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, everybody, welcome to this show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call, as usual. All you gotta do is dial 8772072276. I think the last four spells C A R M on the phone.

So 877207 CARM. And for those of you who might be new to this show, not sure what this is about, I'm a Christian apologist, which means I defend the Christian faith. Do debates, write books, lecture, provide videos, and stuff like that. Large website, carm.org. And if you want to give me a call, you have a question about God, theology, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Unity, Baha'i Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, UFOs, the occult.

We can talk. I've been doing this for a long time and learned a few things. And maybe, maybe by God's grace, we can bless you with some of those answers and hopefully you'll be blessed.

So, if you want to give me a call, like I said, the number is 877-207-2276. You can also email me. That is easy to do. Just send an email to info at carm.org. Info at carm.org.

And you can then put the subject line radio comment or radio questions, either one of those, and we can get to them when we get to them. All right, now I had to reboot my computer right before the show, so I'm a little bit behind on a couple of things, but I want to. share something with you. that that uh i want to turn this into a video a bunch of other videos Um which I thought was really interesting is something here, let me get this going. That, as many of you know, I do a lot of battles online with people in false religions like.

Mormonism. Um Christian science, uh Unity uh Islam, Roman Catholicism, and they're false religions. They're not true Christian religions.

Now, When I say that, I say it as a a man who is confident in the Word of God, who believes in the supremacy of God's Word and the necessity of believing and submitting to what God has said. I'm a staunch believer in God's election and predestination. That God is the one who chooses us for salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. And that he is the one who grants that we have faith, Philippians 1.29. And that he grants we come to Christ, John 6, 65.

And the only reason anyone believes is because of the mercy of God, not because of their ability or their free will or whatever kind of false doctrine is going out there. Yes, I did say that. If you teach that it's completely up to your free will to believe, then you don't understand what the Bible says. Jesus says in John 6, 65, you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father. John 6, 65.

If it's up to your free will, you just need to have something presented to you. It's up to you to make a decision. Then you don't believe the word of God. You don't believe what Jesus says in John 6, 65.

Furthermore, God is one who grants that we have faith, Philippians 1.29, and our belief is the work of God. John 6:29.

So if you want to really believe biblical theology, then I would suggest that what you do is just simply believe what the Word says. It's easy to do. All you got to do is read it and believe it. And not go over the areas that only make you feel good, but go over those areas that make you uncomfortable to be corrected. You know, Jesus says that the will of the Father is that he lose none, John 6:39.

So the will of the Father. John 38, 39. The will of the Father cannot be broken. Jesus can't lose any. You see, God has chosen us for salvation.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. He's the one who appoints us to eternal life, Acts 13:48. He causes us to be born again, 1 Peter 1:3. We're born again not of our own will, John 1, 12, and 13. This is the word of God.

This is what needs to be believed by the Christian church as a whole. Absolutely. And the Protestants need to repent of half of their erring theology. It's up to me and my wisdom and what God gives to me. And it's just up to my freedom and my free will, not up to God's predestination, because He loves everybody equally.

Oh, yes, yes, cuckoo, coach.

So, what they'll do. And so many Protestants, unfortunately, what they'll do is judge theology by what they feel. They think Jesus is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nightgown, standing at the door of your heart, asking permission for you and your wisdom to let him in. And that is not what the scriptures teach. He chose us from the beginning for salvation.

Ephesians 1, 4, and 5. That's what it says. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we be holy and blameless. In love, he predestined us according to the kind intention of his will. God loves, he predestines.

He chooses people whom he will save and those whom he will not save. This is the teaching of scripture. This is the teaching of the word of God. And everybody ought to believe those things. Why?

Because that's what the Bible says. You see, too many people, like the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, what they'll want to do is gather themselves teachers that tickle their own ears. They look down the corridors of ancient history. They find various church fathers that tell them what they want to hear. It's up to you and your wisdom.

It's up to you. God would never do these kinds of things. Like the stupid Calvinists would say, No, no, no. What he'll do is he will. Give it you an equal opportunity, it's up to you.

God will provide a way for you to make a free will choice. And such foolishness comes forth from many pulpits across American Protestant churches. The foolishness and the lack of belief and understanding of the sovereignty of God and the belief in God's word comes across so many times from pulpits where people come up and say, It's up to you and your wisdom. It's all it is. You just need to make that choice because that's all it is.

