Matt Slick Live

A previously recorded Matt Slick show.

And it is, let's see, it's the 21st of January, 2021 for the podcasters. If you want, you can give me a call. We have four open lines.

877-207-2276. And if you're a newbie to the show, what we do is take calls of all kinds on all kinds of topics, but primarily I'm a Christian apologist. I defend the Christian faith, answer Bible questions, teach things like that. I do debates. And I've got an interview tomorrow I've got to be on.

And let's see, you've got something else, another one next week. I was on for about three hours last night answering questions from atheists and Muslims in chat rooms. I do stuff like that, and audio chat rooms. So, you know, this is my work. And I released an article today, if you're interested in checking it out. It's what is the social gospel and is it biblical? So you can check that out if you want.

The social gospel, it's an invasion in the Christian church of a gospel message that's not that good. Anyway, you can check it out if you want. We can talk about it if you want. Give me a call.

877-207-2276. Let's get to Brad from Iowa. Hey, Brad, welcome.

You are on the air. Hey, Matt, how you doing, brother? Doing all right, man. Hanging in there. What do you got, buddy?

Good, good. Hey, so I got a question in regards to Revelation 21, verse 8. For some reason, I just, it seemed to kind of, just as far as, I don't know if it's just mental struggles, or just for some reason that kind of, especially like the first portion of Revelation 21, 8, talking about the cowardly will not, you know, will not be, you know, will enter the kingdom. I guess more or less just trying to figure out, you know, who, like how to go about who that pertains to, how to tell more or less, you know, to determine whether or not, is it more or less somebody who would be leading a lifestyle that way, or is it just, I'm just kind of more or less just trying to figure out how to wrestle through that portion when it talks about the cowardly or the fearful. Well, what I'm looking at is the Greek word, delos, or delos, and it occurs one, two, three, four, four so times, and it's just talking about to fear, to be timid, to be fearful. So for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, I would say in the context is talking about unbelievers, those who are just, have no backbone, they don't stand up for anything good, you know, they're just cowards, and they don't stand up for righteousness is what I would understand it to be the context, because it says, and unbelieving, because they're unbelievers, you know, and abominable murderers. I would say it's looked at as a very negative thing in this context of, I would say, not standing up for righteousness, they're just cowards. Gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, I just didn't know if it, as far as, you know, for being a believer and stuff too, just for some reason that's always stuck out with me and stuff, and I know just with my own weaknesses and everything like that, just more or less that's just kind of always stuck out to me and just trying to wrestle through that and to not want to be that person, you know? And as far as just trying to, I guess, just, you know, see what exactly that's talking about and where to kind of more or less, you know, I know it's obviously not trying to judge works and, you know, if I'm doing, you know, good or a certain way and stuff, but it's just for some reason that's just always kind of, it's just always kind of stuck, versus at least that portion's always kind of just jumped out at me and just trying to more or less just wrestle through that and everything. Well, let me ask you a question.

Do you teach, or do you believe you can lose your salvation? No. Okay. So then you're just curious about how that would fit and what that is. Yeah, that's how I would see it. Absolutely. It would make sense, if I understand, but the cowardly and the fearful, they don't, in fact, you know, that reminds me, let's see if I can find this verse.

Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. 1 Corinthians 13, 14, let's see, nope. It actually says, act like men. It's 16, 13, be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. You know, when I saw that verse, I was really confused, no, I'm not confused, but I was surprised that we would be told to act like men.

Well, it doesn't say how to act like men, but I think the way to discover what men act like in a good way is to go through and imitate Jesus Christ, and he was strong and he was courageous. He stood up against unrighteousness. He called out the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He mentioned it.

He named it. He called them names, you know, like watch sepulchers, hypocrites, your father is a devil. And also Jesus provided because he fed the 4,000 and the 5,000, and he was a healer, and he obviously taught, and he was gentle with the women and with children.

And so I think these are some of the aspects. If we're going to look at what it means to act like a man, then we need to do that. And sometimes I think the stereotypical roles of man and husband and wife in the home, you know, woman, I will make the money, you clean the house, this kind of a thing. And what would Jesus do if he came into our house? Well, would he help clean up? And then again, we know that the ladies were around him at his feet.

