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 this show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. We're having a little bit of a tech issue. Who knows? We're doing on EV Mox and trying to get the show out there.

And it's just kind of wigging out a little bit. And don't know why. But that's okay. Actually, I wonder if it's because my computer needs to be do a rebuild reboot on the install of something. I don't know.

But there you go.

Well, if you want to give me a call, as usual, all you got to do is dial 877-20-72276. And I want to hear from you. Give me a call. Also, let's see what else we got here. We have nobody waiting right now.

Don't know if the guys can hear me. Charlie, can you hear me? Nod your head if you can.

Okay, you can. Yeah, I don't know what's up with the video, audio. Doesn't really make a difference, but uh they can hear me, so that's good enough. All right, all right, all right, all right.

So, um A little bit of the heads-up stuff. I um I've worked on it past two days and released it today. The Patreon thing. I'm trying to. raise support For me personally, outside of carm, so that carm takes less of the burden and.

Because we're having, you know, we're having some financial, you know, summer months are tough.

So just asking that if any of you are out there and you want to support this ministry, you like what it is, you like what it does, all you got to do is just go to Carm and you can support us there, Carm at Donate, just the top of the page. And the ministry helps there. But if you want to do me personally, you want to help me out there, just go to patreon.com forward slash Matt Slick, and it'll take you there. And so I'll be doing, what are we doing there? It's just behind-the-scenes stuff like projects I'm working on, logic issues I'm dealing with, just things, odds and ends that I'm going to be putting in, occasional videos and stuff like that.

And we're just asking $10 a month on that. And that's it. It'd be simple.

So, having said all of that, we've got nobody waiting right now. We did some good callers yesterday on the issue of.

Okay.

Well, was it? I'll put it this way. Let me just shift topics and go with this one topic that I was involved with. I went into a TikTok room today. And um I was having a really good conversation with A oneness guy.

And what I mean by good conversation, I mean he was polite. He wasn't rude. We're having disagreements, but it was an intelligent conversation. And I'll just say that it was good. And I actually told him, I said, look, I'm thankful to you for just appreciative that you let me finish my sentences and you.

You know, do you have good comments? I even said a couple times, you know, that's a good comment, good question. And then I tried to answer stuff like that. Then there's one guy gets in. uh one of the oneness guys and uh he just Interrupted and then started telling me how I needed to answer questions.

Blah, blah, blah. Yes or no? You have to answer yes or no. And I said, Look, I don't work like that. And And I said, if you keep interrupting loud, I'm not going to talk to you.

And So he just interrupted again. I said, Look, look, I just leave if you guys are going to treat me like that. You know, I'd be treated like that. And he goes, I was gone.

So that was it. It was unfortunate because the conversation I was having with a guy was starting to get down to the nitty-gritty of the problems of oneness Pentecostal theology. And when I was heading to a discussion with this one guy until this rude guy interrupted, I just said, I'm out. See, I just don't You know people just They get in, they start demanding how you respond. You have to answer this way.

Just go away. You know, and uh Just pathetic.

So, anyway. Um We had this discussion and talking about personhood and And I was also going to say this: that I was pleasantly surprised that the guy, the main guy that I was talking to, actually seemed to know biblical theology and Trinitarian theology pretty well. He understood the inseparable operations and the communicatio idiomatum, along with the hypostatic union. And I told him, I said, look, I don't get that very often that people understand those things. And I said, thank you.

I said, I'm glad that you know what they are and I appreciate your politeness. And we had this great conversation until Rude Boy. Uh just just got in and I just ended up leaving.

So, not that big a deal, but that was one of the conversations. But I can tell you what's wrong with. With Eastern Orthodoxy, not with Eastern Orthodoxy, with the one that's Pentecostal. And it comes down, well, several things. They don't believe in the true living God because they deny the Trinity.

But there's this issue. You see Who was Jesus praying to when he was in the garden with 2242? Who is he praying to? It's a serious question. Because if he is a person, and when I ask people, ask one of these people, was Jesus a person when he was on earth?

He still is, but you don't get into that. And I say, Was he a person? He said, Yes, okay.

So he was a person praying to the Father, right? Yes.

