The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at KARM.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick live.
Francis taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Hey, everybody.
Welcome. I am back in the studio, was out for a couple of days. And today is Wednesday. I was down in Salt Lake City, down in Salt Lake City, and had a great time there. Met some some great people and I'll talk about that really fast. But just let you know, we have five open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. We got five lines for the podcasters.
It is, let's see, June 9th, 2021. So you can know that I'm live and let's see. So I went down Saturday and we had dinner. A bunch of us.
A lot of fun. I had a good time at Rudy Rodriguez, Laura Anderson or her husband. And it was Bill McKeever and Tammy and Eric Johnson and Terry. Hey, Terry, I'm waving to you. Hi, Terry.
And then, let's see, yesterday went out to an ad to where they do abortions in Salt Lake City and met a bunch of great guys out there, got some pictures. And let's see, I think their names are Chris and Kelly and James and Brian, Adam, Mark. Let's see, Matt. There was a Josh there also. And I think I hope I got them all, because I wanted to say their names over the radio, because it's fun.
If you're listening. Hey, guys, you were great out there. Good stuff. And may the Lord bless you.
So there you go. See, I had a good time and got to preach and teach. And the church on Sunday night, Luke Wayne's Church Mission Fellowship, I think it is called. That was really good. It was great. It was a great time.
And then drove back yesterday. And here we are. And so what I'm going to do now is tell you I got to fix some audio thing here. It's been a few days. I was in, wasn't in, and now I got it back. Good.
All right. So if you want to give me a call, three open lines, 877-207-2276. Let's get to John from Washington State. John, welcome. You're on the air.
Hey, Matt, it's John here from FEMA region. Oh, no, no, not you. Well, OK, it was a good show.
I loved your responses. It was a good show for a while, you know. Yeah, it was.
Just for the first four minutes or so. And that's right. Then it was.
Then it went downhill. That's true. That's true.
So what do you got, big guy? Hey, so I've been having a little squabble on Facebook, and I saw this one guy say that we are not saved by faith, but we are saved by grace. So the question remains, are we saved by faith or are we saved by grace?
Always define terms first. And so in this case, grace is the unmerited favor found in the sacrifice of Christ. And faith is that which is granted to us by God. So we're saved by the grace of God, but also by the faith that God grants to us in Philippians one twenty nine.
So we say we're we saw what we like to say is we're saved by grace through faith. Right. OK. Yeah.
He referred to that, but that to that verse. So. But I mean, I've grown up all the time saying that thinking that it's it's my faith that saves me. I mean, it's my faith in Christ. And it is God is by God's grace who who who grants that, I guess. But I mean, well, yeah, it's true.
See, all this is interrelated. We could also say you're saved by God's eternal election out of Ephesians one four. We just say you're saved by God's eternal predestination out of Ephesians one five. You can say you're saved by the sacrifice of Christ.
OK. I mean, first Corinthians 15, one through four. Or you could say you're saved by the canceling of the sin debt. Colossians two fourteen. There's different ways of saying different things. And when people get on a hobby horse about this, one word has to mean it.
This one way. And it's not sufficient because we're saved by the blood of Christ. Also, John, first, John one, seven, eight, nine, because the blood of Christ cleanses us. So what we like to say is that faith faith, excuse me, is is we could say the instrument of the means.
People have different ways of saying it. But it's that saying that God grants to us that we're justified by. But what we're saved from salvation, what we're saved from is the the righteous judgment of God. We're saved from God himself and his righteousness. And the means of our salvation is God's graciousness, which is begun in the eternal covenant.
He was 13, 20. And then when we are born, he grants that we believe that is 129. So both of them are instrumental in that sense of how how we're saved. But we just like to say, OK, faith is how we're justified. And God's grace is where he grants us faith. And he died on the cross for us and he loves us.
It's all by his grace. So it's not really you know, there's no need to take sides on this because it's just not that narrow. It's more of a broader encompassing idea idea. OK, right. OK. All right. So you're right.
