Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network.

If you want to give me a call, we have some open lines 877-207-2276. And if you're new to the show, call in about the Bible or anything. We've been talking about everything.

And lately a lot about COVID, a lot about government, stuff like that. And then no big deal. Enjoy that as well. So there you go. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. It looks like we've got calls coming in, but it looks a little odd the way things are working. So I don't know if we're having any problems with the... I guess we are.

It's okay. So there you go. All right, so we're going to be off the air on Monday because it's a moral day. And so we'll not be on live Monday and be back on Tuesday. Lord willing. And I may be hosting a show on ABN Sat TV. We'll be talking about that a little bit later.

Or maybe next week when I get more information on that and we talk about all kinds of stuff. So anyway, there you go. All right, 877-207-2276. Let me just jump on the air. Let's get on the lines with Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air. Well, good evening, Matt Slick.

Good evening. And my question is, you know, in the Old Testament, Elijah, he had a bell, a horse covered the bell. And after he proved that the holder was a real God, he burned the people. And then Elijah told the people to gather all the horse prophets before they escaped.

So he got them all and took them to the river. And then chapter 18, verse 40, he decapitated their heads. According to the Spanish translation, he said, So how come we can't do the same thing to the false prophets today? In the New Testament, why can't we grab them and grab them and decapitate their heads also? Because we're not under the Old Testament law. And this was to Israel and we're not under that theocratic system anymore. And so we don't do that because it's a different covenant. We're under the New Testament covenant, which is ratified by the death of Christ in Hebrews 8, 14 and also 9, 15 through 16. And so we don't do that. We don't offer sacrifices anymore.

Okay. So we can't decapitate nobody head after them if we try to convert them? A false prophet, you said? Or don't reject them completely? No, with false prophets, we avoid them completely or convert them? Well, we avoid them and we try and convert them also. There are certain people called to avoid and certain people called to try and convert. You know, as an apologist, I would be someone who would work trying to get someone who believes in false things to believe in the truth. You know, like I do with oneness. People and people who have done the Trinity or Catholics or Eastern Orthodox when it comes to salvation. So, but then on the other hand, other people should avoid them because they don't know how to deal with them.

They should avoid the false teachers. So the same kind of thing here. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir, for your wisdom.

Well, I don't know about that, but you're welcome anyway. All right, Alberto. All right. God bless you. Take care.

All right. God bless. Hey, folks, we have four open lines. Give me a call. 877-207-2276. Kim from North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air.

Thank you, man. My question is coming from a Roman where God says that he will give people over if that owns up to desire. And in some cases, he will blind them from receiving adoption. So my question is, should you pray for a person that he has done this to?

We don't know if he's done it. We don't know who God has given over to the depravity of their hearts and their minds. We should pray for people. I've got family members who, let's just say, are not walking with the Lord.

And I don't know if they've been given over to the depravity of their hearts and their minds because of certain actions and things they've said. So I still pray for them. So we don't know who they are, whom God has given over to that. But God does that.

Paul is simply letting us know that God does it. But we don't have that insight and that privilege to know who they are. So we continue to pray for people. I pray for Pelosi and Biden, even though I think they are treasonous individuals who are so far gone. But I pray for them. So we are to pray for those who are our enemies, and I believe they are enemies of the Constitution and our country. I do.

That's my opinion. So I can say that, at least now. But I pray for them. I pray for them. Even my Muslim opponents, when I have debates, I pray for them. Even my oneness opponents in debates, I pray for them. I don't know who they are, as far as God's revelation goes, whether or not they've been given over to the depravity of their hearts and their minds.

For certain people it certainly seems like it, but I don't know. That's Jesus. That's God in flesh. He knows whom he's praying for.

He knows the situation. We don't. And Jesus says, I don't pray for everyone, but only the ones you've given me. John 17 talks about this. So what we have to understand is that God himself understands who he has ordained. He knows whom he's ordained.

We don't. So our job is to be as patient with people as possible, be at peace with as many people as possible, pray for them, even though they seem like they're lost, and seem like they're depraved to such a point that they're given over to the depravity of their hearts and their minds. We can pray for them, but maybe sometimes you just realize that they might be too far gone. In that case, we can pray what's called imprecation.

