Matt Slick Live

A previously recorded Matt Slick show. It's Matt Slick live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry found online at karm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick live.

Francis taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Everybody welcome to the show.

It's me, Matt Slick. I hope you're all having a good day. If you want to give me a call, as usual, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. You have no callers waiting right now. I do hope to hear from you.

Oh boy. Now as we get into the holidays, it often slows down and that's okay. So if you've got questions and comments and things about whatever you want to talk about, all you got to do is give me a call. And for the podcasters, today is November 9th, 2020 and we are working frantically to get the new website going and working on it. There's still quite a bit to do, but let's see what we're at, converting the articles. We're at 89% done, almost at 90. We'll be at probably 90% done today. And working frantically, we've got some people who are helping out, converting articles, takes a lot of work and now what's happening is we're getting to the place where it takes more and more work to do a few things because they're the harder things that are left over and we're slowing down, but that's okay. So we're getting there and of course I've been doing some of the hard work, getting some detailed stuff, files and it's just a lot of stuff to do, but that's okay. If you could, please pray for us because we definitely, definitely need a lot of prayer for this ministry.

It's a lot of work and a lot of people just don't realize that there's a lot of pressure involved with it and you know, various issues and things that can become problematic and difficult. It's just what ministry is, like a lot of things, a lot of jobs and stuff. All right, I'm going to give you a call, 877-207-2276. We also have three online schools. If you're interested in checking out the schools, all you have to do is go to CARM.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G, the right hand side of any page.

You'll find the school link information or go to the home page and you can check it out. And I really do urge people to study their theology. You know, I was imagining a scenario. I do this sometimes when I'm thinking about various things and I was imagining going to a Bible study and because I don't go to Bible studies. The reason is I mess them up. And so, you know, I was thinking at a Bible study, I've done this before where I've been at studies and I can't say too much because then people get intimidated because I know these verses. I know where this is. I can correct this and correct that.

I'm not trying to boast. It's just, you know, I've just been doing this for a long time. And I'm kind of surprised sometimes at how many false doctrines so many people will teach and believe inside of Christian Bible studies things. And so I've been doing a lot of thinking about it recently and it is the case. There's a lot of false teachings out there. They don't know the scriptures that well, most part. And a lot of pastors don't either. A lot of pastors are just busy trying to, you know, counsel and work a sermon, not very in depth, trying to solve problems. And they're just being pastors. But we need a lot more than that. We need apologists. We need well established doctrinal understanding and preaching.

I don't think we're getting enough of it, but anyway, so that's what I was thinking about. But in light of that, if you want to learn the basics of your Christian faith, not just what's a Trinity, but how they relate to the hypostatic union, communicatio idiomatum, justification, imputation, sanctification, why they are interrelated and why they're important. You can go to karm.org. You can learn those terms and you can go through the schools in the process of doing it. And we charge for them at the schools.

If you're interested in checking them out, please do. But we also say that if you can't afford them and you want them, just let us know and we'll give them to you for free. We want to be able to keep the lights on, but we want people to be able to learn the truth and hopefully go to Bible studies and say, wait a minute, what about this? And things like that. And we need this, particularly in the world today.

Boy, do we need truth, not this sentimentality. It's watching something from Paula White. My wife showed me just real idiocy. Oh geez. Just repetitive, just repetitive over and over and speaking in tongues, repetitive stuff over and over and over.

And it was just ridiculous. Um, man, any rate, you know, it just, it sounds problematic. But anyway, hey, look, we have three open lines. If you want to give me a call.

877-207-2276. Let's get to Ellen from Wisconsin. Ellen, welcome.

You are on the air. Thank you. Um, I have been studying the various denominations of Christianity recently and raised Baptist as I was, I have found that every denomination teaches slightly different doctrines. In some cases, doctrines that cannot both be true.

Right. Every teacher defends these doctrines from scripture and claims that the Holy Spirit is speaking to him or her specifically. My question is, can we know which denomination is giving us the interpretation of scripture that the Holy Spirit intended without a magisterium as the Catholics have?

How can it be known at all? Are you Catholic? No, sir, but I'm considering converting. Okay. Well, let me tackle the issue of the magisterium first, but I'm going to lay a foundation for you and talk about a principle that you need to understand. Now, God, I would assume that you agree that God is the ultimate authority in everything, right? Yes, indeed. Okay. And if he speaks, the nature of his very speech is authoritative because that's just how it is.

