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 to the show. Hey, if you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call. You can also, if you are so inclined, email me at info at carm.org.

Info at CARM. Dot or g and put in the subject line radio comment or radio question. And we can get to it. It's not that hard. Hard to do.

All right, man. You know, all these ads and all this stuff coming in to Carm and um.

Someone bought the schools, that school of theology, $33. That's good. Anthony. And um Hey, you know, it reminds me: do we have schools? I need to write some more.

I've written a school of theology, apologetics, and critical thinking. And so I'm thinking about doing one on hermeneutics, on how to interpret the Bible and how to do Bible studies, along with an outline system that I've developed over the years I think is very useful. And so I I do that and maybe I'll uh I'll work it so people can um You know, benefit from that. It takes a lot of work though. Takes a lot of work, but that's what it is.

I like it. But if you want to know your theology, put it this way. I thought I've sat in a lot of different rooms with a lot of different people and online. I do it in VR, virtual reality. And It's not very often that people know their theology.

And I'm not saying you have to have a seminary degree and all this high falute and stuff. But just the basics of the Christian faith, a lot of times they just don't know. And so, some of the basic questions I'll ask somebody is who claims to be a Christian and stuff. I'll say, okay, well, you know, if it comes up and we talk about it, I say, all right, well, is Jesus a man right now? And mostly, about half and half, they'll say, no, he's not, which the truth is, he is.

And so You know, I'll ask them, and what's justification is sanctification. And most people just don't know this stuff. And they don't. It's really sad. But at any rate, it's not that big a deal.

I mean, I'm just talking about my experiences and stuff. But I've found that a lot of people just do not understand how the Bible fits together theologically. And so they have a warped understanding of salvation and who Jesus is, what He did, and things like that. And Then uh I've also noticed this that How would you put this into words? that for a lot of people they have a very Very self-centered theology.

And I've talked to a lot of Christians over the years, and I've really encountered this. way too many times. where theology Regarding salvation, God's work, free will, fairness. what God would and would not do. what we are responsible for, these kinds of things.

I have uh I've come across so many people who claim the name of Christ who Who just have a completely humanistic philosophy and they've just embedded upon Scripture, they'll find something in Scripture, and they just automatically interpret Scripture according to what they feel. You know, God loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. That necessarily then means the world means every individual who ever lived in order to give them opportunity because they have free will. Whoever believes means that it's up to their free will, and they can do it as unbelievers. They just need the information.

And this is a common thing that's taught out in Christianity, and it's just false doctrine. And it's just not true. And you might be driving along, listening, going, What did you say? I know. You know, the word world there in John 3:16, what does it mean?

People say, well, it means every individual. How do you know it means every individual? How do you know it doesn't mean all people groups? Because Jesus was only sent to Israel, Matthew 15, 24. And I don't ask people questions.

They'll say, well, he wasn't sent to the world, he was only sent to Israel. And they go, no, he was sent to the world. I said, no, he wasn't. Matthew 15, 24, Jesus says, quote, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, close quote. That's what he says.

Now show this to the people. And a lot of times, you know, they're just stumped and they say, well, I thought he came for the whole world. No, he came for Israel. Israel rejected the Messiah, we the Gentiles are grafted in. And this was prophesied in Genesis 12:3 when God said to Moses, to Abraham, In you all the nations shall be blessed.

And so that's quoted by Paul in Galatians 3:8. He calls it the gospel, because he says, And the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. And so it makes sense to say that when the Bible talks about God should love the world. The word world just means all the nation groups, not just Israel. Because in the context of a Jew, they understood, and rightfully so, that the Messiah was coming only for Israel.

And that's the case.

Well, like I said, since Israel broke the covenant, then we the Gentiles were grafted in. And there's prophecy about it. I need to write an article on this. I've got some of the information tucked away someplace. I get so busy, I kind of forget articles and then work on other articles.

But anyway, this is the thing. And then, you know, John 3:16 says, you know, whoever believes.

Well, the word whoever is not in the Greek, it's poshopistuon in the Greek, all the believing one. The word whoever is hos, and it's not there. And so, but we don't talk like that in English. We don't say that all the one believing. We don't talk like that.