That's not all it is. God has to grant that you have that faith. Philippians 1:29. He has to grant that you come to Christ. John 6:65.

What do we do? We preach the gospel, and we ask that the Lord Jesus Christ open the hearts and the minds of people to believe and receive the truth. Acts 16:14. Uh. Luke 24:45, I believe it is.

God opens the heart of the mind to believe the words of the truth of God's word. You see, God is the king. He's the sovereign being. He is a Trinitarian one who is eternally. The true being God, Trinity, who from all eternity has decreed whatsoever shall come to pass.

He works all things after the counsel of His will, Ephesians 1:11. And that happens from before the foundation of the world. But what happens in a lot of churches is because it makes people feel uncomfortable, they dumb God down and they reduce him to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nightgown. And they want to make him in their own image. God would never do that.

He would never ask you to do anything you can't do. He would never ask you to be unkind or unloving or anything like that. And he would only choose those who love him and who respond to him because that's what he does. He responds to our goodness and our grace to believe and choose in him. Yes, yes, yes.

Isn't that the way of the world to speak like that? Yeah, it is.

Now, I know that the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics, the official doctrines of those two denominations, are not Christian because they deny the gospel. What they say is that you have to earn salvation in part through the grace of God, the sacrifice of Christ and faith, and what you do. And you can. See many places where they teach this in the Roman Catholic Church, in paragraph 2068, 2036, and 2070 in the Catholic Catechism. The requirements for salvation include keeping the commandments.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, Dosithius Decree 13 and 3 teaches that good works comes through, or excuse me, that salvation comes through faith and your good works. You cannot add to the blood of Christ. Your good works will not save you. Your good works will not do anything for you. Your good works are not good because no man does good.

No man seeks for God. Romans 3:10, 11, and 12. We are by nature children of wrath. Ephesians 2:3. We are dead in our sins, Ephesians 2:1.

What we need is the grace of God, not the majesty of our own free will choice, as we pat ourselves on the back, lift ourselves up, and say, I am the one in my wisdom who chose Jesus. No, such heresies need to die. And heresies they are. The Bible prophesies in 2 Thessalonians 2 that there's going to be an apostasy that comes. The apostasy away from the truth.

And I think in 2 Peter 4:1 talks about in the last days, they'll believe false doctrines and doctrines of demons and things like this. You've got to understand. That the truth of God's word is what you need to believe, and the truth of God's word says that He elects, He chooses, He predestines. He's what he does this. Our job is to witness.

Our job is to share the faith. Our job is to pray that God would save more. We do not know how it works from all eternity past that God ordains whatsoever shall come to pass, Ephesians 1.11. We don't know how he works in the redeemed and who the redeemed intercede and ask that God would save more. We don't know how it all works.

Nobody does. Our job is sales, not production. God's one who produces the redeemed. God's the one who produces the regenerate. We're the ones who try and get people to believe in the gospel.

We present that gospel, and that's what we're supposed to do, and that's what we should be doing. of what you should be doing. And you should not go to any churches that teach. It's up to you and your wisdom and your ability and your goodness to get saved and keep yourself saved by what you do. There's a lot of false doctrines going around in Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and in Protestantism.

There's a lot. I'm a Protestant. But it doesn't mean that I affirm every single thing that all Protestant churches teaching. We had the heretics like Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland. who go around, any hin go around, and they teach false doctrines.

That we are to be like God and that we're to be healthy and wealthy and rich and the the pandering of the gospel for uh the increase of their pockets, the lining of their pockets. These false teachers need to repent. And the true Christian people of God need to stand on the Word of God and bow their knees before Him and say, He's the one. Who sovereignly elected me for salvation? He's the one who calls his people out of darkness into light.

And then we, in the humility of a redemptive work, we bend our knee, we bow our hearts before Him, and say, Lord, please save more. Please, Lord. We do not know how it works. From all eternity, we don't know. What I pray regularly is, Lord, if they're not elect, please elect them.

If they're not saved, elect from the foundation of the world, Lord, then please do that. And I confess, I don't know how it works, but I know this. God is the sovereign king, not us. Don't bow to the blond haired, blue eyed Caucasian surfer Jesus dressed in a woman nightgown, asking permission for you and the wisdom of your heart to let him in.

so that you can then be saved because you were wise enough to pick him. No, that's not how it works. He grants that you come to Christ, John 6:65. He grants that you have faith, Philippians 1:29. Jesus says, This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent.

