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, and welcome back to the show. Hey, if you want to give me a call, you can, as always, all you got to do is dial 877. 2072276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call if you want, if you can.

And I just got a little bit of news. I'm going to take tomorrow off from the radio. I'm going to drive down to Utah. And uh do some stuff.

So I'll just be off tomorrow and then be back on live Monday. Not a big deal, just letting you guys know. And if so, if you have a question or a comment you want to get to me right now, that would be the good thing to do if you want to call me today. And the number is uh 877-207-2276. You can also email me at info at carm.org info at carm.org.

And um, we uh We'd love to hear from you. You can also put in a subject line: radio question, radio comment. Easy to do. Easy peasy.

Alright, let's get to. Jer uh Germain, excuse me, Germaine. Hey Jermaine buddy. Hey man, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. Yeah, today I want to ask you about Jeremiah. Chapter 7, verse 16. Where God lately singing not to pray. And he lists a variety of reasons afterwards.

I've seen people use that as a proof text. for why they won't pray for someone, but Is there really a time where God not to pray for someone. Yeah, there's one right there. Jeremiah 7:16. Yeah, I've seen that.

And he doesn't want them to be interceded for because it says, he says, as for you, do not pray for this people, do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me. for I do not hear you. And This is a judgment that is coming upon people. And that's a message at the temple gate, actually. And Jeremiah, you know, he's just told, don't do it.

Don't pray. Don't intercede. God says, I don't want you to. I'm not going to listen. It's not going to help.

And people, you know, they are shocked by this because they serve the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nightgown standing at the door of your heart, asking for wisdom, or asking for you to let him in. And they don't realize in Mark 4, 10 through 12, that Jesus speaks in parables so people will not be saved. And he hardens people's hearts so they won't be saved.

So this is stuff, the theology that most churches and pastors won't get into because it doesn't fit the comfortable mold.

So, Jeremiah 7:16 is definitely one of those verses that are difficult for a lot of people, but it is what it is. It says what it says, and that's just what it is. That's what I would say.

Okay? Yeah, no, just to clarify my question, I mean, obviously, it's pretty plain in the text, but is this a very individual thing? Like, do Do does each person know when they're not supposed to pray? for someone. No, we don't always know.

And so What we should normally do is pray for people. We should ask God to intercede, to work. to hopefully bring people into a saving relationship. And you know, as I pray for people. and members of my family and things like that.

I don't know what the condition is. I don't know if they are going to be saved. I don't know what God's work is. But I pray anyway. Here in Jeremiah he's a prophet.

And uh The reason he was telling them not to pray, not to intercede, is because of their persistent unrepentant idolatry. and the rejection of of his word.

So God says, Okay. And he judges them.

Now this is consistent, believe it or not. with Romans chapter uh Yeah. Romans 1. Um Roughly 18, the wrath of God is revealed against all godliness. And it follows in where God gives them over to the depravity of the heart and their mind.

There's actually a place in our lives or possible lives of individuals where God's judgment upon them occurs now. Before they're dead. And that's uh that's some of the evidence of that. It's really It's a tough one for a lot of people, but it's tr it's true.

Okay, yeah, that that's good for me. I I just um hate to see that verse. misused by some people who have more a pious attitude towards folks who might be down at a point in their life. And it it's obviously I don't believe they're interpreting that verse properly. It just seems to be more You know, more like a forensic where they just say we're not going to pray for them because they lack faith.

That's why they have alcohol problems or something like that. Right. Yeah, I I get what you're saying and and uh yeah, I think the text kind of speaks for itself. Yeah, and unless God tells us directly, you know, pray for people, intercede for people. lift them up and and just ask God to to work.

But if he tells us or he communicates to us, don't pray for him.

Well, then, okay. But in the meantime, we should be praying for him. All right.

Okay, Jeremiah? I mean, okay, Germany. All right.

That's close enough. It worked. All right.

All right.

Thanks a lot, man. Appreciate you. God bless you.

Okay. God bless. Bye-bye.

Alright. Um.

