Matt Slick Live

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Listen to Matt Slick live. If you want to give me a call, as usual, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you.

Please give me a call. Five wide open lines and we can blab. So, today I got busy working on articles. I released three articles today. What is the Great Commission of Jesus? What is baptism? I've written a lot on baptism. I hadn't written an article called, What is Baptism? But, this article, another article I wrote called, What is the Priesthood of All Believers? It's not something I've really talked about before. And I want to get into that a little bit later.

We've got calls coming in and stuff. But, I'd like to just briefly say that what it says in Peter is, you as living stones are built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. That's 1 Peter 2-5. In 1 Peter 2-9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Well, who is he talking to? He's talking to the believers, right? And this means that we are a priesthood.

Now, why is that important? Think about what the Old Testament priesthood was. It was the priest in an office who would offer sacrifices on behalf of people to God. What does a Roman Catholic priest do? Offers the sacrifice of the mass to God and people participate in it. They're in the Old Testament style of priesthood. They haven't matured.

They haven't gone on to what it needs to be now. And we as a priest, priesthood, that doesn't mean we're priests in that strict sense. What it means is we don't need a priest in order to go to God. We can go straight to God ourselves. We do it through Jesus.

He's our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So all people who are redeemed and in the service of Christ are able to act as priests in that generic sense. Because we are able to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus. That's what it says in Hebrews 10-19.

Now think about that. The priest, only the priest in the Old Testament could go into the holy of holies. And he could only do it with the shedding of blood. And before he got to the holy of holies, he had to go to the holy place. And that's how it was in the temple. He had to go through various things to get to the holy place and the holy of holies. And it says we have confidence to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus. We are able to get in there because of what Christ has done. So we then can act in that sense now as that priesthood of all believers being able to go in. Which means we can offer to people, we can offer to them the gospel message, that saving message. We don't need a priest to do it.

We can do it. We can then intercede for people by praying for them. It's called the priesthood of all believers.

That's just a brief intro. I wanted to let you know. See this is what theology is good for. I love theology.

I love it so much I would marry it. Let's get to Rick from High Point, North Carolina. Rick, you're on the air.

Thank you so much, Matt. I got things already written down, so I just want your opinion. Now, I listen to young women pastors not supposed to be in the pulpit, right? Right. Okay.

Do you mind giving me descriptions to support that? Just one or two and I'm going to jot them down right quick. Okay. 1 Timothy 2, 12 and 13 where Paul says, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain silent for Adam was first created.

He ties it in to the created order. Okay? Okay. Titus 1, 5.

What now? If you go to 1 Timothy 5, 17, you can then tie in the issue of the pastor is a teacher, an elder is a teacher. Okay. 1 Timothy 5, 17, an elder is a teacher, all right, in the place of authority. They preach and teach. So the elder, a pastor by definition is an elder.

So if you go to Titus chapter 1, all right, that looks right in verse 5, Paul says, I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. Okay. And the word elders is in the masculine. Right.

It's plural masculine form. Right. Namely if any man is above reproach the husband of one wife. That's verse 6.

Okay. So Titus 1, 5 through 6. So what this is clearly telling us is Jesus, I mean Paul says that a woman is not to be in that place of authority over men because of Adam's... Why? Adam was first created, so it's a creation order mandate. The elder is a teacher, a teacher by definition, a preacher teacher is the elder by 1 Timothy 5, 17. Okay. And Titus 1, 5 through 6 says that the elder is to be a man of one woman or a husband of one wife.

And so a woman cannot fit that, period. Okay. So that's it. Okay. One other thing that bothers me concerning Paul, Paul says he chooses not to be married.

Okay. Now please correct me on this because I don't know. Paul was raised, well was taught by Gamaliel and he wasn't Paul a part of the sehendra? Yes, he would have been married, yes. Okay, that's what I'm saying. If he was a part of the sehendra, still he says he remains not to be married, that can't be true, right? Yes it can be because he could be married and lost his wife, she could have passed away and then he chose to remain unmarried.

That's a certain possibility. Okay, you know what, you're right, I didn't think about that. Now your opinion on reincarnation. It's bad, false, doesn't work, can't work against scripture. Okay, but do you believe in it? Of course not.