Well, who is he praying to if he is the father? This is where the conversations usually get quite interesting. And I'm often quite surprised. at the lack of critical thinking that occurs, even in that. Even when we're doing that.

in the issue of of just who person of J of Jesus is. If he was talking to the Father, who's praying to the Father, but he is the Father, Who is he praying to?

Well, they have to say he's praying to himself. But okay, if he's praying to themself, then why does he say, Not my will, but your will be done? Then they're going to have to go to what was the will of the flesh.

Well, then they get into Nestorianism, that there's two persons in the body of Christ. But most of them, if they're smart enough, they'll say no, they don't hold to that. But functionally, they do. And then I was going to have that discussion with this guy. And so I was just asking the question: well, what is it and why is it that Jesus was praying to the Father if you're saying it was only the flesh?

Because Jesus is a person with the attributes of both natures. I am hungry. I am thirsty. I'll be with you always. The I is the person, and he was claiming the attributes of both divinity and humanity.

So when he says, Father, not my will, he's talking about that composite will in the single person, where the divine and human natures, the wills of both of those, are manifested as a single will in the person. This gets into some complicated stuff, but I'm not going to get it right now. And when I ask these questions, this is usually where the wheels come off the cart. And they don't really have much to answer at that point. I don't have anything really to say.

And so, well, you know, okay, all right, that's what they say. And I was about ready to get to that discussion. And it didn't happen because a rude gentleman got in and started making demands on how I'm supposed to answer. I wish they wouldn't do that. You know, when I want someone to answer a question specifically, I will generally offer a logical question.

Problem, like a dichotomy. I'll say. I'll say, um Is it the case that, and then I make the statement, or is it not the case that, and I make the statement? See what they're gonna say. And sometimes they're going to ask questions to clarify, and that's fine.

But I don't sit here and just make a demand on them. You have to answer it this way. I will, however, say, well, if it's a true dichotomy, either one of them is true, which one is it? And that's about as pushy as I get when it comes to things like that.

So, you know, it's unfortunate that the emissaries of the evil one will use his people to disrupt good conversations. And yes, I did say that. And the people of the oneness camp are not Christians. They deny the true God, they deny. The true incarnation, and they deny the true gospel.

But it doesn't mean I can't be polite with them and to them and have a discussion with them. Having said all of that, let me get to Dane from Georgia, or Don. Dawn from Georgia, welcome here on the air. Yes, the thing, the question I've got for you is: what happened to the ten tribes of Israel? You know, what we call in Israel today is Judea.

Smart is They were dispersed among out into the just the empire, Assyrian Empire. After a while um they intermarried and Gradually assimilated into varying cultures, especially after the trouncing that Rome gave to to Israel. In 70 AD in the range. They scattered. Let me ask you something.

Do you really, do you really know what you're talking about? No, I never know what I'm talking about. Because I can tell you exactly what happened to the Ten Trials of Israel. Oh, okay, what happened to them? In fact, if you've ever filled out a work app and you put mark the word Caucasian, Part of the ten tribes crossed the Caucasus Mountains into Azerbaijan, Georgia.

Um Okay.

So what happened to the And they actually migrated to Europe, and the Danoia settled in Ireland, and Jeremiah. Guarantee it to Thea is Zedekiah's daughter to Yahweh. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, dude. I just asked a simple question. This is my show.

And you're sitting there telling me I'm ignorant, and then you just go on lecturing.

Well, you are. Oh, okay. I'm ignorant. All right.

Well, I like that. You know, people say I'm ignorant.

So I'm ignorant about what happened to the ten tribes? Is that it? Um Yeah.

Well, I just asked that that's it. Is that the case? If I'm ignorant about them, okay. How about, let me just ask you: how about God? I believe there's a Trinity.

Am I ignorant about that? No. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, Yahweh, Yeshua HaMashiach, and the Ruach HaKadash. Oh, they're real.

So, what do you got to do to be saved? You got to keep the commandments and do good works to be saved? You got to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and give you life because you can't afford to upkeep. I didn't ask that. I said, no, I asked a question.

You don't seem to listen.

Okay.

