Matt Slick Live

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. All right everybody, welcome to the show. Now you may have noticed there's a little bit of a different intro and I think Keith is working on that. We may have some other ones coming in, but I like it. A little bit of variety there. So some of you be saying something's different. What is it?

Well, that's what it is. Hey, guess what? If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 8772072276. The last four digits spelled C-A-R-M on your dial. So it's 877207Karm, Karm.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G, being the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry website. Check it out.

Those of you who've never been there, you got to go. You got to check it out. Been working on it for 26 years. It's had 148 million visitors and what, thousands of articles on Christian theology, cults, false religious systems, questions and answers. In fact, I started answering the questions way before any other sites did that. Back in the early 90s or the mid 90s, I started doing that.

And so been answering questions for a long time. Now, look, we have four open lines. Watch, you may call 8772072276. Also, there's a thing called Clubhouse.

I think go to clubhouse.com and you can download the app for your phone. Tonight at 10 o'clock Eastern time, I know it's a little bit late, but that's how we're arranging it. I'll be teaching on the doctrine of the Trinity and I'm going to be going through it in depth. It's probably going to take me a full hour without anybody interrupting, without anybody's going on, of me just going through teaching. There's this, there's that, there's this. And it can be all kinds of stuff you rarely will ever hear as it relates to doctrine of the Trinity. I'm going to get into the one in the mini issue, economic trinity, ontological trinity, the necessary preconditions for intelligibility, the inter-trinitarian communion.

I'm going to be getting into the transcendent nature of God and the communicable attributes as they relate to his trend, his imminence and things like this, big fancy words. And I'll be talking about that tonight. Now, if you're interested in joining and listening, all you got to do is go to Twitter, CARM Twitter. There's some information there posted by Laura.

Thanks, Laura. And also on the CARM Facebook page, there's some information there as well. So you can go in the CARM Facebook page. It should be there. In fact, I'm going to go there right now, take a look and you should be able to see that. And there is also an app. I think you got it. Dr. Lutrenia with matchlet clubhouse. There it is. There's an app.

You can get club deck and I use it on the computer. Most people go on clubhouse on the phone. Now, the only reason I'm really kind of talking about it is because it's a great avenue to witness. And I always look for opportunities to witness, to share the faith. And there's a lot of one that's been accosted along there. There's Catholics, there's atheists, there's Muslims, there's BHI, black Hebrew Israelite movements. It's all kinds of stuff. And there's some rooms where there's politeness going on and there's some rooms where there's not.

But that's the nature of trying to defend the Christian faith. So there you go. All right. And if you want to give me a call for open lines, 8772072276.

Let's get to, let's see, Mitchell from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air. Hey man, how are you doing? I'm doing all right. Had a good weekend. Had to laze around yesterday.

It was great. And now we're doing radio. So what do you got buddy? Well, I've got two questions that are not related to each other.

My first question is, we talked last week a little bit. Can you kind of explain chiastic structure? Sure. Chiastic structure is how in linguistic patterning where it's a memorization technique and it's also used in teaching. Now, if you want to know more about it, you can go to the CARM website and look up the parables and look up the prodigal son. And you'll see in the prodigal son a chiastic structure and there's a name for that style. And you can see that you might have, for example, seven verses.

Okay. Let's say they're all balanced in seven verses. So you might have verse one and verse seven talking about the same thing. So it begins to say something and then reverses how it's stated. So that the first statement and the last statement are similar. The second to the first and the second to the last are similar.

And then the middle one is the final comment, what everything is about. And it's hard to explain over, you get to see it. And once you go to the, like, for example, the prodigal son, you can see it. And I think I've got some other ones where I show chiastic structure and it's not very known. And it's not like some weird thing, like numeric patterning and equidistant numbers. No, it's actually how it's done in scripture a lot of times. And the Mormons like to use it and some more knowledgeable Mormons who know about that will try and use it. They'll also try it in Islam because it is a very interesting structure.

So that's what chiastic structure is or chiasm. You can look it up on the web, find it. Okay. Okay. Do you have time for one more question? Sure, man. I got nobody waiting. So you're it.