Okay, well I don't either, don't be wrong. I had a lady, a friend asked me, she said she believes that she was here in another life and she believes in reincarnation. Of course I don't believe in that. Well here's the thing, Hebrews 9.27 says it's appointed to men to die once, after this comes judgment.

That's it. So reincarnation cannot be true because the Bible refutes it. Hebrews 9 what?

Hebrews 9.27. Okay. Okay, alright. Now here's another point about reincarnation. Now here's something you can ask her, you can say look, do you believe in karma?

Okay. You'll say well yeah, you know, because that goes with reincarnation. So in your past life you were whatever and before that and before that you've had a lot of different incarnations, right? And what's the purpose of all your reincarnations? What's the purpose? Ask her what the purpose is.

Well the purpose is to go back be with God and meld the divine consciousness or whatever it might be that she might say. And you have karma, right, which means that your next incarnation depends on how well you do here, right? I should say yeah. Okay. So does that mean that you had a first incarnation? Yes. So doesn't that mean that you had perfect karma because you had done nothing wrong?

On your first incarnation you had perfect karma and yet you couldn't make it back to be with God, whatever it is, as you say, with perfect karma. What makes you think you're going to do it without perfect karma? I got it. Okay. Now right now I just need to make a comment. I'm a black American. Okay. I hate the term that black people have adopted.

Now don't get me wrong, everybody's telling me the same thing. African American. I don't like that term at all for one reason. Elon Musk is from Africa, okay? And Elon Musk is not white. That's like saying that everybody from Africa or the African continent is black. And that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.

What is wrong? Are you African American? I say, they say, are you African American? I say, no. I don't know about African Americans.

I don't want to know about them. I'm a black American. But that's just me. Okay. I got that.

I want you. Well, you know what? I'm from a German. My ancestors are from Germany. I don't say I'm a German American. I don't say I'm a white American. I say I'm an American. And that's how I view people. Hey, you're just an American. That's all.

That's hard to get people to see. Well, because racism is a tool to beat everybody down to complain and whine. You know, I wish they would stop. But Matt, you're not smarter than any person on the Bible apologetics I know. Racism began in the Bible when Miriam got mad at Moses for marrying a Shiite woman.

Think of when it started? Kushite. Numbers chapter 12, verses 1 through 8, yes. Because Moses married a Kushite woman who was from Ethiopia, which meant she was black. Okay. Right. But I don't believe that it was because she was black that they were concerned. I don't believe there was any racism with people like that. I don't believe that was an issue. Okay.

It was because she was a Kushite and not in the Jewish system and that they complained. So that's what I think it is. Okay. I got you. One more. One more. Okay. On perfection.

I get stuck on this. Of course, the Bible says no one's perfect like a father. And that to me is true. But now how can the one part of the Bible you read where it says we're supposed to be perfect as a father is perfect. And then later in the Bible it says we are to strive for perfection. Now, we all know we're not perfect, but I want your theory on perfection and being a human being. Well, it says in Matthew, let me turn this up a little bit.

I've got to get this sound. It says in Matthew 5, 43 through 48, you know, love your neighbor, et cetera. God lets the sun shine the good and the bad. Therefore be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. That's Matthew 5, 48. And that context is about loving everybody equally. That's what that is.

When we strive for perfection, the idea is to strive to be like Christ. Okay? Right. Okay.

There you go. I knew you would have it. I knew you would have it. That's because I'm slick. Thank you so much, Matt. You're Matt slick. You are the slick. Thank you, man.

I am so slick. All right. Yeah. Thank you, buddy. All right, man. God bless.

All right. Hey, for those of you who might have just tuned in, why is this guy saying he's so slick? Because that's my last name. It's my legal last name. And it works great for radio.

That's why we call it Matt Slick Live. Hey, folks. We have four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Parker from Illinois.

Parker, welcome. You're on the air. Hello, Matt. Can you hear me?

Yes, I can. Hello, Matt. I was reading through one of your articles on Calm the other day.