To imprecate is to wish harm on people. And a lot of people don't realize that there are imprecatory psalms where the psalmist has actually said, Lord, get them. Destroy them.

Wipe them out. These are in scripture, and they're worship songs of psalms. They call them imprecatory psalms. So if I believe that a person might be so far gone, which isn't very common, sometimes I'll pray imprecatorily. Say, Lord, convict them, punish them, blind them so they can't work against you. Do whatever's necessary. Sometimes I'll pray that. Say, nevertheless, Lord, I don't know who, what, when, where. Please try and save them.

Not try, but please save them anyway so I can pray both ways. That make sense? Yes, it does. Thank you, Matt. All right, man. All right, well, God bless. Hey, folks, we have five open lines.

Give me a call, 877-207-2276. A lot of people are really surprised by the idea of imprecation. But if you read through psalms and already just look up imprecatory psalms, you'll find them. You'll find where God, where the psalmist is saying, you know, in fact, let me do that, where God tells people that, you know, he's going to get them. He's going to destroy them.

All right? And so some of them are like Psalm 5, okay? And Psalm 5, let's see, it says, and I've written on this, I don't know where it is on the car, but nevertheless, you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, and the boast shall not stand before you. You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The word abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. It talks like this.

And so I'm looking at our stuff, but this is what it says. These are the kind of things that the Bible will talk about in a imprecatory sense. And so hold them guilty, O God, by their own devices.

Let them fall. That's Psalm 5, 10. You can see God, through the psalmist, speaks very strongly about certain things.

Now, how do we balance this? In one sense, Matthew 5, 43 through 48, God says, you know, that he lets the rain and the sun shine down on the good and the bad and that we are to be perfect as God is in heaven and love everybody. Can we then pray in such a way where we would say, hold them guilty, O Lord, by their own devices, let them fall?

Yes, we can. These are the psalms that are inspired. We've got to be careful when we talk like that or we pray like that because we don't want people to be damned. We want them to be saved. So what I'll do is I will pray for people's salvation, and if I think it might be necessary, I pray for an imprecation upon them with the goal of bringing them to repentance. Lord, destroy their ways, cause them physical harm, make them bankrupt, whatever it might be, if, Lord, those things would bring them to you and could be used by you for your glory. And so that's the idea of imprecation.

It's not something taught from very many pulpits, but it's right there in Scripture, and that's something to look at. All right, let's get on the air with Vicki from Raleigh, North Carolina. Vicki, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, a couple questions.

Sure. Back when you were gone a while back, I got into the heavens. I was listening to your podcast. Anyhow, so I was listening to one recently, which I guess I happen not to hear live, and somebody had asked you about, they had said Shepherd's Chapel to you, I think, and you said to stay away from that.

Yes, yes. And then they got the most really popular preacher in Cary, which is close to here, and I'm wondering if they were confusing that with Shepherd's Church, and I'm wondering if Shepherd's Church is the same thing. I don't even know what Shepherd's Church is.

You do not know that? No. Okay.

I gave a URL. Let's see, Shepherd's Church. I'm just looking in. Yes, that's your Stephen Davey, and I think he actually even has, like, Stephen Davey or something? What's his name? Stephen Davey.

How do you spell his last name? D-A-V-E-Y. D like in David.

A. V like in Victor. D. Y. Okay. Thank you. Well, let's see. Shepherds.org.

Let's see. What I do normally is I look for, like, the elders, and I'm looking there, and I don't see any female elders so far, so that's good. Boy, there's a lot of people there.

Man, a lot of... So, you know, the first thing I do is just look around and just see what they say, and history, doctrine, staff. Yeah, I've gone through and read their stuff, and I think, I mean, sometimes it gets into technical parts where I'm, like, kind of scrambles my brain, and I'm not real sure, but I've been to them on the Truth Network a lot, and realized he was close to me, and I really knew, like, his preaching, but then when I heard someone say about Shepherds, and they've made the relation to Carrie, and I thought, oh, my gosh, no, don't tell me it's not a good place, and then I looked him up online and thought it was Shepherds. Sure, she was saying it was his place, but I want to make sure they were essentially or hopefully different and not relatable to each other. Another thing, too, Kent Coven.

