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.

All right, everyone, welcome to the show. Listen to Matt Slick Live. I'm your host, Matt Slick. Today's date. is April 7th, 2026 for the podcasters and stuff.

As usual, if you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. You can also email me. At info at carm.org, info at carm.org, put in a subject line, radio comment, or radio question, and we can get to you. And just FYI will not be on live this Friday. I'm doing a wedding.

On Saturday and Friday, we have to do the rehearsal.

So I'll be out there doing the rehearsal for the wedding ceremony for Saturday. The following Saturday.

So, anyway, there you go with that. And we have Cole from Georgia. Cole, welcome. You're on the air. Oh no, no, Mr.

Mac wake up. I got an interesting question for you.

Okay. Romans chapter 16. Verse one and two.

Now, my question to you. Do you know anything about the New Living Translations? What's your take on that? I want you to read it in the New Living Translations. I don't know if I have the new living translation available.

Okay, so I might be able to look it up New Living Translation of Romans let's see. 16, 1 through 2, right? Yes, sir.

Okay, we'll see what happens here. And you can prep up your question, I'm sure, in the meantime while looking for it. and see if we can find it. Um Oh, we've got some stuff going on here. Let's see.

All right, come on, there we go.

So what's your question about it?

Okay, can you read verse one and two? In the New Living, it says, I commend you to our sister Phoebe, who is a. Deacon in the church of Centuria. Welcome her. The Lord has won his worthy honor.

Among God's people, help her in whatever she needs, etc. Yeah? She said there's your first woman, Deacon. Uh Yeah.

Okay. The sense is right there. Can't argue with that much. Y well, I can't? Oh, I guess we're done then.

Okay. No, I'm just saying. Oh, okay.

So uh do you know what the word deacon means?

Well, it's a servant in the church. It's a servant under the pastor. He's a helper of the pastor. He made of understanding. Yeah, it's from the Greek word diakonos, and uh it occurs 29 times.

In the New Testament.

Okay. So for example In Matthew 26, but whoever wishes to become great shall be your servant. Diaknas. Matthew 12 Or 2213. Then the king said to his servants, Matthew and then go on.

John 2.5, his mother said to the servants, Romans 13:4. It is a minister. of God to you. Romans 15.8, become a servant of the circumcision. 1 Corinthians 3.5, servants through whom you believed.

Okay. So does it mean, does it necessitate that 1 Corinthians? Or she made it Romans 16:1. Does it necessitate that it means A deacon in the church sense.

Well, it clearly says it. I have it. Yeah. The NSB 95%. Is it of the church?

It's of the deacon in the church? The NSB says servant. E S V says servant King James says servant new King James says servant R S V says dea uh says deaconess. Uh L E B says servant, and the rest of them I'm looking at just say servant. Um And so, uh then we It's a The deacon there is a woman, right?

That's what you're saying. And that's what it means. It's a woman.

Okay, and so you went to the New Living Translation, which is a, let's say, not a very literal translation.

So, in that, why would you say that it has to be a a church office that she's holding?

Okay. Oh I I think she could possibly have been a deacon because Paul, you know, i the Bible says there's neither male nor female. That's in the colour. That's Galatians, yeah, Galatians 3.

So, if it's neither male nor female, then how can we have males and females?

Well, it since in the s in the spiritual sense, Matt. Come on. Oh, so it's not a physical sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, so when it says when we get to heaven, are there going to be genders in heaven? No. No, there's not going to be genders in heaven. Yes, yes, there are. No way, no way.

Yes. Yes way. Yeah. Yes, yes, there is.

So when you're talking. Christ Himself said it. Christ Himself said there'll be no genders. He didn't say that. He never said that.

Never said that there'll be no gender. He said, You're going to be like angels. Angels don't have gender. It says they'll be neither like the angels in that they don't marry.

Okay, they'll be like the angels in the context of not marriage. We're going to be raised in the same bodies we die in. Jesus was raised as a man. Do you agree? You agree?

Yeah. And first thing And 1 Timothy 2:5 says there's one mediator between man and God, the man, Christ Jesus. And that's when Jesus is in heaven. He's called a man. Does a man have gender?