What do you got? Cool. Um, I'm, I'm trying to word it right. But how do you talk to people? Um, I often, yeah, a lot of people have the attitude of, if I want it and it does not hurt anybody, I should be able to have it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's selfishness. You know, it's selfishness.

I mean, I'm just trying to, what's the, what's the best way, I guess, to, yeah, I guess to explain that. Yeah. Well, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Here's the thing, because I want it doesn't hurt anybody. I get to have it is selfishness. I want something. I, me, starting with what I desire.

That's the problem. When you start with what I want me, give me, me, me, I, I, it doesn't hurt anybody. I get to have it.

I should have it. It's a, it's, it's a childish mentality, a childish attitude, and it's taught in the Christian church as well. And it's diaperinian theology.

You know, it's just a bunch of immature people who, yeah, it's diaperinianism. Uh, you know, they're still wearing diapers and, uh, they want, cause what does, what does a baby do? You know, in diapers, give me, give me, I want, I want, you know, I don't always say that, but that's what they want. They want things to be taken care of for them. They want to have it easy. They want to be, uh, fed when they want to be fed. They want to get what they want to get.

It's immaturity. And so people will often say, this is what I want. And I, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody, I deserve it.

That's a load of crud. God may not want you to have something. And your idea of what you deserve to have may not be in correspondence with what God says. What we should be saying is I want what God wants. I want to do what he desires. If he wants me to have something, praise God. If he does not want me to have something, praise God. I need to work through what he desires for him because he knows that's what's supposed to be not the immature stupidity of the diaper Indians who teach that God is the blonde hair, blue eyed, Caucasian surfer, dude, dressed in a woman's nightgown, setting the door of your heart, asking permission for you to let him in because he wants everything nice for you. It's just immaturity that is taught in the Christian church today in a lot of areas, not all.

There's some good pastors out there. Okay. Okay. Because yeah, I don't know if this is a bad example or not, but yeah, like for example, like homosexuality. If it doesn't bother anybody else, it's just me. So what does it matter?

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it matters that God condemns it as sin because it's a rebellion against his created order. And when someone says it's not wrong, what they're saying is there's a moral truth to it that's universal, that homosexuality is universally true and therefore good because it's not wrong. And there's no such thing as a moral neutrality. Everything is moral. And so when people say homosexuality, for example, is okay, what they're saying is it's universally true that it's okay.

Really? Where do they get this? What justifies a universal transcendent norm that's on a moral basis? They have nothing, nothing as in N-O-T-H-I-N-G, nothing that they can state as universal truth. They may say, well, we'd like it. Well, who cares if you like it? It has no bearing on whether it's true. Well, it's what people want.

Whoa. So now truth is determined on what they want. What if they want something different later? The level of justification of their immorality and their so-called claimed morality is based on nothing more than guesswork, subjectivity, and ignorance. And this is why they don't want to have any debates about any of these things. And I challenge right now, I challenge any pro LGBTQ person who's knowledgeable to a public debate on the moral propriety of their beliefs versus mine in the Christian perspective. Anybody want to take me up on that? You want to have a debate on what's right and wrong? You're going to have to have a standard. I will be glad to do it. And no one's going to take me up on it.

Nobody, because they don't have a leg to stand on. Okay. They're diaper Indians. It's what I want. That's right. And then when things don't go right, they throw crud at you. I know that's right. And they're in the church too.

They're in the church too. Diaper Indians are immature and they judge things by themselves. And so they'll judge truth based upon their experience. I am the one who chose God. So I am the one who's sovereign in my own life.

I had the wisdom to choose God. And it's amateur diaper Indian theology that's being taught in a lot of churches today. See, this is why probably I don't get asked to speak hardly ever, because I'll say things like this. And people don't want to hear it. You know, I step on toes.

I tell people when I go to a seminar sometimes to say, come on, I'll be polite, but bring your toes because I'm going to step on them a little bit. I'm not trying to be mean, but this is what happens with the nature of truth and, uh, stuff like that. So anyway. Okay. Cool deal. Good stuff. Well, that's all I got for now, man. I always appreciate your input and your insights.