One was cleaning and one was just sitting there being with him, and he said that was the better thing. It wasn't that he was denouncing work. It was that he was God in flesh, you know, and it's better to be with him than to clean.

But I think that Jesus, being the servant that he was, would certainly have helped people, as he did. And I think we're going to do that as well. And so when it says act like men, that's always kind of stuck with me. And so I thought, I wonder if I could just go through and just read how Jesus was and say there's this standard of what it means to be a man.

Yeah, and I think just as far as just, oh, sorry, just the last thing. Yeah, I think the thing that I just kind of even just wrestle with, too, is like, you know, if I'm going about like my week or something like that and, you know, everything kind of seems to be fine as far as, you know, no one's persecuting me or if I'm just going about my work and stuff like that. It almost, it's kind of sad to say, but it almost feels like I'm like, am I doing, you know, it's almost like, you know, am I not being, you know, bold enough or am I not being, you know, am I not getting myself out there enough and stuff where, you know, I, you know, I can look and see that, you know, God has worked good fruit in me and stuff, but also at the same time, for some reason it's like, okay, it feels like, you know, if I'm not, you know, how long is it between until, you know, between such and such, you know, events where, you know, whether or not if I share the gospel with somebody or whatnot and, you know, if they take it good or if I'm, you know, being persecuted and stuff like that, then that kind of just, I don't know, plays into that part and stuff and maybe it's just over-analyzing things and stuff like that.

I'm not sure, but I'm just kind of going into that and then. Yeah, we can fall on our strengths as well as our weaknesses and we always need to do analysis in light of scripture. Am I doing this how God wants? And that's the real issue, because if we don't do that, we can develop a loop in ourselves where we condemn ourselves, but we're not condemned because we're in Christ. So, yeah, it's a tough one.

It is. But what I like to do is pray to lay all my stuff before God and say, oh, boy, you know, if people really knew what I was like, they wouldn't want to hang around me, you know, and yet, Lord, you love me. So, you know, we have to understand that, yeah, we've got to self-examine and we worry about those kind of things and kind of freak ourselves out on some things, but on the other hand, boy, he just loves us and he accepts us. He's changing us and we just need to work with him as he changes us and we're going to fail on the way.

And so we can rest while we're working, so to speak, if that makes sense. That's good. Well, I appreciate the advice, brother. Yeah, and it's tough. You know, act like men because he says, let all that you do be done in love.

That's how it would be as men. And I just want to say this because you've got me thinking about it because there are some issues I've been dealing with lately, personal issues. You know, life is tough sometimes and, you know, people are people and I'm not perfect. It's just life, and I'm learning or being exposed to the idea more and more of what it means to be giving and to be more patient and stuff. So my kids come around and they mess up the kitchen, okay, so I clean it up. But I think I'm glad I have a kitchen and I'm glad I have children that can come over and feel free enough to mess it up. And it's okay, you know, and let things be done in love. It's a form of loving to be a servant that way. And I'm not saying, hey, look how great I am, look how humble I am.

No, it's what is the main issue? How am I being? What would Christ do?

How is he? Am I living that in my heart? And in the heart, that's where the struggle is going on because if you face yourself in light of these things, you see those areas of your heart that you don't like. And a lot of people just dismiss them and hide them under stubbornness and pride. But if we do that, we're doing ourselves a disservice and we're sinning against God.

So, you know, act like men, be strong, and behave in a loving way. That's tough, you know. Yeah, amen. That's right.

That's right, okay. Anyway, it's a good thought. You kind of just touched the nerve in a good way, you know, that I've been thinking about. Yeah, I know it's just always something that's just kind of always been on my mind and stuff.