Okay, so then there's going to be genders in heaven back. I'm not going to be able to do that. But then Jesus is a man. You just admitted that, and he's in heaven, so there's genders in heaven.

Okay. That's because he's God. You know, God is the male. God is he. It's always he, not she.

But as far as the angels, there there's never been an angel Off. Addressed as a woman. Hell or not that I'm aware of. Um so when we're m when we are raised from the dead In the sense of the glorified bodies, we're going to be raised in the bodies that we died with. And we're going to have male and female parts, even in heaven.

We're not going to be using them in the reproductive sense, but we're still going to retain the gender that God created us to be.

Okay. Now, when it says in Galatians 3:28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ, it's not talking about there's no genders.

Alright, and when you go to 1 Timothy 3:8, deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued. These men must first be tested, then let them serve as deacons beyond reproach. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife.

So how's uh how's Phoebe, if she's a woman, fit the deacon office?

Well, Bert, the Bible, I mean, the New Living Translation says she's a woman.

So maybe they got it. Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe they got it wrong. I don't know. The New Living Translation is not considered a very.

Astute Translation It is just a very loose translation, very loose.

Okay. Oh Okay, I gotcha. It's thought for thought. That's why I call it two. I don't know.

I don't know. Yeah, it's a thought for thought. It's not what we call a dynamic equivalence. Like the NASB would be a dynamic equivalence. Which means what's it actually saying?

See, like in Spanish, to say I'm hungry, you say yo tengo hombre.

Well, you can say the literal translation is, I have hunger, or you can say, I am hungry. But you could do it in a loose way and say, you know, I'm starving. And all of those are legitimate. But only one of them is a dynamic uh well. To a more dynamic equivalence where the other one is a thought-for-thought idea, which can be.

played around with And that's the new living translation. It's not the translation I would ever. go-to for serious study. I would always go to the NESB. The uh ESV and maybe the L E B or L L S B.

Legacy standard.

Okay. I wonder what the New Living Translation says about that verse, 'cause you're right, because there will be contradiction if that's the case. But I wonder what it says about um the of the the qualifications of a deacon in the New Living. wonder if this actually contradicts in itself. Look, the New Living Translation is not meant for serious study, just a general thought.

And so the word deacon, which I said, it occurs 29 times in the New Testament. Majority of them it's not used in the sense of a deacon. In fact, I'm looking and I see deacons in only in the NSB, I only see it translated three times. in the to the word deacon. And so I'm scanning.

And the other time it's um translated uh twenty six times is translated as servants or Or uh That's what else? Minister. Uh it was made a minister according to the gospel.

Okay, servant of Christ minister. According to the stewardship, so okay, but when the Bible specifically says deacons are to be husbands of one wife. then they can't be female. Yeah. It's an inconvenient truth for a lot of people.

I believe you. You convinced me on that. You got me on that. I agree with you. But as far as the genders, I don't know about that one, you know, with the male and female in heaven because, um, What would be the purpose of you know, what would be the you know, if we're not reproductive?

So A woman, I don't know how that's gonna work out. You know, you got male and female. Nobody's going to be getting married. Nobody's going to be married in heaven. Technically not correct, but because we're going to have the marriage ceremony of the Lamb we're going to participate in.

But I know what you mean. Look, you're talking about Matthew 22:30. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels. What it says is there is that they don't marry or given in marriage. That's what it talks about.

It doesn't say there's no genders. Don't make the assumption of saying that you have to have a gender. and only in reference to marriage, and vice versa.

So Jesus only said they're not going to be getting married.

So Jesus is a male. Jesus is in heaven right now. God made us male and female. He made us that way. were going to be resurrected in male female bodies.

That's what we're going to be.

Okay. We're not going to be using one more question. I understand that. One more question. All right.

So, okay, say our Earthly family here.

Okay, um like you let's say if you got remarried. And you started another family And all you guys want to have in your first wife That's gonna be confusing, man. I mean, you go there You know what I'm saying? You got your new wife and then your own wife, and you got a new family. How's that going?

Oh, if you're Mormon. Look, um If, you know, my wife passed away a few months ago, if, and I don't ever say that happened. And I don't ever plan on getting married. I'm not interested. But hypothetically, on a science fiction day, let's say I get married and then we both die later on and go to heaven.