So, uh, God bless your buddy. And I might call back later. It's still early in the hour, so we'll see. Well call back.

Cause we've got nobody waiting right now. It happens sometimes. So just give me a call back. All right, man. Thank you. All right, man.

God bless. Hey, five open lines. Do you want to give me a call?

877-207-2276. Now, why do I say what I say the way I say it? Well, Diaperinian, you know, gets a smile, but diapers immature. Is that something we have to worry about in the church? Yes.

Yes, it is. You see, what's the Christian church called to do, but to pick up the cross and follow for Christ daily to make disciples of all nations, to deny ourselves. And what happens in church is too many pastors.

What they're doing is preaching and teaching in such a way that they say, well, Jesus is the blonde haired, blue eyed Caucasian surfer dude. And he's standing at the door of your heart. It's up to you and your wisdom, you and your love to see that you need him. It's up to you. Well, that's not the case. It's up to God to open up the heart and the mind. And we need to preach that truth. Well, that's not what people want to hear. Now, are people responsible for their own belief?

Absolutely they are. And that gets more technical in how that works. But God grants that we believe. Philippians 1 29. What I teach is God centered theology. What too many churches teach is man centered theology. And in that, when you have a Diaperinian theology, you will end up with women pastors and teachers. You will end up with statements of faith that talk about man being the center of things without realizing it, that goodness is what we desire, what we want.

It happens. And then the preaching and the teaching becomes a means of gathering people into the church because we've got to make it comfortable for the unbelievers. It's going to be nice for the believers too. We've got to baby them.

Let's just cater to their immature needs. And this is not what the pastors are called to do. The pastors are called to equip the church for the work of ministry. This doesn't mean we have to suffer and hear all mean tough things.

It means we need the full counsel. God is a comforter and undoubtedly He is. But we also need to know that we can pick up our cross and follow after Him as we seek to be like Christ. Who can we pick up the cross and was led to the place of sacrifice?

We're to follow Christ, not just our own will. Amen. Amen.

Hey folks, three open lines, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back after this message. All right. Welcome to the show.

You may notice a little bit of a different music, which is fine. We're kind of having fun with that. And Keith did a great job with what he does. May the Lord bless him.

He puts up with me before and after the show. All right, folks, if you want to give me a call, one open line, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Bryce from Utah. Hey, Bryce. Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Good to talk to you. Nice talking to you, man. Yeah. So I'm about to embark on a deep dive study on the book of Hebrews, and I'm wondering if you have any advice, suggestions, things to look out for, or tips that would make my study of it more of a rich, spirit-filled experience and just more insightful.

Yeah. What I would do if I were you is, because of what you asked, I would get a document. You can do it on Google Docs or you can do it on Word or whatever Microsoft, whatever Word program you have. And then what I would consider doing is copying the verses. This is how I study when I teach for Bible studies. I take an entire chapter at a time, I put it into Word, and then I take each verse and I put it into an outline form so that verse one is outline number one. And then what I do is I go through, and because I'm good with Word and Excel and PowerPoint, you should teach them.

I know how to use them really well. So I will create an outline. And what I'll do is under the first verse, I'll hit Enter and then hit Tab and it indents. And I put my notes in the indent area under the first verse. And because I have access to commentaries, because I can look at the Hebrew and the Greek, what I'll do is go through slowly a lot of times, look at words, see how words work, see what the semantic domain is, see if there's related topics, and allow myself to take tangents. Tangents, I think, are really important in Bible studies. I've been to so many Bible studies where no tangents are allowed. And I disagree with that.

That's just my opinion. A lot of times in Bible studies, nope, we can't talk about that. We're only talking about this one topic. Well, a lot of times everybody wants to talk about the tangent. And I believe tangents are very helpful because they generate interest in something that's related to the text at hand, and you often have more to learn of. And so I'll allow a tangent in my notes, and I'll just go on. And as I'm going, I think I've got verse one down, and I'll go to verse two. And a lot of times if I'm researching verse two, if I'm doing parallel resources, I'm doing Greek analysis, or whatever it might be, I'll go, wait a minute, I didn't know that would affect verse one. I go back to verse one, my comments, and I start writing a little bit more and more about that. And then, okay, I just go back to verse two, and I work through it, and then I go to verse three, maybe verse four, five, six, just pretty clean.