So, if you want to give me a call, folks, it's easy. All you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. I want to hear from him and give me a call. We have nobody waiting right now. And um like I said, I'll be not be live on here tomorrow.

I'll get a uh use a driving time uh during this show. To get to a place. Got to go to a wedding tomorrow. Got to go to a wedding. And so looking forward to that.

It's nice. I've known. I've known uh the the the the brought the groom for many years and uh you know he did to go do that and I just did a wedding like three three weeks ago give or take so hey look if you want to give me a call please just dial eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six I want to hear from you. Give me a call. You can also send an email to info at carm.org info at carm.org.

And put in a subject line, radio comments, or radio question, and we can then hopefully. Get to you. All right, let's get to Oscar from New York. Oscar, welcome. You're on the air.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, my question. If salvation is God's work, When Jesus died for all the sins is enough. That's only Okay.

Okay, I'm sorry. No, you understand if Jesus has got salvation God's work, which it is, then what?

Okay, Ben, Jesus dying for our sins is enough. We need enough? Yeah, it's all we need, is the work of Christ. But the false religions will add works to the finished work of Christ. They'll say you're saved by grace through faith after all you can do, or they'll say you have to keep the commandments to be saved, or whatever it is.

And they add works, and they just don't realize because they're not regenerate, they're not saved. They don't understand that we cannot add to what Christ has done, and we don't keep our salvation by our goodness. And I'm familiar with all the verses that they like to go through and all this stuff. But the fact is that Salvation is by By grace alone, through faith alone, Christ alone.

Okay, brother? Right, thank you very much.

Okay, bye-bye. All right.

Um, you know, that reminds me. Uh Today I was just doing something. Oh, I was working on a running errands. And when I get on running errands, I you know I have to get on my phone and just go into chat rooms and listen while I'm just driving because it's more interesting than news for me. And I I went into TikTok.

Long story short. This guy on TikTok was saying baptism was necessary for salvation. And so I got up to speak, and I said, You say it's necessary? He says, Yes. I said, Okay, so justification is being declared righteous.

I said, That's by faith.

So, do you agree that we're saved by faith, just by faith in what Christ has done? And he immediately did not answer the question, and he went to 1 Peter 3:21. You know, baptism now saved. He goes, That's what the Word of God says, and we're done talking. And he cuts me off.

And it was really interesting that uh such a person and Is apparently incapable of dealing with what the scriptures actually teach. And adds works of salvation, adds a baptism and salvation. And I went to another place, I was listening, and sure enough, another baptism guy comes up, and he's quoting Mark 16:16. And this would not allow, well, one guy would allow some counterpoints. And uh but the guy who was countering Well, let's just say he needs some improvement.

But at any rate, the whole idea of even baptism being necessary for salvation, let me just tell you, ladies and gentlemen, look, look. You're not saved by what you can do. You're not saved by any ceremonies you add to faith. God is one who grants us faith. Philippians 1.29.

He's one who does that. And that faith is good, because it's from Him. And it's real 'cause it's from him. It's work what he works in you. Philippians 1:29.

That's enough to justify you. Romans 5:1. Romans three twenty eight, Romans four five, Galatians two sixteen Just put your trust in Him. You can't add any works. You can't add your baptism.

You can't add your Eucharist. You can't add anything. That's what Satan wants. He wants you to add to the work of Christ and say you have to contribute to what God did in order to be right before him. Look, we're not capable of doing that.

And that's why Jesus had to do everything that was necessary. He became one of us. He never sinned. He went to the cross. He bore our sin.

He died with it in his body. He's the one who did that. And it's finished there. And what you need to do is receive what he did by faith alone. And not by faith and anything you can do.

Not by faith and your sincerity while you're doing good works. No. Don't trust in Christ and yourself, because that's what it comes down to. And people say to me, well, it's the works God gives you to do. It's still the works you're doing.

No matter what excuse you want to give. And also I have to say this. I know that a lot of Mormons are listening. But I want to tell you. Then I don't hate you.

I wasn't beat up by a Mormon. I was not an act Mormon or anything, but I just know what the Bible teaches. And it does not teach that God's an exalted man. And it does not teach as the goddess Mother in heaven. And so the faith that you have is a faith in a false God.