John six twenty nine. Paul says in Second Thessalonians two thirteen He says, As many as had been how does it go? It says, He has chosen us from the beginning for salvation. In Acts 13, 48, it says, As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. You know, the Word of God is clear, the Word of God is strong, but people suppress it and they alter it to suit their own needs.

This is the case in Roman Catholicism, in Eastern Orthodoxy, and a growing trend inside of Protestantism to move away from the five solas, to move away from what the truth of God's Word really is and has been. What needs to happen is the people of God need to repent and they need to get on their knees and they need to believe in the truth of the Word of God. They need to come to Christ in complete faith and trust in all things, not in partial things. They need to abandon their Pelagian ideas that we're born sinless. They need to abandon their semi-Pelagian ideas that we're just mostly sinful.

We have basically good stuff in us, and it's up to our freedom in order to believe. They need to abandon these false teachings that are not found in Scripture. I know about the verses people want to bring up. You know, John 3:16. I know about that.

I can talk about those and teach all kinds of stuff, but what you need to believe are the five solas.

Sola scriptura, scripture alone is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

Sola fide, justification is by faith alone, not by works and faith.

Sola gratia, salvation is by grace alone, not by human effort.

Solos Christus, Christ alone is mediator and savior.

Solo deu gloria. All glory belongs to God alone. This is what the scriptures teach. True Christians bow their knee to the truth of who God is, not the truth of what their heart reveals to them. 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. Oh, Roberti, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call.

It's easy. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Scott from. Washington, Scott, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, good day to you. I just had a quick question. I don't know, I might have asked this maybe years ago, but I can't remember.

So you know, when Jesus was on the cross and he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Is there any sense that T is Uh more or less declaring That Those Roman soldiers, for example. either are or will be forgiven and saved? Or is it just some generic Statement. That's a good question.

I don't know how to answer it because uh Uh He's quoting Psalm twenty two, verse one. And so he's definitely citing the prophetic sense. Because if you read Psalm 22, written a thousand BC, you'll see it describes crucifixion action. And so that's what we know for sure.

So It seems to be a prayer of intercession, just a blanket prayer of intercession, not a specific decree of pardon.

So it it's that's what I would say. Um we don't know for sure, but that's that's what I would lean towards. Yes, that I do too. I just wanted to see if you had a different take than myself. Another thing that's just kind of cool, I was at church yesterday and we went to Psalm ninety nine, and I believe within Psalm ninety nine, I saw Um where you know We know why Jesus spoke in parables, so that they would not.

Come to see, and all that, and that I believe that's in Psalm 99. I think I'm not. Oh, interesting. Let me see if it is. Let's see.

Psalm 99. Um I'm scanning through it. Uh I don't see it. Um but it might be it 'cause I'm scanning. But if there's a related, I can do what I could do.

I could do this. I can go to mark. Yeah, that's the only thing that's a little bit of a multiple Well, he's quoting the Old Testament there. I know that, but for ten and uh eleven and twelve. But um So while seeing the MAC and not see you know, Isaiah 6.9 and stuff like that.

But if that's in a parable, I'd like to see that. That'd be interesting. Yeah, I mean, I might be confusing the Psalms. I it was definitely in the Psalms. I'm pretty sure it was 99, but but anyway, just talk about it.

I'm just scanning. I'm just scanning and you know scanning doesn't mean like I'm reading, I'm just looking at the words and uh And it doesn't say that I see in there, it's only nine verses, it doesn't say. But you know, check it out. Check it out. You never know.

All right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, that's all I got. I just wanted to call about that, but have a good day.

Okay, brother. God bless, man. God bless. All right. You too.

Okay. We'll see ya.

Alright, this should be interesting. Brent. From North Carolina. Hey Brent, welcome here. Yeah.

Come back out of your journey, not here. What do you got, big guy? I want to just ask you some questions. My twin brother called the other day about Thank you. The UFOs A lot of people are want to you know, want to question you know, they question about Area fifty one and these different areas that have been dealt with as UFOs and Is this true or is it What is your take on that about the UFO extraterrestrials and the arch cons and Some say that White Houses have sold out to the demons.

What what what's your take on that?

