Matt Slick Live

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

Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you are listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 8772-07-2276. I want to hear from you, give me a call.

Well, I would say, I would say email me at info at Carm.org, but we're switching email accounts. We're going to have the same address, but we're moving the domain over to another thing, and we've run into a snag.

So we're having difficulties with that. But you know, it's just normal tech stuff that we do things. It's all for improvement because the place we're going to go is far more secure than the Google stuff. And that's what you want. We don't want to have anybody's information be compromised in any way.

That's what we're doing for safety and just security and things like that. We're really concerned about that whole issue because one of the things we did with the new site. It's hard to explain this. and you guys won't know it. Let's tell you, but your information, your um When you come in on your computers, we don't track it.

We don't keep it. We don't have the ability now. We don't have the ability to To find out who you are, what you did on your computers, or anything, there's a special tech. And it uh goes in. Oh, I gotta sneeze for a sec.

It goes in and puts a little bitty thing on your computer. And it's very, very complicated little code. And the purpose is to. uh just to have your computer Be known by the by the site. That's all it is.

That's all it is. So when later on, w if and when we get log in uh for various uh issues with with the site, it'll it'll keep that. But it doesn't keep any of your data. It's really kind of interesting. It's it's the latest tech.

The tech that's on the site now is so advanced and so contemporary that literally the guy who built it. The programmer who worked for Microsoft and Facebook, hardcore Christian guy, good guy. Uh he implemented things that were two weeks old. at one point. He says, this new thing came out and it's just this awesome thing.

And I had no idea what he was talking about. And he was excited because he's a geek. And he just went in and implemented it and explained it. And I went, oh.

So, in other words, it's super secure, it's super fast. He goes, that's right.

So the site is really, really secure. And you may notice if you've been to the Carm site, How very fast it is. It is so fast. You can go in there and click something, and I did. It takes less than a half a second for an inquiry to go through and the result to come up.

We have the site on over three hundred and forty servers worldwide. And um It's we're using Cloudflare. Which is used, I think, by 25% of all computers in the world, or something like that. It's exceedingly fast, exceedingly good. It's got all kinds of tools.

Just think of a Lego building block system that you can put together, and it's just really good. It's something you can do. It's so complicated and so good. I can't even explain it all. It's just really good.

But your concern is: hey, does it work? Yeah, it does. Is it fast? Good, good. And that's it.

And we're working on other things. I'm not going to release too much information, but one of the things we're hoping, one of the things we're hoping that will occur. Is that other ministries would be able to join up with karma. And What we mean by that is There is the potential of what's going on with the web and with. The powers that be.

Let's just say it that way. The powers that be that aren't exactly friendly to Christianity. And Yeah I think like I'm missing something here. Boy, look at that. Did something get closed out?

I think so. I'll have to see if I can open something else up here. Um It is really strange. I was just working here and doing this. and it looks like the window for the feed To go in is right there.

So there it is. It's good. All right.

So there we go.

So what we're hoping on doing to do is If other ministries start of feeling the effect, of Shadow banning and AI scraping so that their information is just not coming in and not being really utilized. And Um They're losing donors and losing stuff. What were looking at doing is making karm be kind of a hub. where people can join up and join in. And take the benefits of all the super great security stuff and speed that we have.

and uh their information won't be shadow banned. and uh won't be just simply scraped. And AI just gives you everything you need. You don't need to go to the site.

So we're working on things like that.

Well, I couldn't say we, because me. Our programmer guy is doing that. That's that. And um Also, this takes a lot of work, and it does take some funds to pay the guy. Who does this?

And his job or his concern. Oh, that's not great. His dream is that he could just do this full time. And uh just produce stuff that makes Christian websites A bulletproof. Quick.

Secure worldwide the whole bit with the greatest technology that and the latest technology that's there. Of course, it's just expensive to do all that.

So we're able to inch along with Carm and And then we pay him to do little segments. And he does stuff for free, too, because he just loves what karma is and what, in ministry, but he's got to feed his family. Which reminds me that if you like what you hear in the radio and you like what the website is, carm.org, please consider. Supporting us.