OK. And he's right. It's just but we can't say you're not saved by faith because it's not true. We are. We're saved from the wrath of God by faith. But that's not the only thing. You know, it's the blood of Christ. And but it's not the only thing.
It's a resurrection of Christ. But that's not the only thing you see. It's a whole picture kind of a thing. So gotcha.
Yes. You have to pan back, pan backwards and kind of look at it as a whole as the whole picture. Because, yeah, because the guy who I was squabbling with, who is a universalist, he says that we are not saved by faith, that it is only by his grace.
And I was thinking, no, that that's that doesn't sound right. Yeah, it just comes. But you do at that point is you say, can you please explain more precisely what you mean by not saved by faith and saved by grace? Because faith is not in one sense, it's not the thing that saves us, you know, but faith is a part of God's grace, too. So it's just hard to be so narrow.
So narrow. But if he's a uni, then, you know, tell him there's calm down or forward slash universalism. And you can tell him to go repent. Yeah, yeah, I will. Okay, Matt. Thanks a lot. Appreciate your time. Appreciate your ministry, man.
Hey, God bless John. Okay. Bye.
All right. Let's go to the phones with Kent from Raleigh, North Carolina. Kent.
Welcome. You're on the air. Hello. Hello, Matt.
Hey, how are you? Yeah. Oh, wait. My question for today. The Bible says be saved and baptized in the name of the Bible, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
What is the father's name? It's the wrong question. You don't understand the issue.
It just shows that you don't understand what the text is saying, what it's teaching. You make a mistake. You want to know what the truth is, or you want to continue in your error? Simply, I want to know the truth. The truth. Oh, there you go.
Because each time you call, you do the same thing. You insert your understanding into a text and then demand an answer based on your understanding. But you got to understand something yourself that in the name of means by the power and or the authority of. You can go to Acts four.
I think four, four, seven for that, four, nine. And it talks about the issue and it's baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's the single name. The name of God is Yahweh. The name of the incarnate word is Yesu or Jesus. So the father, so the father's name is Yahweh.
No. No, the name of God, the Trinity is Yahweh. God, the Trinity, thank God. The name of the Trinity is Yahweh. That's who God is. He's a trinity. His name is Yahweh.
OK. Uh-huh. It's not there's there's not a name of the Father and another name of the Holy Spirit. They don't have each have different names.
Bob Frank George doesn't work like that. So there's only one name of God. That name is Yahweh. The name of the word that became flesh.
It was made under the law. Galatians four four, according to Matthew one twenty one. His name is Jesus.
OK. OK. Can I ask you a question? Jesus Christ, is that name Latin, Greek, or is it Hebrew? It's Greek.
The origin. It's well, it's Greek name. And that's what the Greek that's what the Greek manuscripts tell us to call him. OK. Oh, it says you shall call his name Jesus or Jesus.
OK, OK. Guess how many times that word, that Greek word is found in the New Testament. You want to take a guess?
Take a guess. In all the New Testament, about a thousand times. Not bad. About a thousand times. Not bad. Nine hundred fourteen times.
Don't meet nine hundred. But it don't mean it's right. Oh, so then what you're telling me is that all of the New Testament writers got it wrong. OK, that's right.
I see. So what cult do you believe in that you get this false information from that you don't even understand how to ask the right question about the baptism formula? You don't even understand who Jesus really name is.
You don't even understand that that the Greek manuscripts have that as a name and you're saying they all got it wrong. Who are you? Who are you?
What cult do you belong to? Are you a philosopher? Look, there's another false logic thing you're doing.
It's a false dichotomy. Are you this or that? OK, so you're not a good. Look, you have called me so many times trying to tell you you're not a good thinker. You are not a sound, logical thinker. And what you do is you apply bad thinking to the scriptures.
You're probably under the influence of a cult. So can I ask you a question? Are you listening? Are you listening? Are you listening to what I'm telling you? You give me a false dichotomy.
Am I a Gnostic or a philosopher? That's like saying, do you do you beat your wife now? Have you ever when did you beat your wife last?