So they say whoever. And it's fine, it's fine, it's a good translation to say that. But when I bring this up to people, they get a little confused. And I said, well, yeah, that's what it says. You know, that's what it says.

And I have to help them with theology a little bit. And another thing that I've had a lot of interesting time discussing with people, and this verse I think is most interesting. I'm going to go into it a little bit because I've done it so many times here on the air, but this is just an illustration of how people don't. As Christians don't want to listen to the Word of God. And so, in fact, I'm going to bring up a conversation I had with a guy online a couple of days ago.

And it was really an interesting conversation. Because we're talking about stuff. He was supposed to be a Protestant. And yet it seems every time I encounter this guy in a certain chat room, he seems to always contradict whatever I say. And that's another thing, is I've actually encountered people.

If I'm saying it, therefore it's wrong. I have people who say, I would never go to your stupid website. It's horrible. You do it so poorly. And I said, okay, well, if that's the case then.

You shouldn't have any problem refuting me, right? Because it was so bad. Anyway, uh So I was talking to this guy, and I said, Look, you know, Jesus says, or Paul says, Jesus having canceled out the certificate of debt. And we went through this, and I said, well, what's the certificate of debt? And he said, it was a sin debt.

I said, I agree. And he says, consisting of decrees against us, which was also to us, he took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. And I said, so when was it taken away? And this is when he and others. It's fascinating to me.

They just don't want to believe the text because they see the implication of what it says. If the sin, that is what's canceled at the cross, is not cancelled when you get baptized, it's not cancelled when you believe. And this really floors people. Because if a debt is paid for, if it's canceled, it doesn't exist anymore. This is simple logic.

If I go to a restaurant and I forget my wallet and the manager says, so just come back in a couple of days when you get paid and pay it off, I go, Okay. And so Let's say a friend of mine hears about this, and he goes in the next day, and before I go in, he pays my bill. Let's say it was $30 for. for dinner and uh he pays it pays it off.

Well, is the debt cancelled? Yeah. And then I go in the next day to pay, and they say, no, it's already been paid.

Well, I gotta go paid again. Oh, okay, you can paid it twice.

Well, no, it doesn't work like that. It's cancelled when it's cancelled, not cancelled when you do something later on. And this is a logic I bring up with people. And man, it's like their toes just stub a logic brick. And then they whine and complain.

That can't be there. It's in the wrong place. It's not. And so he met this guy. He was stumped.

because he saw the implications of it. which implies that Jesus only bore the sin of the elect. Because if you cancel the sin debt, Well, you did it at the cross, it's not when you believe. And then who do you do it for? Everybody?

And he goes, Yeah, everybody.

Well, then everybody has to go to heaven. And he said, No, you have to apply it to yourself. And I say, This is humanist philosophy. You don't apply Christ's work to yourself, it's finished at the cross. He removed the certificate of death at the cross.

That's what I I said. That's what it is. That's the The uh the the um the the cancel the debts then. At the cross. And so what he did was, he said, Let me read it.

And he went and he says, um Having knelt to the cross, when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made public display of them. Having triumphed over them through him. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Things which are mere shadows of what is to come. And he said that's what he canceled.

the obligation to follow uh food, drink things and festivals and new moons and Sabbath days. He said, That's the context. And I said, Uh no, it's not. I said, that's not what he's talking about there. And we get in talking and then I prove my point.

Okay? I said, look, look, look. I said Go back up to verse 14. Look into what he's saying before it. What leads to what he's saying?

In verse 13, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with Him. Having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled the certificate of debt. And I said, having forgiven us all our transgressions and having f cancelled the certificate of debt referred to when He made us alive together with Him. That's what he did.

Made us alive together with him, having forgiven us our transgressions, having canceled certain debt. Because having forgiven and having canceled are participles. They're ing words in the Greek. They tie together. this one and that one.

And at this point, he really didn't have much to say, except he wanted to continue to say, no, it's about festivals and Sabbaths. Because And this is a good lesson. He had to say it because if he believed what the text just said. it would have disagreed with his opinion. Avoid theology is supposed to be.

