Matt Slick Live

A previously recorded Matt Slick show.

Today, January 28th, 2021, for the podcasters. We have five open lines. So why don't you give me a call.

877-207-2276. Now, you can watch the show. In fact, I'm gonna go there right now, take a look.

You can watch the show on, it's not a big deal, but on Carnevete.org, it's on the website, now on the homepage, so you can go check it out. You can see me sitting here with my new shirt. I have a new shirt. I'm gonna show you the shirt, and let's see what you think of this shirt. Everybody who might be interested in checking it out. It's an interesting shirt, and here we go.

So you can see it. It says, Political Correctness is Tyranny with a Happy Face. Charlton Heston said that.

Yeah. Anyway, so I wore that out today, I did run some errands, and nobody jumped out of the way and threw things at me, so it was okay. Maybe just by having something like that and wearing it, you can get canceled. You know, they can threaten to take your bank account or your house away, because, oh, you wore something that's not politically correct. Something about the freedom of speech.

I remember hearing about that. We're supposed to have that. Hey, look, give me a call.

Five open lines. 877-207-2276. Now I'm gonna go right now. Carmeisrael.com. It's gonna forward to another site, and we're gonna try and get, uh-oh, come on, what's going on? Hey, it didn't work. There it goes. We're gonna try and get a carm trip in apologetics and do all that kind of stuff to Israel next year.

So March of 2022. If you're interested in going, we would like it if you were to go to that website, and there's a survey, and it's finally fixed. It's fixed, all you gotta do is answer three questions. It's not a big deal.

Three or four, I think. And that's if you're interested in going, you can, you don't have to commit. It's just, hey, I'm thinking about going, and here's some information, and stuff like that. You can do that, because we need to know how many would be going, I think by the end of March this year, in order to be able to reserve everything and do everything.

And there's a lot of information on Carme Israel. We'll get to that again later. All right, so if you wanna give me a call, 877-207-2276, and why don't we just jump on the phone? Let's get to Brandon from Florida. Brandon, welcome, you're on the air.

Brandon. How's it going, Matt? It's going, it's going. What do you got, buddy? So I didn't get a chance to call back yesterday.

Had a lot going on, but I'm calling today. So. Wait a minute.

This is Brandon, Brandon, right? Why does it say Florida? That's a good question. Okay, all right, buddy. Anyway. Okay, I gotcha.

So what's up? So, like, as I had mentioned in the other thing, so the Bible talks about how there are vessels meant for salvation, and there are vessels that are built for destruction, right? Right. Okay, so in the instance of those two vessels, the interactions in which God has with that vessel that's meant for salvation, which I'm going to hopefully assume that means the elect or the saved. Right. Would that be in the case, the same way he communicates, has relationships, interactions with, would that be the same way he would interact with the vessels that are meant for destruction as well?

No. Or is there a difference there? Yeah, there's a difference. So how this works is people have to understand, it's a good question, so let me lay a little theology down, is that people have to understand biblical theology, not just what they feel, not just what they've been taught from various people. Biblical theology is that the male represents the descendants, not the female. So Adam and Eve were in the garden, she sinned first, but sin entered the world through Adam. Romans 5, 12. And that's because of what's called federal headship.

So federal headship means a male represents a descendant. And so in Adam all die. In Christ, all shall be made alive. First Corinthians 15, 22 says that.

All right, so why is that important? Because when Adam fell, we fell in him. In Adam, all die. So that means that when he died, because he represented us, we died in him and we are by nature children of wrath. Ephesians 2, three, because we're sinners by nature. And so people will say, well, I don't agree with that.

Well, you don't have to agree with it. But if you're gonna reject it, then reject the idea that Jesus represented us on the cross. Because he's called the last Adam, and of course he represented us on the cross. That's why it says, in Adam all die. In Christ, all shall be made alive.

The second all is a limited all, and it's an interesting study in the Bible, which I don't go into on the radio very often because it takes too much time. So the people, all people are under wrath, except for Jesus, of course. And so God does not have to predestine them for destruction.

They are already on their way to destruction. He predestines people for salvation, because predestination in this cause has to do with the elect. So you go to Ephesians one, four, and five, that it says that he chose us in him. That's a father chose the elect in Christ before the foundation of the world. So this is part of the Trinitarian communion. This is all theology. People just don't study theology. So they don't get this, but that's what it teaches. So when it says vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, then we have to get into, well, does it mean they're predestined? Well, we could make the case. But are we saying that God intervenes to make them damned?