Hey, it's all one happy occurrence of us doing what we're supposed to be doing here. But in heaven, we're no longer married. In fact, I was just talking, mumbling out loud about that. I'm looking forward to seeing my wife again, but we won't be married. Because till death do us part.

So, we're probably not going to even have knowledge that we were married on earth, huh? Sure, we will. Sure. That's gonna be confusing, man. If you remarry somebody, that's gonna be really confusing, brother.

No, it's not. No, it's not. It just means you married somebody else. That's not confusing. No, it's not.

We gotta go. There's the break.

So enjoy the conversation. We gotta go, brother. We gotta go. We'll talk to you about that.

Alright, hey, there you go. Hey, folks, you'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed Cole. I enjoy Cole. His voice is awesome and he's excitable.

So, what do you call it when Cole, that's his name, when Cole gets, you know, let's just say corrected or whatever. You call him charcoal burned.

Okay, whatever. Let's get to Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome, brother. You're on the air. Hey man, um Yeah, I'm sorry, that call was very excitable.

Uh-huh.

Well yeah, I was um I was I was wondering about the C. I. Schofield Reference Bible. And I know a lot of people, a lot of dispensationalists, they point to that particular Bible. And I don't know.

Are people taking them out of context sometimes? Like some of the dispensationalists seem to have very extreme views that. I'm not sure the original author even agrees with anymore because it seems to have Kind of morphed and transformed. And honestly, It seems like The CIM reference the Schofield Reference Bible is It's kind of running parts of our government at times with certain people. being influenced with theology and I find that a little dangerous, but what what do you know about it?

Well, it was printed right after the turn of the century in the 1900s by a lawyer who turned minister. Uh And his name was Schofield. And it became very, very popular because it had notes at the bottom of the Bible and used the King James Version. It then associated certain notes with certain this and that.

Okay, anyway, it became very, very popular, very, very popular. But he pushed what's called dispensational premillennialism, pre-churb rapture stuff. And that's where it really took hold in America was largely because of that Bible, which I think is very unfortunate. But.

So it's this is very dispensational. And I have a Schofield reference someplace packed or way or something like that. And in my early days of study, I would use it sometimes because there's some good notes in there. There really are. I just don't agree with his pre-millennial, pre-mill, pre-trib rapture dispensational stuff.

I just think it's unfounded. But other than that, you know, it did a lot of good. Lot of good. As long as people don't just don't raise it up on an altar and light candles in front of it, but you know, okay.

Okay, yeah, and I actually wanted to get a copy just for the notes to read for myself because I also heard a lot of. a lot of things about about uh certain theologians that In the past, and when I read what they actually wrote, then it just seemed a little bit different from what people are doing. But I I even had a friend who was a pastor A good man years ago when I was first getting interested in reading, And he tried to recommend I read the Schofield reference, but I said, Well, I want to just read the word alone without anyone's notes. or anyone floating first to see You know what God is saying to me. And then I'll go back, but It just seems like that particular branch of theology is really just just kind of take a peeping over at times.

Yes, it's convenient and it's ear tickling. In that the idea of, well, we get raptured out of here. We don't have to worry about anything. It'll be fine. Everything's going to be bad.

We're okay. We believe the truth and God's going to take care of us.

So it's a very comforting theology. And uh It's contrary to what I believe. I believe in depresscatology. I wish that the Schofield Reference Bibles references and stuff about that were correct. I just do not see it in Scripture at all.

And so that's just the way it is. But people will often just believe what's comfortable. Instead of really doing deep study, and most Christians don't know how to do deep study in the Word, they don't know. I could teach them. But they don't know how to do study.

Heav heavy study.

Okay. All right.

Oh, well, thanks again, Matt. Appreciate it. All right, brother.

Well, God bless. God bless. God bless them. All right, that was Jermaine. He's always got good questions and stuff.

Let's get to John from Alabama. John Macabrother, you're on the air. Thank you, Matt. Thank you for your program. I've listened to it for many years.