Someone sent it to me. And it was called Early Church Fathers on Baptism and Salvation. So what you do is you give some people who say that baptism doesn't serve for salvation, and then you give some other church fathers that you think supposedly say that baptism is not necessary. Now, do you honestly believe, quick yes or no, that these fathers, Clement O'Brah and Rome Polycarp and Mary of Victorianus, did not believe in baptism for regeneration? Well, I forgot which ones it was, but if I look back at my notes, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Marianus, Victorinus, yeah. Okay.

So have you ever read J. and D. Kelly? No. Okay. So J. and D. Kelly, who is definitely not Catholic and a Protestant church historian scholar, in his book Early Christian Doctrines, he says, from the beginning, baptism was the universally agreed right of admission to the church. Admission to the church doesn't mean salvation. Yes, yes.

Well, here's the thing. In regards to its significance, it was always how to convey the remission of sin. So very clearly, J. and D. Kelly, who is a Protestant scholar... To convey, wait a minute, to convey or to obtain.

To convey as in it meant that, and that's what it was demonstrating, or that that's how it was obtained. Yes. There was a remission of sin with baptism very clearly, J. and D. Kelly spoke at the actual reading of it. Well, hold on. We've got a break coming up.

We're going to address that because if any church father taught them to be baptized to be saved in their heretics. So hold on. Okay. We'll be right back after these messages, folks. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, we have three open lines, 877-207-2276. Parker, are you still there?

Yeah, I'm here. All right. So let me ask you, do you believe that baptism is necessary for salvation? Yes, because it's unanimous in the early church and to say otherwise would be to say that you believe in the great apostasy. So what church do you go to? What church do you go to? Are you a Catholic? I'm a Catholic apologist.

I go to a Catholic church. Okay. So here, let me read you some stuff. Okay.

Let's see. This is what Chrysostom says. He says that they said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed, but he shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed. And he said that those who were enemies and sinners, neither justified by law nor by works, should immediately through faith alone be in advance of the highest favor. Theodorette said, through faith alone I look for finding submersion in the day of the Lord's appearing. Vincent of Lernes said, the profane novelties must be rejected and that faith alone adhered to, which the universal church has held consciently from the earliest times. So which church, Father, are you going to go with?

Okay. So there are several issues with quoting John Chrysostom for denying baptismary regeneration. Number one would be he believed in baptismary regeneration. If you actually read his quotes instead of picking out of context. Then why does he say faith alone? First, let me explain. Okay. He doesn't mean faith alone the way you mean it.

Okay. And here's how we know that. He says, in one of his other letters, here are baptized, excuse me, I can't read, taking away the sins and wonderful and marvelous cleansing of the soul, just as those being baptized are washed in water. As you can see, he clearly believes that baptism permits sins. He didn't say that there. If you read it.

He didn't say that there. This is what you Roman Catholics do. You read stuff into the text. I know you don't like church history and that's why you're Calvinist.

Stop, stop, stop, stop insulting me. You don't know what I like or don't like about church history. So don't say I don't like church history. That's why I'm a Calvinist. Okay. I don't have any problem with church history. I don't have any problem with church history.

I just don't study it that much. Excuse me, if you're not going to, look, look, look, I'm trying to talk. If you're going to be rude, let me ask you a question. Does the Bible not command that you be gentle and patient with those who are in opposition? I am not a huge fan of people lying about the, as an expert in Christian doctrine, you should not be doing that. Can I read you scripture, conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Let your speech always be with grace. Is that how you're speaking to me? Listen, now you have to stop lying about the father.

This is not. Can you, can you answer my question? Is this how you are being with me? Are you speaking to me with grace or are you accusing me of sin?

Which one is it? I am, I am doing exactly what Jesus is doing and call out people who are lying. You can't answer the scriptures. Let me ask you a question.

Let me ask you a question. Does the Bible teach that we're justified by faith? Yes. The Bible says we're justified by faith.

Then if the Bible says we're justified by faith, are we justified by faith when we have faith? What? Sorry? If, as you say.

I didn't even bring up scripture. I brought up your article on. I asked you a question. I asked you a question. I can deal with that.

I can deal with it. But I'm asking you a question. You said we're justified by faith. So now I'm asking you, are we justified by faith when we have faith? If we're justified by faith.