Now, I know a lot of people think five or ten dollars a month isn't going to be any big deal, or five or ten dollars a month if you're already paying it, contributing, and then you just take it away. It won't make any difference, it's only five or ten dollars.

Well a lot of people have that same attitude. And then let's just say that our donations have significantly been reduced. We think in part because of that attitude. And we get it. People gotta tighten the belt and things like that.

But we've noticed that a lot of ministries, I've gotten word from more than one ministry. that things are really slowing down. And I know of one that's just thinking about shutting the doors, just quitting online. It just can't keep it going anymore. And we're going to talk to that person about coming under the car and umbrella.

And we've got some other things I don't want to talk about yet, but would be beneficial for everybody around. And so. We've heard of other ministries that are are suffering. because it's just the way things are now, and people don't want to support ministries. What's really good about Carm we have no callers waiting, which is why I'm talking about this.

What's really good about Carm is we literally are impacting millions of people. The site is good. And We are very biblically binded. We had a guy, for example, let me give you an example of something. Anybody who writes for calm, and we're starting to seek out people who can do that, anybody who writes for calm, the Christian apologetics Research Ministry, the CARM.org website.

First of all, they have to agree to the statement of faith. and the statement of faith is very detailed. And you don't have to um You don't have to agree. Excuse me. It's written in such a way that.

There's debatables that are perfectly fine. You can be premillennial, all millennial, post-millennial, that's fine. You can be charismatic, non-charismatic, because these are all audio offers. But the essentials of the Christian faith are very detailed. And you have to approve of things like abortion is wrong, homosexuality, the alphabet mob stuff is wrong, women, pastors, and elders are not permitted in Scripture.

Things like that. And so the people who come in, first of all, have to agree with that statement of faith, which is quite lengthy. And that means that anybody who is allowed to write with Carm already has passed a great deal. And they have to sign a covenant with Carm to state that they are in agreement with that, and we have to have it on record. And they'll get a bio page on the site.

Well, that's one thing.

Well, we had a guy who's doing that, and he wrote an article and submitted it for review, which is fine. And so I spent some time coaching him on how to write succinctly without repetition and just getting the points done and just coaching.

So we're spending time not just having somebody write something and they put it up. Nope, we go over every single line, every single word, to make sure the article is fine and that what comes in is calm quality.

So we're really working hard to make sure that things are good.

Now a lot of sites, what they'll do is they'll have everybody just kind of dump articles in. And that's that's what they want to do, that's what they want to do. And that thing could become very big very quickly. But we want to make sure that what comes through is theologically very sound. And I know my theology backwards, forwards.

I know it. I've been defending it for 46 years. And I can read an article and I can tell if the person's theology is weak in this area or strong in that area and the whole bit. I can just kind of coach a little bit and say, you know, hey, think about this, and this is why we word it this way. And everybody's been very receptive and very helpful.

And I'm not claiming I have all the great knowledge and all that kind of stuff, but hey, you know, it's my ministry. I'm responsible for it. Been doing this a lot, written about 5,000 articles and studied a great deal.

So that's the idea is to. To provide really quality information. And for this, we've been going more slowly than a lot of other websites have been. We want it to be a mainstay and something that could be trusted. And it's not easy to do that, but that's what we're doing.

It is secure, it is fast, it is technologically advanced, it protects your data. And we have a new system in for newsletter, new system for donations, and we're going to be providing some stuff with videos later. And that's a whole other project we've got to get going. There's just a lot going on. And we're switching from Google-based emails or Gmail-based emails to another one that's Proton, it's called Proton Mail.

It's exceedingly secure. They can't even get your information. And we've been researching which groups to go with because Google, if it gives you something free, you are the product. And if it's free, they're not just being, hey, we'll just do this 'cause we're so nice. No, no, no.

They want to get in, get your information and then send ads to you, sell your information out and or use it, things like that.

Well Proton Mil doesn't do any of that. And that's why we're going to move to that. And we've had a glitch yesterday. As we move stuff over, it's called a DNS change. And it's a minor glitch.