It's just as far as, you know, never to try and play like just as far as how am I stacking up because I can never obviously stack up. But at the same time, it's just like, you know, where I don't want to have to, you know, just have to worry about that I can just keep on looking to Christ and keep on having joy without having to say, okay, am I, you know, am I not, you know, am I not being, just to make sure I'm not being fearful, am I not falling to, you know, what Jesus is saying and stuff without looking back there, but also then looking to him and just basically just going on in joy in him. You know, one of the things I've learned in my Christian walk is, or I'm learning I should say, is to lean on the grace of God more and more, not as an excuse to be bad, but, you know, I know what I am and there's nothing good in me except the Lord Jesus, period.

That's it. But I'm getting more confident and at peace with not saying it's okay that I'm a sinner. I thought what I'm saying is just his grace is so sufficient, so good, so great.

I'm resting and I'm more calm. It's okay. You know, I messed up. All right, I messed up. He's not hating me for it.

He's there and can move forward. And it's that peace that is coming with that that is interesting. And that kind of peace when it happens allows you to examine yourself even more.

And then you find out, oh, man, I'm even worse off than I thought I was. And then there you go again. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. Well, I really appreciate that, brother, and thank you. Wonderful encouragement and just thank you for all that you do and God bless you. Well, God bless you and thanks for calling because the Lord had you asked that because it helped me kind of formulate some ideas in my own head about some things.

So good for you and praise God. Thanks for calling. All right? Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it. All right. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Hey, there's a break.

Perfect timing. We have three open lines. If you want, you can give me a call and ask a question.

We talk about stuff. 877-207-2276. We'll be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I hope you're having a good day, and let's see. Let's get on the line with Alan from Richmond, Virginia. Alan, welcome.

You are on the air. Hey. How are you doing, Matt? I'm doing okay.

So what do you got? I'm actually sitting in my car for about a year and a half. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding you. I'm sorry. A lot of trouble understanding you.

I'm sitting in my car on my cell phone. Okay. A little bit better, I think. My question for you is in the subject of marriage. Okay.

Marriage. Okay. Yeah. I will try to hold to the best of my ability this passage. I'm thinking about. I'm sorry. I'm having trouble understanding you.

Could you speak a little bit louder and a little bit slower? Okay. Okay. There's a passage in the scripture where a man can give a written divorce to his spouse. Written divorce. A written divorce. But it also says that he is not entitled to remarry until death do report.

Okay. There's a yes and no to that, but yeah. If he does remarry. He's committing adultery. Note that if he remarries, he's considered an adulterer.

So what's your question? And the one that he does marry would also be considered an adulterer. But I don't see anything in there that refers to me. If I gave my ex a written divorce because he wanted out of the marriage and desired the world more than God, am I free to remarry? It's hard to understand you, but let me just talk about the conditions that are justified for divorce in the Bible. And there are two, abandonment and sexual immorality or adultery. Those are the ones that are permitted in scripture.

Okay. So Matthew 19.9, Jesus says, whoever divorces his wife except for immorality. And that's sexual immorality. And marries another woman and commits adultery.

So, in other words, except for this reason. So let's just say a man and a woman are married and she commits adultery. He is free to be able to divorce her, but he's not obligated to. And let's say she's unrepentant and he divorces her because of her adultery, then he's free to remarry because he's done nothing wrong in that context. In 1 Corinthians 7, it talks about when the unbeliever leaves, let them go. And talk about the present situation and distress.

So those are basically what it is. Because my situation, my children are bugging me. They want me to find someone. I have that desire to have someone in my life, but I didn't feel that I'm entitled to. Okay, do you go to church?

Okay, here's the thing. If she committed adultery and the divorce is there for that, you're free. If she abandoned you, you're free. So let's just say that she's one who's leaving you, didn't want anything to do with you or the Lord anymore, and made it difficult for the marriage to continue. She wasn't interested in participating in that marriage covenant anymore. Then she's the one who's abandoned you. And then you're free to be able to remarry what you want, okay? Okay. I'm lonely. I really do desire to have someone to spend the rest of my life with.

I've been avoiding that because I just didn't feel that I was permitted to do that. Okay, did your wife leave you? Yes, she did. Okay, did she commit adultery? She's remarried. Did she commit adultery before she got remarried?

