can grow and get some financial support a little more, They could not just meet the current obligations, they could expand, they could reach more people. They could do more and they could Enlist more on the social media platforms. And this new web up this new website's going to be amazing, Matt.

I mean, I don't know how much you're allowed to talk about it yet, but it sounds like it's going to be gangbusters. Yeah. In fact, um We had more to do, but we ran out of funding. But we're going to do an early release, but it is. Super fast and super quick, and to load, to search, and the programmer guy, he's done a fantastic job.

He really has done a fantastic job, and I know my stuff. He does stuff I couldn't even imagine. He would come up and tell us things: oh, I did this and this, and that. I have no clue what he's talking about. But when he touches the area I do know about it, I go, Yeah, he knows what he's doing.

And this site is secure, it could be reached anywhere in the world very quickly. It's a new design, a new this, a new that. We've got some things to work out, but um. Yeah, he did a fantastic job, and he's a good web developer.

So, yeah, listen, no ministry like this should be hurting for funds. And right now, friends. We're saying without saying it, we're saying there's some challenges, and you could be the financial solution to helping this ministry stay on the air And continue reaching souls online in these chat rooms that are devoid of any kind of God and faith, that are just. hollow, empty, full of the world's wisdom. We are invading every one of them with the gospel.

We're invading the airwaves. We're taking back the from the prince of the power of the air, these airwaves, and we're spreading the gospel on them. And so please give to this ministry, please financially support CARM. You maybe came into some money you weren't expecting. Let's give it a head.

Who knows who we'll see in heaven because they heard the truth of the gospel on this program? And it helped them find Jesus. That's why we're here. That's why Matt's leak is here.

So, Matt, we love you. And I just want to encourage what's the best way to donate to your ministry Mad, if someone just says, I want to give $100,000 to this ministry, I want to give $100 to this ministry, I want to give a dollar. What's the best way? Just go to carm.org forward slash donate. And that's all you need to do.

Everything's right there. Everybody goes. That's it. Carmenberg forward slash donate. Hey brother, there's a break, so.

God bless you, man. Appreciate you. Love you, man. Hey, appreciate you, Stu. God bless.

Hey folks, we have wide open lines. Give me a call. I'll be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you're going to do is dial 87720-72276. I want to thank Stu for calling in. That was not my idea. He called.

He goes, Hey, I want to call in. And I said, Well, of course. And he did. And he's a great guy. I've met him a few times and got to hang out with him when I was there in North Carolina a couple, three weeks ago doing the Islam conference with Mormonism.

Uh What's ministry to Muslims. I think it's got dot com. A great, great group. And anyway, look, we have wide open lines. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276.

Why don't you give me a call? I'm going to go to some emails. I know that you've referred to Matthew 12:29. Another cross-reference Reference in Gospels explained that Satan is bound, but you have also said in some comments that he'll be loosed for a season. When do you believe he'll be loosed?

Now That's a good question. And I've talked to other people who hold my position. Over the years. And long story short, we don't know. But one of the One of the interesting speculations that has been offered.

is is uh Related to, I'm going to go to Revelation 20 and read this first.

So that I can give you a little bit of a background and I'll give you an answer. a possibility. Because it says that you load whole you know Bound Satan for a thousand years, threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him.

So that He would not deceive. The nations any longer until the thousand years were completed.

So um That's the question, all right? What does it mean? Uh What does it mean to say that he is not going to deceive the nations anymore? Fergus.

Well, uh It's a tough one because we don't know exactly what it is.

So, some have thought that what it might mean is that since. We've had World War One and World War II. that Satan was released beforehand As one of the theories, but it's a possibility, and that he deceived the nations. That's why we had. world wars.

not just a nation against a nation.

So that's just one of the theories that it might be. We don't know. But that's a good question. I don't have a great answer. I wish I did.

I wish I could say, oh, yeah, it's because of this or that. But I can only say, well, there's a speculation. And what will be the state of the believers, Jews and Gentiles, at that time? See, I'm all millennial, and that's not the most popular view here in America, and that's okay. That's just my position.

I have good reasons for it. But um So, if I were to hold to that, if I were to argue from that perspective, I would say that the Christians and the Jews are the same condition they were before. Before the Christ back during the during the centuries, They're there. They're just there. What do they do?