No, he wouldn't say that. In what sense then could he prepare them for that destruction? Well, by their existence, for one thing.

By giving them a soul and giving them life as they exist, and that they are going to go to hell, and in that sense are prepared for that. So there are different ways to understand it. It gets more complicated, and there's some deeper things to talk about related to it, but that's the basics, okay? So to make sure I'm catching on correctly, so it's not so much that he just simply went, okay, you, you're part of the elect.

You'll be safe. You over here? Okay, I'm gonna set you up for destruction. It's more of the conveyor belts of souls are already set for going to the infernus, and he's the guy on the side going, and I want that one, and I want that one.

Is that a way to- Kind of. A good illustration I read in a book, Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, was years and years ago, there was an illustration of a prison. There's, say, 100 men in this prison, and men and women, doesn't matter, men, let's just say, in this prison, and they are all absolutely, without a doubt, guilty.

There's, nobody doubts their guilt, and there's an individual who has the ability to go into that prison and pay debts, pay fines, and free people from the prison. So, there's 100 of them, and he, let's just say, he saves 20. So, he has that right to do that. Well, does that mean that the other 80 were chosen not to be saved? In one sense, yes, and in another sense, no. I mean, if he did active choosing, it was of those 20. And so, this is why I get into this issue of would he actually choose that person not to be, and he chose this one to be, or did he just choose the ones to be saved and let the other ones go their regular way?

And that's one of the illustrations that we use in trying to understand this, and we can't get too far into it because, well, the Bible doesn't tell us too much about it. So, that's about it, that's about it. Make sense? I think so, do you have another caller after me? We've got three more callers, but go ahead.

One more question, go ahead, because I've known you so long. Because my follow-up question for that is then, if that's the case, I mean, if going on the foundation that obviously God created everything, he is who he is, if through the fall of Adam all died, we're already preset as a result of that sinful nature to be destroyed, I mean, yeah, he's obviously not choosing specifically, like you said, he's choosing to save those, not necessarily specifically pointing out damning those, but if he created all things and set all things in motion, is it still an indirect choice that he made? Well, it does get more problematic, because if God knows all things from eternity, he does not grow in wisdom or knowledge, he doesn't decrease in wisdom or knowledge, and all things actual and potential are known by God, whatever universe he brings into existence with all things ordained is his choice. So we could make the case then that he has chosen certain people to be damned and certain ones to be saved. Now, people may not like that, but he certainly has the right to do it, and that's what Romans 9 is about. He has the right to do with his creation as he desires, we don't have the right to object. But the thing is that I like to tell people at this point is that there are things in the scriptures we do not know, we cannot fathom completely, and there's certainly things in the mind of God that we do not understand as well.

He has that right to do what he wants to do, and Paul revealed to us largely that he does have that right, and there's an involvement of him in vessels prepared for honor as well as vessels prepared for destruction, and it says that he did so. And so if this is the case, and we cross-reference it with Proverbs 16 four, God makes all things, even the wicked, for the day of evil. Like, wow, well, how do you do that, you know? And then we get into issues of causation. We have direct and indirect cause.

We have what's called ultimate, proximate, and efficient cause, and these are topics that we try, and theologians and logicians try and work through to understand the nuances of how certain things can be done, and it gets complicated, and it's not good fodder for radio, generally speaking, but generally, even though sometimes I'll get into it depending on the situation, but the thing is that God is the one in control, and yet, at the same time, through all of this, the more we pray, apparently, the more people have been chosen from the foundation of the world to be saved. So, you know, how's that work? I don't know.

It's just beyond my pay scale. So, that's, because you know me, I mean, we've known each other for years. I'm very evangelical. You know, I witness and go out and do stuff and look for opportunities. It's because I know enough to know that I don't have all the answers, and God's bigger than me, and he knows more.

He says, go witness, and yet he predestines, okay, I'll go witness. I don't know how it all works. Not my, you know, it's not for me to decide, so. You're a Calvinist, not a hyper-Calvinist. Yeah, I'm a Calvinist. You don't know, so therefore you do.

Yeah, I don't know how it works, and I'm smart enough to know that I'm not smart enough to know, okay? I like it. I appreciate it, Matt. All right, buddy. Okay, Brandon, we'll see you, man. God bless, buddy.