And the judgment of God is on you already. in that you have been judged. That you are believing a false God, and part of the judgment is that you will believe the lie. And you will believe. What uh is not true.

You'll believe in a God that's an exalted man, and that you have the potential of becoming a God. This is false doctrine. This is false teaching. And you need to repent of that. It's not me being mad at you.

But it says in the Bible in Romans 1:20, since the creation of the world, its invisible attributes, eternal power, divine nature have been clearly seen. And so they're without excuse. In verse 21, they knew God, but they didn't honor Him as God. And in verse 23, it says, They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the image in the form of corruptible man. That's exactly what Mormonism does.

An exalted man is your God. Corruptible man. who's a sinner on another planet. better world. Became a god, and this is who The LDS are bowing too.

And this means Doesn't it? It means that your faith is useless because it's in something false, and this is what Satan wants, and then he, with his dominion, Will help you get good feelings about what's going on as you join in a large church organization where they bear witness of the truth of what they feel, not what God's word says. but you don't realize that the judgment of God is upon you right now. That you've been given over to this and you're believing in a lie, an exalted man to another world, and you can become God's temple ceremonies. Aprons, handshakes?

Are you kidding me? That's not in the Bible. Not in scripture. And just like the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, just like the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. The combination of their false teachings means that they add works to the work of Christ on the cross.

And so they think that because they're doing this, they're going to be saved. their own sincerity, their own goodness. and they don't realize the arrogance and the pride of their own position. That they think that they can contribute to what Christ has done in order to be saved, and keep themselves right with God by their sincerity and their goodness and their ability to follow the works. That's a false doctrine from the pit of hell.

You need to repent. Do you want to give me a call? 877-207. two two seven six be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to call me, 877-207-2276, let's get to.

Next longest waiting is Chuck from Ohio. Then we'll get to Mike from Florida. Chuck, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, man.

Hi.

So what do you got here? Kinda uh Connected with what we were talking about before about not to pray for someone. Is that uh I think it's in uh maybe 1 John about You see a brother or s sending us in. And the doubt. Um Something about not praying for them.

That's a good point. Um I can find that in person, I think. It's I'll find it. But anyway I think it's a good point, yes. Mm-hmm.

Um well Uh my problem is Firstly, um I've got a I don't know if I call it a besetting sin, and some mornings I don't think it's a sin, some mornings I do. I can't control my coffee drinking very well. Can I have?

Well, I'm older and I have some health issues that. It does affect Like, I've got neuropathy nerve problems, and they say the caffeine does affect your nerves. With a new decaf. And it's a central nervous system suppressor.

Well, I've tried half-calf. I've tried. Decaf. I have got chicory and mixed it together. I mean, I've been battling this back and forth for some years now, and I feel like.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not elect or something, like for years. No, you just have an issue with cost. Like, this is showing me that, you know, that I can't persevere and that I'm not saved. No, no, no. Look, your salvation isn't dependent on whether or not you can give up coffee or not, okay?

And trust me, I get it. I love coffee. And I literally have right now in my hand, I'm drinking coffee. Hold on. Mm.

Good stuff. And it's difficult to get rid of it. It's so wonderful. I have an espresso machine, I love coffee. And I'll drink two or three cups a day.

And I just love it.

Okay, so. If you think you're supposed to give up coffee, Then that's between you and God, and you could work on that. If you're addicted to it, And you'd have a problem there.

Well, you know, coffee's not. It's not hurting anybody else, it's just you. And so it's not like you're drinking and driving. It's not like you're doing drugs and influencing your family, taking money away from your family, hurting people, and things like this. It's just coffee.

And so I wouldn't worry about it, and you just make a decision. Because if you're going to drink coffee and the doctors say you need to give it up, Well, it's your decision to give it up or not. And if you want to drink coffee, then drink coffee. They've never even actually told me to give it up. I think I had one doctor that said, you know, if you drink one cup of coffee, you should drink two glasses of water because it does do a certain amount of dehydration.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, every morning when I get up, this is something I've been doing for years and years, and I've noticed a substantial improvement in my health. Every single morning I get up. I drink a large glass of water, at least eight ounces, and I put in vitamins, mixed vitamin powder in it. I put in creatine.