In his view, Jesus has to come for everybody equally. And Jesus has to give everybody equally the same opportunity. Otherwise, it's not fair. And people don't realize that when they say this, when they speak about this, that they're subjecting the Word of God to their personal opinions. This is how it has to be.

God must give everyone a fair shake. He must appeal to everyone equally, and it's completely up to your free will. And I say, if it's up to your free will, then why does Jesus say in John 6:65? You cannot come to me. unless it's granted to you from the Father.

You can't. And I stumped them with this stuff. It's not that I'm trying to get brownie points or say, see, I beat you. That's not it. I say to them, why don't you just believe what the word says?

Why don't you submit to it? And people don't want to. This is just an example of the things that I encounter on a regular basis with people who aren't Catholics or Eastern Orthodox, though this really works against them as well. But a lot of Christians. who claim to be Protestant, who just refuse to believe what the Word of God says.

And it's really interesting because I say, in addition, you know, in 1 Peter 2:24, he bore our sins in his body on the cross.

So, having forgiven us our transgressions, he canceled the certificate of debt, having knelt on the cross. Our sins were in his body on the cross. 1 Peter 2.24. That's what he took care of. Logic says.

If it's gone, you can't be held responsible for it. If your sin debt is cantaled at the cross, It's gone. Not up to you. That's a whole nother thing. Is so many people say, no, theology is up to me.

I need to apply what Jesus did. Because I'm the one. who have to make sure that it's applied to me by what I do. And this is more humanist philosophy. That's permeating the Christian church.

And it's bad. Anyway. Yeah, just a thought, opening thought. If you want to give me a call, the number's 8772-07-2276. We'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. If you want to give me a call, it is easy. All you have to do is dial 877-207-2276.

Let's get to Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air. Yes, good evening, Messi. I have a question.

I met a man earlier today. He basically goes to a Greek Orthodox Church in Santa Ana. And he believes that, you know, the Alexandrian You know, he saw uh he believed that there's a God Created Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

So, can you explain the difference between the Orthodox churches, what they're called. I'm a little confused: the West and the East Orthodox churches, because it's called Eastern Orthodox. The web generally generally understood the Western view is the Roman Catholic.

Okay, that's how it's generally understood.

Okay.

So are you asking for difference between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy? Yeah. Yeah, there and there are are are some serious differences. And I actually have an article on this on Carm, but um In the Eastern Orthodox authority rests in the Church, and in Catholicism it rests in Rome. or the Pope.

And In Eastern Orthodox's uh orthodoxy priests may marry. If they're married before ordination, they can do that. But priests can't and the And the Catholics. Uh The Eucharist, they're basically the same. I won't get into that.

There's some slight differences, it's hard to articulate. Uh th this is what's called the filioque. which in ten fifty four split the the church. basically re and the Eastern Orthodox rejects the addition of and the sun Where the Catholics say that the Son and the Father sent the Spirit. It's just, they split over this.

And uh So the Marian conception. The Mecca conception. The East Orthodox does not confirm or assume he affirms his position that Mary was conceived without sin. But it Catholics do. And as far as r original sin goes, The EO affirms ancestral sin, that humans inherit the consequences of Adam's sin.

But the Catholics teach both the guilt and corruption passed down.

So EO rejects purgatory, but the Catholics accept purgatory.

Now, both, however, teach a false gospel in that salvation. Is attained through cooperative effort with God. You have to do things to be saved, etc. And so both of those are they have just false gospels, so they're false churches. Good morning.

Oh, yes, I was talking to a um a gentleman there, he told me he labeled and uh Okay. And are you telling me that? Like you said, the Catholic Church that they have more power within the Castanemos, Castostemo, the Castanovo, the church that have But it, you know, we still need all this stuff. Yeah, it's worth asking more details because there are divisions inside of Eastern Orthodoxy. There's Russian Orthodoxy, Assyrian, Oriental.

And some are in fellowship with each other, and some are not.

So there's some serious problems and some issues there. But yeah, it is worth asking uh just asking, okay? Yeah. Okay.

So you got a lot of that explain all that more in your article? Or in detail? Yeah, I have a table that shows what the differences are between. EO and RC, I don't know if I have a table or a comparison. Let's see comparison.