Would you agree? Yes, of course. Okay. Would you agree that the scriptures, the Bible is the inspired word of God? Everything in it is accurate, truthful.

You know, when it records something bad or records something good, but it's accurate and it's recording, it's all inspired, right? Yes. Okay. Is the Roman Catholic Church's sacred tradition equal to the word of God? Although it's not equal, it is not equal. So that's good. It's not equal. And that means that the scriptures, because they reflect God's ultimate character, the scriptures that are the ultimate source of truth, not man's tradition, right?

Right? Yes. Okay. In Roman Catholicism, they have two ultimate authorities.

Their church authority slash tradition and the scriptures. You can't have two ultimate authorities. You can only have one. Otherwise, you're not ultimate. They're not final. Right. And so what the Roman Catholic Church does is it submits the word of God to its authority and it becomes the ultimate authority, the ultimate end.

And because of this, it will lead you astray because it doesn't submit itself to the word of God very clearly. Okay. Okay.

This is it. Also in Roman, I'm going to show you something because this is tied in place. I'm going to read some scriptures to you. I'm going to read two verses to you, and then I'm going to quote the catechism to you.

And then we'll get into the interpretation stuff. This is Romans 3 28. We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Justification is a legal declaration of righteousness. Now I'll prove that because in the next verse, it says in verse four, Romans four five, excuse me, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. To be justified is to have faith credited as righteousness.

To be justified means to be declared right according to the law. This is by faith to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is credited as righteousness.

Do you see that? Romans four five. One who does not work, but believes. In Greek, the word for believe there is pistouo. And in Greek, the word for faith is pistis, the same word. One's a verb form, one's a noun form. So we have, you know, believe and have faith, but in English or different words, but in Greek, they're the same.

One's a verb form, one's a noun. So it says when it does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Who believes his faith is credited as righteousness. So let me ask you, is his faith credited as righteousness when he believes or is it not when he believes? It is. When he believes, right? Right? Yes, sir.

That's what it says. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that you obtain salvation through faith, baptism, and the observance of the commandments. So it adds work to salvation. It adds work to salvation and therefore teaches a false gospel.

So here's a question for you. Are you willing to submit to the word of God over and above the authority, the self-proclaimed authority of the Roman Catholic Church, which they cannot establish as being authoritative from the word of God? You want to submit to that authority, the word of God, and affirm that your justification is by faith alone in Christ alone, because the Roman Catholic Church denies it, because it has its tradition.

Its tradition has gone in the way of the gospel message itself. And so the Roman Catholic Church is not a true Christian church. It's an ancient false church.

It's an ancient church that is false. Because the Bible clearly says what it says right here, and I read you the verses. Let me go to Galatians 2 16. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

That's what it says. Not by the law. The law has 613 commandments, and in that law is love God and love your neighbor. That's Deuteronomy 6 5 and Leviticus 19 18. That's part of the law, and Jesus quoted those two verses in Matthew 22 37 and 39, and then said in verse 40 that that's the summation of the entire law. Yet the Bible says, we maintain that man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. That means apart from loving God and loving your neighbor. You're not justified before God because you love God. You're not justified before God because you love your neighbor. You're justified before God because you have faith in what Christ Jesus did. That's it.

I see what you're saying. The Roman Catholic Church is anathema. It's cursed. It teaches a false gospel. So you have to ask yourself just a question. Are you seeking in any way to be justified by your works? Because that's what Roman Catholicism is offering. Do you want to be justified before God by faith and faith alone in Christ alone, or do you want to be justified by your faith and what you do in any way shape or form, whether it be the participation of the sacraments? Because in Roman Catholicism the sacraments are means of grace that's infused into your soul. That's paragraph 1999, the catechism.

It's infused. And when you sin, you lose a little bit of that infused grace. You've got to go to the Catholic Church and they get it back to you. So they are in control of your salvation, not Jesus. So it's a non-Christian religion. The Roman, I'll say it publicly, without any shame, without any doubt, the Roman Catholic Church is not a true Christian church. It's an apostate false church. And all who believe in its official doctrines will end up going to hell. Let's see what you're saying. This is what it is.

I've got stuff on Karm on the website. I've written over 140 articles on Catholicism. I've done a great deal of research. And so what it does is it submits the Word of God to its own tradition. It says you have to have authority to interpret the Word. That means that the Word has to be submitted to their authority. Therefore, they are the ones who are the ultimate people in control. Then the question becomes, as you've asked, how do you know which denomination is interpreting scripture properly? We can say the same thing about the Catholic Church.