I just talk to the tech guy and say, hey, what about this? And then he'll coach me what to do, and we'll get it done. And so we have our prayer at carm.org is down right now. And I think info at carm.org is also down, which means we can't really work with it right now, but we'll have it fixed either tonight or tomorrow. And uh not a big deal.

And so but we're gonna still retain the Karm domain. We're transferring that over to there. We have to create sub uh sub accounts and then give access to people. It's taxed off. tech stuff.

Which is okay. It's just okay. And so, what I'm doing here is just kind of informing all of you out there. And maybe hoping and suggesting that you might want to consider supporting us because we're taking all this very seriously and we want to produce a very good product that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. and equips the body of Christ for the work of the ministry.

That's what we want to do. And in light of that, as an example, I had a discussion last night with an Eastern Orthodox guy. And um And and he and others Uh, have when they get cornered, when they get cornered with scripture and/or logic. They routinely fall back into a claim that if I can't justify how we got the Bible. and what the list of the books of the Bible are, then I'm not allowed to use it.

And they say this all the time. And so I wrote an article today on this and released it. After the break, nobody's calling. What I'll do is go over a little bit of that and explain about it and we'll see. All right, so if you want to give me a call, the number 8772.

072276, the right bank. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy.

All you have to do is dial 8-77207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call. We have Germain waiting, but let's I think that's it, we'll just get to Jermaine. Um Okay, let's just do that.

All right, Jermaine, buddy. Welcome, man. You're on the air, buddy. Yeah.

Well, hey, I want to ask about the uh I guess what they call the seven deadly sins or no some Some use the seven cardinals and And uh I I'm aware I think it's in uh Proverbs. I think if uh I'm correct, but Just doesn't God really not like all sins? Like, did who classified those as, quote, deadly sins? Is that more of a Roman Catholic teaching, or where'd that come from? Um that's interesting.

The list doesn't appear in the Bible, but uh I s uh I don't know where it originated from. That's a good question. Where did I that's a good question? Maybe I could write an article on that, do some research and see and get my program open where I sometimes will um In fact, I'm going to do it right now. But I don't know exactly where it came from.

But I can write an article, research it, and provide some information on that.

So there's a list of seven deadly sins, though it's not exactly found in Scripture. I wonder if I have it on karma, if I've written about it already. That'd be something to find out. Let's see the dog. Let's see.

So I can try this.

So Proverbs chapter six, I believe, is uh where people typically go. Uh Yeah. Yeah, I don't have it. Um I don't have it. Haven't read an article, so maybe I'll do that.

Uh what are the seven deadly sins? Uh And we'll I can write an article on that.

So good. What are the seven deadly sins? Uh and their origin. How about that? Good, I'll do that.

And because I only have. What's that? I said, Yeah, that that sounds good to me. Yeah, so my list of questions I need to do is is at 975. No.

Yeah.

So there you go.

So you're helping me out, keep me busy. You know, I'm 69.

Okay. I got to retire. When am I going to retire? You guys can't. I have hundreds of questions to get to.

I actually was going to make a suggestion. You. I was thinking you retire about somewhere in the late nineties.

So we need to get 30 more years out of you because we appreciate you. That's my plan, actually. In all seriousness, that is my plan. I'm eating better, I'm working out. I've gotten rid of a lot of plastics for cooking and things like that.

I'm using ceramics and steel, and getting rid of plastic cups. uh storing things in uh glass containers. Because I found out that these things leech into your body. They cause brain fog, they can contribute to varying illnesses, digestive problems, health problems, dementia. And so I've been slowly not all at once, but removing them.

And now I'm I could actually, you know, I'm talking about it, I think I'm more than halfway through. And I'm doing it enough so that it's become habitual of what I do. And so when I cooked some chicken last night, I put it into some glass containers and working out and eating better so that I can serve my Lord Jesus Christ as long as possible. That's the goal. That's the goal, and that maybe one day he'll let my death be quick and painless because I don't like.