I don't even, I don't even know what you're trying to say here. Well, you said we're justified by faith, which is Romans 3, 28, Romans 4, 5, Romans 5, 1, Galatians 2, 16, 2, 21. Justified by faith. So I'm asking you, if we're justified by faith, then are we justified when we have faith? It depends on what you mean by faith. If you mean faith in the Calvinist way, you mean it.

No. I just simply, I'm quoting you the scriptures. God is the one who grants us that we believe and grants us faith, Philippians 1, 29. So when God grants us that faith, what God grants, is that sufficient for our salvation when we have faith?

Faith alone is not sufficient for us. He asked you a question, Mr. Catholic apologist. You said we're justified by faith, and you try and weasel a little bit. Sorry, but that's what you're doing.

You're not answering the direct questions. Then I've said to you that Philippians 1, 29 says that God grants that we believe. He grants us faith. So now I'm asking you, is the faith that God grants to us, is that faith?

Does that mean that when he grants it to us that we're then justified, since we're justified by faith? So the answer with that is that every Christian believes that we can't have faith without Christ. So you're not answering my question. You're not answering my question. I've asked you if we are justified by faith.

You said yes. Then I asked you if you were justified by faith. When we have faith. Not faith alone. I didn't say faith. We're not justified by faith alone. I didn't say faith alone. I said when we have faith. When we have faith, are we justified before God? It depends on what you mean by faith, Matt. By the faith that God grants to us, Philippians 1, 29. He grants that we believe. That's the word pistis in the Greek, which is belief and faith in English.

Same word in Greek. So when he grants that we have pistis, faith that we believe, is that faith sufficient for us to be justified? So the answer with bringing up the pistis is that pistis does not mean faith inside.

It means showing faith, and it means trust in the Lord, which could also include justice. I asked you. Everybody's listening to how you avoid the questions.

How you can't answer the questions. Matt, I didn't even bring up these scriptures. I asked you a specific question about the other scriptures when I asked you. Yeah, and I went to the church fathers, and I read you the church fathers. I read you other stuff. I was reading, I was reading Cazostom, and then you did not like that I was going to read Cazostom to you. No, I didn't say. What is wrong with you?

And that's fine if you're on an installation, but I wasn't even. Parker. Parker. I didn't say I didn't like reading Chrysostom. In fact, Chrysostom is one of my favorite church fathers. I love the way Chrysostom spoke. He's called Goldentung.

I think he's awesome. I'm just saying the quote you read didn't prove what you wanted to say. That's all. And then you have the nerve to say, I don't like Chrysostom?

Are you kidding me? So I know you don't like Chrysostom, because here's how I know you don't like Chrysostom. You've tried to. I just hung up on him, folks, and I hope he's listening to this. When I just now told him that I like Chrysostom, or he calls Chrysostom, which I do, and I'll tell you why. But I do like Chrysostom, and he says, I know you don't. He then just called me a liar, and he just ignored the facts. Now, notice what happened. This is one of the tactics of just the people who don't have good answers.

They have to attack the individual. So I started seminary in 1989 and graduated in 1991 with my Master's of Divinity. Dr. Robert Godfrey was the history professor, and he read Chrysostom to us. And I still remember what he read, because Chrysostom was that good. I still remember the remnants of what he said for all those years. Chrysostom is awesome.

I love Chrysostom. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. We have three open lines. 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back, everyone. We have three open lines if you want to give me a call.

And don't call me a liar, okay? 877-207-2276. Let's get to Drew from North Carolina. Hey, Drew, welcome. You are on the air. Drew, wait, did I hit his button? Yes, I did.

Sometimes I go, wait a minute, what did I do? So, Drew, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Okay. All right. What do you got, buddy?

I'm off of Bluetooth so I can hear you. Okay. I had a question about, have you heard of the new apostolic reformation and that whole movement?

Yes. So, I'm curious, one, your thoughts on that, but I'm more curious in the specific situation that my family and I are in right now. I made the brilliant decision of moving in with a family. So I have a wife and three kids. They have, it's a husband and wife, and now two kids.