Because the Magisterium is taught false things. Hold on. I'll show you some more stuff.

I want you to never walk into a Catholic Church door again. Hopefully we can talk to you before the break. Please stay tuned, folks. We'll be right back after these messages.

Welcome back to the show, everyone. Ellen, are you still there? Hello. You are? Okay.

Are you there? Yes, sir. All right. So can I continue with you a little bit and show you some more stuff?

Please do. Okay. This is what the Catholic Church says in paragraph 816 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation at the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. So it's pointing to itself as the full means of salvation. It doesn't point to Jesus. Jesus says, come to me.

All who are heavy related, I will give you rest. That's what Jesus says. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope with the grace of God to persevere to the end and to obtain the joy of heaven as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ, period of 1821. So our good works with God's grace gets us heaven.

That's heresy. We maintain that man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is credited as righteousness. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. That's scripture.

The Roman Catholic Church contradicts the scripture. And it says, and I'll just go to the summation here, that which is, and it says the word necessary in all these paragraphs, the word necessary for salvation necessary is there. And it includes the church, which is necessary for salvation, paragraph 846, baptism, paragraph 1257, tenants, 980, sacraments, 1129, service and witness of the faith, paragraph 1816, keeping the 10 commandments, paragraph 2036 with 2070 and detachment from riches, 2556. There's no hope of salvation in Catholicism. It's a works righteousness system, just like the cults, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, just like Islam. It teaches that you're saved by your faith in God and what you do, your faithfulness, your ability. Okay.

Your sin debt's canceled when you believe, when you get baptized and things like that. You with me? Do you believe the Bible? Do you believe the Bible? Are you there?

I am here. Okay. Please don't think I'm trying to derail the conversation because I'm not, and I appreciate all the things you said. Here is the question that has been on my mind for months now.

Yes. There is no solid single interpretation of the Bible. How can I say I believe it? It may be inspired, but if none of us, if you can defend two diametrically opposite positions from the same scripture as the Calvinists defend limited atonement and the Baptist say that atonement is unlimited. If there is no way of knowing for sure, then the Bible might as well be in a foreign language that none of us can read.

That's the case. Certainly I believe the scripture is inspired, indeed I do, and I hope that I believe it. But who shall I believe when they tell me they have God's word? It's my soul on the line here. I could end up damned for believing the wrong thing. Well limited atonement doesn't affect your salvation.

The doctrine of salvation by faith alone. I beg your pardon, sir? If it is, yes indeed, but how do I know I'm one of the elect? Sir, that's not what I'm trying to say.

I please don't think I'm trying to be rude, but how can I tell who's got it right? Well, read the scriptures. Do you believe the scriptures? Yes, sir. Listen, sir.

Okay, yes. I hope I don't sound mean, but I've been reading the scriptures since I was old enough to read. Okay, can I read you some scripture? I've heard the scripture preached every Sunday since I was, before I was born, in fact. I have read the scriptures many, many times. Can I read you some scripture? I'm not claiming to be.

Please do, please do. Okay, Colossians 2 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. Would you say that he says he's forgiven us all our transgressions? That's what it says, would you agree?

Having forgiven us all our transgressions? That's what it says. I'm looking at it.

I'm reading it. Yes, that's truly what it says. Okay, that's verse 13, verse 14. Verse 13 says, having forgiven us all our transgressions, verse 14, having canceled out the certificate of debt. Forgiving us our transgressions, cancel out the certificate of debt. The certificate of debt.

What is that? Because it says it's consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. So he forgave us all our transgressions, which are our sins, having canceled out the certificate of debt. Okay, would you agree that all our sin debt's taken care of?

Yes, sir. Okay, and when's it taken care of? The answer's in the text. Having canceled out the certificate of debt, that's a sin debt, consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When is a sin debt removed? When you believe, when you get baptized?

At the time of Jesus' crucifixion. Very good. You're awesome. There you go. So if some church were to tell you that the sin debt is canceled at your baptism, would they be right or wrong?

At this point, sir, I do not know. They'd be wrong. The Bible says, in other parts of the Bible, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Yeah, that's Mark 16, 16. It also says those who do not believe will not be saved. Okay, so the issue is on belief, right? You never find any place where it says baptism saves you, except in 1 Peter 3.21, where it says corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh but an appeal of a clean conscience before God. According to what?

