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 karm.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, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call as usual, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call.

And I just thought of something. And so we have also, you can email me. That's easy. Just direct an email to info at carm.org, info at carm.org. put the subject line radio comment or radio questions we can get to you and things like that we have nobody waiting right now and so what i'll probably do is get to the emails uh let's see that open that open that open so uh uh just so you know i am learning more and more of the arguments that some muslims are now making against the doctor of the trinity just want you to know out there because I know you're all concerned about that.

Yeah, that's right. I want you to know that I've been analyzing them and finding weaknesses in them. And I've got a lot more to work on in that regard, and hopefully we'll get that going and get those answers going. But I've been working on it. And also, just to let you know, I'll be in a debate in February in Dallas, Texas area.

Actually, what's going to happen is a guy named Marlon Wilson. He's a great guy. He does a lot of Christian stuff. And he is arranging, I think, four or five debates, maybe in a week. It's time, I don't know.

And it'll be Dallas-Fort Worth.

So what I may end up doing is going out there a day or two early or something like that, watch a few of the debates, stay a day late. I don't know. We'll just see. And I'll get more information. I'll let you know about that.

We'll put it in the CARM information on the calendar and things like that. Oh, that reminds me. You know, I just thought of something, Laura. Do we have a calendar on the new site? I didn't even think about that.

Hmm. Anyway, if not, we can use a dedicated Google calendar. It's pretty good. And so we can do something like that as well. The new site, we are still beta testing.

And we do have the need for a few more things to be done, but we've run out of the funding. But the new site is, man, is it fast. It really is fast. In fact, I'm looking at it right now. I type in a word, like just the word Trinity, and the new site, and hit enter, and there it is.

It's just the results are that fast. And what is the Trinity? I mean, a click, it's like a quarter of a second. That's how fast the site is. And it's so simple.

The site is so simple, and it's really good. Anyway, there's that. There's that.

So good, good, good. Let's get on with Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, I don't recall ever asking you this, but the curse of him with uncovering his father's nakedness.

Yes. I know.

Okay, I know that's covered in Genesis, I think it's chapter 9. There seem to be some people that just automatically assume they know what that means, in contrast with Leviticus and some other areas where it talks about uncovering nakedness and leading to something I want to think is sexual. But I had heard that the Hebrew has two different variations of that word, so it might lead to different conclusions. Can you shed any light on those passages at all as far as what the actual sin was? I know the Bible doesn't necessarily give explicit detail, but I'm inclined to think it wasn't what people think.

Well, from what I understand or what I recall, is that sin was looking upon his father's nakedness when he was not supposed to do that. It's just as simple as that. Not supposed to do that. and there might be some hints in that culture of that time of sexual impurity associated with that kind of a thing.

So Noah became drunk and Ham saw his father's nakedness, told his brothers Shem and Japheth, so they covered him without looking. but the curse was on Canaan so I'm trying to remember some more detail but I can't remember, that's as far as I can go but what's your, restate your question let me see if I can get into it just basically, I've heard some people allude that maybe the actual sin was him having some kind of illicit relations with his own mother I'll be careful, I know children are listening But I've seen some people who consider themselves Bible teachers that actually believe that. But every time I've seen something that was sexual in nature in the Bible, it seemed to be more explicit and you didn't have any, you know, you weren't left guessing. But since it doesn't explicitly say that and I can't find any anything, you know, broken down in the language that would lead me to believe that, I'm inclined to think that's not what happened. Like maybe it was, as my pastor says, like the first peep show of all time.

So I don't know. Yeah.

Well, it probably has to do with, hold on, clear my throat there. What's probably going on is, so he looked upon his father's negros, saw it, and did not go in to cover, and that was wrong. and where his two brothers did, and they didn't even look upon him. And so it's an issue of respect and honor to Noah. I mean, of all people, Noah, who God talked to and built an ark.

This is serious stuff. And Noah, you know, he's a human, and he certainly failed. And he sinned and got drunk and all this stuff.

Well, okay.