What do you think about him and his... Hold on, I've got a break, okay, and we'll get back after the break on that, so let's talk about Kent Coven, okay. Hey, folks, we have three open lines. Give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Music It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Okay, welcome back to the show, everybody. Okay, Vicki, are you still there?

Yep, I'm here. Yeah, just so you know, I looked a little bit on that Shepherd's Church. It certainly looks good.

Different than Shepherd's Chapel, which is bad. I'm glad to hear that. Okay. Yeah, okay. I guess I would have said there was no relation.

I would have been horribly disappointed if there was. Yeah. Well, I know the owner of the network. He's a pretty good guy. He knows his stuff. He's aware of a lot of things.

We've talked about different groups and stuff before. Having me on the air on his network is both good and bad. One, how could he trust someone named Slick? It makes me doubt his wisdom. But on the other hand, he says it is a good point.

And the other thing is that he does want people who are going to speak the truth. And I certainly try to do that. Absolutely. That's right.

Anyway, so what else? Kent Hovind. Oh, yeah, Kent Hovind. Yeah, he's a good guy. Kent Hovind's a good guy. He's into creationism, evolution. I never want to debate against him in that area because I affirm what he says most everything.

He and I did have a debate on Reformed theology and Calvinism. And so he didn't do very well. I'm not knocking him. See, I saw a little bit of that.

Yeah. I said he had to bring someone to fight with him. I'm sorry, what?

He's such a good man. I'm sorry? I said he had to bring someone to the fight with him to go against you on that mission.

I guess somebody else kind of joined in with him. And that's because I'm really knowledgeable and he's not. And that's all. But he's a great guy. Okay, good. Okay. I know some of the things you said led me to believe that you do have respect for him, at least in some areas.

Yeah, of course. But my little brother, because I call back my little brother, because like I said, I think we were raised with the tribulation rapture. So one day recently I asked him about, you know, I said, what do you think about the tribulation? And it just so happened that listening to Kent Hovind and his theories on, I guess, the end times and stuff like that, which I guess is kind of like a go to the tribulation, but not the wrath or something like that. But anyhow, I told him, I said, well, and even then, I mean, he said a lot of stuff he says makes sense, but you can't get around that one verse about the wheat and the pears.

You can't. Nobody can get around that. I don't see how they can to say that we don't go before the bad people. We're there for everything.

It's pretty powerful. So I told my brother I would listen to them and I'm going to make him listen to your stuff. Well, good. You know, listen to and then form your own opinions on what you think. You know, I have a certain view and I believe we're going to go through the tribulation period and I think it's going to get worse and worse.

And, you know, so I call it depressed scatology. And a lot of people have a lot more positive message to say, you know, God loves us so much. He's not going to let us go through this, et cetera, et cetera. Well, it's like I said, I just, I don't know how you get around that verse.

I know. No matter what rationalization you hear or other things, you still can't get around it with this verse, you know. You mean where the wicked are taken before the good.

Before the, yes, sir. The only way they could assert something like that would be to say, to get around it, it would be to say that the pre-trib rapture occurs, that during the millennium, during the seven-year tribulation period, people get saved. And then when Jesus comes back, then they get taken out first.

That's the only way they can get around that. And even then, that causes problems because it means there's two raptures. Yeah. And so that's a problem. But, yeah. You know, in that verse where it says that, it talks about, you know, when they talk about, oh, should we go and gather up the, you know, or go and pull the tares or whatever, and he says, don't do it because you might disturb the, you know, the weak.

Is that like maybe for people that are elect but haven't actually come to accept Christ yet maybe? Yep. That's what I hold to. Absolutely. Okay. All right.

That's what I wondered. Okay. Cool deal. I've bothered you enough today. So I'll let you go. It's all right, Vicki.

Call back any time. All right. Well, God bless.

Okay. So we've got Dave from North Carolina. Let's get on the air with Dave from Utah. Hey, Dave.

Welcome. You're on the air. Are you there? Dave, I can't hear you. Let's give you another few seconds here. I thought I heard some sound, but I have you turned up maximally.

