Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. If you want to give me a call as normal, 877-207-2276. And we can blab about whatever you want to blab about.

We've got five open lines if you want to give me a call. Now, just so you guys know what's going on, we have a live feed that goes into YouTube and Facebook. And apparently there's a little connection problem thing.

Even though all the connections are correct, I just verified them. So there we go. All right. Hopefully everybody can hear. All right. So how did you do this weekend?

There's some interesting stuff to talk about. I don't know what's up with the audio. Let me check this really fast so I can focus on this. Then tell you how things went.

Let's see. No, that's right. The audio is fine. The audio settings are right. And I know what I've got to do. One thing. Turn one switch and then it'll work. There we go.

Now it'll work. All right. Hey, so anyway, I do a lot of work on the Internet. And I do a lot of impromptu discussions, debates, teachings and things like that. And so I'm in Discord and I'm also in Clubhouse. I'm on Telegram.

I do stuff on Instagram, Facebook, all kinds of stuff. And so, so yesterday and the day before, I was in one of the chat rooms and there's an assault occurring more and more on the deity of Christ. I spent a lot of time arguing, teaching, refuting, debating about the deity of Christ. And there are a lot of good people out there who really know biblical theology, who are able to answer all kinds of objections and stuff.

So I'm glad to hear that. But I'll tell you, there is a rise, at least that I've seen lately, of those who deny who Jesus Christ really is. Now, if you don't know who he is, let me tell you, he is God in flesh. He's the second person of the Trinity. These same people will deny the Trinity and they will go into the issue of supporting Unitarianism. Unitarianism is the idea that God is not three persons, but one person. And so what they'll do is they will attack the doctrine of the Trinity. And they very often don't get it right, but occasionally they do. But they will attack the doctrine of the Trinity and then, anyway, it's happening a lot more.

And if you hear this and you have any questions about the deity of Christ, the Trinity, and various things, ask me. I want you to be able to ask, because it's what I do for a living, is answer questions. I've been doing it on radio for 17 years. I've been doing it on the website for 26 years.

And all around, you know, different places, different ways, for many years before that. So, the number 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call and we can blab. All right, all right, let's get to, let's see, it'll be Rob from San Dimas, California.

Bill and Ted. Hi, Matt. How are you? Hey, man.

Doing all right, buddy. So, what do you got, man? Okay, I got a question. Actually, it's based on Revelation chapter 21, verse 2.

All right. And I thought, so, the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from God all of a sudden, prepared as a bride, adored for her husband. And then in verse 9, And there came unto me one of the seven angels which hath the seven vials, full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit through a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. The question is, in both, in verses 2 and 9, the holy city Jerusalem is mentioned as both the bride and the wife of the Lamb.

I want to know where to take this on that. The Christian church is metaphorically called the bride of Christ. And so, Okay, that's what I thought.

Yeah, that's what's going on there. And if you go to Revelation, you'll see that the church is mentioned in different ways. Now, some people say that after Revelation chapter 4, the church is no longer mentioned and that means there's a rapture occur.

And that's just not true. The bride right here is the church. And also, there's a reference to the 24 elders. And this is an interesting discussion to have on what that is, the 24 elders.

And it looks like, let's see, go backwards here, 24. The 24 elders are also the church. Because it says in Revelation 19, 4, 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne. Amen. Hallelujah. And some believe that that's what the 24 elders is, that Christian church.

Excuse me. And so, when we see the bride mentioned, it looks like what Revelation is doing is talking about the consummation of the ages and the relationship with the church and Christ from different perspectives at different times. Some people think that Revelation is a direct linear progression from the first word to the last word. It's chronological, but it may not be the case. There's evidence that it's heptatic, hept seven, that it's seven cycles repeating the same thing for different perspectives. So, hence, we might have the 24 elders as well as the bride of Christ and even the word church that's mentioned also. But there's a lot of debate about the book of Revelation and it's not exactly easy to just get there and analyze really quickly. Okay.

Okay, great. That was pretty much my view. I heard different people expound it, but I never really got a direct answer to that question. Well, it seems to be that it's the bride of Christ and another thing is that the bride of Christ is going to be clothed in white and white is a symbol of purity. So, that's us. That's the bride of Christ. It's metaphoric. And also, Jesus says that, a lot of people don't know this, he says, I think it's in John, let's see, John 14. Yeah, in my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. So, a lot of people don't know that this is a reference to the wedding feast or wedding procedures. In the ancient culture there, when a bride and a groom were engaged, it was an arranged marriage. And so, one of the things, usually a year long, and one of the things the father of the groom would say to the son was to prepare a room for them to live in, usually attached to their house. Now, that couldn't always be the case because you could live in a city where houses can't be expanded. But a lot of them were agrarian, a lot of them out in the fields and had houses that had plenty of room to expand.

And so, that's what they think. So, what the father would do is say to the son, prepare a place and then, when it's ready, and it had to be ready by a certain time because people had to come in from here and there and far away in order to participate and enjoy the wedding feast. The father would say, go get your bride and the trumpeters would sound, preceding the arrival of the groom to get the bride, then they would get the bride and come back to that house. Because the groom had prepared a room for the bride that he and she would live in. So, John 14 2, in my father's house are many dwelling places, if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may also be.