They just had a baby literally two days ago. So the husband is South African, and he expresses his faith in a very unique way where it's always, it's literally worship music 24-7. And whenever there's prayer, it's out loud, it's in the downstairs living room, and it's big into the kind of Bethel stuff. I don't know how much you know about that, but with pursuing signs and miracles. And I feel like that's kind of the new apostolic reformation as well. It's very outward, and we want to see the Lord move, and signs and wonders. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on it. Because I felt kind of in my spirit that I need to protect my family in a way and kind of keep a little bit of separation there.

But sometimes I'm like, am I being unglovey? And I know Second John talks about, you know, it's kind of hard to know. Let me jump in.

Let me jump in, all right. The new apostolic reformation, called NAR, is a movement that has a lot of dangerous teachings in it. And one of them is that there's prophets and apostles for today, and that there's a hierarchical authoritative structure by which words of knowledge, words of wisdom, prophecies from God are to be judged through the hierarchical system.

They seek signs and wonders a great, great deal, almost to the mystical level. That seems to be the primary focus over the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bethel music has done a lot of damage in some areas, teaching some heresies.

I remember one lyric, I forgot which song, but I can find it. I was going to start writing a section on Karm analyzing lyrics of Christian contemporary music, which I like a lot of it. But one of the lyrics I hate is, God, we give you permission to blah, blah, blah. And that's heresy. And so we don't give permission to God.

That's insanity. And these kind of things are taught in worship. So nevertheless, I've read a lot of material from the NAR people. They're very knowledgeable in a lot of areas. But they push the gospel and the person of Christ, in my opinion, below the seeking of the signs and wonders. They seek the signs and wonders themselves more so than the person in relationship with Jesus Christ.

And that's what always leads to error. So basically the underlying question that I really want your answer on is like, so if you were in my situation or around that, what would you recommend? What would you do?

Would you say, no, you need to separate? I said throw water balloons at him. If he wants to pray out loud, there's nothing wrong with that.

And it's fine. Raise hands. You can pray whatever you want. Praise God.

What I would do is go on the web and get books on the New Apostolic Reformation. It's one of the things I'm supposed to research and write on. But I've been to Bethel, too. I've been there. And I would never recommend anybody go there.

Never. So you can get books that are written by people who have already done the research, and you can get some points and pointers and things like that. I think Justin Peters has done work on it, justinpeters.com. Yeah, I've listened to him a few times, like some videos. And I've read a book called, I don't think it was by him, but it's about super apostles. And it was talking about that.

It was good. I can't remember the rest of the title, but it was talking about what you talked about, the whole hierarchy, believing that there's still apostles and prophets and all that, and relating it to what Paul says in the first Corinthians or second whatever. I can't remember which one, but about it and there being false apostles.

Yes, there are. Yeah, but I'll keep researching and find more questions. Sounds good. I'll call him. Okay, brother.

God bless, Drew. All right, man. I appreciate it. Bye. Okay. All right. Hey, folks.

It's 7-7-2-0-7-2-2-7-6. I want to hear from you. Give me a call.

Let's get to Jerry from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Welcome.

Okay. I just have a simple question, which I kind of know the answer to, but I hear a lot of the people that call in about baptism, whether it's required or not. If the thief on the cross didn't do a thing and died and Jesus said he would be with him in paradise, then how would anything be required other than believing in him? What they'll often say is that the thief on the cross was baptized. It's just not recorded that he was baptized.

So, in other words, it doesn't say it, but they'll infer that it was. Or they'll say he died under the old covenant. Therefore, he didn't need to be baptized.

But actually, Jesus died first, and then that means that the thief died under the new covenant. So, if you heard the exchange I had with this guy before, it's one of the questions I ask baptismal regenerationists, and it always stumbles them. Are we justified by faith? Because the Bible says, having therefore been justified by faith. If they say no, then they just deny scripture. And then I ask them the question, are we justified by faith when we have faith?

And then this Catholic guy did exactly what about half of the other ones do. Well, what kind of faith? And so that's why I went to Philippians 1.29, the faith that God gives us.