So I don't hear anything you're saying, Dave. I hope we're not having another technical problem. Let me put you on hold. Hello? Okay. There you go. Sure. There you go. Okay. Oh, thanks for taking my question. Sure, ma'am.

What do you got? Oh, I think the last lady, that was my question. Do you believe in the pre-Rapture or the post-Rapture that was going to go through the pre-Tribulation?

Me? I believe we're going to go through it. I don't believe in pre-Tribulation or Rapture. I have good arguments for my position, too. Very good arguments.

Okay. Because I heard, I was listening on the radio, the minister that he preached in, that we caught up and go through the Rapture before the tribulation. Yeah, a lot of people. That's a dominant position in America, Pre-Trib Rapture. I don't see it in Scripture.

I'd be willing to debate people on it, an official debate, you know, just show it to me. But it's not there. And I'll go so far as to say I don't see it at all. And two men in a field, one is taken, one is left. That's not the good who are taken. It's the wicked. And, you know, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, I think it is, they said, we're not appointed to wrath but salvation. The word wrath there is not tribulation.

It has to do with salvation and judgment. You know, there's a lot of stuff. And I've got arguments and I've got stuff that, yeah, it's hard to get out of when I show them stuff. All right. Great. Okay. Is that it? You got anything else?

No, thanks for, if you can answer my question. Sure. Amen. God bless. All right. Yeah, God bless you. Okay. All right. Hey, folks.

Four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Chuck from Burlington, North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air.

Yes, sir. I just turned my phone on when the young lady was talking about in Raleigh where somebody said it was the shepherd's chapel, that was me and I was wrong and I always wanted to get back to you on it because I had been to that church at one time, but it was so full, you know, you couldn't get in. Which church? The shepherd's church in Raleigh, North Carolina, it's either Raleigh or Cary, the one the young lady was just talking to you about, yeah, and it's the shepherd's church and I felt bad that I called it the shepherd's chapel, but, you know, you were exposing that and I was the one who said that and I never meant to say it, you know, I mean, I didn't meant to throw anybody off. I thought it was the chapel and Erwin Lute, the friend of Stephen Davey, and Davey, Stephen Davey, you heard him speak, you go to Wisdom Online and you get all these sermons and he's, I'll tell you man, he's about the top preacher in America right now, I believe. Oh, well good. I believe it. He's amazing. The history he knows and everything and the way he puts together a sermon piece, something else. You know. You got to hear it. Well, he sent me some likes.

Wisdom Online and you can get all his stuff free. Yep. Well, there you go.

Wonderful. It used to be Colonial Heights Baptist Church, but then he changed it to the shepherd's church and he's got a little seminary there and everything. He's fabulous. He's not afraid of Rome. He talks about them, you know, still giving indulgences for, you know, nuts and stuff, you know. Well, if he condemns Roman Catholicism, that's one good sign. That's for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he does. He does. And he believes faith is a gift from God. Good.

I've listened to him a lot, but he is a preacher of rapture and that, but you know, that doesn't work. Oh, well. No one's perfect. Okay. Yeah. Hey, we've got a break then, okay?

Yeah. All right, buddy. Okay, man. Thank you, man. Okay. All right.

God bless. Bye. Hey, folks.

Wide open lines. Nobody waiting. Why don't you give me a call during the break and you can be the one waiting. 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, everyone. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276, let's get to Rob from Des Moines. Welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. I just really appreciate all that you do and how you really search the scriptures for truth. Just a quick question or reference.

I was on your website the other day looking up regarding pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib. Have you looked at Revelation 7 where it talks about the people coming out of the, who are the ones in the white robe that John has and they come out of the great tribulation. They're coming out of the great tribulation.

Isn't that enough to really say, well, you know what? If they come out of the tribulation, they must have been in it or come out of it. Well, the pre-tribbers could say then that those are the ones who were saved during the tribulation period. These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation.

They got saved during it, they would say. Well, that would be pretty obvious, though, that kind of negates the pre-trib rapture. Yeah. In fact, what I think really negates it is Matthew 24, among other things. Yeah, I already referenced that.