I put in What is it uh oh I put in a a uh what's it What's that stuff that you put in when you Electrolytes, okay? And uh I put stuff like that in. My one doctor did recommend that I uh take some electrolytes every day. Yeah.

Well, I just put put this in, and I have one of those handheld thumb-triggered things that just mixes it. I just put it in the jar. What I do, okay, let me just tell you what I do. And you can try this, you know. I have one of those jars that you that fruit comes in.

And I just use it as my big container. And I put out water at night, let it sit so that it's temperature, room temperature in the morning. I get up, I add all my stuff, I get a handful of vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin magnesium, and zinc needed to go together. Also, if you want to, I discovered this, if you want to really push back Alzheimer's. you take a combination of um selenium with iodine.

And now I'm no doctor. I'm just telling you the research I've found. And this is what I do each morning. And I've noticed a big help, big, big thing.

So I don't need as much coffee because my body is needing that water. In fact, if I don't have water in the morning, my body starts complaining. I'm so used to it now.

So I'm just saying, you can condition your body and it needs less of other things if you start giving it really good food.

So instead of fighting against the coffee, add more good stuff to your diet in the morning and just see if it kind of wanes a little bit and Stuff like that. It's not a big deal. Yeah.

That sounds good.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to start focusing on that. Yeah, it's really helpful. I don't know how old you are, but I'm almost pushing 70 here. And I've been news for years.

I'm 76, and my birthday's next month.

Well, you're going to be 77, and praise God, God's giving you that much time. Here's something I got a suggestion for you. I would if I were you. I would ask God what He wants you to do so that you can serve him. And put, it doesn't matter how old you are, doesn't matter what skills you have or don't have.

You ask God. to use you where you are. And just ask him. And you keep asking him, not like once, and five minutes later, there's no answer. No, you got to pray for weeks and weeks and weeks.

You got to seek God, just like you get into this habit of adding water to your diet. First thing in the morning, you should have water, not coffee. First thing should be water. Coffee dehydrates. You want water for your liver, your kidneys, everything.

You know, ask God what what uh what He wants you to do. And you'll find that if it might be such that he puts you in a place in a thing where. You have to focus on him more, and you start replacing things with him.

So to speak. Be surprised, okay? Yeah.

All right.

That'll be good. Yeah.

Okay. All right.

Well, thank you. God bless you.

God bless you.

All right.

Well, God bless. Yeah.

All right, now let's get to Michael from Florida. Michael, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, how are you doing? Oh, hanging in there, man.

Just hanging in there. What do you got, buddy? That's good.

Well, I got to credit the last caller because I'm actually twenty eight, but I have the opposite problem. You see, I don't drink enough coffee, but I think the conversation you two had might actually uh get me considering to drink more coffee. It's uh coffee's good and uh As long as you don't overdo it, I can tell when I overdo it, I get palpitations in my heart. And so I go, Okay, I'm not too much. And I just I just uh lay off, you know.

That's all. No big deal. Yeah, it happens. It happens. Yeah, it's it's good for uh No pun intended, but heated conversation.

That's true. Yeah.

Well, the question I have is going to be a heated one. Yeah, it's not a light topic. But My my question for you is uh What do you think of our government's relationship with the Israeli government? And should we support them by sending them weapons? Yeah.

All right, so we have pluses and minuses for that. And when we get back with a break, we can go through a little bit, okay?

So sorry about that. And hold on. And then after you, we'll get back, we'll talk to Melanie from Indiana, which I think is going to be a good conversation. And please stay tuned. Be right back, folks, after these messages.

Be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. Hope you're enjoying it so far.

Let's get back on with Michael from Florida. You still there, brother?

Alright, so.

Alright, so basically should we give weapons to Israel, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. There's pluses and minuses to this.