Is the faith that God gives us sufficient for us to be justified since we're justified by faith? And he can't answer the question. Because if he says, well yes, well then the baptism isn't necessary, and all his church father research and stuff just goes down the toilet.

And he can't have that. And so what they will do, what he was doing, what they'll do, is demonstrate that the scriptures are not the final authority, but the church fathers. And that's part of an error. And the church fathers don't always agree with each other. I was raised independent fundamental Baptist, and I'm probably right around your age, and I was in it from toddler up to probably my 20s or so. And it took me many, many years of therapy and searching before I finally had assurance of my salvation. I don't know how all these different religions, I've never even heard of half of them that you mentioned on there, but I learned a lot from listening to you and want to thank you for what you do. Well, thank you and praise God, and he gets the glory. So I'm just a sinner saved by grace, that's it, with a big mouth.

That's right. All right, you have a good evening. You too, God bless.

All right, hey folks, we have nobody waiting right now, so if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Now, about that previous caller, I want to make a point, I've already said it, I'm going to say it again, that what he did and what others do like him when they use the church fathers is they put the church fathers as the final authority. They don't use Scripture as the final authority, it's the church fathers. They're going to say the church fathers were unanimous and that they all agreed.

That is not true, and I've got the documentation and I have it on my website. The church fathers do not always agree with each other, but what they will do is find church fathers that they think agree with them and they will quote those church fathers. That's why I say I need to get a T-shirt that says my church father can beat up your church father. And furthermore, just to make it doubly clear, I think Chris's system is one of the most brilliant church fathers. His writing, his preaching was stellar, and he is just wonderful.

In fact, I recently was thinking literally of studying his preaching to learn how to be a better preacher. And so when this guy said that I hate Chris's system, you have to understand something. This is a technique that those who deny facts and deny truth will often use in order to make themselves appear more knowledgeable or make their opponent, like myself, appear hypocritical and false. It's in order to push their agenda. And you've got to understand, it's not an issue of Scripture. It's always an issue of the church fathers with them, and this is why they are misled. This is why they believe in a false gospel, because if they are to say that baptism is necessary for salvation, then they must also say that you can't be saved without baptism, which means that anybody who would confess Christ as Lord, trust in the sacrifice of Christ by faith, would not be justified by faith, because they had to get baptized for this. They will be teaching a heresy, and this is how it works.

Those he couldn't answer the question, and most of them can't be heard. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. For Open Lives, give me a call at 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. I just want to remind you that we are going to Israel next year, and if you want to check it out, all you got to do is go to karmisrael.com, C-A-R-M, Israel, karmisrael.com, and check it out.

Hopefully you can go, because I'm really looking forward to it, and maybe we'll all be able to go. All right, For Open Lines, give me a call at 877-207-2276. Let's get to Rick. Hello? Yes, hi Rick.

Yes, this is Rick. I'm calling back. Matt, I think I knew what this guy meant, the one you hung up on.

Number one, let me say this to you. You could have talked to him until hell froze over, and you weren't going to get to him, because he's caught up in religion. And the people that know me, I'm a Christian, born again. But when I say things like, I hate religion, religion's a joke. Man, they climb all over me, and then I say, well then you go back to the Bible. No, no, no, religion's not through the Bible. The truth is, but when you talk about religion and then talk about Christ, what did Christ say to the priest who were religious?

Y'all are dogs, you're snakes, and your prayers ain't going to know how to instill it. So I think this is what I think he meant, and I might probably be wrong. When you said being justified by faith alone, I used to justify when you have faith. Now that sort of screwed me up a little bit, because I got faith. Now, what I'm thinking he meant was, even though I have faith, me having faith doesn't take away my choice. Me having faith doesn't make me not justified by believing in Christ. Now, am I messing that up with salvation? Well, we're saved from the righteous judgment of God by faith in Christ. And that's it, not by faith in a ceremony. That's what the Scriptures teach.

And this guy wasn't able to deal with a difficult question, which I ask him and I ask all the rest of them the same question. It's very simple, very straightforward. Now, what's the answer? Well, the answer to the question is, are we justified by faith? Yes. Are we justified by faith when we have faith?

Yes. Otherwise, we're not justified by faith. It's real simple.