Yeah. He says, see to it that no one misleads you for the return of Christ and things like that. He goes on and he makes these statements. He said immediately in verse 29, after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, et cetera, et cetera. He goes on and he talks, he goes on and he says, after the tribulation, he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet, and they'll gather together his elect from the four winds. That's when the rapture occurs, and it says after the tribulation of those days. To me, there it is, Matthew 24, 29 through 31, you know?

So it says, great tribulation, and to gather the elect. To me, it's pretty quick. It's quite amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. We like the scent of our ears tickled. We do. I do, too. And I love to hear myself talk about how good looking I am until I get up in the morning and I see myself in the mirror, and reality comes smacking me upside the head.

So yeah, we do, but reality is the thing, and we've got to submit to that. And so Matthew 24, 29 through 31, after the tribulation of those days, then the Son of Man will appear in the sky. He'll send forth his angels and gather his elect.

Okay. After the trib, that's what it says, the great trumpet, and people say, oh, no, it's a different thing. Well, the great trumpet, it says, actually, let me show you a great trumpet that will gather his elect. If you go to 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout, the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

It will come, and a rapture will occur. And the last trumpet is what he's talking about. That is also, I'm going to get going here, twinkling of the eye, the last trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise and perish alone and will be changed. That's 1 Corinthians 15, 52, the last trumpet when the rapture occurs. And that's what it says, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry and will be caught up. That's 1 Thessalonians 4, that and the trumpet. Well, we know from 1 Corinthians 15, 52, that's the last trumpet. And we know that the great trumpet of Matthew 24, 29 through 31, is when the elect are gathered. And that happens after the tribulation, done.

It's over. We're going through it. It's just amazing how many, some really good Bible teachers will just, I ignore all that. You know what? Anyway, I just wanted to call in, and I didn't see Revelation 7 when I was looking at your website referenced on there, and I figured you all knew that.

Yeah, I've been through it, but yeah, good stuff though, good stuff, it brought it to my mind. Yeah. All right?

That's what I'm trying, trying to equip Christians. Yeah. Yep. Very much.

Yeah, equip them with truth. All right. Take care. You too, Rob. God bless, man. All right. Let's get to Joe from Ohio. Hey, Joe. Welcome.

You're on the air. Oh, yes. I wanted to just kind of point out a fact about the Godhead, if I may. Okay.

It's, in my mind, it's rather simple, as simple as looking in the dictionary, as a matter of fact, and that is the definition of a person, and the definition of a person is a human being. Yeah. And there has only been one human being that represented Godhead. So are you a Trinitarian or not?

That's Jesus. Are you a Trinitarian? No, I just- Let me ask you. I studied the Godhead. Let me ask you a question.

I need an answer to this question. Do you affirm the Trinity or not? Oh, three people in the Godhead is ridiculous. Okay. Let me ask you a question. Do you affirm the Trinity or not? It's a yes or it's a no.

Which is it? Well, Trinity is not in the Bible. Okay. Let me ask you another question. Let me ask you another question.

You know. Do you affirm the Trinity? It's either yes or no. You say, yes, I affirm it. No, I do not.

Simple. Do you affirm or- Well, it's a man- It's a man- Okay. Let me ask you a question. Do you affirm the Trinity or do you deny the Trinity?

Which is it? Well, I don't deny Jesus. I didn't ask about Jesus. I said, do you affirm the Trinity or do you deny the Trinity? Well, you should ask about Jesus. Can I ask you this question? I'm asking you a question and I'm showing people what you are like, what you and people like you are like in that you don't answer direct questions because you don't.

Either put them on hold. Because he does not answer direct questions. Notice, folks, this is something that I encounter this a lot with people. They don't listen.

They just go on with something else. This is a sign of being brainwashed. When you ask a direct question, it's a direct answer. Do you affirm it or deny it? Well, I deny it. Okay. Well, then we go on. That means we can have a conversation, but this guy won't even do that. Let's try it again.

Joe, people are listening to you. Do you affirm the Trinity or do you deny the Trinity? Which one is it? Well, I recognize that the Trinity is the teaching out there. Okay. Do you affirm the Trinity or do you deny the Trinity? Just asking a question. Do you affirm it or do you deny it?