Verse seven might affect verse three again, how I interpret, how I learn. And so you'll find, at least what I do, I find that the more you do this, the more of this stuff is interrelated, and it almost becomes slower to learn this way, but you become more complete as you learn that way. And that's how I study. And I'll also go to commentaries. Let's say there's something I just don't quite get, or I have a theory about something. Well, I have five, six, seven commentaries I can go to, for example, the book of Hebrews, and I have different levels of commentaries I can go to.

Some are just basic intros, and some get into Greek, even to the point where they'll say the phrase, and I don't even understand what the Greek says. I have to go back and research that. And so, you know, it just depends. And so this is how I learn. I'm not saying it's how you should. You need to develop your way of study.

But I think that writing things down in notes in an organized fashion is very advantageous, because after you're done with chapter one, you go to chapter two, you realize, wait a minute, I missed something in chapter one, because now I see something in chapter two. Then you go back to chapter one and start adding in those comments. And you, oh, I was incorrect in that one part, or maybe I wasn't correct.

So you might modify that. And so I'm just saying is, it takes work to study, but it's worth it. Don't think you get everything right from the beginning, because I certainly have never concluded that. And I make mistakes and I learn. And so that's the methodology I learn.

So what I try and do is use scripture to interpret scripture and commentaries as a last resort, not a last resort, but I go to those later, because there are scholars who've studied this stuff far greater and more than I have, and I'm going to benefit from what they have to say. Does that make sense? Yeah, I see. And so you would try to basically write your own commentary and then go to commentary secondary.

Right. And you need tools to make your own commentaries. And you see, here's the thing. I remember when I've taught Bible studies before, I've done this a couple, three times. I've said to the group I'm teaching, I said, next week, what we're going to do is I want you to bring your commentaries.

I want you to bring whatever tools you have. And then in there next week, I'm going to pick some verses and I'm going to put them in a hat, whatever, and you can get yourself into groups of two or three or four. And then, you know, I want a minimum of three. And then what we'll do is just give you verses to go look at. And then I want you to develop your own commentary, your own understanding of what it says. I said, we'll give 20 minutes to do it.

There's all three of you or four of you are working together. And I said, I want you to do this after I've taught them principles of hermeneutics of biblical interpretive methodology. I say, I want you to go through and I want you to realize it's okay to do this and that you may not think you have the right answer.

And I said, and then each of you is going to teach me what you've learned, each group. And they're intimidated by this. And I'll tell you, each time it's happened, I've said to myself and to them, that was a great insight.

I never thought of that. It always happens because I say, look, I don't have all the answers. I'm up here teaching doesn't mean I know everything. People have different insights because they have different ways of seeing things that we don't want to contradict scripture or contradict each other. But a lot of times they'll just, they'll say, look, we were thinking about this.

This has happened, right? Well, that's a really good insight. I like that. And so they gain more confidence when they teach the teacher. And I say, you don't have to be all this super educated to have all this.

You search and learn, be faithful to the text, learn how to interpret things, and you'd be surprised what you can do. And it happens. Okay. All right. Okay, buddy. Well, that's wonderful.

Thank you so much. See, you can do it, man. Just do it.

Give it a shot. You'll be surprised what you learn too. Yeah, I've got a Bible teacher.

He's an older gentleman. And we're going to go through Hebrews together. And he wants me kind of to do what you're describing. And I'm just, I'm a little overwhelmed by it, but I think I've got some confidence now. Good. And you'll also find there'll be places where, and I've done this in Bible studies before, where I've discussed one verse for two or three weeks.

And sometimes five verses in a half hour. It just depends. Is there a right way to do it? Yeah.

Is there a wrong way to do it? Yeah. Do your best as you trust God and go forward. Okay. All right, Bryce. Good stuff, man. All right. Hey, folks, we're up in line 877-207-2276.