I asked you. What do you have to do to be saved? Do you have to keep any commandments? That's what I asked you. What's your answer?

you have to do the very best you can to take in a Keep the commandments that Jesus gave us: to love thy neighbor and love thy God with all thy heart and soul. Does loving God and loving your neighbor, does that help you get saved or keep your salvation? Yeah. Does do Do the commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor, do they help you stay saved or do they get you saved? All right, well, the one question you asked me: if you have salvation, can you lose?

Is what you're actually saying. No, I didn't ask that.

Okay, you started off with an insult to me, and I'm not insulting you back, but it's kind of evident to me that you're not really listening to what I'm telling you or what I'm asking you. I simply asked you for salvation. Do you have let me just be very clear, do you have to keep any commandments in order to be saved? It's not a hard question.

Well, the first one is: love thy God with all your heart. You have to do that. in order to be saved.

Okay, are are you doing that? Doing my best. Oh, so you're not doing it?

Okay.

Do your best.

So, you're not doing it. Is the standard of the keeping of that law you or is it Jesus? What's the standard?

So Jesus did it perfectly. Are you doing it perfectly? No, I'm not doing it perfectly, but he did it perfectly. Yes, he done it all. I got that.

He did it perfectly.

So if you're keeping the law imperfectly, right? That's sin. This is true. What you're saying is true.

So then Yeah no i the idea of keeping the law imperfectly is sinful because the standard is God. If you fall short, as it says in Romans 3.23, you shall fall short of the glory of God. Then are you saying then that your imperfect and sinful works are what going to contribute to your salvation? What I'm actually saying is simply this. is that Uh Salvation is a gift.

It's nothing you earn. But at the same time, If you don't have the works, Yeah, yeah. As James said, if you don't have the works, someone doesn't have works. You should have the love of your heart. To do the soul of Jesus Christ.

We had a break.

Somebody asked your question. Think about it. If you want to stay on for the break, we're going to ask this: Can you lose your salvation? And if you say yes, what are you going to do to keep it? We'll be right back, folks.

Hope he stays on the line. Dawn from Georgia. And I'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. Let's see if Don. You're still there, Don, you still there?

Yes, yes. Let me take and do something right up front, all right? I do apologize to you for insulting you. That was really not my purpose. But the thing about it Is that?

If the church knew who the ten tribes really are. Which is basically Ephraim is Great Britain. Manassas, the United States. If you look at all the Bible prophecies, None. Of the promises made to Abraham, did our Hebrew brothers and sisters.

Mm-hmm. com complete during the living in the in the Promised Land. And if you go to Jeremiah 3, you'll see where God is saying, I know where you are in the north, and he's speaking of Israel. And if you don't separate Israel From Judea. You will never understand the Bible because God In the whole book of Hosea is to Israel.

I mean, it has some criticism to Judea. But the whole book is basically to Israel. And Jesus himself said, I came for the lost sheep of Israel.

Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. No, not too fast, too much.

So you're uh you hold to British Israelitism, right? Yes, I do. Yeah, it's been rejected by archaeology, genetics, and things like that.

So you need to. Yeah, it has. You need to study. I study these things, okay? And British Israelitism really isn't going to help you at all.

Now, it's a project Trinitarian. You say.

Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Did the Danoia settle Ireland? I have no idea and really don't care.

Well, the Danorio or the tribe of Dan. I have no interest in knowing whether that is or is not the case. I don't care. What I am interested in is what do you have to do for your salvation?

So can you lose your salvation? I think that once you truly give your life to Jesus. No, I don't think you can lose your salvation.

Okay, good.

So that I would recommend you learn how to articulate your soteriology better. But you need to abandon this British Israelitism because the lost tribes and such, they're not genetically related to certain areas geographically. Like Israel or excuse me, Britain or United States and things like that. Have you ever heard of the Scythians?

Okay, well, it was nice talking to you. And you can tell when someone has a flag that they wave, and when you point haters' holes in your flag, they don't look up to examine them. They just keep waving it. Let's get to Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome.

You're on the air. Mm-hmm. Yes, good evening Matt Slick. Got a question. What do you think about these uh Caucasian centers and the homosexual community when the black Israelites preach racist tourism They don't want to talk about Israelite powers.