Oh, good. One question I have is is here in Alabama and in the deep south. We have a rise of of autonomous non-denominational churches that are huge in stature. Uh 10, 12 campuses Annual budgets in the tens of millions of dollars bordering on hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, one problem that we have Yeah. Is a lot of these congregations are younger as far as their Their staff? And there seems to be a lot of financial issues that come up or just power struggles, things like that. And I don't know if this is nationwide yet, but one thing that it's done is it's starting to younger people, to the under 25. just seem like out of touch.

as not very uh Authentic because there's not much uh oversight. And I'm seeing a rise in people, young people, going to say, Uh Catholicism. Or other religions, not out of theology. but just because it feels more grounded. And I I have several questions.

I guess I'll I'll I'll confide it into two. Is how Protestants view the American church. Do you see it as a? I don't know, evolutionary model where we'll keep just kind of changing. forms of church governments and church bodies and how we worship.

And second, how do you. Oh, let's do one at a time. Let's do one at a time. Let's do one at a time. Okay.

So. Are you talking about? I want to get that first question because it's a little complicated question, so if you could rephrase it. And the one who just addressed that. I'm just saying that You know, we went from smaller congregations early in our American church history, Uh to denominational Standards, we kind of started out everybody being kind of non-denominational in community churches, and we've gone back there.

So what's the question then related to that?

So the question is, does Does the model we have now, does that hold for a generation or two generations? Or do we get back to more You know, this is Methodist Church, Baptist Church, etcetera.

Okay, the model.

So there's different concepts.

Okay, does the model hold or should we get back? Those are different questions.

So does the model hold?

Well, without defining what that model is, we really can't say.

Sometimes what people do, they'll call me on the radio and they'll ask about a particular church group or something, and I'll say, what's their website or what's the name? I'll go find it. And then I always go look at the staff and look at the church statement of faith. And if they have women, pastors, and elders, then I know they're not trustworthy. And then I check their statement of faith and see if it's very detailed.

If it's just MAMBY PAMBY, then I know they're probably weak and they're probably trying to please people because they're not theologically minded, generally speaking. It's not always the case.

Sometimes you have non-denominational churches that are quite good.

So this issue you raised about people leaving that kind of stuff and going to the they're called apostolic churches. I don't grant that they're apostolic, but that's kind of the word that's come around. in that they claim apostolic succession and authority, the EO and the RC.

So that's the sense in which I'd use it, but they they don't have apostolic authority and they're false churches. But the fact is that a lot of Protestant churches are not How do I say this? They're not doing their job because what they're doing is entertaining people and trying to be cool instead of letting the power of God's word be unleashed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I see a lot of. I see a lot of churches and stuff where I go, I'm bored to tears.

But I'm not the model to look at either. I'm bored of tears because I've been doing this for so long that I'm not saying I'm a great preacher. I want to get up there and preach. It's just tough. And so a lot of the pastors aren't, in my opinion, aren't really equipping.

They're not really doing much. And so people are losing interest and going to something other than the boredom of what they have in Protestantism. Hey, hold on, I got more to talk about. I'll be right back, folks, after these messages, please. Stay tuned.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Alright Robbie, welcome back to the Show. Let's get back on with John from Alabama. You still there, brother?

I am. Thank you.

Okay. So, um you got me thinking. Which often happens during the show, during the break, I'll start working. Literally, I'll start working on an article based on what the caller is saying because it's a good question, it's a good issue.

So I've already got some notes and I'm thinking about do developing an article on this. Yeah. Well, yeah, you know, it's something I want to talk about too, because This is really interesting to me. You know, pro see, oh, for example, I grew up in Southern Californi mostly in Southern California, and basically, you know, surfboards would be outside churches. And that was okay.

And so people weren't interested in Highfalute and this and that, because they'd be shaking sand out of their hair and walking into a church. That wasn't uncommon back in the Jesus days, Jesus movement days. And so the casualness of that is what I like. the casualness of just Just the worship the word, etc.

Well That's just me. But there are a lot of people who prefer something more grounded in.

Something less subjective.

Now, this is the thing. One of the problems in Protestantism, and there's many. Is that because there are so many denominations, we don't have then a tendency to be unified, and it appears as though we're fractured and don't know what we're doing.

Well, this denomination teaches that. That denomination teaches this. How can we know what the truth is?