Well, I suspect that the UFO, the aliens, are simply demonic manifestations, spiritual and or physical, that the aliens may be the descendants of the Nephilim, who have long uh lifespans and are very intelligent. It's not mathematically uh possible that life formed any place in the entire universe. I can give the math on that.

So what they are has to be From here, from this realm, or from the spiritual realm. And, um, They teach theology, the theology that the aliens teach is as There's Jesus is not God. We're divine reincarnations true. And so I think that they're demonically uh demonically involved. And it could be very well the case that the government has actual ships or actual technology derived from them that it's examining and might be in cahoots with some of them.

And though I can't say for sure I've seen enough Videos and first-hand testimonies, supposedly from people, who say that this kind of a thing is going on.

So, you know, is it true? I don't know.

Okay. Yeah. Uh yes.

Well I can ask on that a little bit more. It is true. If you go through the book of Ephesians 6 and 10, it says, We restore not against flesh and blood. But our battles were principalities, rulers of the darkness, Spiritual weaknesses in our place and the powers. They're nothing but fallen angels that have come to the earth.

And it was about 200 that went to Mount Hermon, which are called the Watchmen.

Now a lot of people don't know about the book of Enoch. But the book of Enoch expounds on all of these demons, what they did. One of them was Athevius. Other they'll taught mankind how to go ahead and make weapons. Different game of salt, different people.

Yeah, this is just theory stuff, but the Book of Enoch is just simply a compilation of things about. a couple hundred years before Christ. It was known and is not considered Scripture.

So we don't know uh how much of it's accurate or not accurate. as far as that goes. And the watchman, um Yeah, I could tell you some stories about that. But yeah, there's just a lot of conjecture.

So we don't know for sure, but uh there's a lot of spiritual things going on. If we don't come out these basic which is called rudimentary. Do you know what I mean when I say rudimentary? I'm based in rudiments. You know what that pitting father, what it means?

Thank you. Yeah, I know what it means, yes. Mhm. Yes, sir. We're teaching basics.

We're still in the basic realm. We keep asking the same questions over and over again, and people are really burning the pastors out, really. uh we use you for an example. You're not telling people, but you're really burned out We're trying to answer all these questions for people, and the Roman Catholic Church really has four people. People don't study for themselves.

They're always dependent upon, they're not independent, but they're always dependent upon a pastor. to just to answer all the questions forms that are going in. And circumvent.

Well, not, yeah, I get it, but a lot of people don't have the tools for searching. I'd like to teach a course on how to do that, but a lot of people just don't know what it means to search. They don't know how to study God's Word, and so they trust pastors, which is fine as long as the pastors are trustworthy, because God provides them for that purpose.

Okay. Mm. Um but all I just say is this people need to get to get ready because and get prepared because once they start revealing these Oxcoms, these Reptilians, these shit shifters, people are going to get going to panic mode.

So stop preparing people fought because it's soon to come. People are going to be surprised who's really leading our government and who's leading these Theology schools and these philosophies and theorists, and these colleges, and stuff, they're going to be a real surprise at the end of the day. Uh well, I'm sure some surprises are are going to be coming. Yep, uh we'll be yeah, summer coming. And I'm not sure.

And I just want to end with this. You know the greatest supplies? What? What Gomapano said was: surprise, surprise, surprise. That's right.

The greatest surprise is. You remember that old shit? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm old enough to remember. That's right.

I remember him. I used to watch him all the time. All right. Thanks a lot, Brent. Really appreciate it, man.

Have a good one. All right. The Anunnaki, yep, I've heard about this stuff. Anyway Hey, that was entertaining. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276.

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 is to do. Is DAL 877-207-2276? Let's get to. Ken from North Carolina. Ken, welcome.

You're on the air. Hello man, how are you? Doing okay, hanging in there, man. Hanging in there. What do you got, buddy?

Yes. I do want to congratulate you for being very cordial to that last caller. I think I would have kind of ended that conversation a little sooner. Of course, it's your show and you can do what you want, but I think that's a prime example of what Believers often get caught up on and concerned about UFOs and all this other stuff. You know, if the Lord wanted us to be concerned about that, He certainly would have told us about that in His Word.

But I think you could, I would hope you would agree with this, but it seems like the true Church of Christ oftentimes is spending its time. Debating and worried about frivolous things instead of building up the body of Christ. That was our assignment. and also to look for the return of Christ. Yeah, we are to do that, and we are told to watch.