So wha when the Christians speak love to the homosexuals and And to the In all the communities, different races, they get attacked. But when the black is white, attack the especially Caucasians because they said they're Esau. And they say from all kinds of the devils and all that, and they don't like the homosexual community. Yeah, they don't know. Can you just ask a one-sentence question?

Okay, okay. Why don't why did the black expert don't get attacked, brother? One or two groups. The people. Because we're not violent.

They are.

Okay.

That's why. Christians are not supposed to be violent. We have the right of self-defense and the defense of others. But we don't go out pushing and shoving and stuff and threatening as so many groups do, like Muslims.

Okay.

and the BHI in some areas, okay? Yeah, okay, I know. Yeah, I know that, but I think my point is from this perspective of the homosexual and the Caucasian. Why are they chicken or scared? You get to ask people why.

Because I couldn't really tell you, okay? White of people, I can give you a generic answer. But that's about all I could all I can do, okay?

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Okay, might we whisper a quick question to Louisiana? You know uh when uh I know that the geometry teaches things, the powers that you believe, the eternal life. But I have a problem with the burst uh Where it says 1 John chapter 3, verse 15 and 16, and verse 24. 1 John chapter 3. What about 1 John 3?

Verse 15 and 16 to 24. Can you read them, please? 1 John 3:15. And we know this that we lead his lifetime. We ought to lay our lifetimes for the brethren.

Yeah. And And sixteen is Yeah, it was. That was 16 also. What's your question?

Well, the point is, if you have eternal life, then you hate your brother, you're a murderer, you don't have any eternal life.

So, isn't that a kind of a contradiction there? Get my point, like if you have eternal life, you cannot lose it, you say, eternal life, but at the same time, if you hate your brother, you have no eternal life in me.

So that's my confusion here. In verse 24, 1 John chapter 3, verse 24. He's talking about those who abide and live in those things. The Christian doesn't do that. And all he's jo all John is doing is talking about differentiation.

And he says in verse 8, the one who practices sin is of the devil. The devil is sin from the beginning.

So he's just talking about the differences between what are believers and unbelievers. That's all, okay.

Okay, it's not talking about just believers or hope. or epistle talking about believers. Yeah, it's how about the contrast. The contrast, okay.

Well, the contrast. Children of God love one another, what He wants us to know. But he's contrast everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And don't be a hater, and you don't have anything.

Okay, so if I'm if I profess to be a Christian and I accepted Christ, I'll say. But yet, I hate my brother. Am I truly then been born again or not? Haven't I been truly regenerated or not? That's the proof.

Well, if you hate your brother, what does it mean to hate in that sense? And what are you talking about? You can hate your brother for for two minutes 'cause he punched you in the nose. But uh you know, it is i I can't give you a one line answer for all situations. Each thing of an individual needs to be looked at.

What John's talking about is abiding in hatred. Christians don't do that. If you're abiding in hatred and condemnation for your brethren, well, you don't have eternal life in you. You're not behaving as a Christian because it's not there in you. That's all he's doing, okay?

Okay, so you should behave like a Christian.

So I understand what you're saying, but I thought you're not saved by performance, but you're saved by faith through grace.

So the evidence of your salvation is present in Christ, not by your performance. about works.

So So See the contribution there too? Yeah, I try to explain it, okay, and there's always differences and issues. But you tend to ask very generalized questions and then want me to give a specific answer to all of them. Each time.

Okay.

I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not a theologian like yourself. I mean, that's why I don't articulate the. terminologies maybe or the proper uh theological term and you know all these, you know, No, I say the logical. Yeah.

Okay.

Um well thanks. We gotta get going here. Whew, hey, if you want to give me a call, all you gotta do is dial 87720722. 7-6, we'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 8772072276. We have nobody waiting right now. You can also send me an email to info at caramborg.

That's info at carm.org and put in a subject line, radio comments, or uh radio question. All right, let me see if I can get to some of these questions that have come in. Uh In your presuppositional framework, God is said to be the necessary to ground logic and reality. But what does calling God necessary actually mean? I think I've went into that before, but worth getting into a little bit.