Corresponding to what? That's what came before. That's when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed the people. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. So what saved Noah? Was it the ark or the flood?

It was the ark. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. They entered the ark by faith. It's not the baptism of water that saves you. It's an appeal to God for clean conscience. We're justified by faith. As the Bible says, without any ceremony, without the one who does any works, Romans 4-5. So let me ask you, do you want to earn your salvation in any way, shape, or form by your faith and what you do? No sir.

Are you sure? Are you sure what you want is that you're justified by faith alone in Christ alone? You can't add anything, whether it be baptism or sacraments or sincerity or honesty or integrity or whatever it is. None of those things can contribute to your salvation.

Would you agree or not agree? I don't believe that anything other than the grace of God can confer salvation. Yeah, I got that, but by faith is what I said, didn't say grace. Are we justified by faith alone in Christ alone apart from anything that we do, whether it be sincere desires, prayers, baptism, sacraments, or anything? Is it by faith alone in Christ alone or is it not by faith alone in Christ alone? Sir, I do not know.

I'm still trying to find the answer to that. I'll tell you what, how about if I give you a little bit of a homework thing? You call me back tomorrow and we can talk about it some more. Yes sir. I'd like you to read Romans 3, 4, and 5. Just Romans 3, 4, 5, okay?

Yes sir. And what I want you to do is to pay attention to justification, forgiveness of sins in there. See how Paul the Apostle teaches it's accomplished. Because you have to understand something, Ellen, that what you're flirting with is your own righteousness, seeking to be justified before God by faith in what you do.

And Galatians chapter 5 refutes that. Okay, you do the homework, call me tomorrow, okay? Okay. Alrighty sir, thank you for your time. Alright, sounds good. Alright, that was Ellen.

Pray for her that the true gospel would have been known to her by the gracious Lord Jesus Christ. We'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. Welcome back to the show everyone.

Hope you're enjoying it. Let's get to Jace from Minnesota. Jace, welcome. You're on the air.

Thank you, man, and just to introduce myself, I'm Jace. I'm a Norse polytheist. You're a what? I'm sorry, you're a polytheist, you said? No, that's not the conversation I'm in. I just want to know where you're coming from. You're a polytheist, right? I just want to verify that. Yeah, that's correct, that's correct. Me and Ocean, if you know Ocean Caltoi, me and him have major arguments over time, so. Anyway, the conversation I'm looking for, and I hope the best in your, I've heard you recently got stricken by a sickness, and I hope the best for you.

COVID, yep, thank you. Okay, so my question is, when I look at, I look at Christianity from an agnostic position, and when I try to look at it, to me, I feel like it's, so first of all, this question can be answered in many ways, but I feel like the Trinitarian perspective is the only logical, irrational conclusion you can receive, but I don't feel like it's complete. Do you feel like there's more, and then like, maybe if you believe in the Trinitarian perspective, can you make, justify why it's complete in its whole and its truth, and maybe why others can be accredited to be in falsehood?

Well, sure. You see, with a polytheistic perspective, you don't have any ultimate source of truth. Without any ultimate source of truth, you can't know if anything is true.

The only way to know if anything is ultimately true is if you have an absolute standard or source by which you can judge what is true, and polytheism by default would necessitate that there are many sources of truth of many, many gods, different levels and types, and you wouldn't know which is true, which is not, or anything, so it's a self-refuting kind of a system, and with it, in your worldview, you can't know if anything is true, so it just refutes itself. If God was a single person from all existence, okay, then that would mean that from forever ago, he did not participate in the attributes of personhood in the respect of fellowship, intimacy, awareness of others, love, being able to say you and yours and me and mine. These are attributes of personhood which he would not have been able to apprehend forever. How then is he a person? And then when creation occurs and beings occur, does his personhood and nature change?

It's problematic from that perspective. If you have a dual idea of who God is, say a father and a son, well, then you have a problem, and I'll go through this quickly, but you would have a fundamental part of the nature of the duality being something that is impersonal, namely the exchange of love, intimacy, fellowship itself would be inanimate things, and that would be a fundamental part of God's nature would be inanimate, and that's a problem because there's problems with it. We're going to get into all that right now. In the Trinitarian sense, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, which is the biblical revelation of God himself, and you must understand that all revelation of God is analogical, which means that God will reveal himself in a way that we can relate to. It's never going to be perfect because he's infinite. We're finite. He's everywhere.