We'll be right back after these messages. God bless. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call. Oh, we don't have your lines open.

So we'll just get to the callers. Let's get to Angela from Indiana. Angela, welcome. You're on the air. Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. Can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Yes, I can. Okay. The question I have, I've been listening to your program on my way home from work each night.

I work part time at our local hospital. Okay. And for the most part, I mean, I don't really know what kind of questions you take.

So I know you just give answers from a biblical perspective. So that's why I called. And so I'll just give you kind of a brief background. We have been a homeschooling family for the past 26 years. And I've been home, a homemaker. And so off and on, I've worked part time when I can fit it in, you know, this is really flexible. But my husband in the last three or four years, has taken on a night job and another part time job. So our children are grown, our son is still home. But basically, our situation right now is my husband is working a lot of hours.

And we don't see each other, we only see each other an hour a day. And then on the weekends, he's really, really tired. And, you know, in order for our finances to be where they need to be, he feels like he has to work that much.

And then I work and bring in as much as I can. So it's kind of my idea to come up with, you know, maybe I should transfer departments and get a full time job now that we don't have young children. But my husband is like, he's all for me being a homemaker, he wants to be the provider, he wants me to be able to stay home. But he's not against me doing that if I want to. But my heart is saying like, I don't want to because I love being a homemaker. And it's, to me, it's more than just taking care of the house and taking care of children, but it's woven into who I am.

And he knows that. And so like, I got accepted for a full time job, but I'm still feeling like am I doing the right thing? So I'm just trying to get a biblical perspective on like, what would you what would your counsel be? Well, my counsel would be that you and your husband need to discuss the priorities that you have. And priorities are flexible in different families for different needs, different times, as well as the needs that need to be met.

And you guys have to balance that. Now, are you able as a Christian woman to work outside the home? Absolutely.

Of course you can. There's no sin in it. But if it means you sacrifice the children, then it's something that needs to be addressed. Now, there are some people where women have to work outside the home because the man's not providing. And it's very difficult.

And that's legitimate. They have to work. So different family situations allow for different scenarios. And since he's working, you're trying to get out of debt, maybe the kids are out of the house and you want to work, work, if you feel like it. You're free to, you don't have to, and you don't have to not.

And so I'm not trying to say you can't or can, except to say, well, you can't or you can, depending on your situation. And if you go to Proverbs 31, you'll see that there's a description of a worthy woman. And it says she has wool and flax. She does good. She's like merchant ships. She rises while it is still night, gives food to her household, considers the field and buys it from her earnings.

She plants a vineyard. I mean, what she considers the field. And by that means she's doing business. It's a good woman to do that. And so if she wants to, you know, if you, if you feel led to go out of the home and work, as long as the children aren't being harmed in it, you know, well do it no big deal. And if you don't want to, you want to stay home and just, and not just as in a derogatory sense, because I, I believe staying home for a woman is a very great privilege and a great responsibility because women as moms raise their children. That's a hugely important thing. It's huge.

It really is. And women who stay home and take care of the kids and clean the house and make dinner and all that kind of stuff. That's not derogatory. And it's a beautiful and necessary thing to provide stability for children. That's not to say if you don't do that, they're not being seen as being in a stable home because situations are so different for different people. So as long as you're both honoring God and you both agree that this is okay for you to do in one way or another and the children aren't being harmed by it, then that's it. You know, you do what you want to do.

Yeah. And our children are grown, like I said, and this would, for me, taking on a full-time position would be for him to be able to drop one job and only have one daytime job. So we would both have a daytime job and we would be able to see each other on the evenings and weekends.

And right now that's not possible. Let me offer something just to think about, and I'm not trying to put any guilt in any way, shape or form. It's just that people are different. We don't have all the details here, but if he's having to work two jobs, he is, right? Two jobs. Is that right? Right.

Okay. It's a good thing for a man to work two jobs to provide for his family in order to be that provider and protector and things like that. But I will say this, a lot of people don't understand that to work two jobs can become stressful. If he's young enough, he can handle it.