We gotta get her some time, do lunch. All right. All right, I know Brandon.

Oh, sheesh, probably 15 years. Okay, let's get to, let's see, Billy from Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Billy, welcome. You're on the air. Hey. Hi.

So what do you got? I was just wondering, how long are you gonna stay in Israel? 13 days. I was wondering, is it possible if I could be allowed to continue to stay for around four weeks? I guess.

It's up to you. You just work with the travel agency and get the hotels and the whole bit, and you just extend your stay, and you come back when you want. You have to get your own flight. You could work with that. You could email Eric, E-R-I-C, at mrm.org, and ask him. In fact, I understand that he's gonna be there for a week or so before we even get there.

He's just gonna extend his stay, so that kind of stuff happens. No problem. Okay, I appreciate it. You wanna go? Yeah, I'm thinking about it, seriously thinking about it. Yeah. Have you ever been?

No. Yeah, it's pretty cool, really. You're just glad you're there when you're there and seeing everything.

It's just awesome. So I'm looking forward to going again. All right, buddy, better break, okay? All right. Okay, bye.

Okay, bye. Hey, folks. We have three open lines. Give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show.

We have three open lines. If you wanna give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. I wanna hear from you. Give me a call, all right? All right, good.

Let's get on the phones with, let's see, Karen from Midway, Utah. And the question was, we lost her. The question was, do I have any new information on the New Apostolic Reformation? And the answer is no, I do not, not yet. I need to work on that, but I have to push it back because we had so many things happening in the past year. But it is a project I wanna get to because it's necessary, the New Apostolic Reformation is full of some bad stuff.

And it's seeking to be a movement within Christianity that revives present-day apostles and prophets and the miraculous, and yet it's compromising the gospel in a lot of areas. So that's something we gotta talk about. Anyway, we have four open lines. Give me a call, 877-207-2276. Jenny from Iowa. Jenny, welcome, you are on the air. Hi, Matt, thanks for taking my call.

Sure, mm-hmm, what do you got? I think you're great, I listen often. Oh, thank you, I love to hear that.

Usually when I'm driving home from work. And you're gonna tell my wife how great I am. You're just a great theologist. Well, yeah, just call my wife up, tell her I'm great, okay?

She needs to hear it, all right, she's not impressed. Well, you know, you just really keep it real, real. And that's, you know, you said the other day, you said, well, I think people are mad at me for, you know, abortion and things like that. And, you know, you just, they're mad at you because you keep it real, real.

It's like, well, we all want a sugarcoat thing. Anyway, I won't get into that. I just appreciate you. And I certainly wish I could go to Israel, that would just be a dream, dream, dream to go with you, but right now I just don't think in my life I'm financially able to do that. But, man, I am going, that's gonna be a goal. So, I'm inspired to do that. It really is. You get to walk into places that Jesus was, you go to the Mount of Olives where Jesus was, you see the Mount Samaria, you get to go to Bethlehem, you get to, you know, the well that Jesus was at with the woman in John 4, you could actually go to that very well.

We drank out of that very well. That would just be wild. Oh, it is.

I would love that. I'm not kidding, yeah, I just, I have to do that. Unfortunately, you know what, I haven't been very disciplined with my money financially. Oh, okay. I need work to do with that.

I've been tiding well and trying to be God's first with the money thing, but I too get a little selfish and I'm not able to do it, but it's a goal of mine. That's right. I think I'm working on and I would love to be baptized there and, you know, it would be great.

I can't imagine. That's right, we're gonna go to the Jordan too, yeah. That's right.

Oh my gosh. Oh yeah, and we walked through. That's gonna be so close, but I'm gonna. You go to Masada, we walked through, when I went there we went through Hezekiah's Tunnel.

You have the flashlights and you walk through the water. Oh, it is, and you go to see Galilee, the Dead Sea, Masada. That would be just amazing. That would be the trip of a lifetime. Yeah, and you know what else is fun, just that I'm reminiscing and smiling, that the food is different and you get up these four-star hotels and they have breakfasts and dinners waiting for you and you can take a, we took baggies, one guy and I took baggies. I got bread and he got olives and we would just snack on the road, bread and olives. Oh, fun. And the olives, oh man. Do you feel even more near the Lord's Fair?