I cannot verify that, but I did see her kissing a man in the parking lot while we were together. Okay, so she's abandoning the marriage. So if she left you, you tried to reconcile. She wanted nothing to do with it. And then she's the one who initiated the divorce. You just signed the papers because that's what she's doing. Then you're free, okay?

You're free to remarry. I should have. Okay? Okay. All right. I just couldn't see that in the sister anywhere.

They didn't think about believing husband where he actually stood. I couldn't find that. Yeah. But it did make it clear about the hole that she left, and it did imply that she's not supporting three males.

But if she did that, she was an adult one. Yeah, it's hard to understand you, so I don't want to, it's hard to understand you. I don't want to comment, but that's what the condition is, okay? So it looks like you're free. Okay.

And I would talk to the elders of your church about this first, though, okay? Okay. All right. Thank you. I tried to listen to you every night after work. It's on my way home all the time. I got a drive home, and I got to where I listened to everything, but I've never been able to get a chance to call you.

I've been wanting to do this for so long. Well, I'm glad you did. I'm glad you do listen. I often wonder how many people are listening because I'm up and down the East Coast, even though I live out here in the west in Idaho.

But, you know, I don't know how many people are listening, and that's okay, and I pray every day before the show that people will be blessed, and God's grace will just shine on people through this foolish, broken vessel on the radio. That's what I do. Okay? Okay.

I have more questions for you guys. We'll call back another time, okay? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right, Matt. God bless you. All right. Thanks a lot. Okay.

All right. Hey, Mike from Pennsylvania. Hey, Mike.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, what's going on, Matt? Can you hear me? Hello. Yeah, I can hear you. I can hear you fine.

What's up, man? All right. Perfect. All right. Mm-hmm. So, before I ask you my question, I wanted... Mm-hmm.

...my main question, please. Have you ever heard a guy named Don K. Preston? I don't believe so. Okay.

All right. When you get time, you should look him up. He had a debate with Michael L. Brown. You know who Michael L. Brown is? You mean Michael Brown on the radio?

Yeah, Michael Brown on the radio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've talked before. Yeah. Okay. Uh-huh. So, well, he had a debate with Don K. Preston.

I've never seen Michael so shook enough in a debate before. You should really check this guy out. Okay.

You can email me the link. What was the topic? Um, it was about, um... It was about, uh, full preterism and...

Okay. ...in the 80s, 70s. So, uh... He had a few... So, which one is...

He had a few... Which one's a full preterist? I'm assuming it's Preston.

I don't believe, uh, Michael Brown is... Michael's not a full preterist. Right. Yeah.

All right. Um, Don... Mm-hmm. I've just listened to this guy, Don. He has a lot of good points. Mm-hmm.

He's really swaying me at this point. But, uh, listen to this scripture. I can stop it. I can stop it real easy.

Real easy. I... We spoke about this before. And he had an answer... Then why don't you believe it?

...to that Act I. Mm. Oh, I know what the answer is. All right. So that... Don't believe it for what it says. Don't believe it for what it says. No, no, no, no, no.

That's what the answer is. Of course it is. We got a break coming. Hold on. Hold on. All right.

And you come back and you tell me what the... And very succinctly, just tell me, what... How did he handle that, uh, what it says? There. Okay. Be right back. Hey, folks, we have two open lines. Do 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. At the bottom of the hour, if you want to give me a call, two open lines.

877-207-2276. Mike, are you still there? Yeah, I'm still here. Okay. So how does he answer? How does he respond to X1-9-11?

Okay. So, in like manner, it uses the Greek word, postpropos. Now, it uses that same Greek word when, um, in Matthew, I believe, where he says, um, or I believe it's the Old Testament scripture, actually. Maybe it is in Matthew.

But he says, oh, how I, Israel, how I would have gathered you like the mother hen gathers his chicks. It uses that same, uh, word. So it's not, it's not necessary, uh, okay, I'm going to read it to you.

The same, um, Greek word, hostropos. In like manner. Okay. I'm looking at it. Yeah.

Well, it uses it in the same way when it, when it speaks about that other passage, like a mother hen gathers her, her chicks and he said, you know, we don't literally believe that Jesus is stretching his arm out around believers, around Jews. Okay. That's, uh, yeah, that's pretty bad. That's pretty bad.