So, the inherent subjectivism within certain aspects of non-denominationalism. Breeds a distrust among the youth who want something more than I can go across the street and get something different. They like the regularity. And so Unfortunately, because they're not biblically minded, because they've not been taught to be biblically minded in a lot of churches. They then look to the peripherals.

The smells and bells. They look to the priest, they look to the big churches, they look to the stained glass images, we're from a thousand years old, 1,500 years old, we're the true church, etc. We're not like the Protestants. And a lot of this is very convincing to a lot of people. And I regularly battle battle, and that's the word, it's not an exaggeration.

I battle. With Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox over truth. on a regular basis. Uh online. And I mean two-hour back-and-forth discussions.

That's not correct. You're a hireling, you're not believing the word of God. They go, you're of the devil. I mean, we're talking battle.

Okay. So this is some of the stuff that is occurring. The youth want depth. And pastors often don't know how to deep uh do deep theology. A lot of times, now, again, like I said, I'm not a standard of anything, but because I've been doing this for so long, when I go to a church, I listen to the pastor, I'm really listening.

And is he going to use the Greek? Is he going to use the Hebrew? Is he going to bring out another theological point that's tied to the text? Or what's he going to do, what you're not going to do? I really pay attention.

And then I'll hear a sermon, for example. Be good because being good is good. Don't lie because it hurts people. God doesn't like it. And then we do a song and we leave.

But it's not anchored in the depth of the holiness and majesty of the triune being who from eternity past called us out of the darkness of our sin, and that Christ redeemed us with his own blood, being bought with the blood of God, Acts 20:28, out of the eternal covenant, Hebrews 13:20, which we were called and we were granted that faith, Philippians 1:29. Therefore, you are to obey Christ and not lie and not cheat, not steal. That obedience doesn't get you salvation, doesn't maintain your salvation, but it's a demonstration of your salvation.

So examine yourself: are you saved? Are you demonstrating the life of Christ, or are you a hypocrite? This is the kind of stuff I think needs to be taught from the pulpit, like that. Where they go in and weave biblical theological principles into the word that they're presenting and confronting the congregation in a loving, patient way. But so many times, what do you get when you go to these churches?

You know you're wonderful. God just loves you so much. In fact, if you were to just bow before the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian serfer Jesus, he's standing at the door of your heart asking permission for you to let him in, you'll be fine. This is the it's an exaggeration I'm giving, obviously, but there's some truth to it. And so the The what you know what's interesting about the youth is That if you watch videos, you know what the videos are that become very popular?

On YouTube and Facebook and Twitter, are the videos of guys sitting in a chair or just in a car? Hey, you know what? Blah, blah, blah. It's authentic. It's real.

And a lot of these churches Aren't doing that. Go ahead, sorry. No, I was gonna say, if there's a quest for authenticity here in the Deep South that is missing in these congregations, I'll give you a quick example. It'll take fifteen seconds. There's a church in Houston, not Osteen, not Lakewood Church, but like a church that if you went on their website, you would say, hey, this is Reform Theology and their presentation and their about us and their creed.

And there's and for example, there's a $900 million a lawsuit right now where the congregation says over a voice vote that they lost their voting rights within the church. And everything is under the the the tenure of one pastor. And that's the those are the kinds of things we see more and more in the Deep South that young people just feel is so inauthentic.

Well, you see, I would love to do a biblical teaching tour. of biblical theology and field questions at different churches. I would love to go do that. Fly here, fly there, go there, answer questions and teach. For example, where does it say in the Bible that the congregation votes for what happens in the church?

Never says it. Yes, sir.

It doesn't. What does happen is we have elder rule. That's what the Bible teaches in 1 Timothy 5:17, the elders who rule well. and the elders are be miascunai casaner, men of one woman. That's what it says.

There is no this democratic vote thing. In the church. I'm sorry, but it's not there. This is why Presbyterianism in the governmental form is the biblical form. Because the elders, the word elder in Greek is presbuteros.

Now, if I were to go to a church and teach that, where people want to have their vote, You think that would fly? No. Because they want what they want. rather than submit to the Word of God in a lot of cases. When I teach on the radio, And I teach in Bible studies, and I teach in stuff.