We're not. So what he's going to do is reveal himself, and the only way to know the infinitely true God is if he reveals himself to us. We cannot reach up into heaven to bring him down and say this is what he's like. We can only observe the fingerprints of his creation in the Trinitarian form that's around us. We can see the analogy found in his self-revelation, the word of God, and in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

All of this is found, of course, in the scriptures, the Bible. And so, in the Trinitarian... Go ahead. Yeah, and I don't disagree with the Trinitarian perspective. I think it's the only logical position you can really take, extend on the ground, throw up.

The only way to... You can't have that. You cannot have Trinitarianism be a logical position, and you be a polytheist, because they're mutually exclusive. You can't hold both views.

I respect your position. I'm saying I look at it from an agnostic position. If I put myself in the position, if I was a Christian, what would be the best perspective? I did the same with Islam. I did the same with Buddhism.

I did the same with every faith I could possibly get. Your agnosticism is a problem, because in your agnosticism you have no ultimate source of truth. Therefore, you cannot justify your knowledge of anything, including your own agnosticism.

It leads to skepticism. Without the Christian Trinitarian necessity, who is by definition a necessary being, only through Trinitarian God can we then make sense of anything around us. Your polytheism is self-refuting, and the agnosticism, which is a form of atheism, means that you're saying that all the evidence around, and all the facts, and all the actualities around you, don't lead to God. And I'd have to ask you, how do you justify that everything that you experienced just denies God's existence? It wouldn't make any sense for you to even try to begin to answer that question. I have a question, but I think it was more about Trinitarianism than my perspective in my faith. I would actually have to sit down with you, go into your server, and have a conversation with you.

We can do that. But I'm thinking more about the Trinitarian perspective. So we understand that there was a split in the early church fathers. We understand that there was a separation of Orthodox, Eastern, Catholic church, and then there was the Roman Catholic church, and then all these other branches.

How would you say that... So what do you think that the Orthodox church has over the Catholic church? That's saying it's actually the truth. Nothing. They both lead to hell.

Okay, thank you. They both lead to hell because both of them teach that works are necessary for salvation. They both teach a false gospel. The Bible is the self-revelation of God, and it clearly, as a previous caller I showed, clearly teaches that justification is by faith alone in Christ alone, not by faith in works. So both of those groups teach works are necessary for salvation, so therefore both of them are false.

Both of them fail. And the reason they fail is because they don't submit to the final authority of God's word. They have their own authority. They want their own ultimacy, and they want to submit the word of God to them, because you have to have authority to interpret the word of God.

That means that the word of God is submitted to their authority, and they can't justify their authority from the word of God as being true, since they contradict the word of God. Both of those systems are false. Your polytheism is false. Only the Christian Trinitarian God makes any sense of anything, and you must repent of your polytheism and come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Thank you for that. I've heard everything and something. So one of my, one of the things that I'm curious about is Christianity and my studies, is when I look at Christianity from a theological perspective, right, which would be looking at the structure of things and how things work in combination.

We can sit here and we can say that. We have all these, all these different branches, but I don't get, I don't get how people, I don't, so one of the questions I've been curious about, because I haven't studied it myself, do you believe Buddhism and, and, and so basically not atheistic Buddhism, but spiritual Buddhism and Christianity is possible. And I've heard this claim that Buddhism and Christianity is possible. Buddhism is just another road to, to eternal damnation.

Confucianism, Islam, all of them. Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the father, but by me, John 14, six, he is that final revelation of God.

So all of them are all false because Jesus said, so he alone is the way, the truth, and the life. It makes sense that the infinitely knowledgeable God, infinitely powerful God is to reveal himself to us. He can do it in three ways through creation. You can do it through writing, special revelation, and you can do it through an incarnation and in the incarnation, which is the, the apex of the revolution, the revelation of God, creation is just there. The, the written word is not him incarnate, but it is his spoken word and inspired and written. And then he becomes one of us. And that's the person of Jesus. That's the highest form of revelation of God. And you must trust in what Christ said without your trusting in Christ and alone, what he said, you will be lost too. This is what Jesus said. So you need to repent and come to faith in Christ. Okay. Yeah.

Um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here. Otherwise you're denying the true God. Your polytheism denies the true God.

Polytheism doesn't work. All right. Okay. Yeah. So I'm listening to you. Um, so my last question, I guess I, I, I do really want your opinion on what is your current thought? Now, this is a common, a question in apologetics. Okay.