So the result is that when you look upon him in that situation, take care of the situation. and don't take advantage of it, don't spread the word around. Because if we did, we started spreading the word, hey, look, take a look. And that's not how you want to handle it. You want to take care of it right there and cover him.

I think that's all the context really warrants is that kind of understanding.

Okay? But certainly not the curse of skin color, which is what some people have said, and it's not the relationship with the mother and things like that. It's not that. Yeah.

Okay. That actually makes more sense because if it was the latter, then it seemed like there would be an extreme form of punishment on the spot. It wouldn't just be, hey, I curse you. Like, hey, you might try to end your life.

So that's why it just made no sense. Right. Yep. I would agree. I think that's all it is.

It's just an issue of being careful, honor, respect. That's where they have. That's right.

Okay. Well, yeah, I guess that's all I have for that one. That satisfies me.

So thanks again, Matt. Appreciate you. All right, brother.

Well, God bless Jermaine. All right, man. God bless you, man. All right. Jermaine always has good questions.

And if you want to give me a call and ask a question, all you've got to do is dial 877-207-2276. And let's see, let's see. I'm going to get some of the questions because I don't have anybody calling right now at the moment.

So I'm going to get to that. Let's see. How about this one? Why does God want pastors to be married? It doesn't say he wants them to be married.

It says in the scriptures that they're to be the husband of one wife. It was generally naturally understood that people would just get married very early. It was part of what you did. It was just kind of a standard. And so to be married to one woman, not polygamous, that was the issue.

So the implication is that God would prefer someone who's married, but there's no admonition that he has to be married.

So that's just one of the issues here. Let's see. Yeah, I'll write my notes there.

So what do you do if a pastor is married and let's just say that something happens to his wife and he's single? Does that mean he's not qualified to be a pastor? Of course not. What he's got to do is continue on in his ministry and his work. And if he gets married again, that's fine.

If not, then that's fine too. But he's not obligated to be married.

Okay. All right. let's see I understand that you told the amalienal position I hold it yes I do you reference Matthew 12 29 other cross reference gospels Satan is bound but yeah that's right yeah I remember that yesterday which I thought was interesting you know I sure mess people up you know I've been to a lot of Bible study groups over the years I gotta be careful what I say I do I've really messed some people up and the intention isn't to mess them up and that's kind of a question it makes me wonder because why is it so easy to mess people up going into a Bible study they go and they teach something and I'm thinking well maybe that's not what the scriptures are teaching and it's not because I have a denominational loyalty I have to uphold everywhere I go it's well what does the Bible say and sometimes I'll I used to do this I don't go to Bible studies anymore because people would stare at me and like, what is he saying again? And so I just kind of, you know, I either teach them and then I give different views. That's how I handle it now.

But anyway, why would it upset people? Unless they're so loyal to their denominational leans. I don't know. Anyway, that's what it is.

Okay. So this, I attend Calvary Chapel and have a question about normative authority. How was a church to adjudicate problems that would arise in the future after the time of the apostles if not by church councils? You can do it by the elders. They don't need a church council.

The elders can come together because the Bible talks about the elders who rule well and that the elders are the ones who are to teach and refute a bad doctrine, as opposed to teach sound doctrine and refute sound doctrine. The elders are the ones who would do that.

So you don't need a church council.

some will say these councils are not binding on us because they're not God-breathed and the scriptures are and are capable of airing that's correct I do not accept the councils as authoritative over me so that reminds me let see I going to see if I can find it Seventh Ecumenical Council Quote on Icons Idols See if I can find it because I got the notes someplace I'll have to get into, I think, let's see. I'll see if I can find it. Anyway, so I'll show you why the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which is supposed to be a council that's adhered to by basically all churches, but it teaches heresy. I can show that. Anyway, some will say these councils are not binding.

No, they're not. They're not inspired. They're to be judged by Scripture. If this is the case, then what authority does a church have to bind consciousness of believers since everyone has a different interpretation of Scripture? Everyone does not have a different interpretation of Scripture.