I mean, I'm sure you do, just so much. Oh, I can't imagine. Yeah, when you see Golgotha, for example, you see the place of the skull and you look at it, just like in the pictures, hey, there it is. Oh, it's great, and we went into Qumran, Qumran Cave One, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were.

We went to Jericho, stood on the walls that had fallen. Wow. Oh, yeah.

Oh, I can't take it. Oh, that's so great, gee, that's so cool. I'm gonna follow you through all of it, though. I'm gonna be living here, back in the States here, but, curiously, through your trip, I hope you posted it, whatever, I don't know, but I wanna know more. Oh, yeah, I'll be tweeting and stuff from there. Yep. Gosh, I'm gonna go, it's the goal and I would love to do that, a trip of all trips.

No other trip would matter to me. But with that said, I do have a question. I often, I know, I study the Bible and I do Bible study and I go to church and it's really, he's really pruning me right now and things are working on me, but I'm feeling, I've had some loss in my life, and I know God knows who's saved and who's not saved, and from what I know, here on Earth, I wouldn't say, oh, well, he's safe in the Lord's arms, you know, I don't know that relationship that there was one that concerned me, one of them being my dad, one of them being my brother-in-law, and one of them being a very close friend of mine, and I wanna pray for them, but I don't know, can you pray for those that have passed that? Yeah, nothing in the Bible says you can do that, nothing in the Bible says to do that.

Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, they believe in praying for the dead and you can get grace, you can pay money, have grace given to them, it's just ridiculous and you have life, so no, it's nothing in the Bible says to do that, if anything, it speaks against it by saying, pray to God. So, you know, I've lost a son, and we lost him at birth, shortly after birth, he died in our arms, and I remember one time specifically, you know, I'm not gonna talk to my son Jacob, but what I did once was I talked to the Lord, and I said, Lord, I don't know how it works, I don't know what the situation is where he is and you are, but if you could tell him that I love him, I miss him. And so, I dressed my Lord, and he's the sovereign king, I'm not gonna get involved with, you know, hey, Aunt Martha who died five years ago, and then all of a sudden, you know, she likes flowers, all of a sudden the flower falls in front of me, you know, ooh, it must be her, now you're involved in the occult, open to deception, you know, so stay away from that stuff.

Okay? Okay, right, you know what, I knew you were gonna tell me the truth about it, I wasn't sure, I know, it's up to us to save our souls, and I just, I just was like, oh, I just, really. Yeah, but you know, there are people though who'll go to a gravesite and they just sit and talk, you know, like they're talking to that person.

Now is that idolatrous or pagan, eh, you know, sometimes, you know, you just gotta talk, and you feel better for talking, and as long as they don't think that they're actually talking to the person who's sitting there, maybe listening, okay, well, you know what, sometimes it's just, it just gets off your chest, you know, and talk. Yeah. It's difficult. Yeah, it's difficult to approve of it, you know?

Right. Gosh, you just keep it real real. Well, thank you, you know, that's really kind of, I mean, I have a plethora of questions because I do a Listening Show often and things come up, but I, gosh, that one's been on my heart lately. I've been just thinking about my dad.

My dad was a painter, and now I'm painting, and I just feel like, oh, if he could see me now, and I'm just like, Lord, just hold him in your hands, and I just, oh, Lord, like, should I do that? Is that, I didn't know if it was, if it was out of my hands, and I heard that it was the living that, only the living that can pray for the dead, and I thought, oh, I just don't know about that, but what's done is done. Yeah, it's, a lot of people, what happens, a lot of people don't trust the word of God. They trust their feelings, and they look for things in the word of God to substantiate their feelings, and that's the reverse of how it's supposed to be.

You're supposed to look at the word of God and use it as a standard of truth, and when people like the Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox don't do that, they look at it as a means of justifying their traditions, and that's why they believe in so many errors and eventually have a false gospel. Exactly, exactly. Well, gosh, well, thanks so much. I love your program, and blessings to you, and thanks for all your knowledge. You're welcome. Well, praise God. Have a great day. All right, well, God, good, thanks.

That was Jenny from Iowa. Hey, folks, we have four open lines. Why don't you give me a call during the break? 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.

Welcome back to the show, everyone. We have three open lines. Why don't you give me a call? 877-207-2276. Let's get to Nick from Wisconsin. Nick, what's up? Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hi, Nick.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How's it going? It's going.

It's going through the radio. What do you got, buddy? A couple questions about witnessing to Mormons and JWs. I've been witnessing to some of them for a couple of years at their church and in personal meetings and video chats.