Let's see what I have. of eastern I'll just look do this. Eastern Orthodox. And we could Vague. Oh.

Do we have authority to compare terms, definitions, examining So I don't think I do. I don't think I do have something. And it actually reminds me, I do want to write an article on that. on some of these what are these differences?

So The comparisons. I think I'm going to do that. In fact, I started something. Anyway, just trying to remember. Yeah, I started something like that, and I just didn't finish it.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

All right, thank you. At least I mentioned it, so that gives you something to do there. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot to do. Yeah, I'm all I'm I have a Friday meeting with all the staff every Friday, and I was telling them it was my turn to inform and update.

I said, Yeah, I'm down from 1,043 articles to write. I'm down to 1,080. you know, You know, they go, that's not how math works. I go, it is with Karm. I'm down.

It just keeps getting worse. Anyway, so that's how it is.

Okay? I got lots to work on. All right. Thank you. Can't get that graveyard, sir.

Okay.

That sounds good. God bless, buddy.

Okay.

All right. Okay, now let's get to Luke from DC. Luke, welcome. You're on the air. Hi Matt, how are you?

I'm doing fine. How are you? Kids, kids.

Okay, what do you got, buddy?

So my question is, how should Christians understood understand God's sovereignty and goodness when a young groom dies in a tragic accident for what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life, How can the pride, family and the church find hope in such a devastating Lord. The reason it has happened in England uh They already have to have a foundation of trust and faith in Christ. And I know that bridegrooms and brides will be killed on their wedding day, or I read recently where a couple got married. And then that day he was killed, or something. You know, it's just really sad.

And these things happen. And all we can say is that. They're not a surprise to God. He allows them to occur, and why he allows them, we don't know. And so it's difficult for us.

To understand what it is that God is doing in so many areas, in so many ways. We just don't know.

So all I can tell you is Uh Well, I can tell you from experience, you know, when my wife and I, my late wife and I, lost our son. It was he was born and died in our arms. Our faith was not shattered, and our love for God was not shattered, and our marriage wasn't threatened. Because we both had the foundation of knowing that God was in control, He's sovereign. And he allowed it for a reason, and we had faith in that.

We just don't know what that reason was. And that was okay with us. And as painful as it was, And it was p very painful. We had peace through it. And so we we grew stronger together in it.

Because our trust was in Christ, not in the circumstances of what we want to ask why.

So when brides and grooms die on their wedding day or just after or or little ones suffer or my wife, you know, died from From a really bad genetic problem that manifested as she got older.

Well, why? We don't know. But we do know that God's a sovereign king, and He allows things for a reason. Nothing happens by chance and for no reason. And as Christians, we just don't know what those reasons are, and I'm okay with that because.

As I learned in seminary, There is a God, you are not Him. And so we need to take solace. In what God's greatness is and not our own tragedy. And that's how we deal with it.

Okay? So people saying that why this couple took helicopter on the same day after the wedding? Was we a testing God? Why it's a little hard to understand. Why did they dine the same day of of their wedding, you mean?

No, no, the same after wedding. The I th the guy in the blue was the fire. He couldn't survive and uh he took Hold on, hold on, hold on. We got a break. It's hard to understand you.

And so, hold on, we'll be right back.

Okay, brother. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. If you want, you can give me a call: 8772-07-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, All you've got to do is dial 8772072276. Let's get back on with. With Luke.

We'll hit this.

Okay.

There you go.

So my question, why did the groom choose to take a helicopter ride on the same day as his wedding? Was it simply part of the celebration? For our lessons we can learn about risk decision making. I'm gone for over until they talk like this.

Okay, you're asking questions I can't answer. How do I know why a particular guy did something? You have to ask that person, but if he's gone and he's in heaven, you can't, I can't answer for him.

Okay.

Right. Yeah. And usually he's supposed to pray after after wedding me. He's supposed to pray and kneel down and pray no for celebration. Usually people don't take anything.

Look, look, you're just asking highly subjective things. It just depends on people what they do. That's all it is. I don't know. And things happen, okay?

All right, and that's it. I really can't tell you anything more than that.

Okay.

Because you asked, why would he take a helicopter ride? I don't know. 'Cause he wanted to. All right. All right.