The whole prospect, it's scary, but maybe he'll just go, okay, you ready? Three, two, one, go. Hey, now I'm with Jesus. That'd be nice. But in the meantime, that's it.

Okay? All right.

All right.

Well, we're willing to be called tomorrow then, Matt. Thank you. All right, men.

Okay, so there you go. Thanks, Germaine. And uh let's see, let's get to uh Let's get to Elsie. I don't know where that's from. You're from North Carolina.

Welcome. Hey man, how are you doing, man? Doing all right, man. Hanging in there. Hanging in there.

Yeah, it's been a while since I talked to you. It's been some years.

Okay. But my question is: I know the Christmas season is over. We're up and all that. But during the Christmas season, and it comes up every year, and I didn't mean to actually kept putting it off and kept forgetting. I was hoping to get to you before we celebrated the birth of Christ.

But is there any way that we can all Pin point. The season. I know we can't pay. I know we don't know the exact day he was born, but people I had okay, like they gave you an example that came up in the church that I belong to. They were saying something like, We know it wasn't in the wintertime because the shipper was out in the field.

Well, here in North Carolina, man, uh We got weather. Like like today, the it was in the seventies, and here we are. during the winter months in the seventies. And then the day after tomorrow, they're talking about it's going to be in the in the twenties.

So it's going to be like we go from extreme high to the strange low in one day.

So you can have four seasons in the state of North Carolina in one day. Right. Yeah, same here in Idaho. I'm in the Boise, Idaho area, and it's the weirdest winter we've had so far. I've been here in 21 years.

So I'm with you. But that's there.

So different dates have been offered for the actual birth of Jesus. We know it was not December 25th. Uh one of them is is right around September 11, 9-11, believe it or not. have been has been offered. March and April have been offered.

So, what I could do is maybe get some more research done on that as well. and find out because I've heard, I remember reading some arguments a while back, and they were pretty good. about uh Some dates and some logic out of the scriptural revelation and things like this.

So maybe I'll research that, okay? I are So, uh doing your if you go wh while you're doing your research, um Because I thought about, like I said, that's why I gave you an example of the North Carolina weather, how you can go from extreme high to extreme low in just one day. But uh It ought to be some kind of way. We can narrow it down to at least the season or the part of the year because. to me, it seems like the Orthodox Jews are they should be still Celebrating their feast and festivals, the time when Mary and Joseph had to do their taxes and all that.

You remember that scripture where he had to go do their taxes and then she gave birth? Mm-hmm. Seem like to me that would still be going on today. They would still be practicing, uh, those festivals that they be having, uh, every year, like the Passover. Yeah, that's exactly the issue is is the the the feast days Generally They are prophetic and Christocentric.

And so I I can't help but wonder if something like that might not be associated with his birth. And It would take some research. It would take a lot of research to go through those things, to figure it out. But different people have offered different dates. March, April, September.

Are the common ones I've heard.

Okay. Right. And but see, that's why that's why I just that's why I stated what I just said about the There are packages of uh uh Y you're young young from poor and all these other Festivals they have, they do it every year.

So we should be able to at least pinpoint the season if we can't get the exact date. Yeah, it would probably be in in the spring or the fall. Yeah.

And that's generally what it is. I'm leaning towards the spring. But I don't know.

Okay. And oh, there's the object for the break.

So we're gonna get going, okay, Brett? All right, I did have another question.

Well, okay, hold on then. All right, hold on. We'll get right to you, okay? After the break. Hey, folks, we have Elsie on the line waiting.

If you want to join, it's 877-207-277. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy. 8772-07-2276.

Let's get back on with. L C from North Carolina.

Okay, Rudder.

So you have another question? Yes. But but but before I go to my next question, I thought about something else concerning the birth of Jesus. See, I'm a truck driver and when I was driving over the road years ago, I was in the state of Florida. During the months of November, December and January, all three months.

At uh deliverance. Before I came back to North Carolina, and uh it was warm down. Those three months during the winter months.