So when you say everyone has a different interpretation, that's not true. It's a misrepresentation. We go to the scriptures. We understand the Trinity, the deity of Christ, justification by faith. This is not different interpretations.

We can differ interpretations on debatable issues, as Romans 14 says.

So this kind of a statement when I hear this, all you Protestants all have different interpretations. No, we don't. Where did you get that? It's just not true. They're misrepresenting and they're straw manning, not steel manning.

but what we do is we submit to the elders that's what it is that is all it is let me see if I can find those quotes let's see this is let me just read some of the quotes from the 7th Ecumenical Council in Nicaea 2 which I believe that's the council that I've actually been in and during the break I mean being in physical locations You know what I mean? I'm going to find this quote during the break, and I'll mention it to you. Anyway, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. I'll be right back. it's matt slick live taking your calls at 877-207-2276 here's matt slick all right welcome back to the show in light of the uh the previous uh email that i addressed on the air the 7th Ecumenical Council.

Let me get into some of the stuff that, what an ecumenical council is, first of all, and some of the things that have been said.

So what is an ecumenical council?

Well, first of all, it is a formal assembly of the church leaders called together to decide certain kinds of theological things and make official statements. There have been seven of the main ones that are supposed to be held to by the Eastern Orthodox Roman Catholic Church and supposedly by some Protestants.

Now, what makes these councils authoritative? Nothing that I'm aware of. They're a gathering of bishops and elders who would then have discussions about certain things and the council would make a decision.

Now it's binding only insofar as such councils are consistent with scripture. What I've been told by so many EO and RC is that the councils are binding and churches are obligated to believe whatever the councils say because the councils are inspired. Nothing in scripture says they're inspired and the councils you can't prove are inspired to just say it.

So the second council of Nicaea, I've been to, I believe, remember correctly, this is the actual building I've actually been in where this actual council was held. And it's really nice. I've been there a couple of times. And the first council of Nicaea building is out in the ocean.

So we weren't able to get out there because it was like 200 feet off the shore and and uh anyway but uh nevertheless this is what uh the council of the ecumenical council says check this out now you tell me if you think this is authoritative and we ought to follow it anathema that means cursing curse to okay cursed okay to the christianity slanderers that is to the iconoclasts an iconoclast is someone who does not approve of or support icons so icons, images in the church anathema to those who apply passages of scripture written against idols to holy and venerable images so for example, if I were to say Leviticus 26.1, Exodus 20 verses 3 and 4 which talk about don't having idols and things like that in your churches, don't bow down to them if I were to apply those to the icons then I'm to be cursed that's what they're saying anathema to those who do not salute holy and venerable images anathema to those who affirm that Christians pay regard to images as to gods anathema to all those who call holy and venerable images idols well I call them idols they are idols in the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches they are little idols or big ones that they bow down before and pray to those to whom they represent. This is forbidden in scripture, and yet they do it. And then this council curses those like myself who say, no, it's not biblical, and you shouldn't do that.

So this official council curses people like me. It goes on, anathema. Anathema means to curse.

Now, some will say, just a little bit of FYI for you, some say the anathema is not to damnation, but anathema to curse, and you can still be saved. I've heard different ridiculous kind of arguments, but nevertheless, anathema to those who teach not diligently all Christian people to worship and salute the holy, precious, and venerable images of all saints.

So, really?

so unto be cursed who do not teach that everybody, all Christians, should worship, salute the holy, precious, venerable images of all saints. The word is worship.

Now generally what they mean by that is not the equal worship to God, but a veneration of adulation, respect, and honor given to them. But it says, to salute holy, precious, and venerable images. It says to salute the images.

So that's like, imagine this. You go into a church, and let me do this, let's see. You go into a church, and there's an image of Mary, or Saint Bob, or whoever or whatever. You are supposed to respect that image and revere that image. and I remember going to the Catholic Church checking it out and there's an image, a statue of Mary near the front and I would watch after the church they would go in and bow before it bow right in front of it are you kidding me?

check this out I'm going to read Exodus 20 and God says you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. That's what it says.