Um Beyond asserting that he exists, how's it different from simply defining him as a stopping point? The ultimate is that of which there is nothing greater or nothing equal. And when we look at the ultimate foundation of something, we're looking at the thing of which is the ultimate base.

So For example, I'm sitting in a chair in my house in Idaho, in the United States, on the planet Earth, in the solar system. In the Milky Way galaxy. In a galaxy cluster. inside the universe. And so we're going back and we say, what's the ultimate?

To an atheist, it would be the universe. Or they might say the thing that created the universe or before the universe. What we do as Christians is we say God is the ultimate because there's nothing equal to Him, nothing beyond Him, nothing greater than Him.

So he is the necessary condition before all things by which we can then account for anything and everything.

So we talk about presuppositionalism. What we do is we read the scriptures and we presuppose from the scriptures the Trinitarian God. When we do that everything falls in place. If you presuppose a non-Trinitarian God, problems arise. Without the Trinitarian God as a necessary precondition, you cannot have intelligibility.

or the foundation or the grounding. This is the idea behind presuppositional apologetics. People will say, well, that doesn't make any sense.

Well, let's talk about it. You know, like the laws of logic, for example. The law of identity, something is what it is, it is not what it is not. The law of non-contradiction, a statement, got to be both true and false at the same time, in the same sense. Uh the law of excluded metal statements are either true or false.

Law of proper inference. If A equals B and B equals C, then C uh then A equals C.

So just stuff like this. And these are the basics.

Well, what are these laws? Are they properties of rocks? No, they're not. Properties of the physical realm. No, they're not.

Properties of the physical realm are measurable. like a property of density, or a property of color, or heat conductivity, of magn magnetic ability, various things that you can find. Properties relate to the hard thing of what something is, okay? Rocks have certain properties. They have mass, they have density.

They have energy properties, conductivity, various things, and you can measure these things. And so Whenever you're able to measure a property, it exists because the thing exists.

So properties are measurable. But the laws of logic, for example, are not measurable. You can't weigh them, you can't see how dense they are. you can't take a picture of them. And so, because they are not fitting under that category of the properties that are measurable.

as are those things in the physical universe. Then they're not properties of the physical universe. Otherwise, they would be measurable. But since they're not measurable, therefore not properties. If they're not properties of the physical realm, that means they're independent of the physical realm.

Because they're not dependent upon the physical realm.

Alright, if they're not dependent upon the physical realm, then upon what are they dependent? At this point, we start asking what are the, let's just say, properties, characteristics, ideas, whatever you want to call it, of what these laws of logic are. These laws of logic occur in the mind. You don't find a law of logic drawing uh behind a a tree. You don't find it under a rock.

It's of the mind. You know, if something is what it is and is not what it is not. Or if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C. Then you're saying that this process of the mind is what is connected to or related to these laws of logic. therefore we would say the laws of logic are of the mind.

They seem to be characterized as mind dependent. because we cannot find them under rocks and behind trees.

So they're mind independent. Our mind, that is, are physical independent. They are dependent upon the mind. Let me correct that. their mind dependent and physically independent.

All right.

If they are mind dependent, then what else can we conclude?

Well, we would say that these laws are not the product of your mind or my mind, because your mind and my mind are different. and if I think something is correct, has a necessary logistical conclusion and you don't. If the laws of logic are derived from your mind or my mind, then we could have contradictions. And then that wouldn't make any sense.

So the laws of logic are independent of your mind and my mind. And since they appear to be, Universal, and that wherever we are, they apply. They're not dependent upon physical things or time or location. Then they are independent of those things, and they have the characteristics of being inviolate. That means they don't change.

In their absolute and And they're universal, then we would say, or we conclude, that the characteristics represent the mind in which they proceed, or from which they proceed, or they inherent.

So the mind of God is the necessary precondition for the universality of the laws of logic.

Now What about the Trinitarian essence? When we get into the nature of what these laws are, let's just take this on the laws. Is it the nature of these laws and the condition of them? that must give rise in order for their existence to be. Are these conditions one or many?