So I guess my question is two things. And thank you for your ministry, by the way. I definitely use your resources. And you've inspired me to be more bold in that way.

So if you, I just want to hear in your own word, if you were like video chatting once a week and had like 30 minutes with a young 19, 20-year-old Mormon missionary, what questions would you ask them? Well, one of the things I've found to be very, very effective is to show them something. You've got to prepare this, though. And I used to carry these books in my car when I was in Southern California, and it was very effective.

And so this is the long answer, and then I'll give you a couple short, quick, and slick things. But what I did was I took a Book of Mormon, and I still have it. It's all beat up, but I can do it again. And it's a hardcover Book of Mormon, just a Book of Mormon. And so if you turn it sideways so you can look, it's vertical, but you turn it sideways, and then you take the tabs, you put tabs in there in the Book of Mormon in line where it says there's one God, and it says polygamy is condemned, salvation is by grace, things like this that are not Mormon doctrine. They're against Mormonism, believe it or not. And so I have had this opportunity countless times to see Mormon missionaries just walk up, take it out of my car, walk up, and just show them the Book of Mormon. And the letter, the words are there, Trinity, one God, just because they're really small. And I'll just put it sideways so they can read the words. I can't tell you how many times Mormon missionaries have simply grabbed the book politely and started opening it up and looking in the Book of Mormon for five, 10 minutes.

I haven't even said a word yet, and I'm waiting. And they're looking, and they're blown away that the Book of Mormon doesn't contain Mormonism, and it contains things against Mormonism. It's been a very effective means of witnessing to them. And then what I'll do is I have a Greek New Testament.

It costs like 40 to 60 bucks. You don't have to read Greek in order to do this. And I have, and you can go to, which I recommend you get, the 3,913 changes in the Book of Mormon from Utah Lighthouse Ministry, U-T-L-M dot, I think it's org, and it's Sandra Tanner. And if I were you, or any Mormon, any Mormons too, order the book, the 3,913 changes in the Book of Mormon. And the reason I would have these two books, my New Testament and the Book of Mormon, after I'd be talking to the missionaries, I'd say, look, this right here, my New Testament, this is Greek, I've had Greek, you don't have to know Greek, but look, you recognize the numbers. These are down below here are the textual variants that they have. And so we open the page, and I just open it up randomly to the New Testament. And I say, look, there's two variants on both of these page. Look, there's four variants on both of these page. And sometimes I'll show them, like a real small letter is missing in one manuscript compared to another.

Very basic, and I'll show like that. And then that confirms to them that the Bible has been corrupted, but they don't know I'm pulling a fast one on them. And I say, isn't that interesting? And they'll say, yeah, I see it's been changed. Like, oh, well, no, it hasn't been changed. It's just textual variants in a few words.

You don't understand. But then I pick up the Book of Mormon, the 3,913 changes, and I open it up. And what Gerald and Sandra Tanner did is they took an original Book of Mormon, which I've actually held, a very original 1830.

The first printing, I've actually held one in my hand. So they took an original, and I think Sandra told me that he would read the original, he'd read the original, and she would take the then current Book of Mormon and mark the differences. And then they printed this up, the 3,913 changes. Okay, so what I'll do is open up the Book of Mormon just to any page and show them. And man, the changes are all over the place.

I mean, thousands. And I'll ask the Mormons a question. The New Testament's 2,000 years old, and the Book of Mormon's 200 years old. And yet, the Book of Mormon has far more frequent changes and alterations, significant ones, than the New Testament does, period. Why should we trust the Book of Mormon?

Oh, I'll tell ya. Okay, from the original Book of Mormon text to modern day, essentially? Yep, there's, actually, there's, yeah, there's thousands of changes, and some of them are quite significant. You can go on our website and you can look up the changes in the Book of Mormon. But I'd also recommend, if you want, get that 3,913 changes and a New Testament.

You may, you probably spent 100 bucks total, and you may only use it once, but it's very powerful. But if you carry it around in your car and you ask God to show you Mormon missionaries, he has a way of doing that. He's gonna wrong turn, and oh, there they are, and you get out and talk to them.

That's one way. Is there any objection that you've experienced to that from them? No, no, they don't know what to do. Because they see it with their own eyes. They just think it's almost, it's almost infallible. Well, they believe.