Well, I never beat her. You see, you give a false dichotomy. You're illogical. Each time you call up, I correct you. And each time I correct you, you ignore the correction.
This is the behavior of a cultist. I'm not knowing that, sir. I'm just asking a question. No, you're not listening.
I want someone to ask a question. You're not listening. OK. You're not listening. You're in a cult. You keep getting the wrong stuff.
I'm trying to tell you this is over and over and over again. What church do you go to? What church? I used to be a Christian to that problem. What church do you go to? I used to go to. What church do you go to?
They don't teach without water. What church do you go to? I'm going to go all over Congress. OK, so you see, I should not have to ask you the same question over and over again. You have been brainwashed. You're brainwashed.
You're actually saying you're you're actually saying that all of the New Testament writers and all the New Testament documents have all been corrupted and they got the name of Jesus wrong. Where did you get that bit of information? Can I ask you? I asked you, I asked you, where did you where did you? I asked you, where did you get that information?
Where did you get it? You keep saying it. I'm led by the Holy Spirit. Oh, you're led by the Holy Spirit. OK. No, you're not.
Yes, sir. No, you're not. You're led by demonic force. OK, I'm just telling you.
I feel the error. You are led by something demonic and you're deceived and you don't know who the Jesus really is. I have to tell you this.
You don't. OK, so I'm just telling you your name. No, it's not a pagan name.
It's the name of Jesus. You're calling Jesus a pagan. Oh, you are. You're so mixed, mixed up.
Go study some logic. Read the website, karm.org, and we can talk again. I just saw somebody in the in the chat room, Melinda Parshall, and I met her this weekend and I said, Hey, are you all here? Parshall, hey folks, we have two open lines. Give me a call. 877-207-2276. It's Matt Slick live taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.
All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. We have two open lines. Give me a call. 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. We have two open lines. Give me a call.
877-207-2276. Let's get to Chris from Thomasville, North Carolina. Chris, welcome. You're on here.
Hey, 7-7. Well, hello. I wanted to get your position on the masks.
I've heard you talk a little bit about it before. And when this was going on, the recommendation, if they had said, you know, wear a mask because you're concerned, you know, I wouldn't have necessarily had the problem with it. But when they say, if you don't wear a mask, you don't care about other people, to me, that's an unwinnable argument as a Christian, because obviously, we're supposed to care about it.
No, it's stupid. It is stupidity, and you just tell them. Look, to say I don't care about somebody because I don't wear a mask, are you saying then that if I've had the antibodies because I've had COVID, that I should wear a mask even though I'm immune? And if I've had a vaccination, and I'm immune, and the virus can't live in me, does that mean then? And I think that is what they would tell you. Yeah, I'd say, well, why do I have to do that? Why would you want me to wear something if I'm immune to it and can't transmit it? OK, then let's talk about before vaccines and before there were immunity, if one were to have, you know, gotten COVID, and that were covered. Here's the thing. What about during that?
Try this with them. Let me backtrack just a little bit. You say, do you care about people because you wear a mask? And you say, yes, and say, is it an N95 mask? Is it a cloth mask?
Is it an N95? Because only N95 and up is sufficient to stop the COVID virus. And if you wear a cloth mask, it's not sufficient. So I guess you don't care about people because you're not wearing an N95 mask. So you're going around pretending that you have a sufficient covering.
And yet, actually, it's kind of deceptive because you don't have an N95. You must hate people. OK, that's what I would say.
OK, the virus is too small for the fabric. And do you feel that it's right? That's kind of my thing all along. But like I said, it's almost like another one. I mean, what you're saying is very, very fair argument. But I mean, that's what's portrayed is you don't care about people and you're selfish if you don't.
I don't agree, but it is stupidity. It's part of the totalitarian movement, the fascist stuff, the socialist stuff to gain control in our country. Now, I spoke Sunday night at a place and it came up and out that the persecution's coming.