So, that's John. Then we talk about this stuff in the book of Revelation where it talks about the bride. And so, the bride, because it says in Revelation 18, in the light of the lamp will not shine any longer and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will not be heard in you any longer.

I'm just looking for the word bride here. And it's there, oh here we go, let us rejoice and be glad, Revelation 19 7, let's rejoice and be glad and give glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. He was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So, and it goes on every next verse in Revelation 19 and he said, right blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. Because what happened in the marriage supper, the bride would be in her house, the son would be in his with the father. And incidentally, the father would say, you may now go get your bride. And this had to be known what day it was going to happen because the people who were relatives and friends of the family had to be there in order to participate in the wedding feast.

It's just how it was done. And there was an idiomatic expression where the friends of the groom would say, when is the day and the hour and the groom would say, no one knows the day nor the hour, only the father. And it was a respectful way of showing the sovereignty and respect to the father in the home.

And so they would know what day it was, maybe not the exact hour, but they would know it was an idiomatic expression. So the father would say to the son, now you go get the bride. The trumpeters would proceed, go get the bride, and then they would come back, bring the bride back, and then they would have a wedding feast after the wedding. So when I was in Jerusalem, just really close to the Wailing Wall, we were there and I heard noise. I heard sound and tambourines and singing and marching and I remember those trumpets, I think, because it was something that drew our attention. And it was a wedding feast or not a wedding feast. It was a wedding procession and it had the bride and the groom and they were celebrating. It was noisy and they were coming through this big crowd of people and people in the crowd knew what was going on because they're Jews.

And they would, you know, celebrate and clap as they kind of proceeded through and as they went and it was reminiscent of this whole thing. But at any rate, there you go. I hope that helps. Well that's great, Matt. I really appreciate your comment. I agree. You give me a lot of new insight into it. Oh yeah. Now just so you know, here's a comment. Because a lot of people, they're going to say preacher rapture is proven in the book of Revelation because the church is no longer present after Revelation chapter 4.

But that's not true. In Revelation 21 and also 19, the bride is there and the lamb goes to get the bride. If the rapture is him getting the bride, then why does the getting the bride happen after Revelation chapter 4?

It happens in Revelation 29, Revelation 19. You see? Okay, that's great, Matt. I really appreciate your comment. I thank you, sir.

You're welcome, man. Take help. Alright, God bless. Have a nice day. Alright. You too. Bye-bye.

Bye. We're at San Dimas. That's where Bill and Ted were.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure at San Dimas. Hey folks, 5 Open Lines. If you want to give me a call, 8772072276. Why don't you give me a call?

We have nobody waiting right now. We've got a break coming up here in a little bit. But I want you to zip me a call here. Now, you know, since I talked about the rapture, what I might do just a little bit is show you guys something that a lot of people don't know about, don't see in 1 Thessalonians 4.16 and 2 Peter. Give us a break. I'll talk to you about this.

And it might be very interesting when I read it and I compare the scriptures to see what you think about it. But nevertheless, hey, give me a call. White Open Lines, 8772072276. Be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 8772072276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. Hey, we have 4 Open Lines. Give me a call, 8772072276. Let me read something and then we'll get to the caller.

This is what it says, and you can take notes on this and you can compare it yourself. This is what the scripture says. For the Lord himself, this is 1 Thessalonians 4.16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet them in the clouds. So it will always be with the Lord.

Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Now, as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. So the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, that's the rapture, right? And most people say, well, that's automatic, you know, that's what that means is, you know, before the tribulation period or before the millennium. Okay, the rapture. Look at 2 Peter 3.10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Wait a minute.

It said the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night therein, but when the rapture occurs in 1 Thessalonians 4, but in 2 Peter 3.10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. Hmm. How do they fit together?

That's a good question. Hey, give me a call. Four open lines. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Julie from Cincinnati, Ohio. Julie, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt.

This is Julie. I have a question. I was born and raised Catholic and had a pretty good marriage. Married for 22 years, and then my husband decided to leave me. Wanted his divorce for another woman, and I'm living with a man that I've been with for seven years. He's a wonderful man.

I do not want to get married, but I struggle with this on a religious aspect, and I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on it. Well, do you want me to tell you straight or kind of soften it? Yes. Okay. All right. You are in direct violation of God's will, and you are in open sin and rebellion against him.

Okay. And you need to stop. You need to repent. Now, if you don't want to get married, you don't have the right to engage in living in a marriage-type relationship without the covenant of marriage, and then engage in, because there are children listening, I'm sure, in the union that husband and wife participate in. So that's another sin. And since you're raised a Catholic... And that's what I struggle with.

Well, let me scare you, because sometimes people need to be scared to follow the truth, because you're comfortable where you are, and no judgment has come upon you, but you have a conviction. Now, if you're raised a Catholic, I'm sorry for that, because this is another whammy. Catholicism is not Christian. It's full of idolatry.