See, they have a testimony. They misuse James 1.5 if any of you lack wisdom and then ask of God. And they think that that means you pray about a book to see if it's true.

That's not what the text is saying. So they pray about the Book of Mormon to see if they get a testimony. If you go to Moroni 10.34, it says, ask God if these things are not true. And so that's why I asked the Mormons, did you pray about the Book of Mormon to see if it was true? And they said yes.

I said, well, what'd you get? What'd you get if it was true? Well, it says, did you go to Moroni 10.34? Because at Moroni 10.34, it says to see, you know, to pray, to see if these things are not true. Not to see if they are true. And... Yeah, it said, buy it. Yeah, I said to see if these are not true. And it throws them for a loop because, uh. I said, you got an affirmation that it's not true?

And they, uh, they're not sure what to do. Yeah, and the, and the wickedness of the heart. I can't remember if that's Jeremiah or Isaiah, but. Yeah, Jeremiah 17.9. But, uh, actually I don't know if that's the right verse, Book of Mormon.

Pray to see if it is true. Maybe they'll put a right verse. I thought it was Moroni 10.34, but maybe I'm wrong. 10.4, 10.4, my thinking is 10.4. Okay? All right. Okay. So, uh. One quick question related to that as well.

Mm-hmm. Um, uh, so, so I, I do witness to these people and I've really liked interacting with them. I think it's kind of divine how God set me up these connections, but Galatians one, uh, the anathema verse. How do you reconcile witnessing to folks with other Jesus's other gospels and then also that verse. You tell them that they have a false Christ and a false gospel. That's what I do with Mormons, you know, and I do it loving in the name of Jesus.

And I do it patiently. They have a testimony. They don't realize their testimony comes from, they think the Holy Spirit, but they don't have the true Jesus because the Jesus of the Bible is prayed to, but they don't pray to Jesus. They have a feeling that they go with, not truth, but a feeling. They submit the word of God to their sensibilities and their feelings. And they think that the feeling comes from God, but what they're doing is sinning to begin with because they're praying about the book of Mormon to see if it's true. Well, let me ask, do they pray about the Bible to see if it's true?

But the Bible's just true. But they don't pray about it to see if it's true. So what they're essentially doing is saying we don't trust God's Word.

We're just going to pray about something else that someone else wrote to see if it's true. So they don't realize what they're doing is sinning against God when they do that. And so God lets them have the deception and the enemy of the gospel makes them feel what they are looking for. It's part of the deception upon them, between 2 Thessalonians 2. God will even send a deluding influence on people to the believer lie. And Joseph Smith claimed to be a prophet.

Jesus says the law of the prophets were until John, Matthew 24, 24. And here's one of the things I've used with Mormons when I stand out in front of Mormon temples under opening days with signs, ismormonismchristian.com, which I've got to get that website going back again. But I'll ask them in Matthew 27 and 51 when Jesus was crucified, the temple veil was destroyed by God. It was torn in half. It was removed.

Done away with. Why did the Mormons put the temple veil back in their temple ceremony? Why would they put back what God destroyed if they're truly from God?

They can't answer the question. Well, except latter-day revelation. Let me get this straight. So God destroyed it. He tore it from top down.

In the temple, it was like four inches thick. It was torn by the hand of God. This separation between God and man is removed. That veil symbolized that in the holy place and the holy of holies in the temple.

It was destroyed, torn. And yet they put it back. Yet they're from God, but they put it back. They don't realize that they are insulting the blood of Christ and the true sacrifice of Christ. They're essentially saying that justification by faith, by salvation, by faith alone in Christ alone is not true. Yeah, it's a misunderstanding of grace, too. Oh, yeah, as all false religions do. They think that you have to add to what Christ did and that by adding, you show your sincerity and your worthiness to be saved. And that is blasphemy, because no one's worth it.

We're all saved by it. All right, brother, God bless, Nick. Yep, thanks, God bless. Okay. Hey, folks, we have three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Be right back. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Welcome back to the show. Just want to let everybody know that we're planning an Israel trip. And if you're interested in checking it out, all the information you need, just go to CARM Israel, C-A-R-M Israel.com.

It'll forward you to another website. And you can check it out. There's a little survey there. If you're interested in going, please check it out.

We're trying to get there in March of 2022. Let's get to Josh from New York. Hey, Josh, welcome. You're on the air. Matt, can you hear me? Yep, yes, I can.