And personally, I believe when COVID first came out, wear a mask, OK, they don't know too much about it, you won't take precautions, I can see that. But once the information came out that it wasn't necessary and that knowledge has been out for a long time and once it came out that the, let's see, there we go, that the statistic did not support the panic. And you can go to Amazon, which Amazon did not want these two books published. And the guy published them and they got taken off or they got prevented from being published. And Elon Musk found out about it and made a tweet or something. And then Amazon allowed it to be punished, I mean, published Amazon. Unreported truths about COVID-19 and lockdowns.
Two small booklets, I would really recommend everybody read them. And you'll get the statistics, documentation, and all kinds of stuff. And what it basically comes down to is, in my opinion, that now the information has been out and sufficiently disclosed. Now it's just a bunch of sheeple following the leftist agenda and we do not have to wear masks. OK. OK. And do you think this is the precursor for what is to come? That's the last question.
Absolutely. Bill McKeever, a friend of mine, told me about a book to read. And I started reading it that night.
This was a few days ago. And I've really been impressed with this one book. And I really recommend everybody read this book. And it is, in my opinion, what I've only read, I don't know, 30 pages or so. Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher, D-R-E-H-E-R.
It has a red figure on it with a cross marching uphill. Live Not by Lies. It is brilliant in a lot of what it is saying. And it's motivated me to write some other articles and some other stuff. But I believe that what we need to do is be ready for persecution, be ready for continued liberalism.
And with the rise of liberalism comes a reduction in our, I mean leftist liberalism, becomes a reduction in our ability to worship, our ability to hold weapons, freedom of speech. If you think about it, I mean, I have to do this now. When I want to talk freely, I take my phone and I turn it all the way off. Because I don't want to be listening in. I don't trust the government.
I mean, you're in one public airwave saying this, I don't trust the government. I don't. I mean, how many people do? I don't know if you do. I don't. I don't trust the government.
I don't. Which is why I think people should read the Declaration of Independence. I recommend everybody go find, you go to CARM, type in CARM Declaration of Independence. Read it.
You'll be surprised what it says. So in this book, I'm going to talk about it a little bit, is talking about soft totalitarianism. But let me tell you what totalitarianism is. I did some research on it today, so I have a working definition. A system of government where the state has all authority and power and the people have none.
That's not here in America. Soft totalitarianism is different, but nevertheless. Those in power can be a single individual or a small group of people. Opposition parties are not allowed. Now, what's the left doing?
Right now, the left is trying to destroy the Republicans and demonize them, trying to get rid of certain laws, trying to change voting laws, so that there is no power in anybody else other than their own party. That's part of totalitarianism. Individual opposition is not allowed.
And if you do that, you could be jailed or punished. Political oppression is practiced along with censorship. And the censorship is all over the place on the social media. And also, there's censorship by the left news media groups that do not present both sides of an argument fairly. So they censor various facts. And in totalitarianist groups, they want the confiscation of weapons. They have mass surveillance. They even have secret police, state-led indoctrination.
That's moving. And religious persecution. Academia is designed and required to only push leftist ideology consistent with the state. And that ideology is there to replace prior traditions and institutions. So Christianity for existence is a prior tradition and institution here in America. It's being replaced with liberalism. And if you hold to your guns about Christianity, you'd be fired from your job.
So this is soft totalitarianism or fascism that is being promoted here in America. And I'm going to write an article on what we need to do as Christians and some other stuff. I'm getting ready for the coming. Persecution's coming. I'm telling people.
It's coming. Just curious, when you put that article out there, what do you got a time for it so I can be looking for it? I don't know yet. I'm still researching. I've got to write another article. I've got connections in Africa. And I've been having to do research on the issue of self-defense.
How far can a Christian go to defend themselves with weapons and what? And I've had to do a lot of research. I've got to write that, and then I've got to work on this. Plus, I'm doing a bunch of other stuff with a website.
There's a lot to do. And I'm smiling, but I'm saying I'm not complaining. You want to hold, or you've got to break? You want to hold? I'm good. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you, sir. All right, buddy.
Talk to you later, and God bless. Hey, folks, three open lines, 877-207-2276. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.
Here's Matt Slick. Welcome to the show. We have three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Give me a call. Let's get to Paul from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Paul, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How's it going? Just go on over there, man.