And if we're justified by faith when we have faith, we're justified by baptism. This is not stellar. It's not rocket science. It's not calculus. And he could see it, which is why he couldn't answer the question.

And he's not the only one. Others have said this and given the same kind of answers. In fact, what they'll often do is say, no, we're justified by faith when we get baptized. That's another response they'll give. They'll say, oh, if we're justified by faith when we are baptized, then we're not justified by faith when we have faith. Right?

I got it. Well, all I can say is I know I feel that there's no way you miss your calling because I couldn't do what you do. I get frustrated sometimes listening to these idiotic people because Christianity is not rocket science.

And they want to complicate it and it's not rocket science. You're a better man than me because I would lose my religion. I would lose what little Christians out here on the radio. I'm telling you right now. Hey, I don't know. You keep on going, man. Let me tell you, I've blown it many, many, many, many times. Many, countless.

I've probably blown it more than you have in a lot of areas. I just wince so much at some of the past things I've done. Nevertheless, the Scripture says that the person is supposed to be gentle as possible and harmless as doves and things like that. Of course, we can be strong when we need to be, but that's the idea. So I want that to happen. In fact, I'm on Discord and I speak on Discord two or three times a week in the evenings for a couple of hours. And I try and be as polite as I can with the unbelievers. And I've got relationships with atheists, for example, that if they were to come into my hometown, they'd be welcome to stay here. And they know that. And I'm not berating them. I'm dismantling their arguments. And I say, look, you know I'm not against you personally, but look, this is what your argument says. This is what's wrong.

And they actually say, yeah, no, I understand, man. We appreciate your kindness to us. So this is what I'm trying to do because that's what Jesus says to do through Paul the Apostle. Right. So we all need to do that. We all need to do that. We do.

Yeah, we do. The only thing that I practice is respect. Muslims, atheists, whatever. You got it right, especially one of my dearest friends is Jehovah's Witness, but we don't cross that line.

She knows she's not going to get me to convert, and I know I'm not going to get her to convert. So I just wish that Muslims have more spiritual control now in the real world than Christians. And I just wish that the Christian society could be as strong. And I know I'm going to get blasted for this, but that's okay. I wish the Christian society could be as united and as strong and leave religion out of it as Muslims.

Because if we stuck together as much as they did, then we would be back on top. Thank you so much, man. That's true. That's right. All right, brother. Well, God bless, Rick. All right, thank you. Bye-bye. Hey, folks, we have nobody waiting right now, a little bit unusual. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 8772072276.

I've got an email my wife wanted me to answer over the air. Let's see, we were doing a Bible study last night, got into an argument with my husband. All of his family are J-dubs. He was arguing that the partaking of the memorial is only for the chosen 144,000. And by eating the bread and drinking the wine, you are committing a sin. That's what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. They teach that only 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses are allowed to take communion. I showed him a few scriptures, John 651, et cetera, and that would not support his argument, but he insisted that Jesus was only talking and commanding his disciples to follow the commandment. Do you have any verses that prove it's for all followers of Christ? Actually, you've got to find a particular verse. Let's see, where does he say that?

Let's see, if I go to Matthew. He says, if you don't take this, you will have nothing. Jesus said this to Peter.

I'm trying to remember where it is. Because Peter said, I won't do this. He says, if you don't take this, you have nothing to do with me, or something like that. Maybe someone could find that because it would take some Bible. Peter, if you don't take, you will have nothing to do with me.

I think it's the rough phraseology. I can't find it, so I don't know. Someone will find it, but it's where he said that, and I wish I had that verse on the top of my head, my apologies. Someone will find it, and I'll look for it.

I'll pay attention in the chat. So you guys look it out, and I'll see. But anyway, that's a verse, and it says that. If you don't take the Communion Supper, then you don't have anything to do with Christ. I forgot the exact verse. I should know that. Let's see, it's not that one. I'll see if I can find it.

If I can't find it today, I'll try and mention it tomorrow. But that's a good verse for that, on that issue. I would recommend that. If you have Jehovah's Witness friends, and they send you to their yearly, it only happens once a year, a communion thing, go to it. You don't get cooties, but go. Don't take it. Don't do anything. Just observe how everybody passes the plate and does not take it. It's really very interesting.