As you get older, that catches up. And men like to, here's what men like to see themselves as, I'm exaggerating, but you'll get the point. During the hurricane storm, we're on one foot. We're protecting our wife with one arm. We've got another leg pushing back the wild lion and another arm we're pushing away the bear, because we're so strong and mighty and capable. And then we want our wives to see, oh, you're so strong and wonderful. And we guess that's right.

Thank you very much. And so we see ourselves like that. Of course, I'm very much exaggerating, but we want to protect, we want to guide, we want to provide, but we can only stand on our own for so long before we fall and before the stress can get to us. So you know your husband and you have to know, is the stress getting to him? Is he showing signs of stress relations stuff?

If that's the case, then you stepping in to help, if it's necessary in order to provide financially things like that for certain situations, then it might be a good thing, but it might not be too. There's so many variables, which I'm being generic, but a lot of times women don't realize that their men can become very stressed because we want to be strong, but we're human and it can have a deleterious effect on a marriage sometimes. And you might maybe, you know, you notice he's getting a little bit short tempered. Maybe he's just getting confused about things because he's not going to sleep. He has less patience.

He's not sure about this or that. Those are the signs of stress. Now, should we take those? Of course you want to take those.

For how long? So when I was younger, I had a job that was so stressful that I ended up working at home to be responsible for everything, even, you know, even outside of work. And I was so stressed by it that when I quit, that I actually got sick and had an evening where I was literally shaking for a few hours. And I was dating a nurse at the time and she said, talked to a doctor. He goes, yeah, it's stress. And I taught myself after that, don't ever get to that level of stress again. I thought I could handle it. And so that's just a factor. But then there's a stress on you too. How would that happen?

How would that be? It's not just a man, women too. And so you have to work it out together. You got to just talk about it and you make a decision. And sometimes you'll say, you'll say, I think it's the right decision and you might find out it wasn't. You make a mistake.

Don't worry about making mistakes because mistakes are where we learn and then we can make corrections and we can move forward. And so I can't give you a solid answer except to say, here's a bunch of stuff you got to look through and here's some factors and you guys got to make that decision. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you very much. Does that help? That's very helpful. Oh, it is helpful?

Yes, a lot. Good. I was guessing.

So I hope that was not a good answer. Okay. Yeah. And the stress factor too, I do see that it's really stressing him out and he's 57.

So he's getting close to 60 and it's just getting harder for him to do this. So yeah, we'll talk, you know, we'll talk about it some more. How about this? You know, when my wife has noticed this, that when I get under stress, that I start taking deep breaths. I don't even know I'm doing it.

I'll just go. I take these long deep breaths. That's one of the ways I start showing stress and she'll point out, there you go again. And so one of the things I'm doing now, I go to the gym, I work out, I change my diet and et cetera. Because our physical bodies as men, we need to exert ourselves physically.

We need to. We're made for it. And if we have a job where we don't do that and it's building up, one of the things about stress is it causes adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline even more. It causes increased blood pressure and it causes varying deleterious effects in our organs. Long-term stress.

And this is true. Look up effects of stress. And it's just something to look at and just see and just see, you know, sometimes you got to cut back for health reasons and that's perfectly normal and acceptable. Okay? Okay. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. All right, Angela. God bless. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages.

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, everyone. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. Let's get to Matt from California. Matt, welcome. You're on the air. Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. I was just wondering if you've ever pondered as to whether there's a lot more going on than we are really aware of. Of course.

Okay. So like, so like perhaps like God has created other dimensions, other beings, other than just angels and humans and animals. The Bible, the Bible says in first Corinthians four, six, that you're not to exceed what's written. The Bible tells us is that there are angels and people and God, and that's it. There's fallen angels, okay, in demonic realm and stuff like that. So I deny that there's any life, any place in the entire universe.

I absolutely deny it. So even in other like dimensions, and it just seems like overly simplified for a very complicated God, like what we have, what we're aware of. Here's the problem with saying other dimensions. So what is other dimensions? I don't know.

And I don't know if you know, but I don't, I don't know. So how do we say that there's other dimensions where there are, God made other things. We have no way of verifying it.