Well, they need Jesus. They need to. trust in Jesus all the time, no matter what. And that that that reminds me, you know In Carm, this is just a representative of something. There have been so many times on the Carm ministry where we've faced some pretty strong challenges.

seriously strong challenges and we've trusted God through them. And he's repeatedly delivered.

Well, this is what we need to do in our own lives as well. We trust God in our specific areas, and we ask Him to provide and to correct, to teach, to put a hedge of protection around us. But a lot of times, He lets us be injured, He lets us get sick, He lets us suffer. And usually, this is for our benefit, believe it or not, because then we learn to trust on Christ all the more. That's what we have to do.

But at any rate, that's just a little side note there. And uh and do you believe that Jesus will come again along with the saints to reign with him or in our our mortal bodies on the new earth? Yeah, there's going to be a new earth, a new heavens, a new earth. That's spoken of in Revelation, it's spoken of in in Second Peter 3. Nine and ten.

And so it's going to happen. But I don't know to what extent we will be reigning with them and what that means. I just don't know. The Bible talks about these things, but it doesn't give us a whole bunch of detailed information, so that's why I'm often vague when I get to those kind of things. Um And yeah, I do believe that we are reig Christ is reigning now.

And one of the reasons I believe that is because Jesus says that if he can. Cast out demons by the power of the Spirit, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. That's Matthew 12. And he was casting out demons by the power of the Spirit, so logic would require that the kingdom of God is here. And so, what we find in really interesting theology in what Jesus said in Matthew 13.

With the parable of the wheat and the tares, I will allow both to go together till the harvest. In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. At the time of the harvest, this is Matthew thirteen, thirty at the time of the harvest, the first ones gathered are the wicked. That's what he says. That's what Jesus says, Matthew 13:30.

And then when you go down to Uh let's see. He talks about the kingdom of heaven. Actually, I'm gonna... Because then he goes into verse 31, another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. And then verse 33, another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven.

And uh This was to fulfill what was there. And then he says, in verse 36, and the crowds left, and he went up to the house, and his disciples came with him and said, Explain to us this. The parable of the tares in the field. He said, The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the tares are the sons of the evil one.

So, this is more evidence that the Sons of the kingdom are us. We're the sons of the kingdom. And Jesus says in Matthew 12. That the kingdom's here because he says it's come upon you if he's casting out demons by the power of the spirit, and he is doing that, so therefore, the kingdom's here. And to me this sounds Pretty foolproof.

Okay, people say, well, then why aren't things better?

Well, what makes you think that because it's his kingdom that things had to be perfect? Because don't make the mistake of thinking that when he's reigning, that it means that everything in life is supposed to be hunky-dory. Because he is the king. But he allows his people to go through difficulties. Even when God was the reigning Lord of Israel, they went through a lot of trouble.

They went through a lot of stuff. And just because we're Christians doesn't mean we're going to escape a lot of this stuff. When God reigns, He lets a lot of things happen that we don't like because He's the sovereign king. And that so a lot of people have this misconception. That the millennial rain means flowers and butterflies everywhere and kittens everywhere, and everybody's fine.

Kittens are nice. But uh Anyway, in verse 38 of Matthew 13, in the field is the world, and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the tares are the sons of the evil one.

And the enemy has sowed them as a devil. And the harvest is at the end of the age. And the reapers are the angels.

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

So Jesus has already said, Matthew 13:30. The wicked are the ones gathered first, then the tares, I mean, the wheat, us, the Christians, are gathered afterwards. That's what he said, Matthew 13:30. And the Son of Man will send forth his angels they will gather out of his kingdom. all stumbling blocks.

They're going to gather out of the kingdom. The Tares Out of the kingdom, the tears. That's what he says. This is Matthew 13. And I show this to people and they're like, whoa.

Never seen this before. And if you hold on after the break, I'll show you something even more interesting. in relationship to this. If you want to give me a call of a number, is 87720722. Seven six, be right back.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Alright, everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-2072276. Before we get to the next caller, I just wanted to add a little bit to that thing about Matthew 13.

The first ones taken are the wicked. Mm-hmm. If you go to Luke 17, 26 and Matthew 24, 37. You know the A place where it says two men are in the field and and one is taken, one is left. the context is the wicked are the ones who are taken.