So, like I said, it's got to be some kind of way we can pinpoint it. You can't go by the weather or the cause of they trying to say that it would have been too cold or whatever. But my next question, moving on, is uh. Uh the birth of Jesus And uh John the Baptist.

Some people want to use that scripture saying that they were six months apart. I don't believe that. Oh. Because uh when the when that's when the scriptures say that the angel visit Mary, and told us she was gonna have birth. and give give a birth to a son in the name of Jesus and all that.

that Lism was already in her sixth month. But that don't mean that she she was impregnated at that time. I want your opinion on that. Yeah.

Well, if she says If um Wait okay. Logistically, we can draw a general conclusion that it's a six-month-old difference, a six-month difference. But we don't know exactly how long Mary was pregnant. before she met uh Elizabeth.

So we can only give an an estimate that it was six months. Maybe seven months, maybe uh uh eight. But That kind of a thing. It's all we can do.

Okay? Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense. I pressed to believe it was some years later 'cause if you follow the pattern of of how God works from Genesis to Revelation. He'll make an announcement and sometime it'll be years later like with Abraham. and uh saver. you know, it was years later he made the announcement, but they she didn't she wasn't impregnated right away.

So That's why I wanted to know, you know, Hawaii people gotta use that script cut.

Okay, for an example, if if you will, read, read, read chapter two and verse one from the of the of the Gospel of Luke. Oh, okay, oh oh hold on. What's your question though? Um It's it's it's con it's it's concerning the uh the the difference in their ages. I I I I'm trying to show you my point my my reason why I believe the way I do pertaining to that one verse.

Well, it says uh in Luke uh that uh Elizabeth conceived and she was in seclusion for about five months. Then in the sixth month of her pregnancy, Angel Gabriel sent uh was sent to Mary. to announce the conception. That's why we conclude roughly that it was about six months difference in her age.

Okay. Right, but but but but uh But if you read chapter two and verse one, You can see why I believe different. And what do you what's just what's your summary? What do you believe? That it was some years later.

When Mary was impregnated with Jesus, and John the Baptist was already grown or older. Uh Hmm. It doesn't seem to be the case. Because she was Pregnant.

Okay. Because uh leapt in the womb. Right. Let's see.

left in and find the verse where it says that uh It leapt in the womb. Let's see.

Left. in the womb.

Okay, hold on. I'm gonna find it here. It says so.

So John the Baptist was, you know, still. Uh in utero. And it says in Luke 1, 4 1 through 44. that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby leapt in her womb.

So Mary was pregnant Lisbeth was pregnant.

So therefore Uh it can't be years. That's just not possible.

Okay. Okay. Uh Okay.

Okay, wh which which one of those verses? I'm back to you, which one of those verses that says Mary was pregnant? It don't say Okay, well tell you what. Instead of arguing this, you know, I'm not trying to argue with you, man, because I like you, man. I know I've told people, a lot of people, about your show and everything.

It's not that I'm arguing with you. I'm just trying to figure this out. That's why I asked you to read chapter 2 and verse 1. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm trying to figure this out for real.

I'm being serious.

Okay. I'm just saying though that We'd have to research each verse live on the air to find out where it is to put the argument together that he did or did not. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greetings, the baby leapt in her womb.

so this means that John the Baptist was in Utero when this happened. And then she cried out in a loud voice, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

So in verse 42, Elizabeth is saying to Mary, the fruit of your womb. The implication is. That she's pregnant, because in verse 43, how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?

Okay, and uh So that that's it's just the implication is Mary was pregnant.

Okay. Okay, so that's why I was asking you to read chapter two and verse one, but you still haven't read it to try to prove my point. It okay. But it's just, I'll do that. But the thing is that in Luke 1:35 through 38.

the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, it will overshadow you. The child be called the Son of God. And your relative Elizabeth is conceived in her old age, and she's barren. with her and in her sixth month.

Okay. So then Mary goes.

Now you want to go to verse chapter 2, verse 1. In those days, a decree went from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.

Okay. Yeah.

Are you sure? No no yeah, I'm yeah. the verse but So the verse before that which is still chapter one. You see the differences in those go through verses?