That's all I can tell ya.

Okay.

Easy. All right, brother.

Okay.

All right. Let's get to Oscar from New York. Oscar, welcome. You're on the air. Yes, sir.

Thank you. Sure. Yeah, my question is. If a person is demonic possessed, should we pray for them and go to a pastor having prayed for the person? Is that good enough?

Because I heard some people talk about exorcism and Well, it depends what's going on. But if you just hear about someone who has a problem like that, you pray from them from a distance. If you're in close proximity to them and experiencing a demonic activity through a person, you need to pray right then and there. And invoke others to do that as well. If a pastor is present and the pastor is taking it over and he's doing it, you support in prayer.

There's different things that could be understood.

Okay, different understand. Yeah. And and we should be praying, we should be, you know, uh dealing with this. As much as we can. Yeah, and it does happen.

Yeah. Okay.

No, another question concerns And there's a friend of mine, she was telling me when she goes to a place in Brooklyn. She feels uncomfortable.

So she was telling me if there are certain places I thought demonic. Is a key. Oh, where did McDealers live in?

So I told her when I I told her not to go there anymore, stay away from that place. Yeah, yeah. There are a lot of people who experience a spiritual sense. That they go to places and with people and things like that. And And that's it.

Yeah. Yeah, we were talking about it. I think it was yesterday, we were talking about that on the radio. But yeah, it does occur. It does occur.

I guess the best thing would be to stay with outside the places. Yeah, generally speaking, that's what I'd recommend. But there are people who are called. to go to places like that and in battle. But generally speaking, yeah.

So, me, for example, I have no problem reading false books like the Book of Mormon or the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower organization, you know, or various things like the Quran, and I'm not affected by it because it's what I do. I'm fine with it. But there are people who are not gifted in that area, and I'm not gifted in their areas.

So, it just depends on what's going on and what the intention is. All right? We're going to say it. Yeah, thank you. I leave everything in God's hands.

That's right. That's a g That's right. That's right. You leave things uh that's right. You leave things in God's hand and you work uh y by faith and move forward.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Okay, bye-bye. All right. God bless.

Okay.

Yeah. All right. Hey, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-2072276. Easy to do. All you got to do is.

Yeah. Is give me a call. And then, if you want, you can email me, and that's easy also. Just send an email to info at carm.org. Info at CARM.org.

and put a subject line radio comment or radio question. And I can get to it. All right. And just want to let you guys know out there at Radioland, we have a couple of things to offer. One is a newsletter.

If you like uh the show and you want to want to just kind of keep up with what's going on, it's a newsletter. It's You can just go to Carm. In fact, I mean, find out where that is. I'm just so used to just going and doing stuff. But it's at the top of the page.

It just says newsletter, and you can put your email address in there. First, last name. Email address, first name, last name, birthday. And I'm not sure why we have the birthday thing in there. But we don't oh, it goes it goes to the MailChimp.

We don't sell it. We don't do anything with it. It doesn't go any place. We don't share noth nothing, nothing, nothing. It's just for our newsletter.

And I sent the first one out last week.

So Because I've been so busy, but I'm trying to do it weekly now. And if you want to keep up, there you go. You can do it like that. That's one way. Another thing you can do, if you're interested and you like what we do here, is please consider supporting us.

And you can go to the CARM website as well. And at the top of the page is the word donate. And we do need that support because, well, let's just say summer is tough, this time of year is tough, and we have to. Let's just say, do insurance things, and it usually wipes us out and cleans us out. And if you are so inclined to support this ministry, please do that and just go there.

We ask five or ten or fifteen dollars a month, whatever you could afford, in order to help us out. And we use it to project what we can and can't do. Simple, simple, simple. Thank you very much.

Let's get to Nelson from California. Nelson, welcome, you're on the air. Hey Matt, God bless you, brother. Sure, man. What do you got, buddy?

So my question is about Chapter sixteen of Proverbs, the very last verse. Can you read that? And how can I guess, yeah, those are all the reading that basically. Yeah, it says the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. It's just saying that nothing happens by chance, God is behind everything.

He knows what he's doing.

Okay.