The proof of that. is in Luke 17's version. It says they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage till the day that Noah entered the ark. The flood came and destroyed them all. Two men'll be in the field when it'll be taken.

What will be left? That's the wicked. And then they asked Jesus, where they take it. He says, Where the body is, the vultures gather.

So If the kingdom of God is now, which The Christian church, I believe, this is my opinion, needs to believe that that is the case. Because if they understand that the king is reigning and he's waiting for us. Who are the kingdom priests in his That's 1 Peter 2, 5 and 9. If we start believing that in the kingdom now, instead of an escapist mentality that we're not going to go into anything, then maybe we'll have our attitude changed and start becoming more. More aggressive.

In a good way. In the furthering of the kingdom of God, because we know He's the Lord. We've got to do that. That's what I believe. Let's get to Ebenezer.

From uh California, Ebenezer welcome here on the air. Hey, Matt. Uh, yeah, so I was talking to a uh Orthodox guy and uh he brought up Galatians 3, 26. through twenty seven and mention that uh You know, um Like Water. Uh baptism is the anti-type.

Uh And it was kinda crazy because I know they use that anti-type staying for Uh What is it, uh, Second Peter? Uh 321.

So I was kind of uh I didn't know how to you know. How to respond after that.

Okay, so let's get to 1 Peter 3:21 because the antitype, that word, the Greek word there in 1 Peter 3:21 is entitupon. and Tupan, which is entotype. And it It's saying and corresponding to that. Baptism now saves you now what they'll do very often. is they'll say, See, the Bible says baptism now saves you.

And they don't quote before, they don't quote after, they take it out of context. And so I'll say to them, The Bible says corresponding to that, or in like manner, corresponding to what? What is the antecedent? What is it referring to? No, no, no.

He used Galatians 3:27. I know. But you said because you said the antitype. I'm showing you what it is there. And then I'm going to go to Galatians 3:27 and show you, okay?

So I when they do that, they often don't respond to or don't quote the whole thing. And what it's the antitype is, which is what you meant it, it's the antitype, which is right there. than that is uh the ark or uh the whole thing of them entering the ark beforehand. That baptism is not the removal of dirt from the flesh.

So it's not an appeal of of the water ceremony, but a clean conscience. And so that's what's going on there, but I can get into that more detail.

Now when you go to Galatians 3.26. They want to say that baptism is part of what it means to become saved. You're baptized into Christ. And this is what he's bringing up, right? And baptism is a representation of salvation in Christ, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So what you do is you ask them this question, what does it mean to be baptized into? That's the question.

Okay. baptized into.

Well, it occurs in Galatians 325. Or 26, excuse me, 327. It also occurs, yeah, in 327, it also occurs in. 1 Corinthians 12.13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.

by the Spirit were baptized into.

Well, this is interesting. And then you go to First Corinthians 10:2. But I need to read the first verse. I do not want you Uh to be unaware brethren that are fathers were all under the cloud and passed through the sea. And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

There's that phrase again. baptized into.

Also in Romans 6:3, baptized into his death. We have four occurrences. of this. Uh five actually pepped uh with three and four of Romans six.

So, what does it mean? It means to the ceremony of baptism is the public identification with. With Moses? With the work of Christ, That's what's going on.

So when they say That it's an antitype. They don't understand that the word antitype refers to 1 Peter 3:21 and 2 Tupon, and what's referring there is not the water that destroyed. But the ark that's saved and/or them faithfully entering the ark and the whole process would get into that. And so Galatians 3:27 is speaking of the believer's union with Christ by faith, not by law. Not that baptism saves us from our sins, because it does not, because the phrase baptized into is used several times in the Bible and it means to identify with.

Okay?

Okay, so pretty much I'm trying to understand.

So, pretty much, you're saying that it's It's not it's pretty much identifying with Christ, right? Yeah, because we we see the Uh we see the phrase used in 1 Corinthians 10.2. They're baptized into Moses. That's what it says.

Well then, what does it mean to be baptized into Moses?

Well, it means identification.

Okay. All right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Alright, cool, cool, cool. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, brother.

Okay, God bless. All right. So if you want to give me a call, the number is 87720-72276. And um It's uh This issue of baptism, I deal a lot with. off the la off off the radio.