Sure, so yeah. To watch, right, and be ready. Yeah, be watch, be ready. You know, our assignment as fathers, in my case, I don't have grandkids yet, but one day they'll find the recipe for that. But my assignment is to lead them in in the truth of Christ and encourage them to trust Him and walk walk with Him in obedience, not just some blind belief and and a head filled with wooden knowledge, but to truth We keep on every every avenue.

Yeah, I agree. There are, however, there are some interesting things in the Bible that talk about the end times and things that can be related to what we're talking about here. And there are a lot of evidences out there about aliens, UFOs, what they might actually be. We need to be aware of those, but not get too caught up in it. Yeah, I'm not too concerned about it.

The Lord, you know, you know, those that are outside of Christ, sadly, are. Um you know The ones that should be concerned about that because they'll be left here on earth during the time of the Great Tribulation, and who knows what kind of things will come out, right? But yeah, if you hold to that, if you hold to pre-trib rapture, I hope you're right. Yeah, yeah, you know, Judge.

Well, judgment is, you know, judgment is for those that are outside of Christ. You know, the tribulation isn't about judgment. It's not about judgment. The Bible says, Jesus says, after the tribulation is when the rapture occurs. In Matthew 24.

Believe it or not, I can show it to you. But well, we could talk about that at another time, but I just believe that what you see as far as the as the seven years of tribulation, it's judgment on the earth and those that have projected Christ. But I guess you you subscribe to a post you subscribe to a post trib rapture Yes, because of the two-age model. When you do that, then you find out that the two returns of Christ, two raptures don't work. There's only one.

And in fact, in Matthew 13, Jesus says the first ones gathered at the end of the age are the wicked, not the good. Exactly. Yeah, I show people that stuff and they're really surprised. But we can talk about something. We've got a lot of noise in the background there.

I know what's going on, but a lot of noise back there.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, sorry, I've got a thing going on in the car.

So, hey, appreciate your time. I enjoy your show, though. Thank you, Matt. All right, man. God bless you.

Thank you. All right. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I do believe we're going through the tribulation period. It's worth discussing, and I hope I'm wrong.

It's one of the doctrines I believe that I Okay. I don't want to believe it. I don't know, I don't want to believe it. Oh well, that's what you got to do.

So let's get to Rob from Pennsylvania. Rob, welcome. You're on the air. How are you doing, Matt? Hey, I've been.

I always thought that I learned that progressive sanctification was kind of like the. the the mo the key idea of sanctifications But then I you know, I read about Wesley and his entire sanctification and then the orthodoxy with their theosis. And so I've come to realize like through studying that there's like not We actually there's not a lot of agreement on what sanctification is, and I was just curious what you you think it is. from me reading scripture, it kinda doesn't seem like It's the easiest thing to pin down because it's unlike justification, where it's like a whole couple of chapters on what justification is before God. And by his faith alone, like it's pretty clear.

Like there isn't such the same kind of verse for that for sanctification. I was just curious how you solve that. Yeah, Wesleyan, let's just say I don't trust Wesley's theology very much. And he taught a second work of grace after conversion. that you can get to the place of of not sinning very much.

And I find that to be uh sur theologically laughable. And I'm dead serious in those words. Because the Bible tells us that Paul, as an example, in Romans 7, 18 through 25, he's saying, Paul, Paul the Apostle, the things I want to do, I don't do, and the things I should do, I don't. who will deliver me from this body of death.

So this idea of dismiss that verse as if not actually speaking about himself.

Well, then I would say, then cross out the words where he says the things I do, I don't want to. the things I should do, I don't. Just cross those out. It's very easy to to dismiss things like that when people's arrogance gets so big that they think that they can keep the law on the halfway in the level of Jesus and stop sinning and becoming that sanctified. They have no clue.

It reads like he's currently saying it to me, like throughout, like if you watch the language and stuff, I get the grammar. to me doesn't really allow for it, to be just be speaking hypothetically, but I was just curious what you usually say to people. Where do you land on sanctification? Sanctification is the process that God brings us through to make us more like Him. And by the way, the Eastern Orthodox view of theosis as a form of ultimate sanctification is heresy.

And the Eastern Orthodox Church is not Christian. It teaches a false gospel, has a false priesthood, and uh promotes idolatry. Dead serious. This is serious stuff. Oh, yeah.