Sometimes I warn people: get ready. I'm not going to teach you anything that's going to tickle your ears. I'm going to teach you stuff that the Bible teaches. God chooses us for salvation. 2 Thessaloni 2.13.

Sure. He does that. And people don't like that. It's up to me. No, it's not up to you.

Because it says, the Bible says, Romans 9:9 through 23, it's not up to you. That's what it says. And so people don't want to hear this because, in our comfort here in America, we are democratically run, except we're not. We're a constitutional republic, not a democracy. A democracy is simply rule by mob, mob rule.

But a democratic republic, excuse me, a republic, a constitutional republic, is what we have. Anyway, that's another topic.

So the churches, I think, are failing. And let me just boil it down to this. I remember going to a church once. And uh uh last year. And I've I think it was packed, two or three services packed.

I did this, two different churches, the same basic thing. In the local area here in Idaho. Huge two, three services, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. Both sermons were crap. Flat out.

In one, The sermon, when's he going to start? Because he started with a story. When's it going to start? When's it going to start? And I realized after 10 or 15 minutes, oh, now he's preaching.

Where's the text? He finally referenced a a verse in the Bible. And I remember actually scanning the congregation and feeling bad for the congregation. They're getting ripped off. Went to another church, a well-known group.

and the pastor taught moralism. PURE MORALISM Was not Christ centred? was not cross centred. Was not historical redemptive, but Moralism. Not going back.

I went to another church last month where a pastor was going through and discussing eschatology, and he has a different view than me. That's fine, I don't care. But the way he did it. He made it sound as though people like my view Who hold my view on millennialism? That we just don't really study the Bible, don't know what we're doing.

And I remember when he didn't say those words, but he was trying to be fair, and I'll grant that. But the way it came out, I actually noticed the heads shaking in the congregation of people like, how could they possibly believe that? And he was accidentally causing division of the body of Christ. I get sick and tired of this kind of idiocy. I go to these churches and I don't want it.

What do you think the youth are doing? They're even less enamored with this idiocy. Right. Sure. Yeah.

A lack of exegesis is what I see. But, Matt, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, you see, you you You gotta be going because this is a huge issue. And it's one of the reasons I'm having so much trouble finding a church because the stuff that you're talking about. is so prevalent in churches.

Matt, I've also seen a rise in very, very local congregations, five, eight, ten people. And I think that's a very, very biblical model. And I have a feeling if there's enough training, that's the direction our Uh, our worship spaces are going again. Thank you for your time. Yeah, okay, buddy.

God bless. I'm gonna comment about that when you get back. That's another good point. Be right back after these messages. God bless to see you.

Hey everybody. Please stay tuned. We're back Patrick on. This will be interesting. I'll be right back.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, and welcome back to the show. And during the break, I'm working on that article. He mentioned the idea of small groups, 10, 15, well, 5 to 8, I think you said, but 5, 10, 15, 20.

I actually was involved with one of those just a few months ago. and where we would meet in a saloon of all places. And it was great. It was great. And I would be there in the back.

I like sitting in the back, always in the back. And that's just how it is. And listening. And people would, it wasn't a church, it was just an assembly, a kind of a gathering of people. And one of the gentlemen there, who was next pastor, started doing more and more of the teaching and kind of just leading everybody.

So I kind of just, you know, okay, that's fine. I just bowed out. And I'm looking for something closer. But it was a neat little fellowship of people, and different ones would. Offer varying comments, and it was a nice experience.

I have talked to a lot of people who have seen or desired that kind of. a fellowship away from the The deluge of a huge church where you're swept along in the movement of whatever happens, and no one knows you're out there swimming. And so, this is a problem. And in small fellowships, people can have more input, more accountability, as well as a Uh more well More fellowship and recognition. Not that they're trying to put recognition, but there's that connection, that intimacy is there that you don't often get in big churches.

That's not to say everything's right or everything's wrong, but you know, it's just. observations. Let's get to Patrick from North Carolina. Patrick, welcome. You're on the air.

Uh hello, Matt. Uh thanks for taking my call. Hey Patrick, so what do you got, buddy? Um my question is Um You know, when Jesus became the high priest, you say he He had to be sprinkled. But what if Jesus was actually immersed in water?