You guys don't know what I do. Maybe, maybe I'll tell you what I do a lot. Like tonight, for example, I hope to about in about two hours or so to get online on TikTok. I did it last night, and for two hours I was debating. Two hours.

Uh sometimes I debate Three hours. And different people will come up and they will just ask questions and they'll challenge. And so, what I'll do is, I'll answer that question, answer this question.

Sometimes we have people who know who I am who prepare difficult arguments specifically to ask me. And some of the times the arguments are difficult. I mean, you know, I don't know everything. And I'll say, why don't you do this, like I did last week. I say, write down exactly your arguments logically in its forms.

And then send it to me so I can respond to it. Because sometimes the arguments take five, six, seven, eight steps. And if they don't word them correctly, it can mess up their argument as well as me understanding their argument.

So sometimes I'll say to them, please just write it out and send it to me so that I can more accurately understand what it is that you're talking about. And one guy is supposed to do that on what's called the logical problem of the Trinity. But, nevertheless, So this issue of baptism is something I constantly deal with. with uh the Church of Christ. Cult with the false religion of Eastern Orthodoxy and the false religion of Roman Catholicism.

Now, when I say that these are, one is a cult and the other are false religions, I mean it. I mean it exactly as I'm saying it. Let me be clear. Church of Christ that requires The ceremony of baptism in their church to be saved is a non-Christian cult. Period.

Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy both are false religions, and if you believe in their official doctrines regarding salvation, And their priesthood. You can't be saved.

Now, I'm bold. I will say that. A lot of people don't have the guts to say it and say, well, you can't say those kind of things. It's a can say it. And I'll debate it.

Okay. Because both of those churches, EO and RC, they teach a false gospel, they teach a false priesthood, and they promote idolatry.

So I'm debating them regularly on the air, online. And Though I'm on the air here five days a week for an hour a day, that's five hours a week. That is uh It's not as much as what I do offline.

Well, online in other areas, where I go out and I just answer questions like tonight, I want to be on TikTok. Tonight, probably. At 9 p.m. Eastern Time. I'll probably go on 9 or 9:30 Eastern Time.

Just depends on a few variables. And there's a guy named Jeremy, and what he's been awesome. He has kind of Become my go-to guy on TikTok. He comes in and he manages. He's like Keith.

Keith, Keith's a producer. I met Keith when I was out there. Keith's a great guy. I hope he didn't hear me say that. But at any rate, he's a great guy.

And uh So he manages the radio show, and he sends in the callers and things like that, which is very helpful. And so Jeremy does the same thing with TikTok. And so he will he will uh have one person up at a time, he puts them in order and uh then what we do is we ask your age and your world view. Age is uh TikTok reason and then worldview so I know what perspective they're coming from. And so he'll do that and then I have a conversation with him.

And this is how it goes almost every time I come on. Jeremy's great. I've got his cell number. We talk. He's a great guy.

Anyway, so this kind of stuff. We've got people coming alongside what I do to help out. And so I field test a lot of ideas. and then I deliver them to you. hearing the radio and by writing articles on Carm.

A lot of stuff goes into research and uh and work before I presented before I write it. Anyway. There you go. And the Lord bless you. Hey, 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. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy.

All you got to do is dial 8772072276.

Something interesting just happened. while I was listening to that commercial. And It just struck me uh And I thought maybe I'll talk about it just that fast. And I decided I would talk about it if I could find the file within a few seconds, and I did.

So this is about the issue of marriage. And Many of us have been married a long time. I'm coming up on thirty-nine years here pretty soon. And uh I've talked about marriage as a covenant. And so In there, and I wasn't listening, I was only half listening, and it said to love and to cherish.

I went, That's right, that's the marriage part.

So, I wanted to talk about that a little bit because it just popped into my head. I want to talk about it. I think some of you out there need to hear this. I think you need to understand what vows are that you've made to your spouse. and what it means.

Because A marriage is a covenant, a pact or an agreement between two or more parties. And when you stood up before people and before God and made up a covenant, You've you have um declared and your person for him. that you will take your spouse As a You know, wedded wife or wedded husband to live together in matrimony. to love each other, to comfort, to honor. to be there in sickness and health.

and forsaking all others. you keep only to your spouse. As long as you bought your lip. And this is from the text that I read that when I'm performing a wedding ceremony. Uh I asked the uh the couple to face each other.