Now, if we go to, for example, Leviticus 26, you shall not, verse 1, you shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it.

Now, this is what God has said. You know, I get frustrated when I read, I read, you know, like this council. You know, I wish I was there, you know, take a, speak the language and then transport back in time, and I'm dressed like them, and I walk in and say, excuse me, what does it say in the Bible? Why are you doing this in contradiction of the Bible? I just read in Exodus 24, 3 and 4, where it says, don't make images, don't bow down unto them, Leviticus 26, 1.

Don't do it. Do not do this. It says don't. And then what do they say? Anathema to those who teach not diligently, who don't teach it.

You're cursed if you deny that Christian people should worship, salute the holy, precious, and venerable images of the saints. The Bible says, don't make an image. Don't do it. Do not do it. And then verse, another one, it goes on.

Anathema to those who hesitate and do not from the heart confess that we ought to worship holy images. From the heart. This is paganism. The Seventh Ecumenical Council is heretical. It teaches in violation of Scripture.

So I've asked these guys, okay, so can you tell me, how do you judge the truth of an ecumenical council? You know what they tell me?

Well, they're inspired. You have to just believe them.

Sorry, it doesn't quite work for me. I need more than that. And they're not able to give me that. Anyway, I can read some more. Maybe I will after the next caller.

Let's get to Brian from Wisconsin. Brian, welcome. You're on the air. How's it going, Matt? It's going.

It's going. What do you got? I had to do, can you name like a way that, like, Calvin's Jesus that he only dies for the elect is more righteous than, let's say, like John Wesley's Jesus who died for everyone? There's logical problems with that position. Yeah, I can get, there's logical problems and biblical problems with it.

So hold on, I've got a break, and I'll just give you my position, and I'm going to make people mad. I don't believe that Jesus bore the sin of every individual who ever lived, and I'll give you biblical and logical reasons why that's the case. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned, and come back and get irritated. It's Matt Slick Live!

Taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, well, welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Brian from Wisconsin. Brian, are you still there?

I am. All right, let me verify. Are you asking for the reform position, Calvinist position that supports limited atonement or not? No.

So, like, I talk to Muslims all the time, and they, like, say that Muhammad's the greatest example. And I'll ask them, can you name one way that Muhammad was more righteous than Christ? Good. And they can't come up with one. Oh, okay, good.

I'll get you now. I don't believe. Yeah so the our Jesuses are somewhat different because like yours didn die for all people if only some people he yeah Muhammad didn't, that's correct it wasn't right so in the Quran in Surah 3321 it says that Muhammad is the greatest example of mankind okay that's what it says they are and And I ask them, well, did Muhammad ever sin? And they say, yes. Jesus never sinned, right?

Yeah.

Well, then, who's a better example of following God? Jesus or Muhammad? One who never sinned, never did anything wrong before the holy God?

Well, the one who did. Who's a better example of what it means to follow God? And that's what I ask them. I have an article on this also. Who's the best example for mankind?

Jesus or Muhammad.

Okay. Where can I find that? On my website. If you go to karm.org, a lot of people don't know this. I'm going to boast up my website here.

The reason I have so many articles there is because I will talk to a Muslim who might say Muhammad's better than Jesus. And then what I'll do is I'll go research it and write an article about it. and people don't realize that the articles that I've written are generated out of real-time issues, real-time discussions. This is field-tested information. This is stuff that is really there.

We're Jehovah's Witnesses, we're Mormons, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Atheists. And so I just say, go there and type in what you want to learn, because I've written about 5,000 articles. And so if you want to know who's the best example for mankind, Jesus or Muhammad, go in there and type it out and get the article, and you'll see the quotes, the references, and everything.

Okay. So is this like a search bar? Yeah.

Is this a greatest example? Yeah.

Perfect. Yeah.

It's there. All you have to do is go there and do a search. And so you go to the CARM homepage, and you just type in best example of Muhammad or Jesus. It's simple and people don't realize that how much work I've done that site and the resources that are there. It's just that's what it's for.