I was just calling about the gentleman who called from, unfortunately, my state capital, Raleigh. But the whole name of God question seemed a bit ludicrous to me. But I heard a joke back in the 90s when I was still in the military.
And I'm not sure how you want to take it or not. But basically, they were saying a Forrest Gump when it got to the Pearly Gates. St. Peter asked him, I don't think you're smart enough to get into heaven, because if God had a name, what would it be?
And he thought about it for a few minutes. And he said, that's easy. That's Andy. He goes, Andy, where did you come up with that? He goes, from the song, in the garden. Andy walks with me.
And he talks with me. So I just thought that'd be kind of funny about the guy who was talking about the name of God. Well, there you go. That works. Yep. But I do appreciate your show.
And I listen to it all the time when I'm driving. So keep up the good work, brother. Well, I'm trying, by God's grace.
That's all it can be. So thanks for that, buddy. OK? Have a good one. You too. All right. Hey, folks.
We have four open lines. Why don't you give me a call? 877-207-2276. Christian from Salt Lake City. Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Hey. How you doing, man?
I'm doing all right. I was always taught that the book of Job was the oldest book in the Bible, but it can't be because it talks about rain in at least two places. Talks about what? Talks about rain. Water falling from the sky? Rain? Yeah, rain.
R-A-I-N. And I don't know if it's talking about rain coming from the sky or, I don't know, what do you think? Do you think that Genesis was written before Job? Or do you think that Job is the oldest book in the Bible? There's debate, actually. There's some debate and disagreement about the book of Job's authorship as well as the date of its writing.
And so I'll just have to admit that during the break, I did a little bit of research on it because I saw your question ahead of time. And I went through different commentaries just to look at dates. And they're suggesting 500, 600 BC. And yet there's some other issues because the Hebrew is very old.
I remember this very specifically. My Hebrew professor in seminary said that it was old Hebrew. And you could tell it was very old. Well, that becomes an issue because if it's old Hebrew, it seems to be an older Hebrew style than the Pentateuch. Now, it's not that it's so different. It's like old English and normal English.
There's a different style in a few things, that kind of thing. And so it's still Hebrew, of course. And anybody could understand it. But he said it was a simple kind of a Hebrew text. And so therefore, they thought it was older. So was it copied from something older?
Or was it written in a purposely simple style to reflect the older style of Hebrew? If that was the case, it had to be someone who's educated and knowledgeable about that back then. So like I said, there's debates about it. So the question is, I mean, the answer is nobody really knows.
Except God knows. But I mean, it talks about rain coming from the sky, and the Bible clearly says in Genesis that rain didn't happen until Noah's time. Yeah. And so that would make sense to say that it was written after Noah's time. Yeah, that's what I would think, too.
It would seem to be that it couldn't be any earlier than Noah. So it makes sense. I got another question if you have time.
Sure. I feel like I'm 63, and I do lawns, and I can't do them much anymore. But the only thing, I have an apartment, and I live with my mom, too. And about the only thing, she's 84. And the only thing I can help her with is trash and dishes. Am I doing enough for the Lord, do you think?
You see, that actually is a good question, because the answer is subjective. So you need to do what God wants you to do, and you need to do what you can do. So there's nothing wrong with taking care of your mom, helping people. As we get older, I'm a year older than you, and I hate doing the yard. It wipes me out. God, do I hate it.
Oh, Lord, I've just been praying for retirement. Well, at least you can. I can't. But the thing is. I can't either.
No, I can't. Oh, OK. Yeah, well, now I've broken up my yard work to two days. Just getting older.
Oh, man. So what do you do? You do what you can do. You ask God to direct you in your steps each day, and you ask to be used by him. And sometimes being used as being on the radio, sometimes being used as mowing your neighbor's lawn. What does it mean to do enough for the Lord? Only God knows that one. So when I say people.
I don't know how you could ever do enough for him, because that's what he's done for us. It doesn't matter even if you're evangelizing all the time. That's right. So I would say just trust God, and go forward, and don't worry about it. Don't be lazy, but take a few days off. That's fine.