Okay, tell you what, I can't sit here right now and just do this, okay? This is the kind of thing where I'd need to sit and just study for a half hour. Just collecting information.

Okay, and so unless you have exact verses to look with an exact reference to it, then it doesn't become Really conducive to a good dialogue and good radio at this point.

So, what you need to do is, I get you. Uh I can just do some research and see what the arguments are.

Okay? Yeah, I appreciate it. That's why I was asking you to look at the du c to compare the the two, the last the latter part of chapter one with with with chapter two, verse one. You know, just focus on them, then you can see where I'm talking about, where I'm coming from.

Okay, tell you what, I gotcha. I said I'll take a look. I don't mind taking a look, okay? All right.

All right.

And so, I appreciate that. That's okay.

Well, good. Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay.

Thanks. Bye. All right, hmm, interesting. All right, now let's get to the next longest waiting person, Kim from Ohio. Kim, welcome.

You're on the air. Hey, hi, thank you. I'm kind of a new listener. I've only been a Christian for a few years, and I'm making my way through the Bible slowly. And recently, I've started to look at the time line as far as like the tribulation.

And then as we move from that into I know there's several sequences, but I guess I'm my question to you is for those of us that make it into the millennial reign, I think you call it, when we rule and reign with Christ for those thousand years, I am wondering, it says that it's going to be a joyous time. And I'm wondering, is it going to be sorrowful? Does it say anywhere in the Bible about will we remember our loved ones or the people that have not that didn't make it with us that didn't come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Okay, you're asking a lot of stuff. First of all, you're assuming the position called premillennialism. which is that there is a literal one thousand year reign of Christ in the future. There are other issues, and one is called amillennialism. where we are in the reign of Christ now.

And that when the return of Christ comes, he will take out of his kingdom the stumbling blocks, because that's what he says will happen. There's good arguments on both sides.

So the thing to do, that's best to do, is look at those two main perspectives. And see which one fits the overall view of scripture. The predominant view in America is premillennialism. And it just because it's dominant doesn't mean it's true. And this is someone's not something does or does not.

It's just irrelevant. The issue is what does the scriptures actually teach? And I hold to the position that premillennialism, there's a future reign for a thousand years. I don't believe that's the literal case. I have very good reasons why it's not the case.

But it doesn't mean I'm right.

So I'm just saying there's other positions there. and they're worth studying because both are are very old in the church. Within I think the first 200 years they're recorded of both views being promoted by Christians.

So that's one thing. Another thing is We get to heaven. What are we going to do? Let me stop you right there so I can clarify what you just said. You're saying there's two views.

Some people think that we're in that thousand years of rain now, and then there's others who believe that, that's yet to come. Yes, that's correct. We had a break. If you want, I can expand on those and why. Sure.

Yeah, after the break.

Okay, well, hold on. We'll be right back after the messages. Please stay tuned, folks. 877-207-2276. Be right back.

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, the number is 8772-07-2276. All right, Kim, are you still there?

Yep, I'm still here.

So let me run some stuff by you, because that's what you wanted me to do, and I will. uh on the other view called on millennialism and My goal is so that you can see there is a legitimate other perspective. It doesn't mean you have to believe it, but that there are good arguments for different positions. And that's the point.

So, a lot of times people will go to Revelation 20. And they'll say that Satan's bound for a thousand years, and that's a millennial reign.

Well, the problem with that is that the word thousand is used in figurative contexts repeatedly. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. A day is but a thousand years. And so we see the figurative usage of it, and that's how God uses that term. And when we look at Revelation 20, I ask questions of people, I say, because this is what it says in verse 1.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. Would that be a literal angel in literal heaven? Yeah, I I think so. holding the key of the abyss and a great chain. Is it a literal key in a literal chain?

Well, no, it's not. Because he's going to bind Satan with it. You don't bind Satan with a chain, a literal chain.

Something else. It represents something else, but it's a figurative use. He laid hold of the dragon, that's figurative. The serpent of old, that's literal. Who's a devil and Satan?

literal, and bounded for a thousand years. Was it figurative or literal?