I'm on my site right now let's see who is is better Muhammad or Jesus just something basic like that okay and I hit enter and it comes up with different articles it'll list them out come on wow maybe I hit enter here um that's interesting so who's the best example of mankind Jesus or Muhammad it comes right up okay and so if you were to go there and you click on it it gives you the article okay and what you need is right there i just try and make it easy for people all right i try and make it easy so that they can go find the information now you always got to check make sure that what i'm teaching is biblical because you don't want to just trust a guy named slick you know you want to make sure that what i'm teaching is biblical and i try and give the references and things like that but that's what the articles are there for that's what it's there for trying to help people out okay all right are you there yep yeah i would so like i don't believe in the Calvinist form of Jesus. There is no Calvinist form of Jesus. It's the same as all Christians. Jesus is God in flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead. There's no Calvinist form of Jesus.

I can give you an example.

So like I was all sharing the gospel, telling people that God loves so many wants a relationship with us all. And then a Calvinist told me that's not the truth, that God just fixed those who he wants to have a relationship with.

Well, don't confuse the idea of who Jesus is with what people interpret that he has done specifically for people. Because I'm a Calvinist, okay? And the Bible does say that God hates people, and I show those verses to people, and they're just blown away. They can't believe it's true. But I show it to them.

Psalm 5.5, Psalm 11.5 and they say well it just means he loves them less well if loving if hating means loving less then love means hating them less so it's not a very good argument that they present but you know I'm very evangelical and I believe that we need to preach that gospel we need to preach that gospel that's what we need to be doing so that's what I recommend people do I don't believe that Jesus legally bore the sin of everybody who ever lived see Jesus says in John 10 11 he says that he lays his life down for the sheep and in John 10 26 he says you are not my sheep he says he lays his life down for the sheep he doesn't say he lays his life down for the goats and then in Colossians 2 14 the ones that follow yeah the ones who follow him are the ones that follow him are the ones that God has granted that they follow. Because Jesus says in John 6, 65, you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father. In other words, you cannot follow Jesus unless it's granted by the Father.

So would you say that's more righteous than people being able to follow God on their own?

Well, that's the wrong question. Because the same kind of a thing, literally, I was discussing this last night with somebody. I was pointing out they're making a mistake. And the mistake they're making, and the guy understood I wasn't getting mad at him or anything like that. The mistake is that you're developing a set of morals that you're holding God to.

Don't you think that is better if this?

Well, that's just an opinion that may or may not be the case. Because God is the one who decides what morality is, not us. He's the one who reveals it.

so the question is what does God's word say not what we want it to say and this is what I do with people all the time and I show this stuff to them and it upsets them they don't like it because they're not taught in my opinion a lot of biblical theology they're not taught a lot of stuff that they should be teaching be taught so you don't think righteousness and like good morals are are absolutes and like bats. Of course they are.

So it's my understanding that everything God commands us to do is for the good of us all because he's all-knowing.

So he tells us what to do because he's all. It's not just because...

Well, hold on. You're saying several things. You're saying several things. I want to respond to them. God is a standard of morality and righteousness, not us.

Not our feelings, not our desires. It's too often the case that what happens is people will say, no, I won't believe in a God who blah, blah, blah. They develop their own righteousness, their own system, and it's not found in Scripture. And I ask people all the time, show me that in Scripture. And they're not able to.

And so, and I know about the verse. I'm sorry, what? They were supposed to be covenantally, yes. but they failed to keep the covenant and then we the Gentiles are grafted in and we become the light of the world as we're indwelt by Christ okay alright God did God want Pharaoh to repent?

well there's a yes and no to that we could say in one sense yes and in another sense no because God specifically says in Romans 9 9 through 23 that God raised up Pharaoh in order to destroy him. It's what it says in Romans 9. And also, Jesus tells us that he speaks in parables so people will not be forgiven. This is Mark 4, 10-12. I show people this stuff and their eyebrows shoot up.

They go, what? And I say, yeah, I know. Yeah, so then you believe he speaks in parables so then they can't believe. But you don't even believe that they can believe if they wanted to. That doesn't make any sense in your paradise.