It's pretty bad. For real? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, um, yeah, look, this is what it says. Okay.

You got to be careful. I'm going to teach you a little concept here. Okay. Equivocation, illegitimate totality transfer, eisegesis.

These are all errors. Um, equivocation means the word changes its meaning in the context what you're talking about. Uh, illegitimate totality transfer means that there's a word that has a variety of meanings in different contexts. Okay. So let me run this by you really fast. Uh, you know, it says in Matthew 1 25 that, uh, they kept, uh, that Joseph kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.

That means that after, uh, she had Jesus, she, you know, they had relations and she lost her virginity. Okay. That's what it's, that's what it's, it's implying that, right? Yeah.

Okay. What the Catholics will typically do, okay, is they will take that, take that word, um, and they will find another place. For example, first Corinthians 15, 25 and I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just somebody just came up to me randomly, okay. So I'm saying is they'll take the word until he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. And that's clearly, they kept her a virgin until Jesus was born. And then they'll say the word until also occurs in first Corinthians 15, 25, Jesus must reign until he's put all enemies under his feet. And then they'll say, see, does he mean he does not reign anymore?

The word until doesn't mean it has to be just at that, uh, it stops, but it can continue on after. So, so in two different contexts, it has a slightly different meanings that take the meaning in one context and transfer it to another to make the text say something it doesn't say, are you listening or you got something to do when you're building something? I'm sorry. I just, I just had to close my door there, but I just want to comment on that because that was brought up to him and he said, and he's even looked at Greek text outside of the Bible, the whole stropos is never used as identical. It doesn't matter. Listen, listen, listen, listen, it doesn't matter.

The text says this. And after he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received them out of their sight. Where did Jesus go to according to that verse?

Where did he go to according to the verse? Okay. Dude, if you're not going to pay attention, I'm going to go to the next caller. Okay. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. I was going to answer.

I was going to answer. Okay. So yeah, it would seem that he's going up into the sky. Good. And we know that because it says in verse 10 and as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, the whole two men in white clothing stood behind them.

So we know is talking about Jesus ascending into heaven in the sky where the clouds are. That's a fact, right? Right. Okay. So he said, okay, so can I give the answer that he gave to that? Sure.

Is he going to say it wasn't like that? Okay. So the word there for taking up is hero and it's used metaphorically to be lifted up with pride to exalt oneself. Yeah. This guy couldn't exegete his way out of a wet paper bag. Wet paper bag.

If it was leaning downhill, there was a neon sign pointing and he had a rope pulling him while he's got a compass. Okay. All right. I'm telling you, I want to get to my main question though.

No, no, no, no, no. Hold on. Let me explain something. All this guy is doing is taking a single word saying over here at a different place. It means something different. So therefore it doesn't mean what it means in this context. He is, he's doing violence to the scriptures.

He does not know what he's doing and he's twisting the word of God to make it fit. It clearly says that he was taken up into the sky. That's what it's saying. If he were to deny that and I was debating him, I wouldn't go any further than this. I'd say, but you're not getting what it says. I don't care how many times he denied it, but you've got to agree what it says. I'd go over it and over it and over it because this refutes full preterism. And the angels say, the angels said, why are you looking into the sky? The angels are saying, you're looking up in the sky where the clouds were and they say, Jesus, who's been taken up from you will come in just the same way or in the light manner as you have watched him go into heaven.

That's how he's going to come back for him to deny that is simple stupidity, flat out. Don't listen. This is what the Jehovah's Witnesses do. They do the same thing. They take a word. It means something over here. Let's transfer the meaning over here to where we're looking. That's what doesn't mean what it says. The cults always do this.

They get the text to say the opposite of what it really means. That's what this guy's doing. Got you. Okay. So can I, I just want to get this main question in before you let me go. Yeah.

First John three, two, dear friends. Now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Yeah. Now he's saying they don't know what, what is, what they're going to be like, but this is after they've already seen Christ before he died and they seen Christ after he died, but they still say, we don't know. Seriously. That's what the guy is saying out of that seriously. He does not know what he's doing seriously.