This introduces the concept of the problem of the one and the many. Is ultimate reality one thing or many things? If it's one thing. then everything is one substance, and the difference between chairs and trees can't really be justified because they're all one substance. If, however, everything is multiple or many things, then what's the relationship between chairs and trees?

If they're independent structures and independent relations, then how do they adhere to each other, relate to each other? And in both the one and the many, this undermines truth values because if you don't have congruity between items, and find a commonality between them, then you can't uh justify truth statements. And so The issue here then becomes what is the condition by which these laws of logic can obtain their universality and their particular manifestations. Like the universality of tree and the particular manifestations of individual trees. The universality of the idea of chair and a particular manifestation of cheer.

If the universe is one thing, then chairs and trees are all the same substance. If they are different things, then chairs and trees are completely different. And how do they relate to each other if there is no connection between them?

So the Trinity solves this problem in that God is one and many, not one or many. If He's one and many, then we can say that the relationship between these laws of logic is that they are ultimately one in the manifestation of the mind of God. which is ubiquitous, which is everywhere. And since He's absolute, these laws don't change. And then we who are made in His image, Genesis 1.26, can think God's thoughts after Him, and we can then be aware of and participate in the particular manifestations of those laws of logic.

or what we might want to call the instantiations of particular universals.

So the universality of the law of non-contradiction. will manifest in you and me talking about things that don't contradict. And so, therefore, when we ask what's the ultimate foundation of things, we say the Trinitarian being, who is one and many, provides that condition by which primary and secondary substances can be, let's just say, properly related and perceived. A primary substance would be a chair. A secondary substance would be chair-ness.

We can then say that the chair-ness, which is one thing, has many instantiations or many particular manifestations. We can then adhere, I mean, we can then say that with the Trinity, God is one and many, then He's the condition by which we can then say that chair-ness, logic-ness, whatever you want to call it. Is one thing, but it has instantiations and multiple levels, and they don't contradict each other, but they are one and the same. Foundationally, let's just say, being loose here, in my few terms, in that God is the necessary foundation, which then justifies the one and the many, not the one or the many. And so there we can justify the laws of logic as one and many, the one law that's many manifestations.

And the Trinitarian God is the necessary precondition for all intelligibility because of all of that. Yeah. Okay.

There you go. Let's get to Kenny from Well, where'd it go? It hit this right thing. It didn't hit it. It didn't work.

Let me hit this, try to. Oh, I hit the wrong one. Kenny from North Carolina, right as the music comes on, brother. Hold on. I've got a break, okay?

Hold on, brother. 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. All right, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207-2276.

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Let's get to Kenny from North Carolina. Kenny, welcome. You're on the air. Mm-hmm. Yes, thank you for taking my call.

kind of question they weigh on my mind as I get older, and you look at That scripture talks about you, it's appointed unto man wants to die. Yep, and judging. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's something you know That we all gotta face.

Yep. And what I was thinking about, you know, I hear a lot of people talk about the in the time Armageddon and them type of things and tribulations, you know. But isn't that kinda like me going through my arm again? 'Cause what's he once he calls us in, but there's none of this The rest of it kind of falls to the Melton. The world's army geting, I want my part to be done.

So, I was just trying to get your input on that. You're trying to relate the word Armageddon to a personal life. I'm trying to understand. Is that what you're trying to do?

Well, uh uh well, the battle, the battle. I guess I'm looking at the battle. That's the final battle in the world between good and evil. And, you know, we all have that battle within ourselves. Yeah, I wouldn't.

Yeah, I wouldn't use the word Armageddon for that because it has a very precise meaning dealing with end times and destruction and valley of Armageddon. That's what it means.

So if you're to use it in a different sense, then it becomes necessary to have to explain the different sense in order to get the same thing across that you might say by just saying, man, as we get older, we have more difficulties and battles we've got to fight. Yeah. Yeah, like Paul said, you know, I fought the fight. Yeah, I finished the c the course, you know, and laid up for me. Right.

The way I look at it, we God gives us a chance Kind of, you know, get prepared to meet him because we're going to meet him. Yeah. To me, I I I know for me personally, that's my battle, because that man in the mirror is irrascible. Yeah, that's true.