You know what I mean? It's just helping someone, and doing this, and doing that, and looking for opportunities to serve and to help. Yesterday I was in Salt Lake City. I live here in Idaho. Went down to Salt Lake. I was down there for a few days, and stood out and held up some signs with a group of great guys and a girl. And at the Planned Parenthood.
Oh, geez, it just makes me sick. And could I have just been there longer? Yes. Could I have been there earlier?
Yeah. Was I doing enough? Well, you can always say what ifs. What if I'd done this more?
What ifs will kill you? So you just do what you can, and you go do something else that you can. And you ask God to bless everything. And sometimes, well, what am I saying? Sometimes. And a lot of times, you're going to mess up in the process, and when you do, just look up, smile, and say thank you for using me anyway, and you go forward some more.
All right, well, thank you. Trust me, I've got a lot of experience in that. Messing up and keep going.
A lot of experience. I listen to you all the time. Well, then you know I mess up. See? There you go. I think you're a good man, though. I mean, because you love the Lord.
Yeah, I do. You should call my wife up and tell her how great I am at the office, and tell her that I'm great. I hope she's not listening right now. But I need all the help I can get with that wife.
Good luck to your wife and yourself. Well, by God's grace, that's all it is. God's grace, yeah. God's grace to you and your wife. And think about this, too, Paul.
I've got a website, radio, books, lecture, teach. Now, don't compare yourself to that, because God doesn't compare you to that. God has a standard for you. He has a standard for me. Are you doing what God wants you to do? That's all that's important. And you know what he wants you to do by the place you're at, by where he has you.
He wants you to work in the area that you're there. Don't try and do something you're not supposed to do. You ask God for blessing.
And you get up each day, Lord, use me today. I just ask for that. That's what he wants. That's what it is. It's not a horizontal measurement. It's a vertical one, because God is the one who sets our standard.
He's the one. We're not going to say, well, that person over there didn't do as much as I did, or that person over there did more than I did. It's irrelevant.
Yeah, that would be comparing yourself to somebody and that's not right. That's right. OK?
OK, thank you. All right, brother, God bless. Yeah, God bless you. OK, all right, that's Christian. What if I met him this weekend?
I don't know, because I should have asked, because he's down there in Salt Lake area. All right, let's see, we can get to Paul from Virginia. Paul, welcome.
You're on the air. Hello. Hi.
Hi, Paul. How are you? I'm good, thank you. Yourself? Doing well, by God's grace.
So what do you got? Yes, my question is to a person who has accepted Christ and is a Christian and is same-sex attracted. And they tried the reorientation type therapies and or reorientation type ministries. And they were unsuccessful in reorienting their same-sex attractions. What is the quote unquote solution for that person? Is that person to be celibate?
Is that what the situation would be? Or I want to get back to this, because this is good, but we've got a break coming up right now. So stay on. We're going to talk about this good stuff, OK? All right, 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. Everybody, welcome back to the show. Let's get right on here with Paul from Virginia.
Paul, are you still there? Yes. All right, and so what does a homosexual person, or he has homosexual or she same-sex attraction tendencies that can't seem to be overcome and wants to serve God or be a Christian? What do you do, right?
Yes, that was my basic question. Yes, if the person has accepted Christ as a Christian and has tried reorientation therapy and reorientation ministries, and they still are same-sex attracted, what is the quote unquote solution for that person? Would it be celibacy, or what would the solution for that person be? Celibacy, absolutely.
So that's just how it is. It's a sinful thing, just as fornication between heterosexuals is a sinful thing. So let's take a man who's very attracted to women, and he, for whatever reason, can't find a wife. Let's just say, well, what does he do? Does he remain celibate?
Absolutely. And the circumstances and our tendencies don't decide what is morally right. God does that.
And he's revealed it out of his character. Homosexuality is a sin, as is fornication and adultery and lying. And we have a tendency to lie. Just because we're born with these tendencies doesn't mean they're OK, they're natural or good. So in that situation, a homosexual person would just have to commit to being celibate and continually walk with God as best he could.