What do you mean by affirm? Do you believe it's true or do you believe it's false? Do you affirm it or do you deny it? Oh, there's no way there's three people in the Godhead. Oh, I don't believe there's three people in the Godhead.

I don't believe in that. So the Trinity does not teach that. But I'm asking you, do you affirm or deny the Trinity?

Oh, God. So do you affirm or do you deny the Trinity? You put me in a corner where I have to agree with your view point or I'm wrong. I didn't do that.

I'm asking you a question. I just said do affirm. I said do you affirm or do you deny the Trinity? That's not putting you in a corner. It's either affirm it or you don't affirm it, which isn't.

And the reason I'm not... It's incorrect. Okay.

So I'm going to go on past this. Obviously you deny it. But you don't know what it is also.

I'm just trying to show people what it means for someone to be kind of brainwashed because that's what you are. Let me ask you. What is the Trinity? Do you think it's three people? Do you think we teach it's three people? No, it's commonly taught that it's three people.

Okay. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Joe. Joe.

Joe. That's not what the Trinity is, three people. We don't say that. I've been teaching on the Trinity for over 40 years. That's not what the Trinity is. It's not three people. Well, I've been studying the Godhead since 1973.

That's nice. So you don't know what the Trinity is. You don't know what it is. It's not three people.

There is no Trinity. Okay. It's man's teaching... Joe. Joe. Joe.

Joe. I'm trying to... We do one thing at a time. You need to understand what the doctrine is. I didn't say that you have to believe it, but you don't even know what it is. You say you've been studying this since 1973 and all this. You can't even get the doctrine of the Trinity right.

You don't even know what it is. It's not three people. It's three distinct, simultaneous persons, and the word person has a certain theological significance when it relates to the idea of the Godhead.

And you're not familiar with that. People and persons is the same word. No, it's not. People... You've got to be kidding.

Okay, Joe. People and persons are not the same word. They are different. They are. You're brainwashed.

You are totally incorrect. Joe. Joe. Joe.

They're spelled differently. You're fighting 2,000 years of... Joe. Joe. ...tradition within... Joe. Joe. ...the Gentile Church.

Joe. It's totally incorrect. The word people is spelled P-E-O-P-L-E and person is P-E-R-S-O-N. They're different words.

I was trying to prove it to you, but you don't want to listen. Hold on. We have a break coming up. We'll continue with him a little bit after the break. Please stay tuned. 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 to the show. Let's try it one more time with Joe from Ohio. Hey, Joe. How are you there?

I'm here. Okay. Joe, I'm going to tell you, you don't know what the Trinity is. It is not three people. We don't say that.

We don't use that word. It's person. Personhood, by definition, theologically is a center of awareness, like someone can speak and have a will. That's what we define personhood as. The Bible says there's only one God, but the Father speaks, the Holy Spirit speaks, the Son speaks. They're all called God, and it goes on like this.

This is how it's arrived at. I'm just telling you, you don't know what you're criticizing. You need to study it. Well, that's kind of a pretty general statement. You don't know exactly what I know.

I didn't say I did. Just in regard to the Trinity. Just like in Revelation, the message to the first church in Revelation, I had someone against you because you left your first love. Well, that's what the church done. The Jewish believers, they left their first love. Joe, we're moving on. He's an example of someone who is incoherent, brainwashed.

I call it agendized. They don't listen to facts. They don't listen to stuff.

They just go on and repeat, and they don't think through things. Let's get to another Joe from North Carolina. Hey, Joe, welcome. You are on the air. Yeah. Hi, Matt. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.

Sure. What do you got, buddy? My question is, what's the best way to get back into reading the Bible? I feel like I've been kind of gone wayward, and I need to come back and just get into the Word because I feel I'm not equipped at all. So give me some advice as to where to begin. Well, what I would do is just start with prayer and just say, Lord, I'm going to start reading the Bible and studying it and stuff like that and ask that you would just direct me and guide me and just pray like that for a day or two or a week or two or whatever it is and see if the Lord puts on your heart anything.

If he does, start reading. If nothing happens like that, that's okay, just start in a small epistle. You can go through the book of Ephesians and Galatians. You don't have to read a whole chapter at once. You read one verse or read five verses or read 12.