Could he still be the high priest? Yes, functionally, I would think so, except that if he was fulfilling the Old Testament requirements, he had to be sprinkled.

So, I would think that's what I mean. Because if he was immersed, that means he wasn't sprinkled, so. Do you believe he was sprinkled just to to make sure you're Your theory is r correct? No, not at all. I believe he sprinkled because he said he had to fulfill the Old Testament law.

He entered into the priesthood at his baptism. And the requirement of the law was a priest had to be sprinkled with water. That's just what it was. That's it. It wasn't immersion.

The word baptism means baptisial, which means immersion. No, it doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. What's it?

Baptismal means immersion in German. What is it? Mm. Yeah. Okay.

So you're going to be baptized with the baptism I'm going to be baptized when he's talking to the disciples about the persecution coming? Is that immersion? No, he was talking there about the um. Suffering.

Okay, so it doesn't mean immersion there. And then, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You made a statement. I'm tackling the statement. You say baptism means immersion.

I've just showed you where baptism doesn't. In fact, in Acts 1:5, John baptized. Hold on, hold on. Would you?

Okay, okay. I'm just getting rid of them. When people Let me answer the question, and I know who Patrick is. He's on a short fuse to begin with. But Then you know it just really is not a conducive to a good conversation.

And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, if you go to Acts 1:5, as I was going to go to, it says that Jesus says, John baptized with water. He'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit many days from now. Not many days from now. And baptism with the Holy Spirit is not an immersion, it's a pouring of the Holy Spirit upon, because that's what the Bible teaches, how we receive the Holy Spirit, by the pouring. That's the prophecies of the Old Testament.

He'll pour forth the Spirit on all mankind.

So I'm just saying the word does not necessitate immersion. That's all I'm saying. It might mean it in some places, it might not in others. That's all. And I know so many people out there, no, Matt, you're just wrong.

Well, then go look for yourself. Go find blueletterbible.com, find the word baptism, do a search and see how it's used in all its contexts and see. And just see if that's what it means. And let me try something here. Let's see tables.

If I go to carm.org, I think I did a, I'm gonna verify this. Tables, let's see tables. Tables and charts. See, guess what? Oh man.

So, uh I I think I did a study on the word baptizo. Tables and word analysis. Here we go. And I found let's see. Yeah, baptism.

So I found the word baptize in the Greek, and I found every single instance of where it occurs. every single one. All right.

It's translated differently: cleanse and washing, baptism of tribulation, baptism washings, which means not immersion, and those are various contexts. I went through and did that, and you guys can check it out. I'm just saying, I can teach people how to do Bible studies, I can teach them how to study on your own. I can teach you how to study. What you do, how to do word studies.

Don't make up your mind before you get to the word. Let the word make up your mind. That's it. We teach how to do that. But if I do, if I teach people, I teach them how to study and they start studying, they come up with stuff, they go, wait a minute, that's not what I've been taught.

I know. Because so many denominations now, in order to In order to be involved in the denomination, Pastor's got to teach the denominational line. I'm so blessed I don't have to do that. Yeah. You know, I remember I was a Presbyterian pastor.

And I said in a Bible study once, for the congregation, I said that uh Um There's good arguments on both sides for the charismatic gifts. You've got to make up your own mind. That cost me the pastorate. Yeah, it did, long story short.

So uh there you go.

Now I don't have to worry about that.

Now I can just say, hey. There's good arguments on both sides of the charismatic gift issue. Study yourself. Study and see what you come up with with the word of God. Ooh.

What a novel idea Hey, study the Word of God for yourself. Who'd have thought? See, if I was a pastor again, and I would not want any denominational affiliation because I don't want anybody looking from my shoulder saying, you know, you got to make sure you teach pre-trib rapture, or you have to teach all mail, or you got to teach cessationism, or you can't teach, go away, go away. What does the Word of God say? What does the Word of God say?

That's my heart. What does it say? And I'm open to suggestions, I'm open to corrections, I'm open to counter-arguments because I could be wrong. And I'm seriously open to that. Let's hear your argument.