Now, biblically speaking, God says He will bless those who bless you. Genesis 12.3, he's talking to Abraham, who's the father of the Jewish nation. On October 7th, twenty twenty three, we know that great atrocities were waged against Israel. We have Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis. There are those that are trying to destroy the nation of Israel.

Okay. And now strategically. We have to look at all kinds of things as they do that because the Israeli nation is a strong ally of the Americas, United States in that region, so it's wise to support them. it's wise to give them weapons if we want them to have a the ability to be defensive and self defense. Because the Bible says, deliver those who are taken away to death and those who are staggered to slaughter, hold them back.

Preverse twenty four, Isaiah one seventeen, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphaned, plead for the widow. There's lots of verses like this which talks about defending the weak the helpless.

Now, on the other hand, Israel's not exactly helpless either. But there's a lot of Muslim nations around them that want to destroy them. And this is because Islam is an evil religion, it's a false religion, it's not good.

So now we have we have to weigh things. We don't want bad things to happen because sometimes Israel blows it, and there are people who are killed who should not be. In the Gaza Strip, things have happened that, well, we don't want to approve of. But on the other hand, do we say, well, because of one thing here or two or three, we get rid of support for Israel altogether.

So this is just not an easy thing. My opinion is that we should support Israel biblically. and we should support them because they need that help and uh We want to have an ally in that area for lots of reasons, lots of strategic reasons. But we need to do it conditionally, and we need to be careful how it is that Israel is supported, not unconditionally, but with restraint and with proper um Yeah. Proper limits, okay?

Yeah, I I hear what you're saying. Because Like when I think of Israel, the Israel in the Bible that was established under the score and in the law of Moses. Had a different government than the secular state that's referred to as Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu. And even with when you read like the Well, like, um figures in the Zionist Congress the ideas that they were brainstorming on finding the next like finding and establishing a Jewish state to be protected from persecution.

some of them actually wanted the state to be a built on socialist and Marxist principles.

So like as a conservative, like, I mean, obviously, I don't like Socialism or Marxism So like if the modern state of Israel became, hypothetically speaking, a socialist country like Will we still be obligated to support them?

Well, these are questions we can't answer for now because it's not just one issue that it might be related to there. There are other countries in the Netherlands, Norway, I think, where they have a more socialist system and we will support them.

So this is not it's a cut and dry issue. And this is what a mistake I think a lot of people make is they'll say, for example, Israel blew it in Gaza, therefore we should never support Israel.

Well, that's just too black and white. There's all kinds of factors that go in. My wife and I, one of the things we did before my late wife before we moved to Idaho, was we did what I call a TENS chart. And it really helped us see things. And I've used it in different ways, but at any rate, since then.

We looked at the pluses and minuses, positive 10 to negative 10, on any particular issue. And then we added them up. And we could find which location, in our case, which city had the best numbers that we both liked. If I said whether in Idaho was a plus five and she said a negative five, then it was a zero. We averaged it out.

If I said the cost of living was a plus eight and she said a plus six, we put a seven. And we would do this kind of a thing so that both of our input was equally considered. And we discovered that in the area we are in now, that it was double the value of anything else that we could come up with. The principle I'm trying to say here is that one of the things we could do is just give numeric values to certain things. List out a bunch of pros and cons or issues that Israel, United States, and all this stuff in a condition of where we are now, in a condition of where it might be.

And then do positive and negative 10, positive 10, negative 10, and then see in certain categories what happens to see an overall assessment. And the reason this is valuable is because we can't keep track of all that information all at once in our heads, but the math. is really interesting when you add it up. And that's what I would be doing if I was in charge of how we had to spend our money for Israel or not. I'd be going through and doing all kinds of research and developing spreadsheets and the whole bit.

That's because I'm a tech nerd.

Okay. Yeah.

Because I look at this issue like I'm I'm a Christian and Uh a lot of Arabs in the Middle East, like in Palestine, like in Gaza, and West Bank and Lebanon. Like a lot of them are Christians. Like Lebanon has like 30 or 40 percent Christian. Population and When those people are being killed by Israel and Like the statues are being desecrated. Like, I don't get why.