All right. And yeah, because I don't know. Go ahead. Halfway. I was saying that 'cause I read it, I mean, I used different translations.

That's the you read the New American Standard Bible. And so I I read it out of the New New Living Translation, which was pretty interesting. They can bring it up.

Okay, go ahead. I don't know. Okay.

I guess, uh, 'cause it talks about it talks about basically Throw throwing dice. Um And in and God determines how it lands, something like that. That effect is And so my question was.

So I guess my question was. No, sorry.

So I guess my question was. So God determines everything and and I guess my question was how can that I mean, not the how can I be, but in my way of thinking is How is that uh reform and and I'm reformed, but how can I reform that thought. To be true. I mean, to me, to be true, because I know it's true. But how can I witness to that, use that passage?

If that makes sense. To do what? You just passed to do what?

So. I can use this passage to witness to someone that God is the one that determines the very decision that that dice may land.

So the dice lands with one and the other one lands on five. Right. Yes.

So We get into different areas of thought about things like this.

So let's talk about what the atheist position is because I use this against them. The idea of dice rolling. If the conditions were identical every single time, the exact result will occur. Gravity, air density, the shape of the hand that throws the dice, the shape of the dice, everything. If it's all identical for the second throw, it's going to be an exact same result.

And this is problematic because, in a materialistic worldview, that's going to, it limits the idea of freedom of events, of randomness.

So are there anything that's that's random? And can we have randomness in a Christian worldview? And the answer ultimately is no, we cannot. There's no such thing as randomness because God is a necessary precondition for everything, and there's no randomness with God.

So when someone throws dice, you throw some and I throw some. And we get either identical numbers or completely different numbers. or one each and it's different numbers. The complete Understanding of all of it is that even those things fall under the sovereignty of God. It cannot be that dice is random, because then it would mean it would be outside the sovereign control of God.

and we can't have that. Because it's not the Christian worldview.

So now we have these other questions.

Well, does it mean then that uh there is no freedom in dice throwing. There is a what we would refer to as a on a human level. There is randomness. We could take dice and put it in a box with a bunch of objects and throw it and dump it out and get different results. But for God, it's known because nothing can occur by chance.

Because it would be outside of his sovereignty. We got a break, so hold on, okay, brother. We got more stuff coming up. All right. We write back folks after these messages.

If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. We'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.

If you want to give me a call, you can. 877-207-2276. Nelson, you still there? Yes, still here.

Okay.

So we have what's called functioning randomness, and ultimately, there can be no randomness in the universe. Of God. otherwise it would mean that God is not in control of all events. And Ephesians 1:11 says, He works all things after the counsel of his will.

So The difficulty that we have with this is applying this. Are we saying then God causes all things like this? Does he cause evil to occur? No, he does not. And this gets into I was going to say it this way: logistically, philosophically.

It requires Uh Levels of thought that get into subdivisions of categories. And there's different kinds of It's like a path in a forest. And you further you go down, do you have a road that goes left or right, uh a path that goes left or right, and then that whichever one goes goes left and right, and that one goes left and right. And you have different ways of arriving at different places. And so When discussing this kind of a thing, what I'll do is I'll say, okay, let's look at it from this perspective.

And then the second time.

Now let's look at it from this perspective.

Now let's look at it from this perspective because we can't do all of them at once. And I try and work through those people.

So There's no randomness with God, but at the same time, we're responsible for our own actions. For example, in Acts 4:27, 28. Uh God brought together um Pontius, Pilate, Herod, the Jews, and the Gentiles to do what God predestined to occur, which is the death of Christ.

So God predestined this to occur. But yet, in Acts chapter 23, Peter says the Jews are the ones who crucified Christ. They're the ones responsible because they were what's called the efficient cause, not the proximate cause. And then we get into issues like causation. And then we get into well.

And so now we have to go down to now we do on a path. We do talk about different levels of will and different levels of causation, left or right. Let's go down this path.

So this is the kind of stuff that that Is necessitated when dealing with these kinds of things about randomness, probability. and sovereignty of God. And theologians have discussed it, and it's been discussed.

Okay.

So That's yes, it's deep, basically, it's a la. And so you can go on and on and on. That's what I love about the word of God. And one last question. I know you got callers.