Okay.

I relate to Paul, wretched man that I am, by doing things I shouldn't do and leaving undone things I shouldn't do. But it all brings me back to Christ. I think, right for that. A savior. Right.

I I agree.

So what if you had to rephrase a question or ask a question a little bit different, what would it be? Um Mm-hmm. The rephrase about, you know. Uh Fighting fights, fighting your good fights. Like your face.

In all colours. There's different kinds of fights we have to go through. I don't know how old you are, but I'm pushing 70. I got my friends who are even older than me. And You know, going up and down the stairs isn't as easy.

Concentrating is not as easy. These are the things we have to face. And, you know, I lost my wife recently. And that's so many people have lost their spouses. Death is a rude visitor.

It comes in. And it robs us. In fact, I was just complaining today, or was it today or yesterday, about what death did to my wife? It wasn't her doing, it was death's doing. You know, it was talking out loud kind of therapy.

And, you know, God has appointed that. uh were to die and th the day is determined by God. But our job in the meantime is to struggle against sin and struggle to glorify Him until that day we go to meet Him. And that's what we're supposed to do.

Okay.

Okay.

I guess the way I'm looking at is I see myself daily in a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. Oh, yeah. And I'm trying to. Yeah, focus in, you know, like listening to programs like you and that type of thing. You know, I see.

What our four is going to come out. Is going to make me stronger. It's going to draw me astray. You know, I've watched, you know, I like the way Joe put it. I make a covenant with my eyes.

I've got to turn that. Right. Box off sometimes. I got to just flee. I've got to flee from that because it's leaving my mind and my heart the wrong direction.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I always tell people, don't trust a guy in the radio named Slick. Yeah. Trust what they've done.

That's right. I'll be honest, I don't trust myself because I know if I get my mind. In my heart is my Thank battling to keep it focused. You know, that fixed my mind on Christ that he talks about. When I start getting unfixed or get distracted, I know Satan's always trying to distract me.

distort me from, you know Spending time with God, you know, my prayer, study. You know, I don't know about you. You're better off than I am. I don't need his help to mess me up. I'm pretty good at that on my own.

Yeah. Amen. Amen. I guess I'm just blaming him for my own heart. You couldn't be.

He talks about our heart and deceitful. And it's easier to blame somebody. That got started in the garden, so we just continuing on with that. You know, because it's easier to point towards somebody than to really look in and realize, man, I got a lot of repenting, I got a lot to do. And I got to realize I cannot save myself.

It's only by God's grace and mercy. Amen, brother. Actually, come out of the Yeah. Actually came out of a cult. It was, you know, works.

Works towards it. What cult? He taught Christ, but. Uh Church of Christ. Yeah, okay, that's a cold.

Uh-huh. Yes, most of them are.

Some of us are reforming some of it. We're really battling the minister was working with it. It's a shame it took me 50 years. It's a grace. I was always trying to work and get it all lined up.

That's true. And what a relief. Yeah. of me being good enough. instead of accepting that grace.

That love of God. And also we we're fighting through the the the the cult part of it. And they got, you know, they had some really good things. You know, I studied to show you self-approved, but let's take it into what God says. I like this, like the way you say, let's get the scripture on this.

Not a pre that we're we're kind of outcast because We're reforming. we're reforming it because we wanted to line up with what God says because Uh the church don't save us. It's got to be Christ. That's right. And one of our sayings is: we and then and verify me if I, you know, or you know, correct me if I'm wrong, anything in front of Christ is becoming an idol or distraction.

or you know, bringing away from that through be becoming a disciple. Right. And we found it hard. We did a really good study on group. Yeah, we did a really good study on what it means to be a disciple.

Because it is a calling out.

Well, when you figure it out, let me know. I've never taken any call. Yeah, because I want to know. Hey, I'm battling through every day, trying to. that stumble myself up.

But I just thankful each day that I feel privileged. God's opened my heart and mind to see that. I'm loved and saved by his grace, by his mercy, by what he did on the cross. Amen. When he said it is finished, he meant it was finished.