Like, I've tried to understand it. I've tried to read about it, and I. You know, I I'm pretty smart, but they seem to use a lot of categories that for me, my brain doesn't really Understand?

Well, look at it this way: justification is when God declares you righteous. This is by faith alone in Christ alone. done. Sanctification is a process God brings you through to make you more like Christ. And you are never going to be like Christ because the the I want to say the morons, the theological morons, who say, Yeah, I can get to the place where I'm not even sinning anymore.

They're saying, well, I do, I keep the law, and I'm as good as Jesus was. This is the arrogance and the pride that goes along with this moronic stupidity that is taught. And I have to say for what it is. Because the closer you get to Christ, the more you realize you're not like Him. He is holy and infinitely perfect and pure.

We simply are not. We can delude ourselves to think that we're doing pretty stinking well. But the closer you get to Christ, the more you realize the wickedness of your own heart. And then the more you're you're just blown away by his love for us anyway. You know We just cannot be on that level of Him, and there are the ignorant.

who say that they can. That's just not the case.

Well, do you think that that's an aspect of sanctification by itself, right? Like, the longer we live, the more we look at ourselves, and we're like, okay, like, I kind of defeated this area of sin, but it seems like every time I whack a mole, something else pops up. And that's kind of like. It's exactly correct. It's exactly correct.

Exactly correct. That's what I mean: is there's, you know, we are just walking on the tip of the iceberg of our own sinfulness. We don't see the depths. We can't even understand how deep it goes. But we have to realize that God loves us because of His grace, not because of our sanctification.

He justifies us on the basis of faith, and then he brings us through life to reveal more of what we are to ourselves before him, and then we work on being more like Christ. But we're never going to achieve it completely because He's infinitely good in His sanctification, and we're not.

So that's just it.

So Wesley is saying a second movement, and that therefore you can get to that place of pretty good, doing pretty well. I mean, how many Christians do you know who's going, oh, I'm doing pretty well when it comes to my sanctification? Yeah, I'm doing great. Uh well, uh my one church I I I I knew a couple of people who actually believed that. Uh, but my current church just about everybody confesses that they're they're they're they're a sinner and they're not doing all that great.

Yeah, and it's not like we're trying to say, Woe is me, let's go eat worms. I'm not saying that. It's just in the light of who Christ is, we're not going to make it. But we are to walk in light and to try and get rid of sins and sinful behaviors and attitudes as much as we can. But we're never going to make it because we are not Jesus, and that's all.

Okay. Well, I mean, if I could just ask one more question. Like when you say progressive, I mean, Couldn't people infer that like then there is a sense in which I say less? Yes, absolutely. You could say I don't sit in that area as much anymore or this area as much anymore.

And then just like you said, whack-a-mall, all of a sudden another one pops up. Because now your attention isn't on the big ones, now it's on the other ones. And then you realize some of those other ones, oh my goodness, are bigger than I thought they were. Hey, hold on, brother. We got a break coming up, okay?

Hold on. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. Great back. It's Matt Slick live, taking a call at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, and welcome back to the show. The guy we're talking to, he dropped off, and we'll get to the next caller just in a minute from Vancouver. Just want to let you know that we stay on the air by your support. If you would be so kind as to consider supporting us, you can go to carm.org, C-A-R-M.org.

The top of the page, you will find the donate button or word link. And all you got to do is click on that. It's easy to do. We have it all set up so that you can set it up on your own, and you can change it and alter it by just logging in. And it's all right there.

It's very easy.

So we do appreciate that. We ask $5, $10, or $15 a month. It does help, and we do need it. It. I'm serious.

All right, let's get to Dan from Vancouver. Dan, welcome. You're on the air. Hey Matt, how's it going? It's going man.

It's going. What do you got, buddy? Right on.

Okay. So I was wondering, what is your view on the Office of Deacon Is that reserved for men only? Or is that a tradition that women can hold in the church. Men only. Yeah, it was fun.

Yeah, biblically, it's men only. 1 Timothy 3. If you want, I can go through it and read it to you if you want. Why? Yeah, sure, let's go there.

Okay, so it's on verse 8, but we need to start at verse 1. Because in the Greek, there are not words sometimes like anthropos, man, or andre, man, in some areas. And then we have what's called things where you have a word like it, which would be in the masculine, and things like this. But this is what I'll just won't go too deeply, but it says this. In 1 Timothy 3.1.