So I have a friend, real quick. He. I grew up with him, gangbanging and everything. I had to be a former gang member and um God redeemed me and um but he took me out of the Catholic world church. And so God has opened him eyes from the depth of deception from that years ago.

But a friend of mine now is deeply in it now. How can I witness to him?

Well, one of these things Um Boy, just think of some stuff in Spanish to say to him.

So. What you have to do is, first of all, you've got to pray. You've got to ask God to open up His heart, open up His mind, and provide opportunities for you to be able to witness to Him. Good. Excellent.

And. Then uh what I like to do What I think is good, and maybe others would have differences of opinion because they're gifted differently. I like to ask questions. that in order to answer them you have to dig. And so, you know, like How do you know the Catholic Church is true?

Or What's going to happen to you when you die and what's the reason it's going to happen to you? Or because you know, in Catholicism, you got to be good, you got to pray to Mary, you got to do all the stupid stuff that they do.

Well, uh you just ask them. You know what I'm saying? Is this how's it working for you? Is your heart changed, or is it just the rules you're following? And I think that's a good question.

That's hard. That's for a balanced question. Because rules and regulations are what false religions run by. But Jesus changes the heart. God changes the heart, then people ask him, is it your heart that's changed, or is it just what you're told to do?

Because one is hell, one's and one's heaven. And you know, I think that'd be a good one to do.

Okay, that's what I think. And um I mean I l and also I think I I heard you a couple of months back or a couple of weeks ago say that you spoke to a um a Catholic and and told him, How did how do you know that you're you're um Church has not gone apostate because the word of God says that. You got them thinking. Yep, that's right. I'm surprised.

That question has really got a lot of people thinking. And to me, it's like I don't think it's that big of a question. But you know, to my surprise, I've had Catholics and Eastern Orthodox both say, Oh, that's a good point. You know? And some will say, well, Protestantism is the apostasy.

And it says, well then, the Antichrist isn't here, is he? Because the apostasy leads to the Antichrist. And so you guys are here for 400 or 500 years.

So we're not the apostasy, is it? Oh yeah. Yeah, so there you go. Yeah. Okay.

And then uh what okay. In your website What Um what should I type to search up a lot of stuff to to witness to them? evangelism.

So just go to card and let's type in uh In fact, there's a couple of things you can do. Is evangelism is just that. It'll it should give you a section on evangelism, I believe. And I've got lots of articles on there and you can go there. But also you can go to the menu.

At the top of the page, and scroll down and just find, for example, this section on Roman Catholicism. And I think I had 140 articles written or something like that in there. And maybe there's, you know, I don't know. I've written so much, I can't tell you what is or isn't there. But maybe there's something in there that you can find out that would be helpful as well, witnessing to them, sharing the faith.

In fact, um I think I have why is it necessary to write about Catholicism? Dear Catholic, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? You know, things like that. The gospel for Roman Catholics is there.

So You know. You can just check it out. If something's missing, call them up and say, Man, you've got to write an article on this about Catholics, and I'll put it in my list and see if we can get to it. All right? Okay.

All right, man. Well, thank you very much, bro. You have a good one. Hey, you too, man. God bless.

Hosh LeWiggle.

Alright. Yeah. Okay, let's get to Leroy for North Carolina. Leroy, welcome here on the air.

Okay.

Yeah. Yes, how are you doing? God bless you. Doing all right. Hanging in there, man.

Hanging in there. What do you got? What do you got? Uh I was Thinking about you had made the comment that God is behind everything. Hmm.

He's the ultimate cause of everything, not the proximate or efficient cause. Yes.

God is beyond. Even ultimately caused it's really hard to understand you. Is it a really bad connection, or you're far from oh, we lost him. Oh, we lost him. Maybe that's what was going on there.

I don't know. Maybe I'll call back. We can get into that. It'd be worth discussing that issue. And this kind of stuff comes up a lot and people you know, I make a statement.

That God's behind everything, or He's the ultimate cause of everything. And people will say, what does that mean? You know, I don't agree with that.

Well, what do you let's talk about what it means? And that's what we do normally, is we go into the discussion of different levels of causation. And let me do that right now.