Just think about it and talk. Don't expect some great revelation and, oh, wow, all this. You might even come out by saying, eh, it was a little tough to read.

Okay, that's normal. Then you just keep reading. Then through prayer and reading, what actually happens is something interesting because you have fellowship with someone by spending time with them.

The more time you spend with them, the more you get to know them and hopefully enjoy their company, that kind of a thing. Well, our fellowship, I call it Christian CPR. It keeps you alive, CPR, right? Confess, pray, and read. Well, you confess your sins because you want to be cleansed, and you pray, and you're talking to God, and you read.

That's where he's talking to you. There's this fellowship that goes on, and you'll find that you'll actually increase in your appreciation of the word. Sometimes it's also good to do. I just keep a little journal of some sort and nothing too detailed. If you feel like it, you don't or whatever, and you say, hey, this date, I like doing dates.

I think the date's going to help me. I don't know why. Three weeks ago, I made this point. Oh, I remember that. That's right.

That was fun. Just stuff like that. You can do things, and there you go. Okay. As a young person, I've always, for some reason, been attracted to the Gospel of John.

I always lived there. There you go. Well, there you go. Go through John.

I don't know why. That's my middle name. Mine too. My middle name's John also. There you go.

Kind of cosmic. Yeah, I listen to you all the time, and I tried flipping through Ephesians, and I read some, and then I kind of stopped. I guess my problem is I just need to be on a more consistent basis, I guess.

Yeah. Don't make it a chore, a labor that you start not wanting to do. That's one thing I think is important. Of course, you want to be disciplined too, so I think it's a good idea to just kind of measure yourself. How much of it am I pushing through? How much of it is a privilege? How much of it is that I'm really enjoying? How much am I not enjoying?

Just kind of balance it out, because sometimes you want to spend time with your buds, and sometimes you don't, and we are human. I think the idea there is just to be as careful as you can with the Word of God, and move forward and spend time with the Lord. I think prayer really is the foundation, because in prayer you're spending time in the very presence of God, so that when you hear his Word, it tends to be more alive from prayer. Okay. All right, thank you, Matt. I took some notes, so I'll increase my prayer for God to guide me on this, and maybe keep eternal. I appreciate that.

Just an experiment. You might call me back in a month and go, hey, the journal idea didn't work for me. The prayer thing did, or vice versa. I mean, prayer is always a good thing to do.

You might come up with something new, and then you can share it. Okay? All right. Thank you, Matt. All right, man.

God bless. All right, bye. Okay. All right. Let's get to Tyler from Long Island, North Carolina. How are you? I'm good, brother. I forgot to mention, I'm from Long Island. I think I might have been in North Carolina by mistake. Oh, okay. I was kind of wondering. But that's all right.

You're in Long Island, New York. Okay. What do you got? That's okay. Yeah, so I have a question regarding baptism. I have, you know, I just always just experienced, you know, I have a lot of, I go to a Dutch Reformed church.

Real Dutch Reformed? Yeah. Okay, yeah. My sympathy. I was an assistant pastor to Dutch Reformed church. Anyway, go ahead.

Go ahead. Yeah, and you know, I Baptist friends, I think that a lot, some people that I've talked to seem to misunderstand, you know, whether if you're, you know, if you adhere to the West minister or, you know, the three forms, but really obviously the scripture of like, we believe that the Bible does have good credibility for baptizing our covenant children. And I think it's just a misunderstanding because I think they assume that we presume regeneration upon baptism, which is not true at all. It's not true. Why do you think they do that?

I can tell you why. Why do you think it is? Um, I guess just the misunderstanding where they think that, um, maybe that they think we're being too Roman Catholic, I guess. Well, what they see in scripture, what they're taught in scripture is the case that you're always baptized after you believe. So they associate baptism with being saved. Not that it brings you to salvation, but it's because you are saved. So if you're baptizing children, you're saying they're saved, but they don't understand. That's not the position as it's a covenant. And what I like to do when I talk to people who are, who hold to adult only, it's called credo baptism. I like to talk about the modes of baptism and that sprinkling, pouring and immersion are all in the Bible.