It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach the husband of one wife that's Mias Gunaikas in there, or in this case, Andra Mias Gunaikas. That literally is a husband of one wife.

So the overseer, episcopas, a bishop, must be the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one. Who manages his household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. If a man does not know how to manage his own household, how would he take care of the church? And not a new convert, so that he'll not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Deacons, likewise, must be. Men of dignity, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine or much food, but holding the mystery of the faith and true conscience. These men must be first tested. Women must likewise be dignified.

So, deacons, and it says in verse 12, must be the husbands of only one wife.

Well one can't do that.

So We're done. That's that's it's settled.

So if a church has a woman d deacon, they're being unbiblical. Oh good.

Okay. I guess my follow-up question would be. R So I live in an area, it's a pretty godless area, it's pretty liberal. area and the church I'm going to is the Calvary Baptist Church, a really good church. My one kind of concerned with it is the fact that they allow women deacons, and it's kind of held me off on becoming a member there, and I've been really concerned about it.

So What do you think about that? Um yeah, I I could see that. Is it in Vancouver? Because I want to see if I can find this find it and look online. It's in uh Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, actually.

Manaimo?

Well, how do you spell that? N A M A I M O. The Naimo, wow, interesting. Oh, that's right. Um Let's see.

So Calvary Baptist, you said? Don't worry about this church of Jamanus. Oh, yeah, there it is. And what I could do is find their websites and then I go in and look at, like I'm doing right now, look at the staff and things like this. And leaders, here we go.

So they do a WANAs, which is good. And uh Leaders Come on, get into there. We have two leadership teams: elders. And they don't really say oh, here we go. We have Edgar, Gregg, Trevor, Peter.

Bev is management deacon, as she sees out of out of place. Uh Peter's an elder. Congregational Deacon Deacon Rochelle. Outreach Deacon Linda. Yeah, what you need to do is go to 1 Peter, I mean, 1 Timothy 3.

And just Print it up, or just take a Bible and say, You have deacon, women, women, deacon. How is it a women deacon can be a husband of one wife? Can you please tell me how that works? biblically. Right.

And I I guess I've just been uh kind of too coward to bring it up. Other than this one thing, really, it's like it's such a good church and it's so hard to find a good church on this part of the world. Yeah it is. You can I can do this.

Now let me tell you what happens when you do stuff like this. is that um they're going to justify their denial of God's word here at this point.

Okay. And if if I were there and and I'd say you know Look, you guys do a great job, but I have a question. You know, you have deacons who are women, and yet it says in 1 Timothy 3:12, deacons must be husbands of one wife. How can a woman fit that bill? And just see what they say.

Well, you see, we just want to blah blah blah blah blah. I just say. But it says They have to be men. Uh why do you have women deacons? Why do you do that?

And they don't like pastors don't like being confronted with the word of God.

Okay. So that usually will put you on the outside. And then you have to decide if you're going to continue to go there. And if they had women elders, that's even worse. you know, but they don't.

I I would ask them, do they believe it's okay to have women elders? Let's see what they say first. No, they they don't. They they don't. I I know I've been going there over a year, so I know them pretty well and They're definitely against that.

Well, look at this. In Titus chapter one. It says for this reason, verse 5, let you increase that you appoint elders, any man above reproach, husband of one wife. The elders are to be husbands of one wife. You could take them and say, That's why you don't have women who are pastors and deacons, right?

I mean, excuse me, don't say deacons, say pastors and. And and uh and elders, right? And they go, Yeah.

Well, the same phraseology is used of deacons in 1 Timothy 3:12. Why do you have that?

Okay, then listen for the crickets. All right. Well, hopefully, there's no cricket because my these elders are pretty godly men, and I think they. Really strive to follow God's word, so we'll we'll hope that that's not the case. And what they'll probably do is talk about a deaconess.

And they'll say, well, there was a deaconess. And uh Yeah, but deacon comes from the word diaconos, which means to serve.

So Phoebe in Romans 16:1 was a deacon. But uh It looks like it might be a masculine form of that. We can get into that. But it says in 1 Timothy 3:11, women must be dignified, etc., etc.

So, when we get into this, they say there's sometimes deaconesses. That just means a servant. But the office of a deacon in the pastoral epistles of Titus and 1st Timothy. is clearer. There to be husband and one wife, just ask 'em.