And Michael Brown should have torn him to shreds. We're children of God has not appeared as yet what we will be and has not yet been manifested about the full resurrection of what we're going to be. We know that when he appears, Jesus comes back, we'll be like him in the resurrected and glorified body.

We're going to be like him because we will see him just as he is in his full glory. That's all that's being said there. This guy is doing violence of the word of God and he doesn't know what he's doing seriously. No wonder you know, no way to move along because yeah, I'm telling you guys, look, look, I'm telling you, man, he's, he's, he's horrible.

He's horrible at his, uh, biblical interpretation. Come on, man. You're smarter than this. Don't, don't be swayed by this guy. I just say, don't make me come out there.

That wasn't, that wasn't all, that wasn't all that, that was brought up. Oh, I'll debate the guy. I would debate him, but look, do not meet me, come out there where you are and slap you upside the head. Come on. You stick with what the, don't make me come out there. Okay. I'm warning you. You don't make me come out there. All right. I got you. I'm here. I want to, I want to defend, you know, I'm on your side.

I want to defend, you know, uh, uh, view that Jesus is coming back. And, um, this is challenging stuff. You know what I mean? This is challenging arguments that it's not, it's not, it's not, it's only when he, he has to, to, what he's doing is taking parts of words from other places and saying, well, there, it means this. That's why it doesn't mean what it says in this context. We can reverse that as well.

Because he doesn't realize that if he wants to do it from right to left, we can do it from left to right. That's all. Okay. So, all right, man. All right. God bless. Take care, buddy.

Love you. Okay. Yeah.

All right, folks. You want to give me a call? 877-207-2276. Let's get to Joseph from Iowa. Joseph. Welcome. You're on the air. Hello. Hello.

Hey, I'm glad I can talk to you. Okay. Yeah.

I've been looking into this for a long time. Try to ask you some questions. I will follow your program. Good. I'm grateful. Yeah. My first question is, I think I'm going to have three questions, but I think they are short.

They're not that long. One question is for you about the salvation. I know we don't lose our salvation when we accept the Lord as our Lord and Savior.

We are saved, and we are guaranteed salvation because it's not through our own work. But if someone – Whoops. There's the break. Can you hold on? We've got a break coming after the heartbreak.

We've got to take it. Yeah. Okay. When we come back – Can you hear me now? Yeah.

When we come back from the break, then you can ask your question. Okay? Okay. Hey, folks.

We'll be right back after these messages. Thanks. Welcome back to the show. Let's get on with Joseph from Iowa.

Joseph, welcome back. Yes. Yeah. My question was about salvation, and I know we cannot lose our salvation.

Good. Once we get saved, I know we are saved by faith alone and not through our own work. But if someone backslides or goes away from the Word of God and starts behaving like someone who hasn't even placed their faith in Jesus, and they start behaving like just a worldly man – Yeah.

So is there any hope yet still in that person, or he will not have that hope anymore? Because many people say – Let me just kind of jump in because – Many people say that – Okay. Go ahead. What?

Go ahead. See, I've already got the idea of what you're talking about there. If people say they're saved and they don't live as it, then we can't say that they really are. That's not to say that someone who is saved can't make a mistake or two or three or whatever. But if someone says they're a Christian, they're out doing pornography and committing adultery, fornicating and things like that, living with people they shouldn't be, because they're not married, and stuff like that, I wouldn't say they're Christian.

But the Bible says if you say you know him and don't keep his commandments, the truth is not in you and you're a liar. So we can't lose our salvation, but those who are truly saved are going to be regenerate and are going to work against their sin. If they're pursuing sin, it's a sign that they're not regenerate. But it's not to say that Christians can't slip and even backslide. But even in that case, God may very well kill them to take them out beforehand is another topic but okay. So you mean if they are truly saved, God will chastise them?

Yes. If they start to get into sin. If they're not truly saved, well they're not and judgment's upon them.