And there is a bright side on this, even though it may not seem like it. A person who has a sinful tendency that he or she, but he's warring against on a regular basis because he knows what the truth is, he's wanting to honor the Lord, then he is bringing great glory to God in that process. And his reward in heaven might be very great because of it.
And if a person knows it's sinful and says, Lord, I know it's sinful. I can't get rid of these desires. And yet, Lord, I'm in your hands, and I will abstain. And please change my heart over a period of time. Change my heart if possible. And if you don't, Lord, give me the grace to endure. And you move forward that way. And that's what has to happen. Right, and what is the name of your website again?
karm.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G. OK, thank you for the answer. Just so you know, I've actually talked to people in that exact situation. And they were, private conversation, very distraught and struggling. And I understand the struggle. And not that I mean in that sense, I understand it's the same formula, different variables. There's struggles that we have in those kinds of areas and stuff.
I'm very much a male heterosexual and et cetera. But we have to do what's right. And so I'm quite familiar with it, and other aspects of it as well. But that's the answer, OK? OK, great. Thank you very much. All right, man, God bless. All right, let's get to Enrica from North Carolina.
Welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Father Mark, good evening, and how are you? I'm fine, by God's great grace.
So what's up? Yeah, I was wondering, because somebody from the medical field told us that the COVID-19 vaccine has got a chip in it. So I don't know, but I was wondering if it's right for people to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
You know, people have been asking me this often on. I'm going to have to do some research on the different kinds that there are, and just find out to see what are ethical parameters. So for the moment, I'm going to say that anything, well, this is not easy.
It's not an easy question to answer, because I've heard some of the vaccine beginnings were human fetal tissues. But even that has, how do I say this, has difficult issues to deal with. And then another one I've heard doesn't have that, but has something else. I'm going to find out. I'm just going to have to do some research, but I'm so backed up with stuff. And I've heard that, I forgot. You know what, I don't even know.
I'm just going to say, I have to do some study on which one is which, and find out. I'll just have to do that. Wish I had a better answer for you. Thank you. Can I ask you just one more question, please?
Sure. Yeah, I've been having this type of symptoms. I don't know if I should call it symptoms. Like, if I'm praying, all of a sudden, the bottom of my feet and the palm of my hand, they will start to burn so bad, I will have to blow into my hand and turn the friend towards my feet.
Do you know the cause of that? No. What position are you in? Are you in the same position each time, like kneeling or sitting? Kneeling. OK, so then I would try just kneeling without praying and seeing if it happens. Because it can be a physiological reaction. It could also be, there's all kinds of possibilities. One could be just in that position, your back has a nerve pinched, and your hands and your feet can hurt.
It can happen. It could be that it's a spiritual thing. It could be that it could be just a mental thing, and it's not really real, except in your mind. These are all possibilities.
We just don't know which, and I wouldn't think too much about it right yet. I would just do some experimenting and talk to some of your friends. What do you think of this? And talk to your pastor about it. But I would try getting into that position and just staying there, reading a book for a bit, and see if your hands start to burn. And then if they don't, in the same position, start praying.
And if they do, then you just contact your elders, I would say, and just talk to them a little bit about it and see what's going on. OK? Thank you so much. I appreciate it. God bless you so much. God bless you. All right. God bless you. Bye.
OK. All right. Let's get to Rob from Utah. Hey, Rob.
Welcome. You are on the air. I did hit the button. So you're on, Rob.
Are you there? Maybe he's panicking right now, trying to get the phone to work. So OK. We'll just put him on hold. We'll go to the next caller. Let's get to Boyce from, we won't get to him. He's gone. And let's get back to Rob. We have four open lines. If you want to give me a call, folks, 877-207-2276.
Rob from Utah, are you there? I guess not. But this question, I'm going to just drop him.
And then I will, unless we are having problems, somebody has tech problems, I can just make sure. So what I'll do is I'll answer that question anyway. OK. On 2 Corinthians 13, 5, what's the meaning of it? So what that verse is is this. Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test.