Well, we could make the case that it's either one. And what a lot of times people do is they just go to Revelation 20, they say it's all, it just means a thousand years is just automatically literal.

Well, it may be the case, but it may not be the case. That's the only point I'm trying to make out of that. But it says he's bound for a thousand years, right? He threw him into the abyss, verse 3, shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, you must be released for a short time.

All right.

So this is talking about when Satan's bound. What's really interesting when you go to Matthew 12. 22 through 32. Jesus is casting out, I'll give you the short version, he's casting out demonic forces. And the Jews are saying he's doing it by the power of the evil one.

That's what they're saying. And uh he says uh Verse 27, If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Well, he is casting out demons. And therefore the kingdom of God is there. That's logically necessary. Because he says in verse Matthew 12:29, How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man? And he'll plunder his house.

So Jesus is saying that the strong man, as reference to Satan, is bound. Those are the words of Jesus right there. And there's that. And um I'll go through a couple other ones.

So, the premillennial view is that the rapture, which is certainly biblical, occurs at the beginning of the thousand years. and that the new heavens and new earth occur at the end of the thousand years. That's the typical position.

Well, What I'll do is, I'll ask people, I say, what do you think of this? And this is out of 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Luke chapter 5, verse 2, because there's no chapter break in the Greek. It says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.

Now that's the rapture, no problem. He says, Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Now as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord come like a thief in the night.

So he uses this phrase, a day of the Lord come like a thief in the night, to describe the rapture.

Well, what's really interesting is when you go to 2 Peter 3.10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. In which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. It certainly seems to be the case. that those events occur at the same time. They're right close to each other.

And there's no thousand-year period between them because both of them are described as the day of the Lord that comes like a thief.

Now in Thessalonians it says in the night, and Peter it doesn't. But there's no other phraseology like this any place in the Bible, except for these two places. And it's in reference to the day of the Lord, which is a single day.

So it has to be referencing the same thing, and both are said to be. Uh Mm. The rapture is one. On that day, as long as the new heavens and new earth, on that same day.

So you see? See, there's there's other views. that are right there. I show this to people and they scratch their heads.

Well, I can show him more stuff too. You know, you've heard two men in the field, and one is taken, one is left. That's the rapture, right? You've heard that? Mm-hmm.

It's not the rapture. It's not the rapture at all. Go to Matthew 24. Oh, it's not. And I'll die on that hill, okay?

Because it's not. The rapture occurs, but those are not about the rapture. That's about the wicked being taken. Because it says, I've quoted this so many times, in Matthew 24, it says, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man, for they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and took them all away. But the parallel of Luke 17 says, They were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage, till the flood came and destroyed them all.

Well, the ones who were giving in marriage, eating and drinking, were the wicked. They're the ones destroyed.

So that's the context of Luke 17. And when you look at Matthew 24, they were eating and drinking, and the flood came and took them all away. That's the wicked. Two men will be in the field, one is taken, one is left. It's the wicked who are taken.

And they even ask Jesus in Luke 17: they said, Well, where are they taken? And he answers the question. It doesn't say taken to heaven. He says, where the body is, the vultures gather. He answers the question.

Now my question to people is Why is it? that preachers are teaching. That two men in the field and one is taken, one is left, is the rapture when if you just read the context. It's obvious it's not. Why is it they can't get that after years and years of study?

When it it just takes two minutes to prove that that's not correct. What else are they not getting? If they're just reciting scriptures in their minds with the idea that what they've been told about it has to be true, instead of looking at it and saying, well, what does it actually say? And then to really throw a monkey wrench into things. I go to Matthew 13.

where Jesus talks of the parable of the wheat and the tares. It was really interesting because they said, let's tear up the tears. And he says, allow both to go together until the harvest. In the time of the harvest, I'll say to the reapers, First gather up the tares. and bind them in bundles to burn them up.

but gather the wheat into my barn. He says at the time of the harvest, the first ones gathered are the tares, are the wicked. And then ten verses later, He explained. the parable. He says the field is the world.