Well, yes, it does. Jesus was going around making commands. He's God in flesh. When he commands, people obey because that's the nature and intention of his word. And he speaks in parables so people will not believe.

If he wants them to believe, he'll grant them repentance. 2 Timothy 2.25, grant that they have faith, Philippians 1.29, and grant that they come to Christ, John 6.65. Hey, hold on, brother, okay? We've got more after the break, okay? Folks, we'll be right back after the break.

We'll see if Brian stays on. Then we'll get to Bob from North Carolina. Oh, I guess we'll get, he lost. He quit. We'll be right back with Bob.

Please stay tuned. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live! Taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the show. We lost that one caller. I'm going to make a comment before we get to the next caller, Bob, from North Carolina. I know that Reformed Theology is not favored by a lot of people.

I know that they have their ideas and stuff, and maybe a lot of you don't want to listen to me anymore because of what I teach. That's okay. I don't have any problem with that whatsoever. But I'm obligated to teach what I believe is the Scriptures to the best of my ability. I know the topic very well.

I can defend it very well. And I'd be willing to teach people, go online and teach them, here's these objections, here's how to answer them. My goal is to point people to the sovereignty and greatness of God, not that man is the standard of righteousness, not that man is the standard of what goodness is, not that man has the ability to say what God should or should not do, but that we strip all of that away and go to the word of God. Jesus says in John 6, 65, you cannot come to him unless it's granted by the Father. He says that.

What does that do with people's free will? That God knows who's going to pick him under different circumstances. That has nothing to do with the truth of what God says, or Jesus says, that no one can come to me unless the Father grants it. Or in Philippians 1, 29, it says to you it has been granted to believe. That God is what he grants that we have that faith.

Jesus says in John 6, 29, he says, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. John 1, 12 through 13, it says we're born again, not of our own will, but the will of God. There's so many verses like this. And people say, well, what about 1 Timothy 2, 4, 2 Peter 3, 9? He wants all to be saved.

I said, let me teach a study on that. And I'll show you from God's word. I'll show you things in the word of God that you've not seen. I show this to people. I do this to people a lot.

And they blown away by some of the things that the Bible actually says and one of the things that I believe is the case and one of problems in with pastoring and teaching as a whole in the christian church is they not getting down into the nuts and bolts of the theological concepts that build our christian worldview that they are skipping along the surface babysitting people because we're too comfortable in america with our air condition and our gps and our instant foods and everything else the restaurants we go put a card in we can be fed And I think that the problem here is that the pastors and elders in too many places are not doing a deep dive into Scripture and asking the difficult questions and not finding the answers that they like. I believe that they go on. I was just talking to a woman today. She's a good woman. We talked about a church.

In fact, my wife and I have been out running errands. We went to two different places, and believe it or not, two different women don't even know each other, two different places mentioned the same church. And I looked up this church online, found out they had women pastor.

Well, this is foolishness. It's ungodliness. It's unbiblical. It should not exist. And women pastors are not to be, it's not for the church.

And I will, here we go again. I'll fly out at my expense to any place in the United States, and I will debate it formally. Does the, your church, okay, does the Bible support women pastors and elders? I've been offering this for 20 years. Not a single person has taken me up on it.

Because the issue is what do the Word of God say? And I teach the Word of God. And if you don't like it, you can turn the channel. and if you don't like it, you can go find someplace else. It'll find some teacher.

It'll tickle your ears. But if you want to have the truth, if you want to have someone who's not afraid to say what he believes is the truth, with scripture, with reasons, listening to objections and answering them, then stay tuned. But if you don't like what I have to say, that's between you and God. If you don't like it, that's fine. Just go someplace else, and then you can find someone who can tell you what you want to hear.