What you always do is read the context. And what he's talking about there in 2 Corinthians 13 is that he has previously been writing to them and talking to them. And that he was crucified, Christ Jesus was crucified.
And that he lives in us, and we have the power of God in us, and he's living in us, and the power of Christ in us, and things like that. And then Paul says, now test yourselves to see if you're in the faith, because a lot of times people would believe that they were in the faith, but they weren't, because they thought their sincerity, or their baptism, or something else meant that they were saved and in the faith. And to test the faith is to test what you believe and what you affirm by the word of God. And so that's basically what's going on, is test it, see if you're in. Examine your heart. Examine what it is. Examine things, and see if it's consistent with scripture.
And so I would tell you that if any of you are out there wanting to do that very thing, the examination would be something like this. Do you affirm the doctrine of the Trinity? Do you affirm Jesus Christ is God in flesh? Do you affirm that he physically died on the cross and physically rose from the dead in the same body he died in? Do you affirm that you're justified, that means declared legally righteous, you're saved by faith alone in Christ alone, not by faith in baptism, not by faith in sacraments, not by faith in being good and keeping your salvation.
And so these are the kinds of things that I would say you need to check. And also, moral behavior. Because I'm not saying it's OK to struggle against your sin and still have sin. We should never have sin.
But I mean, if you are struggling against a sin and you're resisting it and you're even failing occasionally, it's a sign of being saved because dead people don't resist sin. So you want to know if you have a war against unrighteousness. And you compare what your war is, what you understand from the word of God. Don't lie, don't steal, don't commit adultery, et cetera. And so these are the things that you want to look at morally as well.
Now, I have a document, an article I've written on Karm that might be of interest to some people regarding this. It's called The Doctrine Grid. Or you can look up The Doctrine Table. And it's very succinct. And it has primary, secondary, essentials, primary, and secondary other issues.
And they deal with morality and things to look at. So it might be helpful to you. All right. Let's get to Kenneth from Charlotte, North Carolina. Kenneth, over to Ken. Welcome, you're on the air. How are you, Matt? I'm a new listener.
I very much enjoy your program. I was wondering if you could provide some information about Nero and the context of the first century Christianity, in particular, surrounding the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem. I come from a very dispensational background, was taught in the pre-tribulation rapture theory, followed by a literal 1,000 year millennial reign. I now view the book of Revelation very differently.
I view the events in the book primarily as past events, other than the second coming with his future and perhaps some other events which have not yet occurred. And I was just wondering if you could touch on that subject. OK, do you know what partial, or excuse me, what praetorism is?
I do. I think I fall into what's called partial praetorism. I do have some experience with full praetorism and got misled in that direction at one time, but I'm no longer there.
Well, good. I'm glad to hear what you said, because full praetorism is not true. Partial praetorism is fine.
In fact, I hold to partial praetorism. And what that is, for those who don't know, is to say that those events in Matthew 24, Luke 17, that Jesus talked about fleet of the hills and destruction here and this and that, that they were fulfilled mostly then, but partially then, depending on the view of partial praetorism, and also again in the future. And that's the view, that they were partially fulfilled then and partially will be fulfilled in the future, partial praetorism. Because these people at the time of Nero did flee to the hills. The Christians did flee, just like Jesus warned them to do, because a persecution did come. And the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed. But full praetorism says that Jesus returned in the armies in 70 AD. And that's not true, because in Acts 1, 9 through 11, the return of Christ is clearly taught, as being the same way he left, he ascended into heaven.
He's going to come in that form, not through the armies. So you're within orthodoxy. Oh, now we're out of time.
There's the music. You can call it back tomorrow. We can talk some more about it if you want. We can talk about the Antichrist and Nero in 616. If you're interested, OK, we're out of time, buddy.
Absolutely. OK. All right, OK, God bless. Hey, folks, sorry about that.
We are out of time. May the Lord bless you. And by his grace, we're back on there tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then. God bless. Have a great evening. Another program powered by the Truth Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-11-04 18:49:20 / 2023-11-04 19:09:27 / 20