What is your, and what is your thoughts on him? A callback. Okay. Because we've got callers waiting.

We're going to break right now. I'm going to get to them. Call back in line and we'll tackle that. Okay. I wasn't sure what you asked.

So, but a callback. Okay. All right, folks, we'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. Welcome back to the show everyone. We have three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Herb from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Welcome. You're on the air. Yes, Matt. I was curious. Do you believe that Christians ought to be involved in politics? Absolutely. Yes.

Unequivocally. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Well, I was thinking that that's the reason the nation has such a big problem is because public schools are controlled by politics and the public school teaches that there's no God. Evolution says there's no God. Christians need to let the nation down. That's right. Christians should be seeking to get educated as best level as they can in order to go into businesses and or politics in order to be salt and light in the world. They should be lawyers and aim to be judges.

They should work very hard. I can barely hear you. What's that? Are you there? Hello?

I can't hear you. I said Christians should work to get educated and go in to legal fields and in political fields and they should also seek to get involved in the entertainment media as well as the leftist wacko agenda news media and gradually move it over to at least a centrist position. And I believe, my opinion is, churches that are large enough should not only support missionaries that go outside the country but also should support individuals who want to go to college and or graduate school in order to get an education in order to go into politics and that that is just as good a means of support to pay their bills so that they can go do these kinds of things and get in and become Christians inside of political environments. I think churches that are big enough that can afford that should do that, among other things. Okay?

Well, okay. Well, I've heard several pastors try to stay out of it. Well, they shouldn't stay out of it. They should be speaking politics from the pulpit. The pastors who don't want to do that are saying that there's an area of the world that doesn't belong to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is Lord over all, not just some of the things. If these are the kind of pastors that are out there saying, no, we don't do politics from the pulpit. I tell you, if I was a pastor again, I wouldn't be preaching politics from the pulpit all the time, but when it came up to it, I'd be saying things like, you can't vote as a good Christian.

You can't vote for anybody who's going to be pro-homosexual and pro-abortion. And if you do, then if I find out, I'm going to bar you from the table, taking communion, because you can't support anybody who would support those things, which are directly against scripture. Teaching evolution is against scripture, too.

What's that? Teaching evolution is against scripture, too. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 7, you're supposed to teach your child about God day and night.

Yes, it is. But in a secular school, we can't dominate and tell them what they can and can't teach. I have no problem with evolution being taught as long as it's taught accurately and fairly, because then you'd have the evidence against it presented. And there's plenty of evidence against it.

Plenty. I know, I'd say. It's not taught. Evolution is a superstition. Yeah, it's a religious system. Evolution takes kids away from God, that's why so many kids leave the church after high school.

Yep. Well, also, also, because the pastors and teachers aren't teaching them stuff, and mom and dad don't know what to do at home. You know, you can't go to church for a half hour on a Sunday and think that that's going to solve what needs to be done.

It just doesn't happen like that. You know, I want to be a pastor. The pastor's got to be able to get the evolution out of the public schools. Well, I don't know about that, but that's another topic.

If they got involved in politics, they could do it. Well, that's a deeper topic. I have no problem with varying views being taught when they're taught completely.

If evolution theory was taught completely, along with the counter evidence, it wouldn't stand very, very far, go very far instead of very long. Well, it's taught as a fact. I know. That's the downright lie.

Yeah, it's a problem. All right, brother. Well, God bless.

Thanks, Herb. Okay. Appreciate it. Okay. Thanks, man.

All right. Okay, let's get to Roberto from Texas. Here's Roberto.

Welcome. You're on the air. Yes, hello. Hello. What do you got, man? Yes, how you doing? Doing all right.

What do you got? I'm sorry? I said you got a question?

Yeah. No, I just want to say, but first of all, I really enjoy your broadcast. I watch you all the time.

You poor guy. You probably don't know me, but you say some interesting stuff. Good. But I was, my question is about baptism. All right. Because I heard you mention it like about 10 minutes ago, I think. Yeah.

Switch of question. Well, I mean, I'm a oneness Christian. Okay. Okay. So, but you're not a Christian.

My question is, I'm sorry? You're oneness. If you're oneness, you're not a Christian. Yeah. You're a false convert. Okay. I'm not being mean. I'm just telling you. You're believing in a false God. All right. You're denying the true God.

Is it because of the water baptism or? No, because you're oneness. You deny the position.