OK, awesome. Good to be here. Matt, I had a question for you. I'm a big fan. I know that might sound weird being a Christian. I'm not trying to be patient as an idol, but I love your work.

Love what you do. Now, Matt, that being said, you were in a debate not too long ago, maybe some years. I honestly don't know the date, actually, with Will Duffy. I'm sure you remember. He's an open BS. So Matt, when you guys were speaking, he tried to hold you to a point where he was saying that, well, Matt, you say that God is outside of time, but you wouldn't submit to that, which is fine. But for some time, I've been thinking about what is the repercussion of thinking or holding to theological idea that God is outside of time. I didn't know the significance of the statement to say God is or isn't outside of time, but maybe you remember that question. Maybe you remember that portion of the debate.

Maybe you could speak on it for me. Yeah, as is the case with basically anybody, the more you debate, teach, learn, write, the more you learn. And since then, I've gotten to the place where I won't acknowledge that the phrase outside of time, God is outside of time, really is a place to begin with or to really argue from. And the reason is because we don't know what that means. When Christians say God's outside of time, I say, well, what does that mean? I was thinking about it over the years. But you know what? It just doesn't make sense to say that.

And so I don't anymore. And so if I was debating him again, which may happen, who knows? And this issue of God being outside of time, I say, look, we don't know what that means. And if we don't know what it means, we can't assert a position based on what that means outside of time. We can say God relates to time differently than we do, and we can say that God works inside of time in the sense that we are aware of that because Christ was inside of time and walked but one step in front of another one.

He had to get one place with another, took him some time to do that. So we understand that, and we can relate to that. But other than that, we really can't.

And so then it becomes problematic to make arguments based on something we can't justify and can't explain. Yeah. Yeah.

That's good. I'm still trying to think. I mean, that's a very fair answer. I'm still trying to think of the significance of what he was trying to push there. I think it falls into the line of the open to this idea where he was pushing God. God follows or submits the time in sequence, and we see that because Christ was preincarnate for him, then became a man, and then now is exalted in the heavens. It's still a question that I'm kind of like, you hear it all the time in the church, God is outside of time. And I think it's because of the reference in Genesis where God creates the heavens and the earth. And I think that's where we go and we say, OK, God must be outside of time because he's creator of all things.

But I'm still wrestling with that. I don't know exactly what it means to say that God is outside of time. Well, here's, OK, look at a little more into this. If I were to debate this, I'd say, first, define what time is before we can say God's outside of it. And outside has what we are talking about when we talk about outside. I'm inside my house, I'm outside my house.

If I'm outside my house, then my house is something separate from me. If God is where we define time to be, if he's outside of it, does he look into the universe and where time is occurring and he can go around the universe? He can go the other side of the universe, or he's already outside all over?

Well, how does that relate? And if time is a sequence of events, as some people say it is, measurement of sequence of events, well, then does God have a sequence of events that occurs in his mind? But then if he does, how is that possible since he knows all things eternally? Could he make decisions? Well, how can he make decisions if all decisions are foreordained in his own nature and his essence because he knows all things?

This gets very complicated. And so I just say, folks, we don't know what it means. And God has not revealed what it means. So the open theists like to say that God is restricted by time and that he must cooperate with the limitations that time imposes upon him. And therefore, he cannot know all things actual, which is ludicrous.

But here's something to think about. If God does not know every detail because the future is open, hence open theism, then how does he know exactly what sins that you might commit in the future? How does he know which ones to impute to Christ? Because to bear our sins, how can he do that?

Because he'd have to know every detail in advance, every sin exhaustively before Christ was even born. And yet, but the future is open because of our free will because they want to have God's predestination and our free will on equal level, which is another heresy that they begin with. Open theism is amateur time.

It's amateur hour theology, as is prevenient grace, OK? Yeah, I love that, Matt. Thank you so much. I appreciate the time. All right, buddy.

Sounds good, man. God bless. All right, let's get to, let's see, Brian from Chicago. Brian, welcome. You are on the air. How you doing, Mr. Slick? Doing all right. What do you got, buddy?

Got a question for you. How do you feel, what are your thoughts on the relation between spiritual attacks and sickness? Well, I'm sure that some spiritual attacks result in sickness, and I'm sure that some spiritual attacks don't result in sickness, and I'm sure that some sicknesses have little to do with spiritual things. So we don't know. We don't know which it is. I guess I devolve a little bit more into it.