And then I say to the groom, and then I say this, and I say to the bride, You take this man to be your wedded husband. Then, what we do is we go into the vows, and I say, you know, repeat after me, you know, things like this. I, the groom's name, take you, the. her name. to be Um you know, the wife.

And then you repeat these things: you know, to have and to hold from this day forward for better. For worse, for richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish. Till death. Do us part.

recording. to God's holy law. In the presence of the Holy Trinity and these witnesses, I make this vow. That's the wedding thing that I use. I want people to understand what it is.

And there's variations of this that are that are fine. And I think a lot of people need to hear and be reminded of this kind of a thing when you made a commitment to your spouse. standing up before God, before people, and to each other. That you would love and cherish and honor and be there in sickness and health. and richness, being richer and poorer.

And this is what we are obligated to do. And I just felt a need to remind people about that. I need to be reminded of it, you know. My wife had a lot of uh medical issues uh through hip s uh sickness and health. And um You know, we've both had issues.

I've had a couple of surgeries, she's had surgeries. You know, you're just there for each other. But uh For those of you who are out there who are doubting your marriage, Are you living your commitment? Are you honoring God? and your commitment.

And are you choosing? to love rather than waiting to feel the love. Because love is a commitment, it's a decision, it's an action. You decide to love your spouse. by opening her door.

by not arguing sometimes, you know. By doing the things you don't want to do. it help her and vice versa for the guy. that you decide to to love. You know, uh being in love is the explosion that starts the motor of marriage, but it's the continued faithfulness that keeps it working.

and keeps it running. And you have to decide to Better, worse, richer, poor, sickness and health. that you would love and cherish till death do you part. This is the commitment that Christian Christians make. And just want to remind people out there.

that this is what you're supposed to do with your spouse. Just a quick thought. Let's get to Oscar from New York. Oscar, welcome. You're on the air.

Yes, uh it's uh I that's something I don't quite understand. Is there a difference between the soul and the spirit? Yes and no. The Bible talks about the soul and the spirit interchangeably, and it seemed to talk about it being separated. Who this the Word of God can separate between the soul and the spirit.

But then there's other places where it says the soul, blah, blah, blah, the spirit, and they're referenced the same way.

So the difference comes to what's called dichotomy or trichotomy. Die means two. And uh And try means three.

So both positions are within orthodoxy.

So you can hold either one and that's fine. I don't have a perfect answer for you. And some people might come to me and say, well, it says divide between the soul and the spirit. The Word of God can. It says, yes, and it might be that it's just an exaggeration, a poetic reference.

Because there are other places where the soul and the spirit are used interchangeably as one and the same thing.

So I just say, you know, just don't be too. divisive on it, but But that's it.

Okay. Alright.

Okay. Can I ask another question? Sure, sure, go ahead. Yeah. Okay, in the book of Genesis, when the serpent told Eve, the woman, uh you will not surely die.

What death was this serpent referring to? Is it physical death or death of the soul also?

Well, he doesn't say what kind of death, because when God says, when you eat this, the dying you will die, Genesis 2:17. And I don't know how much Adam understood when God told Adam this. But we know from Isaiah 59:2 that it's a separation. Sin separates you from God. And Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.

So we can't say for sure how much they understood. But I would assume, since Adam knew a great deal, being able to name animals. Being sovereign in that area. He had a lot of capability. I would assume that he understood it meant some sort of separation from God and affected a relationship with God at the very least.

So uh Uh that that's all I can say. Uh we just have conjecture there. Listen, tell us.

Okay. Good question. Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you so very much.

Bye-bye.

Okay, God bless my. All right, now let's get to David from Charlotte, North Carolina. Dave, welcome here on the earth. There's that. Greetings, man, from Charlotte.

How are you tonight? I'm hanging in there. I'm hanging in there. I've got a got a question. My question is.

what the saints in heaven know about what's going on on earth. And in a couple places, it implies they know something because there's more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents. than nine unrighteous people, and the saints also asked the Lord about when their blood would be avenged. Could you comment on that a little bit? Yes, uh they know to some degree what is going on, but we don't know the particulars of how they know or what they know.

There's different ways of examining this. They are not omniscient. No individual in heaven can see what's happening all over the globe. all at the same time with all people.