Because I believe that's the problem in the Christian church today. Too many people just want to hear what they want to hear. tickle my ears, and I want to serve the blonde-haired, blue-white Caucasian surfer Jesus, not the one who overturned the temple tables, who sat with children, not the one who spoke to the Pharisees and said, you whitewashed sepulchres, and yet he also spent time with the ladies, you know, in a good, godly, respectful way, which wasn't something men did back then. He is both sides, but too many people are only presenting the side of Christ that they want. The blonde-haired, blue-white Caucasian surfer Jesus, dressed in a woman's nightgown, asking for permission, for you to let them into your heart.

And that is not what the Bible says. And I get so sick and tired of hearing the heresies, the mamby-pamby theology, the wimp crud that's being taught from too many pulpits all across America. I wish they would stop and they need to come back to the founding of this country, the Presbyterians, who were the ones who came over here, not just to escape persecution, but to establish a Christian nation. And they did so. They were reformed.

They were Calvinist. They risked their lives to come over here because they wanted to glorify God. And I think that's what the church ought to do today. Glorify God. Have the pastors and teachers teach the word of God completely and truthfully.

Don't follow denominational leanings. And stop teaching the blonde-haired, black-location surfer Jesus, dressed in a woman's nightgown, waiting for you and your wisdom to ask permission from you to come into your heart. And that reminds me of one other thing. I'm going to get off my rant here in a second. I went to a church a couple of weeks ago, and I heard a mamby-pamby sermon that was just shallow.

It was not Christocentric. It was moralistic. It was empty. And the church was filled three services with overflow. And I just felt just aggravated that this pastor was not doing what he's supposed to be doing, teaching the depth of God's word and was teaching nothing more than the same message that could have been found in a Mormon church.

The same message could have been delivered in a Mormon church. and this kind of stuff has got to stop because the apostasy is coming. And why? Because pastors aren't teaching what they're supposed to be teaching. There you go.

Let's get on with Bob from North Carolina. Bob, welcome. I just lost most of my followers or my listeners now. What do you got, buddy? First of all, I want to say that, you know, I listen to you every chance I get.

And I was raised in a very legalistic church as a child. and about 10 years ago I became a Christian when I thought I was a Christian for the first 40 years of my life. Christ showed me that I didn't know him at all and drew me into repentance and I got saved. But the way I was raised has, listening to you has really stretched my theology and I want to thank you for that. I don't agree, you know, with everything that you say, but it's not because I can disagree.

I'm very open-minded. I want to know what God meant when he wrote the Word of God, and you pushed me in that direction.

So for that, I am grateful to you for what you do.

Well, thank you very much for saying that. And I just want to comment. I like it that you said you don't agree with everything, and that's okay. At least I'm getting you to think and look in God's Word, make up your own mind according to your own convictions, and that's what you're supposed to do.

So good for you. Right. Right. Good. Yeah, I don't put God in a box.

I did that for many, many years and he called me out to be a pretty big fool for doing so well welcome to the club i've done that too that's right uh but anyway i am teaching uh i am now a pastor and teacher oh good and uh i'm doing chapter 14 of mark and i've come to the point uh where the young man is wearing a cloth, Jesus is arrested, and he flees naked. It's only mentioned in Mark chapter 14 and nowhere else. Theologians or all commentaries that I read say that it is probably John Mark, a young John Mark, since he was a child when Christ was ministering. And I don't know, I want to teach that verse, and I will, I just don't know what to say. I will say it's probably a young John Mark, but I don't know exactly if I can back it up scripturally.

Then say that. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Yeah, just say that.

And there's another theory is that it was John the Apostle. And the other option is just somebody else they don't know of. And you could say all three. And you could say, I lean towards this one and this is why, but I can't prove it. You make up your own mind.

The congregation, that's not a problem. Perfect. That's what you're doing. That's what you should be doing.

Okay, I also heard a wild theory that when, I think this was in John, when he said, I am, and they all fell to the ground. Yep. That the power of him falling out, somebody raised close by, raised from the dead, and that was them, shedding their graves closed as they ran away. And I don't aspire to that one very much. Yeah, I'm not sure I understood you.