I still have to supported and why that would make me or anybody else who doesn't support that and anti-Semite.

Well, I I get you. I have a friend. He'll be here in a couple, three weeks, and he has lots of connections in Israel. I mean, deep connections with Israel. He he tells me every now and then things that the news isn't telling us.

And I've just learned over the years not to trust the media. And I've got lots of reasons lots of reasons besides that. I don't trust the media anymore. I could throw an elephant. I just don't.

So. What I would do is, I would be doing independent research as much as possible to find out a a cross-pollination of real things that are really going on, what's the reason for events and things like this, and then see. and not to make a decision based on one issue. but on the totality of them. And that's what I think we need to do.

And be be wise if possible. See what I'm saying?

Okay. Speak? Yeah.

But here's one thing I do hold. Bless Israel because God blesses them, and we should too. doesn't mean we have to agree with everything, but just be careful. Because God's if they're still God's people, and He's not done with them yet. And that's one of the big ones for me.

That's a plus 10 right there.

Okay? Okay. Been talking to you, Matt. All right, brother. God bless.

Okay. Take care. All right.

That's a good conversation because that's the kind of conversation that just good sides, good issues on both sides, and point counterpoint. And those are usually the kind of discussions that expand your understanding and ideas, make you think of things you haven't thought of before. Melanie from Indiana, welcome. You're on the air. Melanie, are you there?

Hello? Let's see. I mean, we were having a lot of time. There we go.

Now I hear you. There we go.

Got it.

Sorry about that. No problem at all. I spent many years, joined the Mormon Church when I was 17. Um Because I married a Mormon. And um Anyhow, so I was very indoctrinated into the Mormon Church.

Um I got a little I was raised Pentecostal. Angela Fixo. you know, I've had a lot of different teachings in my life. And Now I'm getting a lot older, and I'm finding myself very confused about a lot of things. I have since, by the way, about Gosh, 27 years ago, left the Mormon Church.

Good. Had a very hard time doing that because. Ended up actually having to get a lawyer to get my name taken off the church record. Uh-huh. That's often how it is.

Yep. That's huh? Yeah.

So anyhow, I still find myself fighting with some of the teachings that I was taught because I did do a lot of the stuff in the temples. and things like that that you spoke of. You know. And oftentimes, I still don't understand what I did or why I did it. I mean, it just didn't even make sense to me.

I just followed through with what I was being told I had to do. Right. You know, because as a woman, In a Mormon church. You submit. Right, that's true.

That's what you're that's what you're taught to do. You're taught to submit. That's right. And um So anyhow, that's what I did. And like I said, since then I've left the church.

I'm saved now. I love listening to this radio broadcast. It's helped me so much with so many questions. But one thing that I'm struggling with with right now, and I've watched, like I said before, different ones on different reels and TikToks and this, that and the other. I've never been taught and I don't understand Tribulation and where the market of beasts, where the market of the comes in, where the rapture comes in, any of that.

Okay, well, tell you what, we got a break coming up, so when we get back. We'll dive into this. All right.

We'll talk about it. All right.

So please hold on. Hey folks, we write back after these messages. Three open lines, 877-2-07-2276. It's Matt Slick live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Melanie. Melanie, are you still there? I am. All right, let me clarify what you're asking.

You want to know what, not what the LDS version is, but what. The non-LDS basic biblical truth is about the rapture, tribulation, things like that, right? Yes, I want the real truth. That's what I'm purging. All right, well, I'm going to give you some views.

And the reason I'm going to do that is because there are different views that are held by different people. who are very competent and very good Christians. There are three main views of what's called the millennium. and three main views on what's called the Rapture and the period of the tribulation.

Now the millennium, the thousand years. The question is, is it a literal thousand years or a figurative thousand years? The literal thousand year people are called premillennialists. That's what LDS falls into. And then there's what's called amillennialists who say that it's not a literal thousand years, but it's a figurative period of time.

And at the end of that figurative period, Jesus will come back. And new heavens and new earth will be made. The post-millennial view is similar to the that one I just mentioned called awe mill. And it says that things are going to get better and better in the world over a long period of time, and then Jesus will return. And so the more dominant ones in America are what's called pre-mill and awe-mill.