Let me see what you've got. And oh, that's good. I didn't think of it that way. That's good. That's happened many, many times.

But the thing is, denominations, one of the bad things about them is the pastors have got to preach along those denominational lines. They don't realize how often they do that. And, you know, it that's good to to an extent. It's good to an extent. All right.

Having said that, someone today, we have nobody waiting, so I'm going to ramble a little bit. A friend of mine, Cameron, sent me a video a link And I finally did it. First time ever, if I remember it the first time ever. I did a reaction video. I went and listened to what he said, what was said, and I went, that's not right.

Mm-hmm. The video dealt with uh Joel Berry. It'll come up a little bit. and Tucker Carl Carlson. And the video was about Uh the Bible supports socialism, not capitalism.

And I went, that is so wrong. And I remember thinking. You know Amateur theologians should keep quiet. It's like actors. You're not qualified to talk about politics.

Do your acting. Stay in your lane. And if you're going to make statements about governmental procedures in the Bible, I would suggest. That you actually do a serious study before you talk about it. And so they were saying, That socialism is what the Bible taught, and that the Bible has nothing to do with capitalism.

And that uh irked me. I get irked. All right.

So I did a reaction video and I released it and uh whatever.

So, I'm going to go over a little bit because I'm going to focus on this a little bit. Just so you guys know, does the Bible support capitalism? Here's the answer: yes. Does this Bible support socialism? Here's the answer: no.

and I will show you why both of those statements are accurate.

Now, besides many things, I can talk about capitalism. I'm going to talk about capitalist principles, then I'm going to tell you what socialism is, and then go to the scripture that they think proves socialism, but it doesn't. I'm going to show you, okay? I only got four minutes, so I gotta hurry. In capitalism there is the free exchange of profit.

This is found in Proverbs 31, Matthew 20, Matthew 25, Matthew 21. I can't read all the verses. But Proverbs thirty one sixteen She considers a field and buys it from her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sees something, she buys it, it's hers.

Socialism says no real private property.

Okay. In labor, the wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. Pay them. 1 Timothy 5:18 says, You don't muzzle the ox, pay the worker. Entrepreneurship, in Proverbs 14:23, In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 22:29, Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. And here's this, this is going to blow people away. You know how this DEI moronic stupidity is out there? DEI needs to DIE because it's everybody's got to have an equal outcome.

That's communist. uh tripe Guess what Jesus says, Matthew 25, 29? For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he who has and he will have in abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. There's no guarantee of equality in the kingdom of God.

You are given certain abilities and certain responsibilities. You carry them out to the best of your ability. And if you don't do well, that's on you. There's no you know what? He didn't do as well as me.

I got to give him what's mine. I'm going to give it, and he deserves it. And it has to be all equal. This Marxist commie crap has got to die.

Now, the Bible does warn about the issue of avoiding love of money. Don't exploit workers. Not hoard wealth. I can't read all the scriptures. I'm reading the topics that they talk about.

Okay, because I don't have time to read them all. Beware of false business practices and don't trust in riches.

Now, Okay. What is socialism?

Socialism describes any political or economic theory that says the community rather than individuals should own and manage property and natural resources. That's from history.com, articles on socialism. There's many, many quotes like that. It was an easy one to find. And the reason I'm bringing it up is because of these two verses in Acts 2:44 through 45.

And all those who believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. They go, see, that's socialism. No, it's not socialism.

Socialism is the state ownership combined with compulsory redistribution. That's not Acts 2, 44 through 45. And socialism also moves along the lines of the abolition of private property. That's not what that verse is teaching either. And nor is it teaching governmental central planning.

In Acts 2, 44 through 45, it was voluntary giving without governmental involvement, where private property was retained. It was situational, not governmentally mandated. I wish people. would stop playing amateur theologians and then get on to these big platforms and then say dumb things like, hey, the Bible doesn't support capitalism, it supports socialism. You know.

So much heresy, so little time. It irks me.

Okay. Alright, there we go. I'll be out of. Out of hearing them sack because there's a music. And just to remind you, I won't be on the air live Friday.

Got to do a wedding rehearsal that time during the show.

So I'll be doing that. And may the Lord bless you by His grace. Back on here tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. Have a good one.

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