Okay. Why do you do that? So remember. Titus 1.6, okay? Titus 1.6.

elders are to be the husband of one wife. And then cross it with, okay, great. I'm glad you say that. And then 1 Timothy 3:12: deacons must be husbands of one wife. Why do you have deacons who are women?

Can they fit that?

Okay, and see what happens. Just don't tell them some guy in the radio named Slick told you to say, it'll just get bad. Yeah, I'll I'll try to keep that. I'll not do y'all. I'm going to download you.

Do you have time for one more quick question? Sure, a quick one. Go read that. Uh a view. Do you have you heard of Bibles for Canada, Bibles for America?

No, I haven't. No.

Okay. Because I got approached by them and they gave me a free study Bible, and I started asking them questions to kind of see if they're heretics or not. And it it seems kind of Okay. And I was just wondering what your what your view on them is because there's kind of mixed views.

Okay. Yeah, I don't know. If you could find any information on them and send it to me, like an address, a website, I'm researching them right now, looking. uh two different Bible c Bibles for Canada groups. Biblesforcanada.org and uh Yeah.

One red flag is they're connected with the local church. Which is bad. But it doesn't mean that's the group. It just says in my research here, really quick, looking online.

So, some are good, some are bad. She says, be careful, that's all, and see what it is. Get the information from them.

Okay, their their tea their teacher was a guy named Watchman Lee. Yeah, Watchman Lee. It's local church, stay away from it, not good. Yep.

Okay. Okay. Okay, yeah, I I know about him.

Okay. So all right. All right. Uh I know. They help.

Alright.

So they kind of mingle uh God and man kind of doctrines, they blur the creator-creature distinction a little bit. It was to say one church per city, only their local churches are legitimate churches. And yet they claim to be known denominations. Yeah, a lot of people will do that just to uh Just to brush off a lot of stuff that they can just get in the door. Um So there's some modalistic leanings in some of their stuff.

And there's what's called a a heavy emphasis on shepherding. till they get to know you and then basically it's a control group to some degree. All right, so just watch out for him.

Okay, brother?

Okay, well, thanks for your time, man. All right, man. God bless, brother. God bless. Okay.

Well, we have Elijah from Pennsylvania and Clinton from Virginia. We won't have time to get to both, I don't think. But I am interested in talking about this female deacon thing, Clinton.

So if I don't get to you, I have to call back tomorrow. But let's see what happens. Elijah, welcome. You're on the air. Hey Matt, I was calling to ask you what you thought about this.

There's this atheist named Flores Dalkai, who Comes on the line sometimes with the show that you had called in the once too. And he. I've heard him say this several times that because sometimes Christians, when they leave the conversation with him, they sometimes say to him that Jesus loves you. He gets so offended by that, he says that, yeah, that's very offensive to me. And then he'll uh bless you and God uh after that.

And um I I just wanna know your thoughts on that. Yeah, I I would test him and say, you know, on something, Hey man, you know, love you, and then see, and then see, are would you be offended if I said, Hey, man, love you? Would it be offensive to you? If he says yes, So if your mom says it it loves you, is that offensive? Where do you draw the line of what's being offensive?

Now he's on the defensive at this point. And if he says, no, it doesn't bother if you say it, then why do you bother about Jesus? Why do you hate him so much if you're an atheist? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. is is is very strange. They got that uh antichrist spirit. Yes, they do.

The spirit of Antichrist. There are a lot of evil people out there. That is true. And the day of judgment is coming, and unfortunately, many of them will fall into the abyss of eternal damnation. We don't want them to go there.

We need to preach that gospel of truth. and tell them nonetheless, you know, that Jesus You'd love them.

Okay. All right? Yeah. And all right, uh, we won't have much time, so I guess I guess I'll probably come back tomorrow. That's right, we got three seconds before the music's on, too.

One and There we go. All right, brother. We're out of time.

Okay. All right, God bless. All right. Hey, Clinton from Virginia. Please call me tomorrow about this on the top of this female deacon thing.

May the Lord bless you all. Remember, we do need your support. Please consider supporting us. Just go to carim.org. And at the top of the screen, you'll see the word donate.

Click on that. And may the Lord bless you by His grace. We'll be back on here tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. Have a good one, everyone.

Another program powered by the Truth Network.