Pre-mil means there's the future 1,000-year reign of Christ. And Amil says that we're in the reign of Christ right now. And that uh That he'll return.

Now, that's one, those are the two main views: Herald America. Then there's this thing of the seven-year tribulation period, and then related to the rapture. Though there are some who deny the tribulation, I think it's pretty ridiculous to do that. I mean, scripture talks about it. But then the question is, when does the rapture occur?

That is when Jesus returns, that we are caught up to You got to be with them in the year. And we're transformed.

Now, some say it happens before the tribulation. And some say in the middle of the tribulation, the seven-year period, and some say the end.

So, the predominant view of those, all these views here in America, is premillennial. where there's a future thousand year reign later on and pre-tribulation rapture. Most people we believe that to take it up before the tribulation period.

Now, I don't believe those two views personally. I'm all millennial and believe we're going to go through the tribulation.

Now, hopefully, I'm wrong. But I want to say that there's good people, intelligent people, on all sides. We should not look down our nose at any one particular view and the people associated with it, what it calls division. Having said that, If you don't mind, I can go through some scriptures with you, okay? All right.

I would think that where you want to go is to begin with is Matthew 24. Because Jesus came out of it. Matthew 24, and I'm going to give you some stuff to think about, all right? And the whole chapter, Matthew 24 and Luke 17, are parallels. They're parallel scriptures.

And what happens is in verse 3 of Matthew 24, He was sitting at the Mount of Olives, and the disciples said. When will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

Now this is really telling. Because they ask three things. When will these things happen? And what they are asking is when will the stones of the temple be torn down? Yeah.

And when will that happen? And another question: what will be the sign of your coming? The sign of your coming. There's only one return of Christ. And then the third question is: in the end of the age.

So this is in Matthew 24, verse 3. Jesus then goes on to answer the question. Yeah.

And I'm not going to read every verse, but just to highlight it areas. He says, Many will come saying, I am the Christ. There's going to be wars and rumors of wars and famines and earthquakes. They'll deliver you to tribulation, they'll kill you. He says, At that time, many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

Many false prophets will arise and mislead many.

Well, the false prophets are. Mohammed You are Joseph Smith. Charles Days Russell. All right.

And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. And the one who endures to the end will be saved. He's talked about the the difficulty Of what's going to be going through the earth, not about earning salvation by enduring, okay. And he says the gospel will be preached to the whole world. Yeah.

So he's talking about this, and this is what he says. These are the things to watch out for. And then in verse 15, he says, When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken through Daniel.

Now there's some different interpretations about this. But it has to do with The rebuilt temple or the temple of Israel and the Antichrist going in there. And this is spoken of and referenced in Second Thessalonians chapter two. with the arrival of the Antichrist. But nevertheless, When you see this It's standing in the holy place.

That means. That it looks like what it means is the Antichrist is going to be in the holy place, which is in the temple.

Well, right now there is no temple. What is there in Israel at the Dome of the Rock? And I've had the privilege of being there a couple of times.

Okay. is there's a large area. And you can go to Google Maps or whatever, and you can look at it. You can see the dome of the rock. The dome of the rock would probably take three minutes to walk around.

To three or four minutes to walk around. It's not small, and there's a large area. around there that the temple would fit upon. And so if we see that occurring, Then we got to get ready. And he goes on.

And he says, Woe to those who are nursing and things. When you see this happen. flee because this is when it's going to get bad. And he says, For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to mislead, if possible, even the elect. But he says in verse 27, just as lightning comes from the east and flashes even out of the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Now, what's interesting here, I'm setting you up a little bit. I want you to focus on something. I'm going to switch to another place in Scripture and show you something that few people ever look at. But it says As the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

So he's saying That the the coming of the Son of Man will be from the east to the west. There's going to be a movement. And then he says in verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will, etc. And then it says, with a great trumpet. They'll gather together as elect from the four winds.

That's the rapture. Because that is spoken of in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Starting in verse 16, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet him in the air, and so will be with him always.