But no, no, no. Because you deny the doctrine of the Trinity. You deny the true living God. You have substituted a false God for the true God. You have a one, one person, God that's not the God of scripture. And so you believe in a false God so that, you know, it makes you an idolater. You're not saved. You're not a true convert.

Okay. What makes Jesus God? What makes Jesus God? The one true God.

He, well, no, no, no. Jesus is, he's one person with two distinct natures, the divine nature and the human nature. Colossians 2, 9 teaches us this. Philippians 2, 5 through 8 teaches us this as well. That's who Jesus is. But the oneness God is not the God of the Bible. So because you said that, I'm sorry, because you believe in a false God. Right. Well, what makes Jesus the one true God?

Okay. You're asking the wrong question. You're asking the wrong question. Nothing in the Bible says Jesus is the one true God.

It's the wrong question. The right question is who is God according to his own revelation. And the answer is that he's a Trinitarian being, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. They each are called God. They speak to each other. They speak of others. They say you and yours and me and mine. That's exactly what personhood is.

And there's three of them. Hence one God and three persons. That's the biblical view. You don't have the biblical view.

You have a false view. You believe in a different God than I do. Well, we can go into that, but my question was about baptism.

Okay. What's your question about baptism? Yeah.

Um, my question was, um, so you, it's asked to 38, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. What is the gift of the Holy Spirit? The gift of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. What is it?

Well, that's the one that says that. What is the gift that he received? The gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives gifts. It says the gift of the Holy Spirit. So what is the gift of the Holy Spirit? What does he give? Well, um, in the house of Cornelius, I think.

I'm sorry? The answer is found there in Acts 10. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out of the Gentiles also, for they're hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. So what is the gift of the Holy Spirit? Yeah. Speaking in tongues, exalting God?

Well, that says, uh, sorry? It's the charismatic manifestation. So when you go to Acts 2.38, Repent, each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the good of your sin, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here, it's baptism, then you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 10, you see the gift of the Holy Spirit, then you get baptized. So which one is the one you want to go with?

Which order do you want to go with? Well, I don't think it says, then, I don't think it's when you get baptized, and then you receive it. I think it's, everything is interchangeable because you can be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, this is what the oneness cult is teaching you. You're just arguing for the oneness cult. Okay? You're arguing as though they're true.

They're not true. That's your first mistake. Let me ask you, Acts 2.38, is that a formula for salvation? I think it's essential, yeah, for salvation.

Okay. Then why is faith not mentioned in Acts 2.38? Why is faith not mentioned? Faith? If it's a formula, if it's necessary. Why is faith not mentioned? Yeah.

It's not a formula, is it? Well, I mean, you hear, well, it says before Acts 2.38 that, you know, like the Jews, they were pleading for salvation. Acts 2.38. Acts 2.38. The oneness come to me all the time, and they say that verse.

I know it well. I ask them, is that verse a formula for salvation? They say yes. I ask them why faith isn't mentioned in that verse.

Then they backpedal. If it was a formula for salvation, why is faith not mentioned that's a question. What you are doing, what you're doing is you're adding a work to salvation. See, you have a false God and a false gospel. You also have a false Christ. This is why you believe what you do. You don't believe in justification by faith. You believe in justification by baptism. You add works to salvation.

Well, can I ask another question real quick? Okay, you're just telling me. Do you believe that the Spirit... You are an unbeliever. Do you believe that faith comes with the Spirit? God grants that we believe, Philippians 1.29. Okay, you are not a true convert. If you die right now, and I don't want that to happen, of course, you will face eternal damnation because you've denied the true living God and you add works to salvation. You're in a cult. No, no, no.

Do you believe faith comes with the Spirit? All right, we're going to move along because I told you, and folks, we don't have time to get on the rest of the callers. Let me tell you that this is exactly what it means to be brainwashed in a non-Christian cult. They'll say something and they don't hear it. They don't respond to it. They ignore it. They dismiss it. They go on to something else. They go on to their agenda. They go on to just the rote inculcation that they've been brainwashed with and they just repeat it. There is no thought.

There is no examination. And this is a problem. One of the Pentecostal groups is a non-Christian cult. It's not Christian.

Roman Catholicism is not Christian. And maybe you can call up and say, well, Matt, then what is Christian? Why don't you call up tomorrow and ask the question and we'll talk about that because it is around us today. Hey, folks, we're out of time. May the Lord bless you by His grace. We'll be back on there tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. See you.