As for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the terrors of the sons of the evil one, An enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age. And that brings in a whole nother topic. Called the two-age model, this age and the age to come. He says the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

And so just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. Check this out. The Son of Man will send forth his angels. They'll gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks.

Now, people will say, well, that means then that it's during the millennial reign that this occurs. No, it's not. Because it says it's at the end of the age. And I have, I've done a lot of research on this, the end of the age. Is not the end of this age, then you have a thousand-year age, then you have an eternal age.

Because that's what they want to do. But it never speaks like that. When you look at this age and the age to come, you'll find out that uh There's only two ages. and are very specific. about what it teaches.

And um I can go into this quite a bit. I've done s many studies on this and taught it many times, and people are always very intrigued. Yeah, it is very intriguing. And I'm sad that as I was brought up in a Roman Catholic family, and so we fiddle farted around with other stuff instead of really getting into the nuts and bolts of what the Bible says. We went into all that other stuff, all that ritualistic stuff, you know?

Now let me ask you, have you been to my website, carm.org? C-A-R-M. No, I should go and check it out. Yeah, check it out. I've been working on it for 30 years.

I've written about 5,000 articles, and I try and be very biblically based. And I just trade what Scripture says as best of my ability. I'm not claiming I have everything right. And of course, I always say, hey, you can't trust a guy in the radio whose last name is Slick, okay, because that's my real name. You always got to check out what I say against Scripture.

So go check it out. And it I write in such a way that it's Quick, I call it quick and slick. Succinct with scripture references, and you can go in and check things out. And if you disagree, call me up and go, Yeah, I don't agree with you here.

Well, maybe you're right, maybe I'm wrong, and I have to learn, which is fine. Because I don't have everything. But I'll tell you, I do a lot of study. And that is a good study.

Okay. Well, I do love your show. I'm it's really helped me, yes, w further myself. What do you call that, edification? Very good.

Yes, edification, education, things like that. Absolutely. Praise God. Yeah.

All right.

Well, thank you. You're welcome, and may the Lord bless you, okay? Keep studying.

Okay. All right.

Bye-bye.

Okay. God bless. Bye. Yeah.

All right.

Well, let's see.

Next longest waiting is, ooh, David from, oh, North Carolina. Dave Belcombe, you're on the air. Hello, Matt. How are you? I'm okay.

I'm hanging in there, brother, by God's grace. Yeah.

I wanted to I haven't talked to you in a while, and I want to give my condolences about your wife, and I haven't talked to you since then, but I appreciate it. Thank you, David. I know it's tough. I've been through that same thing too, sir. I understand.

And the caller that just called in, just I think you answered every question just about I had. I've held this question about the eschatology for several weeks now. putting it off to call you. Oh. and I was going to call tonight, but it looks like you covered so much stuff And it's very confusing.

As big a deal as this is with our Lord coming, why is there so much confusion about it?

Well, I think people um What they believe the first thing they hear. And there's a proverb about that. I got to find the proverb, but you, let's see, Proverbs. Let me see. Because the Bible talks about this.

Proverbs. you believe uh you believe the first thing you hear. Let's see if I can find the reference for that doing a little search. And uh Is there some place I can't find it?

So it talks about you believe something is true. until you hear the other side.

Well, a lot of times what people do psychologically is oh, I gotta hurry, I got ten seconds, is they believe the first thing, they accept the first thing, they identify with the first thing, and then they don't want to change. because they've identified with something that they work into their worldview. and when they're challenged, they resist it. because a lot of times it makes them comfortable. I don't make people comfortable very often.

All right, buddy, we gotta go. Call back tomorrow. We can talk about it some more, okay? Out of time. Yes, I'll do too.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, brother. God bless. And Richie from Indiana, thoughts on God in the Old Testament versus the new.

I'd love to talk about that. And Ron, thoughts on women being pastors and elders. Oh, Ron, please call back tomorrow. We've got to talk about it. God bless everybody.

Talk to you tomorrow. Another program powered by the Truth Network.