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Now as to the times and the epoch, brethren, you have no need of any one to teach you. For the coming of the Son of Man will be of the Lord will be like a thief that comes in the night. And so this is what he's talking about. That the electing to be taken, but it says. This is what it says after the tribulation.

That's when it says the elector gathered, okay. Yeah, I I was um As I was reading and studying, I was getting that, yes, this rapture takes place after the tribulation. That's right. Yeah.

Now I want to address something here. That I went to but didn't focus on, but want to do a little bit now. Because there's something that's going on in verse 3 of chapter 24. They ask the question When will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

This introduces the concept of what's called the two-age model. this age and the age to come. And you'll find in Scripture that it's spoken of as this age and the age to come. There are two ages: this age and the age to come. In this age, sickness Uh marriage.

of problems, etc. In the age to come, eternal life, no marriage, and things like this.

So there's actually scriptures that go through this. Why is that important? We're going to have this age and the age to come. this means this age will end. this age and the age to come.

Therefore the stage has to end. In light of that, go to Matthew 13. And when we go to Matthew 13 and we start In verse twenty four, Jesus gives the Parable of the tear, the wheat in the tears. Are you familiar with that parable? I'm just learning it, so I'll just So I'm going to show you something in here that blows people away.

And it's right there in the words of Christ. Jesus presented a parable, you know, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field. I'm not going to read the whole thing because I want to get to the stuff. We're burning low on time. And the wheat and the tares, and wait, you know, the bad people are there.

And they said, hey, you know, someone sowed wheat, I mean, tares in the field. And. He said, No, an enemy's done this. Do you want us to tear him up? He says, No.

Verse 29: While you're gathering up the tares, you may uproot the weak with them. And this is the verse that's really critical: verse 30. Allow both to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I'll say to the reapers, first gather up the tares. and buy them in bundles.

Well wait a minute. Jesus says the first ones gathered are the tares, not the wheat.

Now, when does this occur? Ten verses later. He interprets what he's saying. And you go to verse 37. The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

The field is the world. and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is a devil. The harvest is at the end of the age. And the reapers are angels.

So, as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth his kingdom, and he'll gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks, and throw them into the the fire.

So Jesus is saying that at the end of the age is when the wicked are taken first before the good. This is not taught. It's not taught. In any pulpit that I've ever heard, in all the decades I've been going to churches. No one's ever taught this.

Yeah, I've never heard this. Yeah.

But it's right there in Scripture. Right, it's right there.

Now, the reason I bring this up is because I want people to think who's listening. And why is it people aren't teaching this when this is what Jesus says? These are his own words, these are the words of Jesus I'm reading. And he did mars. That's right.

And have you heard of the issue of two men in the field and one is taken and one is left? You've heard of that, right? Yeah.

And people say that's the uh the rapture, right? It's not. It is not. Oh. Because it's absolutely not the rapture.

Now, the rapture occurs, but that's not about the rapture. Because what it says: two men in the field, one is taken, one is left. We have less than one minute in the show. Read through there and you'll see that the ones who are taken are the wicked. And the parallel, you go to Matthew.

of Matthew twenty four and Luke seventeen. Matthew 24, 36. and Matth and Luke seventeen twenty seven. And you go there and you start reading, you'll see, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be days of coming Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage.

The day that Noah entered the ark, a flood came in, took them all away. Matthew 24, the flood came and destroyed them all. Yeah.

The ones who are taken are the wicked two men in the field, one is taken, one is left. This is not taught. But in pulpits but that's what the Scriptures teach. I got a question about that. Why is that?

You're going to have to call back tomorrow or Monday. I won't be on tomorrow. Monday, yeah. Monday, okay. Call back on Monday.

Call back on Monday, we'll talk more. Lot to talk about. All right, God bless. Everybody, I'm out of here. I'll not be live tomorrow.

And, um, We'll be back on Lord Milling on Monday. Have a great weekend. By God's grace, we'll talk to you then. We'll see you. God bless.

Have a good evening. Another program powered by the Truth Network.