So it cannot be that they have this knowledge of all events that are going on, as the Roman Catholics and East Orthodox falsely attribute to the saints now in heaven, especially Mary.

So that's not the case.

Okay. Um So what do they know? Can they know things generically? Could it be that uh a martyr enters into the presence of the heavenly realm? And it's known by the people who were there.

that this person entered by um say being martyred for example And there's lots of martyrs coming in.

Well, then they would have that knowledge. Lord, when are you going to take care of us? And the people being martyred. We can see this going on. I'm just saying that this is a logical possibility.

There's a logical possibility that they have a different kind of awareness about things on earth. But we have to be careful because they do not have the natural ability to see and know everything.

So you and I, for example, if we were on a bridge and looking out at a city. How much could we know about what's going on down there? We can know generically but we can't know what every individual is doing. And we don't know what's happening in that alley behind that building, if something good or bad is happening. We don't know.

So, but we can start to see things like Lord, boy, can you stop with help with the pollution? Can you help with the overcrowding? And that then someone might come along and say, see? They can see everything. That's why they know that.

What? No.

So a lot of times people will draw conclusions that aren't needed to be drawn.

So that's just an illustration, and I can't answer the question very precisely because, to be honest, I don't know. And those verses operate that.

Okay, because that's Go ahead. I see exactly where you're coming from. There's no way they can be omniscient or no specifically things that. It is fair to say that the Bible does imply they have some knowledge, be it however remote it might be. Right.

Now if you go to 1 Samuel 28, 15, for example, Right. and the Witch of Endor. in 1 Samuel 28.

Well, Saul was blowing it. He went to a witch to call up Samuel. And Samuel knew what was going on with Saul. and then told them what was going to happen to Saul.

Now how did he know that?

Well, I don't know. Is there a telephone up there and he was watching? Does does he see a kaleidoscope? Does he see a movie film? What does Samuel know?

How does he know? We don't know. Does it mean that uh the information is given to him? Perhaps. Maybe the angelic realm gave it to him.

Maybe there's a way of them knowing that we just don't know about.

So there's different possibilities. And but we do know that well, in this case, Samuel 28.15, Samuel appeared to Saul and he knew stuff.

Well, how did he know it? We don't know. And so we have to be careful not to give too much conjecture and say, for example, as a. EONRC would say, Well, that's because they're able to see everything on earth.

Well Where does it say that? And so what I recommend to people. is don't make conclusions that aren't warranted. Go ahead. And what I was going to say, once you accept the notion that they can see everything that's going on on the earth.

th then it might lead people to start Praying to the saints and not to God and take their focus off the Lord. Would you say that's true as well? Uh I've only said that kind of a thing about a kabillion times. Yep. Good for you.

Right.

Right.

I just think it's fascinating, and you really, I mean, you really enlighten me on this. I appreciate it. That's all I have.

Well, you're welcome and just try and give answers where Scripture speaks. If it doesn't speak, I just tell you. I don't know because it's not very clear here for me, anyway. Or it's certainly possible, I don't know some scriptures. I haven't come across that on a particular topic.

I could be ignorant about something. But hey, you know, there we go. Right.

Sometimes scripture speaks by implication and we have to be very careful about the conclusions we draw as well. Oh I just love what you just said. exactly correct. Be careful when you conclude. That's right.

That's all I have.

I I appreciate it and I enjoy listening to your show. Long time listener, first time caller, and I'll continue listening. I appreciate it. Praise God. All right.

Well, thank you for calling in. I really appreciate it.

Alright.

Alright, so. Bye.

Well, there you go. We've got about a half a minute left in the show. I just want to say to you all, and thanks, Stu, if you're still listening for calling in and giving a plug for Carm. Really appreciate it. And I will say, folks, we do need your support.

Please consider supporting us. All you have to do is go to carm.org forward slash donate, D-O-N-A-T-E, Carm. You know, Carm, you know, my website. And all the information you need is right there. And we ask for, you know, $10 a month.

So that or more.

so that we can make budgets and know what's going on because we do. We need those supports in order to continue in the ministry that we're doing.

So may the Lord bless you, and by his grace, we'll... Talk to you tomorrow.

So have a great evening everyone. God bless. Another program powered by the Truth Network.