I believe they are. And I can show them that that really throws them for a loop. And, um, then we talk about covenant. Here's the, the argument that I use is the Abrahamic covenant commanded that, uh, children be circumcised and they were entered into the covenant by that circumcision. It doesn't mean they were saved.

It just means that in the covenant that they were, uh, you know, God would look at them covenantally and the people of God would look at them covenantally and the covenant in the arrangement of God doesn't mean they were saved. And, uh, the male of course was circumcised on the female for obvious reasons, but also because the male represents the descendants, the females were counted in the father at that point. And circumcision is a shedding of blood. Well, Paul relates circumcision and baptism in Colossians two, 11 and 12. And he does, you know, you've been circumcised with a circumcision without hands, having been buried with him in baptism. So he relates them. Well, it turns out that circumcision, according to Romans four 11 is a sign and a seal of the faith that's already possessed.

And so it's a seal. Now, if baptism is to be related to that, well, then we might have a problem. I say, well, yeah, the children don't have faith, but we don't know because in Psalm 22 nine, you didn't make me believe all my mother's, my mother's breast. So we don't know.

Let me get into some side tangents on that. But nevertheless, when Abraham was told by God to include children, he did, and that Abraham a covenant in you, all the nations shall be blessed in that covenant, which is circumcision was a covenant sign of it. And, um, just 17 talks about that. Well, anyway, Paul quotes Genesis 12 three in you, all the nations shall be blessed. And he quotes it in Galatians three eight and calls it the gospel. That means the Abrahamic covenant is still in effect.

If the Abrahamic covenant is still in effect, where's the command to exclude infants from it? You know, and think about this. Ask him, ask your, uh, this was an easy one for the Baptist. I'll ask him, do you dedicate your children?

They'll say, well, of course. And that's a good thing. And is your, your dedication is that a covenant? Cause you're, you know, we promised before the church, before God to take care of our children and raise them for you as dedicated children to the Lord. That's correct.

Great. Where's your covenant sign? Because covenants always have signs in the Bible. The biblical pattern is to have a symbol or a sign with the covenant.

That's the biblical pattern. So when they make a covenant with God and with the church and people, where's the covenant sign? That's where I ask them. And they're stuck at that point. Where is that covenant sign? They don't know.

They don't have one. Then why, how are you being biblical? You see? Thanks for the clarity. I appreciate it. I just, I kind of like sometimes I just don't, like I have friends who, you know, who understand the differences and I have some who don't. So it's kind of hard to navigate sometimes, you know, understand what I believe. Can we have him give me a call?

Give a clear representation. Yeah. We can, we can always, you know, have him call me. I'll talk to him, you know, and say, here's the reasons.

And this is why. And you know, if he believe it, great. If not, that's okay.

As long as they understand what the reasons are. All right. All right, man. Hope that helps. Okay. God bless. Thank you. All right.

Let's get to Sergio from California. Hey, welcome here on the air. Hello. Hi.

Hi. Is this Matt? Yes, it is.

Listen, Matt Slicklock. That's right. All right. God bless you, brother. Thank you for all the work that you do. And I just want to say your efforts are appreciated. And unfortunately, there will be those who have to bear the brunt for the rest of us when dealing with the difficult questions. Anyway, I had a question about the book of Job.

Okay. In reading through the book of Job, reading about the affirmations made by Job's friends in an effort to console Job in his suffering, his friends made some really awesome affirmations about the Lord. And by the end of the book, I believe around chapter 35, the Lord corrects everyone. However, what do we do with the affirmations if they were incorrect in their effort to console Job? Do we not receive those affirmations about the Lord? Not that they were unbelievers, but even unbelievers can say positive things. Now, they weren't unbelievers, but when you go through Job, you might want to keep in mind that there are philosophical representations from each of the opponents, that some are kind of rationalistic, others are what we call experiential. And so there's different issues that we're out of time. So they can make affirmations, but they're not perfect in what they do and even how they do that. So they have to make sure that their affirming is consistent with their own hearts.

Hopefully they turn against God's servant Job. There's a problem there. We're out of time. Okay, buddy. Hey, have a great weekend, man. All right. Sorry about that. Thank you. All right. Folks, we'll be back on the air on Tuesday. Monday, we're off because of the holidays. God bless. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next time.