But it's hard because we can't say a universal statement for everybody because there are variables about how people know things, what they know, what struggles they may have. I've known people who I believe are saved who have had struggles with self-righteousness and anger and pride and it's hard for that person or persons to get through that and yet they could still be saved. We could be saved in different levels of sanctification, different degrees of freedom from sin. So generally if a person is struggling against their sin, that's a sign they're saved. But if they're not struggling against their sin, it's a sign they're not saved. Generally that's how it works, okay? Okay, so we can say that if they claim to be saved but they don't show the fruit of salvation, they don't show that really they've been regenerated, so we can say that maybe they didn't even encounter the Lord, can you say that? Yeah, it's hard to understand you a little bit, but I think so, yeah, what you're saying. Like I said, the general principle is if they're saved, they're going to war against their sin, but if they're not saved, they're not going to war against their sin.

But there's variables within those and that's why counseling is sometimes needed and stuff like that, okay? Okay. I have a question on that, so if we claim to be saved and we see in different days, can you hear me? Yes, Joe, so we have other callers waiting, they've been waiting for like a half hour, so I'm going to get to them, okay? Call back tomorrow, okay, man? Okay. All right. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. All right, God bless. All right, let's get to Curtis from Richmond, Virginia. Curtis, welcome. Hi. Hi. Sorry for the long wait there, buddy. What do you got? It's all right.

I've been listening and it's kind of amazing. Some of it nicely helped me. Good. Okay.

So what do you got? I'm having trouble with old habits that I've grown up with, watching my mother, brothers, everybody doing all this. I've got my being saved, got it. I know I got Christ in me and all that. My biggest problem is getting rid of one bad habit and it's just got me crazy and what you just talked to him about is you keep doing it, keep doing it, and you're not saved and this keeps worrying me because I can't stop cussing and getting angry and I'm doing everything I can to stop it.

I've quit everything else, the drugs, the drinking, the women, all that is gone, but I cannot get rid of that. So my spirit is telling me to fast and I don't understand fasting. That 40 days without food, I'm thinking as a human here, I can't go 40 days without no food.

Let me help you out, okay? So Adam and Eve sin, but they sin by eating. So fasting is the opposite of that, not that eating brings sin and not eating cures sin.

That's not what I'm saying, of course, but it's just interesting that the feeding of the flesh was something that was the means by which sin entered the world. So there are different kinds of fasts. Some are 40 days, some are 20, some are 10, some are one day. Some are depending on your diet. I would not want my wife to fast, for example.

She's got medical issues and I would say no, I wouldn't want her to. But what if she were to say, I'm only going to fast one meal a day and that's how she does it. Well, okay, that's a type of fast. There are fasts where people do that. One meal a day where they might do two meals, so they might only eat one meal or they're going to fast for just one day and only have water or from sun up to sun down.

So there are different kinds and you have to take into consideration your age, your medical condition. So I'm in pretty good shape and I could fast for probably 40 days and not be injured by it. Because 40 days is the average adult person can live without food. But anyway, 40 days doesn't kill you. You hear all this stuff about fasting, seven days you'll die. No, it's not true. It's not true, unless you're anorexic.

So it just depends. So if you think the Lord's calling you to fast, then you need to obey that. But I would pray about what kind of fasting you want to do and talk to your friends and loved ones about it. Not to say, hey, I'm trying to be spiritual, look at me, I want to fast. But one or two people that you can talk about that they might have an intention or an idea about what God might be calling you to do. But if you don't feel comfortable with that, just pray and see what the Lord calls you to do. And try something like a three-day fast.

Or you can try one meal a day for three days and see how that goes. And stuff like that. All right. Because I mean, every time I cuss, I listen to a show on this radio the other night, and I just have to keep saying, forgive me every time I do it. But it hurts. It's just eating me alive, because I just can't quit. Good. I'm glad it's eating you alive. And it hurts. I'm glad. It's terrible. Good. I'm trying not to do it in front of anybody, because that's really bad.

But it does slip out in front of people. And I work at a church where I was a volunteer, and now I'm an associate. I work here. And I don't want to do that, and I lost my temper this morning and cussed in front of all the volunteers. That was not good. Did you ask forgiveness for that? Yes. Oh, instantly. Yes. Okay. Well, okay, good. So here's what you do.