I suffer from narcolepsy, and I've noticed the symptoms that I do have are troubling, everything from sleep paralysis to exploding head syndrome to hypnagogic hallucinations. And I have noticed that when I do get more into the word and devote more of myself to the path to Jesus, those become more abundant and troubled. Really? So the more you focus on Jesus, the more abundant they become? Yes, sir. You go to church?

I do. I took a, my father's a pastor. I've been a born-again Christian my whole life. I, as I guess some people do, I kind of took a pause in my younger years, and there's something recently just, I guess for lack of better terms, hit the unpause button and open the floodgates. And since then, my world has become amazing and an unbelievable trial at the same time.

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that. And it's hard, because I can see both things. I can see the trials, and I can see how God's putting me through it to make me stronger.

And I can look at it, and I can smile, because I can see his grace through it. But it gets extremely hard, where even just the thought of taking another step, or even just taking another breath, is almost so cumbersome that I can't even, just the tiredness, the, I don't even know how to describe it. No, it's OK. I am married. I've had sleep problems myself.

Nothing like what you've talked about. But because I'm autistic, and so my mind will take off and things, one of the things I've done anyway, I don't know if it, whatever, I mean, talk to you, I'm sure you've done a million things, is I have a pattern I go through, where I do a certain thing in bed, look at my phone, I'll do this, I'll do that. I move my pillow a certain way. I turn over a certain direction. I get in a certain body position. And this is my means of going to sleep. And I've trained myself over the years that that's what I do. My body knows it. And I'm able to go to sleep, usually within a half hour. It takes a while.

It's just how it is. But I asked about elders, because if it increases while you're reading about the Lord, there might be a spiritual connection there. And you should talk to the elders about that. And it occurred to me that maybe prayer and fasting might be warranted to some degree.

Of course, with your situation, again, it's funny that you say that. I don't even, the words escape me lately. But I just feel the Lord pushing me in a direction.

I don't know what direction it is. I'm trying to grab everything that I can to please Him, to do what I think His will is. And I feel I'm doing the right thing, because I have so much pushback from the world itself. Well, we should not use pushback from the world as our standard, but scripture.

Yes. It's going to be the scriptures. If the scripture says you'll receive persecution because of whatever, then that's the standard we have to have. But anyway, prayer and fasting, maybe there's something there. Maybe there's something there, I don't know.

Just a thought, you can give it a try and see. But you need to be in prayer with the elders. And if your dad's a pastor, then with him, too, and work through the best you can. It's tough. Thank you, sir. Well, so I know what it means to face certain issues.

And the fortitude that you need or to push through sometimes takes years. So I know you already know that. But yeah, OK, so think about the prayer and fasting thing. I don't know. Talk to people and see what they think. Thanks so much for your time, sir. OK, buddy, God bless. Call me back in a week or two. Let me know how you're doing, OK? All right?

If at all possible, I'll send you an email. OK, sounds good. All right, man, God bless.

Thank you, sir. Sure. OK, let's get over to Kim from Seattle.

Running out of time, Kim, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, I can.

OK, well, I'll go quickly to the question. I hear a lot of demonic voices all the time. And I feel like demons in my head.

I can barely hear you. OK, I hear a lot of demonic voices all the time. And I feel like demons are in my head. Can you hear that? Yeah, in your head, yeah.

I'll tell you what. Yeah, but I'm wondering if you, since I've been feeling this, can a person be saved if he's feeling demons in his head and hearing voices all the time? Am I saved? I've asked you to save me. That's a complicated question.

The answer is, I believe, yes. But the ultimate thing is, what's really happening? So you would need to be involved with your pastor at your church and under care with a doctor. Because sometimes they have meds that can help. Sometimes our brains are messed up or born that way. And they can mess up. And we can hear things that aren't really there. It could also be there's a real spiritual presence going on. And deciding between them takes a lot of work and practice.

Once you get involved with both parties and the church and stuff. OK, we're out of time. Sorry about that. Call back tomorrow, man. Call back tomorrow. OK, we'll talk. Tom from Florida.

Couples living together, calling in marriage. Ooh, call back tomorrow. Let's talk about that one. Oh, I want to talk about that. Hey, folks, we're out of time. And the Lord bless you, by his grace. We'll be back on here tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then. God bless, bye.