Now I got a yawn. Wait, Leroy's coming back. Oh, man. Oh, sorry, everybody. Oh, that was a good yawn.

Oh, you ever a yawn that's just refreshing? That was a yawn. Whenever I say that over the radio, I wonder how many people are yawning Right now, because you know how it is, yawns are contagious. All right, Lido was coming back in. But the phone's kind of doing a weird wigging.

Okay, there he is. Let's see if we can get it now. Let's see.

Okay, Leroy, you there, buddy? Yes, I am. All right. Now that's a good connection. That's a good connection.

So, what do you got? What's up? Good. Yeah, I was uh Thinking about the comment you made when you said God was behind everything. And I was that made me think of like for example, the Oklahoma City bombing.

To say God is behind everything it would be saying God was behind that, would it not? Yes, but it means the question then becomes, what does it mean to be behind something in what sense?

So for example, Ephesians 1.11, it says, God works all things after the counsel of his will.

So the Oklahoma City bombing was worked after the counsel of his will.

Okay.

So how do we deal with that? We know, for example, that the will of God is that people not lie. For example. We call that his prescriptive will. like a prescription of medicine.

Take two in the morning, right? He prescribes that we not lie, not cheat, not steal. But his permissive will, he allows people to lie.

So his permissive will is to permit these bad things to occur. And so when we say that God works all things after the counsel of His will, we would say then that He willed to permit people to do something bad on their own. He wasn't causing it. but it's his will to allow it. Does that make sense?

That'd help any? Yeah, it makes perfect sense. I mean, it comes down to. Like his w makes it dead. all about having free will.

Because at the end of the day, I think that's primarily what it's saying, that he allowing us to do these things because He blessed us with a precious gift. free will.

So, in that sense, I would agree, yeah, he does. He allows it, but you know, there's a difference between allowing something and causing something. You know, but uh Yeah, we heard it talks about free building. But there are different kinds of free will. Did you know that?

Did you know that? Have you heard of that? I didn't. Yes.

I haven't. I have not heard of that one. Sure, one of them is called libertarian free will, another one's called compatibilist free will, then there's hard deterministic free will, self soft deterministic free will, and we get into these variations of people.

So the two main ones, liber libertarian and compatibilist. libertarian free will in philosophy, in Christian thought. By the people who get into this and really talk about it, you know, they have the big thick glasses and lots of paper and books open, you know, those kind of guys. They say libertarian free will is the ability to choose otherwise in identical circumstances. no prior cause determines the choice.

And this has ramifications. I can get into stuff, but I'm not gonna.

So What they're saying basically is an unbeliever is presented the gospel. And he can choose. Either one. It's just completely up to him. That's called libertarian free will.

Compatibilist free will would say you have the freedom to act according to your. desires according to your nature, according to your essence. Your choices are determined by what you are. And so, since the Bible says, for example, that the unbeliever is a slave of sin, a hater of God, doesn't do any good, cannot receive spiritual things, etc. Then his free will is he's free inside of what the scripture says are his restrictions.

Since the sinner is a slave of sin. He does not seek for God, he does not do any good. And I can put you to references for these, okay? I'm not just making these up. And so We would then say that compatible is free will, he's free to do what he wants inside what he is.

He's fallen, a hater of God, doesn't seek for God, cannot receive spiritual things, harsh sexually wicked, deceitful, can't be trusted. That's the position I hold to, is called compatibilist free will. Most Christians hold to what's called libertarian free will. If libertarian free will is correct in that anybody can choose, Just depends on the s situation. Then why does Jesus say, You cannot come to me unless it's granted by the Father?

That refutes libertarian free will. And we're out of time, brother. The music's going to start. You get the call back on Monday. We can finish up on this, okay?

Alright, man.

Sorry, we span out of the middle.

Okay.

Alright, brother, God bless you. Thank you for taking the time. wrong button. Hey folks, there you go. I just wanted to just leave you with a reminder: we do need your support.

Please consider supporting us. Go to karm.org forward slash. donate or just talk to the page Delanate at Carm and we would love that support. May you have a great weekend and by God's grace, back on the air on Monday. And we'll see you there.

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