Okay. Get on your knees and you pray about this. And I'd read Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, 1-17.

The Colossians 3 has some words for you. You'll find them. Okay? You'll find them.

Okay. They're in there. And memorize the verse address, Colossians 3. Whatever the verse is.

There's several in there. And the one that speaks to you, memorize that address. You don't have to memorize the whole verse, even though it's a good idea. And then what you can do is rehearse in your mind.

Something happens that triggers you, gets you mad. Rehearse in your mind quoting that verse to yourself first. You want to train your mind to do that. And it'll take a while, but you can have success doing that. It's what practice is.

Practice in martial arts. That's why I read my Bible a lot. And just, and I always ask God to let me understand and learn things as I read.

I read all day long and at night. Good. And I feel myself with that to keep me from doing bad things. Well, let me, let me, we've got another caller I want to get to, but I wanted to give you some little words of wisdom here. The fact that you're failing, but yet you're warring against it is a means of glorifying God. Not in your failure, but in your recognition of what needs to be corrected.

Your recognition of your failure and your need for dependence on him as you go through it. It brings glory to him because you're judging these things as being wrong and you're seeking to honor God through them. You're failing, but you keep going back to Jesus and trusting in him. And in that you're bringing glory to him. And so you praise him for his consistent mercy to you and his great love for you.

And then you ask him to strengthen you, to change you, that you eventually have victory over this. Okay. Wow. You just helped me a hundred percent right there. Thank you so much. You're welcome, brother. All right.

God bless, buddy. All right. All right. Thank you, man. Okay.

All right. Let's get to Carl from Florida. Carl, welcome. You are on the air.

Last caller. What do you got, buddy? What's up, man? How you doing? Doing all right.

So what do you got? All right. My question is about churches. I was in International Church. International Church of Christ? Yeah. It's basically a cult.

Stay away from it. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I was there. I watched a couple of your videos, and I had left before I watched your videos. I'm aware of so-called and the baptism doctrine, just a whole bunch of stuff, but it's not about that church. So now I'm trying to look for a new church, and I'm aware that women cannot be pastors, so a church that has a woman pastor, especially the leader, I should stay away from that church.

But what about these... because I visited a church recently, and... What about what? They have these churches now where the husband is the pastor and the wife is the pastor. Yeah, that's wrong.

Yeah, that's wrong. A woman is not to be in a place of teaching authority over men in the church, period. So a male pastor who allows that does not understand the word of God, and he essentially is disqualifying himself from being a pastor because he cannot discern truth from error in this critical issue that the scriptures clearly teach on. So any church that has that combination, the husband, the wife, has been in the church, so you stay away from that church? Stay away from it.

That's right. Okay. What about... If anyone wants to debate me on this publicly, go out to your church. We'll have it televised.

We'll have it filmed. We'll debate it. We'll debate it. We'll debate the scriptures. That's what the scripture says. It doesn't say if they're under the authority of their husband, they can then be over other men in the church in an authority position.

It's stupidity. It is rebellion against God's word. It is compromise of the word of God. Even if it's like a youth pastor, the ladies... A woman should never be called a youth pastor or a pastor of any kind. She's not a pastor. A pastor is a job for a male. Another thing is the churches nowadays also, they do the sinner prayer, where after service is that you come up, say a sentence or whatever, say a prayer, and then they pronounce that you're saved. What about that? Is that something acceptable?

It's potentially dangerous. There is no sinner's prayer like that in the Bible. There is one recorded in Luke 18, 9 through 14. Should you stay away from a church like that? It depends on how it's done. See, I could be in a church and I could say, look, I'm going to lead you in a prayer and we're out of time. I don't want to get too much into it without having time to explain it. So why don't you call back tomorrow and let's talk about the sinner's prayer issue, okay? Because it's all right. All right?

Because it's good and bad, depending. All right? Okay. All right, brother. Thank you. Okay. That's Carl from Florida. We're out of time, folks.

This is Grace. We're back on the air tomorrow. We're going to talk to you then. See you. Bye.