And so we shouldn't say that is the case. Well, you could, it could postulate, but you can't prove it. It's possible, but I don't even know if it's possible. If anything's possible, God.

No, not everything's possible. God can't lie, can't stop being God. He does that which is naturally the best.

He doesn't do things halfway. So, you know, people don't understand that. And to say, well, there's other dimensions, other life beings out there. Well, then show me from scripture.

If you can't show me from scripture, you can't say it's there. And they say, well, it's possible. Well, just because you might say it's possible doesn't mean it's true. Unfortunately, what happens is people say, well, I think it's possible. So I'm going to work as though it's true.

And then they build theology and arguments based on what's not verified. And it's not a good thing. Yeah, that would be that would be dangerous.

Right? That would be dangerous. If you're, if you're Bible believing Christian, and you don't have you don't find yourself going off into heresy, apostasy, which I don't see myself doing that.

I love your, your articles on the problem of Roman Catholicism, which I come out of, as having been exposed to that as a kid, but never taken to it. But I can see like a lot of major, serious issues with that cold. But I just Yeah, I can't help but consider, like, there's possibly a lot more going on. Not that it really matters, but it's just kind of fascinating. Because a lot of what we see in this world today, we never knew existed. And so existed, you know, like the ability to communicate with cell phone towers, cell phone devices. Well, yeah, we would draw analogies by technology, we're going to be careful. But the issue is the spiritual realm, what God has revealed is what we have to go by. And it's a danger. A lot of people do this, it's a danger. Well, God doesn't say we can't. So therefore, I'm going to work as though it's true. You're gonna be careful about that. So yeah, it could be a slippery slope.

And I know, like it says in Deuteronomy, like that there are secrets that God has set aside for himself or something like that. Right. Yep. That's right.

Okay, just just wonder, I just can't help but see like all how complicated and intricate so many things are that we just would never have known in the early days of just do a scripture, you'll be fine. Okay. Okay, thank you. All right, man. God bless. All right, let's get to Pearl from Virginia. Pearl, welcome.

You're on the air. Thank you, sir. At one time, back a while, you were speaking of, well, I don't know how to form and accept that you were speaking of ministers who in a negative way, and you spoke of Watchman Nee. Yeah. I was wondering if you could please elucidate what you meant by him in a negative way.

Sure. Watchman Nee came out of, out of Asia during the communist regimes and stuff came a teacher of the word. And the issue is that he generally would push himself as the proper teacher. He has the knowledge, he is the right way to teach his system. And there's a lot of good things that this guy had to say. But when that kind of attitude is had, then there are dangers.

One of the dangers is that the group can become self-righteous and judgmental and condemning and even threatening because the individual is related to such a high position that if you attack that person, they're going to come after you. So back when I lived in Southern California, I went to one of the Watchman churches and I wanted to do an interview with them. And I met with an elder, he was very polite, and I asked him questions.

I said, I'm not here to attack, I'm here to learn. And I asked him a lot of stuff and he answered a lot of stuff really well, to be honest. There were some things, I forgot what they were, but I remember, there's some issues and he's making some mistakes on these certain issues because I could tell this from Watchman theology and I forgot what those issues were. But what was interesting is about a week later, I think it was a physical letter, I think it was because we didn't have email at the time, it was before the internet. I got a letter and he said, I want to thank you for the polite and interesting conversation we had. And it went on to say that there are those who will write about him or about the Watchman and their organization that they have to sue and bring lawsuits against. And I was looking at this and my conclusion was he was threatening me without threatening me. He was saying that if I were to say something negative about the church, they'd bring a lawsuit against me. That's how I interpreted it, because there was no need to bring that up.

If you say, hey, thanks for the meeting, I had a great time. And then, by the way, we sue people who disagree with us and make us look bad. And so this kind of stuff is consistent with cults and cult behavior. And they exalt an individual to a level where that individual is not allowed to be examined, cross examined. Okay. And there's other stuff, you know, receiving revelations, his method of study is the right one.

So these are warning flags. And that's why I don't recommend anybody study Watchman knee. I had learned so much from him. God Almighty in him. I know that nobody, sir, if you'll excuse me.