They don't take the communion. All right, let's get on the phones with Adam from Utah. Adam, welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. Thank you very much for taking my call. I actually want to say that I love you to death. I listen to you as often as I can. I go to karm.org. It's awesome.

And I want to just throw that in there. And then I know it's not a lot, but I spend 25 bucks a month. So anybody listening, it's not hard to spend 25 bucks a month.

Let's support Karm. Hey, buddy, I have a question about all millennialism. I agree with you about 95% of everything you say. But I do not understand all millennialism. It doesn't make sense to me.

Okay. Well, the all millennialist position is that we're in the reign of Christ now. He is the king. And that Satan was bound at the time of Christ because Jesus said he was bound in Matthew 12, 22 through 32. In order to cast out demons. I'm afraid you used that verse in argument, but I don't understand how that supports that Satan is bound. Because he says you have to bind the strong man before you plunder his house.

Okay. And that means casting out demons. And he's casting out demons, so therefore that means he was bound. But that means that he's bound and he remains bound forever? Well, it doesn't say bound forever.

It just says he was bound. That's what it says. Okay. And so there's that. And if the kingdom of God is now, then the unbelievers will be taken out of his kingdom.

Right? And that's what the Bible says. Yeah. In Matthew 13. And then with that rapture, we're talking about the rapture of the unbelievers. Right. And I've heard you argue that as well, which is interesting. Yeah. But how do we not have a thousand year reign with Christ?

Well, it depends. The word thousand biblically is always used in a figurative context. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, or a day's but a thousand years.

And in Revelation 20, I saw an angel coming down from heaven with a key and a chain, you know, and laid hold of the dragon and bound him for a thousand years. So it's this figurative language. So there's that. And plus, here's something to think about, okay? And by the way, I just want to say, I'm glad you're not just buying what I say and that you're challenging and you don't accept it just because I'm saying it.

I'm tickled. Well, like I said, I appreciate your ministry. And sometimes I think that you get a little rough, but I think folks get a little rough with you too.

And I think they could do it in a good way. And I like your show. Again, though, I don't believe everything that you say, even though I support you. So yeah, and I just, as far as the rain goes, I believe that we'll have a reign with Christ, without death, without sin. I definitely think that there's this reign that we get to have with him. He is the king now. He lives with us now forever in his resurrected body. But I don't believe that we're in his reign now. Can I run something else by you really fast?

Please, yeah. So in the premillennial view, which people believe that's okay, I'm just going to tell you, here's one of the issues I think is important. In the premillennial view... I believe in a pre-wrath rapture, and I believe in a pre-millennium, or I mean a millennium with Christ, yeah. Okay. Well, in that view, then the rapture happens before the thousand years, right? Correct.

Okay. Before the wrath. So if there's six bowls of judgment, or seven bowls of judgment, before the seventh bowl comes out, Jesus says, Behold, I come as the thief in the night. That's in Revelation 16. It's an interesting little hint right there.

Yeah. After he says that, the wrath bowl gets... Let me read this. We're almost out of time.

We're almost out of time, so I need you to read this, because you just mentioned what I want you to get into. That the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise. We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the air. Comfort yourself with one another with these words. As to the times in the epics, you have no anyone to teach you, for you yourself know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

Okay? That's the rapture, it comes like a thief in the night, right? And you mentioned it out of Revelation. In 2 Peter 3.10, I'm going quickly, because we're almost out of time, it's what it says, 2 Peter 3.10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. That's when the new heavens and new earth are made to the rapture, and the new heavens and new earth are said to be on the same day. Right, yes, I believe that as well. Well, that means that the rapture, there's no thousand years between them.

So the new heaven and the new earth, that's when the millennium happened. Oh, dude, I love this show, man. God bless, have a good night. Call back tomorrow, we'll talk tomorrow, okay, buddy?

Yeah. God bless. Alright, buddy. Oh, Matt, North Carolina Faith Without Works question, call back tomorrow, let's talk about that. Good stuff. Hey folks, God bless, by His grace, back on there tomorrow. We'll talk to you, man.