When Jesus said in the garden, I am, which I think is interesting because the sin of the garden, Adam and Eve, he was in the garden, says I am. It was pre-incarnate Christ in the garden, the I am. I think there's a lot of parallels there. But they fell back because of the power of his word. What was that like?

If you're sitting there, you're upset with this guy and you say I am, and then you had to fall backwards along with everybody else, I'd be like, okay, I'm going to leave right now. And then stand up and arrest him. Then they stand up. Yeah.

I mean, come on. Could you imagine putting that together in real time and having a bunch of guys go, I don't think I want to arrest this guy. Did you see what just happened? I could just see this. The soldiers going, OK.

OK. I'd be like, could you please come along with us? But just don't talk. I mean, you know, I think this is going to turn out to be a bad day for me. yeah you know if you and i were there with our swords arrested we just got up from being knocked down i'd be like uh okay how do i do this delicately i don't want to mess with this guy that's right but anyway like i said i value your opinion and i figured if anybody had studied it out it would be you well uh you have to restate it because i wasn't quite sure i was following you what the argument was so go ahead one more time well there was there really wasn't an argument i was just asking your opinion as far as who the young man was that fled away naked i lean towards john the apostle because it was a disciple that jesus loved but can i prove it no if you and i were debating and i'd probably say here's my position i think he's got a good position too and then we're done.

The debate's over.

Okay. You know, because there's no way to prove it. Yeah, because when I teach, I leave about 15 minutes at the end for question and answer. That question's definitely coming up. Yeah, and do what I do.

Just say, I don't know. Good question. You find it for me, please. Yeah, and I say to people, too, I say, look, this is what I've searched. This is what I've come up with.

If you research it and you find something different, let me know. Because maybe you find something and you can teach me and that's fine. I have no problem with that. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I appreciate you taking the time to answer such a simple question. I figured I'd give your brain a rest from all the deep theological questions you get. I love deep theology. I tell my wife, hey, you want to hear some deep theology? And then I see her eyes roll back in her skull.

I go, okay, never mind. Poor woman. It's like me talking to my wife about engines. Yeah.

We could talk about engines. I used to have a 302 at 60 over, 12 and F1 compression. I had a six-pack on top, and it was great. Yeah, I used to build round-to-round track engines back in the 90s. I enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was fun until it wasn't. I gave it up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. The old hands start hurting, can't build anymore.

Uh-huh. Or what I love is when you drop that socket someplace and it's gone. Oh, yeah. It's gone. Yeah, and the never-ending bottom of the car that doesn't exist.

That's right.

That's why I always thought Star Trek made a mistake. They should have gone to a different dimension and people go, there's my rock, my socket, there's my old sock. There it is. There you go. I still remember once.

I still remember once I was working on my 67 SS Camaro 327. I was working on the bell housing. I put a 916 socket down. on its butt end so that it wouldn't roll. I still remember this.

There it is. It's not going to be gone. When I turn my head back to pick it up to do what I have to do, then it's not going to be gone. And I turn my head back and it was gone. I looked for a half hour.

I'm not joking. There was nothing. Nobody. It was gone. Oh, I know.

You're laughing because you've done it. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I've done it too. I've done it too. Moved the creeper 20 times.

Rolled over my hair twice. trying to find the socket that really just doesn't exist anymore. And you have to get a new one. It is the weirdest phenomenon. It only happens with working on car engines, I've noticed.

I don't know if it was. What? Where'd it go? Yeah.

All right. I've been made on that.

Well, again, thank you for your time.

Okay. You too. God bless. All right. And one other thing about working on engines, I would recommend you don't get, don't touch the condensers.

Oh, man, it's been a long time. I got shocked back six feet once. I got stories. Hey, let's get to, hey, we're out of time. Wow.

Okay, sorry, Dave from Charlotte. The thief on the cross called back. I had no idea it was this late. Man, that surprised me.

Sorry about that.

Okay, Dave, sorry about that, brother. Hey, folks, hope you enjoyed the show. Even my little rant, may the Lord bless you and by His grace. Back on air tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then. Have a good one, everyone.

God bless. Bye. Another program powered by the Truth Network.