We all did. And unless God, the Holy Spirit takes us to the Lord Jesus Christ, we stay dead. Maybe that's that harsh.

Is that wrong? We're when we're alive in Christ. That's it. Yes.

And so, you know, out of the dust of the ground, we're all made. You've always got to be careful of any leaders that point to themselves in as they can't be questioned. They can't be cross examined. That's the case with me. I see. I see. I see.

I see from when you came a very deep way that I don't know I can go. I do, though. I don't recommend him. What I recommend is read the Bible. I do.

I do. And get a variety of teachers. There are a lot of good teachers out there on the web. I should do an article who are some of the better teachers.

But Watchman Nee is considered to be problematic in some stuff. How about Martin Luther? Yeah, Martin Luther was great. John Calvin was great. You can learn.

Everyone always agree with each other. But there's some great stuff. If you really want to learn, you really want to learn, learn. Look up John Owen from the 1600s. John Owen. I remember that name.

That's right. John Owen. You can get books. If you want to learn, look up John Owen.

Okay. You think he's the best? No, you'll see he's very good. And you can look up Jonathan Edwards. Oh, yes, Jonathan Edwards. How do you see the feel about R.C. Sproul?

R.C. was great. Michael Horton's a good teacher as well. And, you know, there's a lot of good teachers out there. You know, James White's a good teacher. And, you know, I'm so-so. I'm not going to exalt myself.

I'm able to be irritating and annoying, and that's good. So there are a lot of good teachers out there. And I would say from Nee, and that's my opinion. And look up John Owen. There are a lot of Presbyterian divines. These guys, man. And also read Jerry Bridges. Jerry Richards? Bridges. Like a bridge you drive over in a car? Jerry Bridges. Oh, Bridges. I'm sorry. That's all right. So Jerry Bridges is good, and he has books on holiness before God.

And he's reformed in his theology. And there's some stuff. I don't like reading this stuff because I feel guilty. It's that good, you know. I'm saying it's my life.

Okay, thank you, sir. You've been most kind, and I'm so glad that you're on the radio. We can hear you. And you don't back off. You stand for the truth. I do stand for the truth.

I'm not teaching you, but I am the way, the truth, and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think, and I will ask you this and let you go, because I've never heard anybody else say it, the Lord Jesus Christ is my only darling. He is my only darling.

Everybody else is my sweetheart. Oh, I don't use terms like that of him. I understand what you're saying. My opinion is I stick with what the scripture says, the way it reveals him.

Otherwise, we can get off base. Well, do you understand what I say when your wife would call you her darling? Yes, and that's my wife. He's my wife.

That's my wife. I'm going to call my Lord that, okay? Well, would you say that God uses the church and the Lord Jesus Christ that we're not to have?

Anybody. I don't care who they are, child, wife, mother, father, anybody, ahead of high God. And he is the only uncreated being that ever was. I gotcha. But the terms calling him darling, I wouldn't go that way, okay? I would stick with what the scriptures reveal about him, use the terminology in the way that the Lord God has revealed about himself because it's inspired. Too many people, in my opinion, want to use contemporary terms as those are hip and cool. No, I don't want to be hip and cool.

I'm just saying it's best to stick with what scripture says. He's the holder. Thank you, sir. I like that about you. I love that about you. Can I say I love that about you?

He just did. It's so good for you. Okay. Whatever I say.

I just want him above and beyond and anything, anybody, anytime. And, sir, would you agree with me that he is the only uncreated being that ever was? God is that.

That's correct. God is. God is that, yes. But Jesus is not our issue because there's two natures.

Hypothetic unions began 2,000 years ago. We're out of time, okay? Got to go, Pearl. Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. Hey, Samantha from Wisconsin. I wanted to hear about that question.

A woman appointed Jesus for burial. We're out of time. And Jenna, we're going to be called martyrs? Maybe. Call back tomorrow.

Why don't you guys do that? And we can talk to you then, hopefully, by God's grace. I hope you have a great evening. Remember, tonight I'll be teaching on the Trinity at Clubhouse. Check it out. Another program powered by the Truth Network.