He mentioned that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but you know, like I like the way one philosopher put it, he said, you know. God feeds the birds. of the air, but they got to get out of the missed.

So, my prayer is God, and I've got a nest in me because it's easier to try to block everything out instead of. How do I go out? Because he asked us to make disciples, and to me, that's opening the Bible and studying. You're seeing what God says about how we're supposed to live, how we're supposed to love each other. Yeah, I don't like loving others because it's too inconvenient.

You know, just telling you. I said, I don't like love others because it's inconvenient. I like being selfish. Yeah. Where we go it's part of I like a chelsea pilot uh loving the immers that I like from that.

from what I see from first screening and thirteen, I can be patient and kind and not like it. You know what I'm saying? That's true. I like that person, but. Yeah, I respond.

I I'm trying to learn not to react, but to respond to people. And I'm trying to learn what Agathi truly is. It's how do I give that person what they need, which is ultimately a relationship with God through Christ. Amen, brother. Yes, okay.

Yeah. You're you're saying it right.

Okay, well, thank you. Like I said, we're battling to break that cult hold it had on us and to really bring us back to Christ. Get him. I like the way one of the elders said: we've got to keep the big C on Christ and the little C on church. And I know what he's saying there.

I like that. We've got to keep that in the forefront. I like that. Big C on Christ and a little C on church. That's right.

It's not the church that saves us. That's right. It's Jesus who does that.

So, you know, we we're a And I appreciate your encouragement and your challenge and to keep study and they look and they're looking from different outs a aspects of you know, our our life and our Christianity and really our To me, the battleground. I I see we're broken You're born into a battleground and we gotta fight the fight or That's right. Like trying to get people to think. I try and g challenge them so that they they don't have to like what I say, but uh at least I get people to think. That's one of the things I've had people tell me, Man, you make me think about things.

Oh, that's good. Make you look at the Word of God and make up your own mind. And that's what I want people to do. Make up your own mind and do some thinking. That's right.

And you pray, God, I keep praying the Holy Spirit moves, not just in me, but. what I'm doing and the people I'm working with or God puts me in Because one of my mentors said, You keep preparing to point people towards Christ, and he'll put people in front of you. And I see it happening more and more. It scares me. to be honest with you because To to me, uh uh I don't want to mess it up.

Yeah, because I've messed up enough, you know what I'm saying? We all stumble, bumble, and bumble through things, and I'm a one of the chiefs. But I love Paul's testimony about being the chief of sinner and helped him. It's his battle with the flesh in the altar. That is we don't win by the flesh, we win by the spirit.

Amen, brother. And that's one thing we had to break from that, you know, coming out of the culted attitude. Uh you know The law The law was fulfilled by Christ, and we we got to do it by the Spirit. And it was we did a big, a real deep study on the Holy Spirit because that's one of the the th one of the thirds. that we need to uh uh get involved in their life.

And I hope I'm on the right track when I talk to people about baptism because I like Acts 2.38. But I like that last part because I said, you know, we get not just the baptism of being a disciple, becoming a disciple of Christ. I don't argue with people about one point God says That's his spiritual. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That's important.

That's important. He saves us. He saves us when we believe. And we believe, because he grants we believe. Not salvation at baptism.

It's not salvation at our time. Belief is what we're doing. Right. Right. Okay, good.

But that that's one uh another thing I I trying to study deep on is What he means by belief, because you know, you get into James, he talks about the devil's belief in shit. There's. Are three Okay. Belief is that which God grants to us, Philippians 1:29. That's in Jesus, John 6:29.

So it's real and dependent faith on the person of Christ and whom he is and what he did on the cross. That's all faith is. It's a dependence that we have that God is granting to us. And so we have that faith, not just mental intellectual assent, but heartfelt trust in what Christ has done.

Okay? And we gotta get going. That's what I was thinking. That trust. Because there's the music we're at.

That's right. It's a decisional trust. Breadrudder. God bless. Thank you, sir.

All right, man. God bless. Hey, we're out of time. May the Lord bless you by His grace. Back on here tomorrow.

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By His grace, back on here tomorrow.

Well, talk to you then. Have a good one. God bless. Another program powered by the Truth Network.