It's full of paganism, and it's just not true. So you have not learned the true gospel from the Catholic Church, and the idea in Catholicism is that you can just go get absolved through certain acts, and everything will be taken care of. That's not the case here, and it's not the case biblically. And so you have been living in sin, and God has let you live. Now, a lot of times what God does is he disciplines people like that.

There's different ways he does that. One of them is to harden their hearts so they're comfortable with their sin so that the judgment of eternal damnation comes upon them, and now they participate in that judgment and don't realize it because the conviction is gone. That's a judgment of God. Another judgment is that he, let's just say, gets their attention, as in car accidents, a sickness.

This often happens. And another thing God does is he kills them. You may think, oh, God wouldn't do that.

Yes, he will. You go to 1 Corinthians 5. There's a man having relations with his father's new wife, and Paul delivers such a one over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. So you have to understand that you're in great sin, and you need to repent of it. And the first thing I'm concerned about is are you even saved?

Now, I'm not trying to get all over you here and make you feel bad, but I just got to ask. Yes. Are you saved?

Yes. I can tell you that two years ago I could hear a voice, and it said you need to get the Bible, and you need to read it. And I read it. I read it from front to back, got a study guide. I have already started, finished the New Testament and the study, and I'm in the Old Testament now. So I'm on my second Bible. Let me ask you some questions here, okay?

Sure. Now let's just say, and I don't want this to happen, and it's not going to happen, but let's just say a meteor comes out of the sky and vaporizes you right now, and you're suddenly standing before God. And he says, he asks you, why should I let you into heaven? What would you tell him? I tried to live my life, honestly, and I really have.

I tried to live it the way he would want me to, except that part of my life where I'm living with a man and not being married. All right. I can say I'm a beautiful person. That answer will get you eternal damnation. Okay. I don't think you know what the Gospel is. Now understand, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not condemning you. I'm just informing you. I don't believe you know what the Gospel is, and you need to know it. I want to tell it to you, okay? All right.

All right. So I'm going to back up here and give you a little bit more than you might need, but I just want to make sure you understand that Jesus Christ is God in flesh, and he became one of us, and he was made under the law, and he fulfilled the law perfectly. And then, of course, they lied about him and hated him and sent him to the cross, but it was on that cross that he bore our sin in his body on that cross. That's what he did, and he died with it, died with those sins, and then he rose three days later, and he ascended into heaven 40 days later. Now, because Jesus is God in flesh, he did everything perfectly, and so therefore you and me included can do absolutely nothing to merit, to get, to achieve anything for salvation.

Everything you have, and when I say you, I'm included, okay, but I'm going to say you. Everything you do is touched by sin. Every single thing that comes out of your heart is affected by sin, and nothing that you do will ever be good enough. Your sincerity is not good enough either. True salvation means to trust in Christ by faith alone, not by faith and your sincerity. You try to be a good person.

I'm not that bad as someone else. I know I made a few mistakes, but you'll understand that gets you to eternal damnation. That's what cults teach, and it's what Roman Catholicism teaches, and Roman Catholicism is bankrupt.

Maybe I'll do some analysis of it after the call here publicly, but the thing is you need to trust in Christ alone for salvation by faith and trust in him alone and nothing else. Now, we've got a break coming up. Can you please hold on so we can continue this after the break? Yes. Okay.

Mm-hmm. All right, good. Hey, folks, we pray, and we write back after these messages.

Four 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. Let's get back on it with Julie. Are you still there?

Yep, I'm still here. All right. So what I was trying to explain is that there's nothing you can do in any way, shape, or form to earn salvation in any way with God. The Roman Catholic Church, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, all false religions say that it deals with Christ and what you can do and your sincerity, and that's a formula for damnation because it's saying that Christ on the cross, his blood shed on the cross, is equal to what we can do in our sincerity of heart, and that God the Father will accept both the sacrifice of God, God in flesh as that compares to the Trinity, as well as our own sacrifices of works and sincerity, that they're equal. That's what the people are saying without realizing it, and they're not.

There is absolutely nothing you can do in any way, shape, or form. This is why the Bible says in Romans 4-5 to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is credited as his righteousness. So you need to be forgiven of your sins. Have you ever prayed and asked Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins? Have you ever done that? All the time. All the time? Okay.

Yes. I get up at 6 o'clock and talk and talk to God and read my Bible. But your sins won't be forgiven if you add your works and your sincerity to it, as though that's how he's going to forgive you based on your sincerity and your works and what Jesus has done. It's demonic teaching that a lot of churches teach. You have to understand it's by Christ alone, but there's something else you've got to know.

You have to count the cost. You have to understand that if you're going to truly trust in Christ, that you have to understand, you have to know, that he's going to require of you holiness. He's going to require of you following him, which means you don't live with a man you're not married to. That's what it means, and it means right away. If you're going to be serious about following the Lord Jesus Christ, then it means that you have to abandon the sin that you are in and turn from it.

He leaves or you leave, and that's how it has to be. Then you get right with God. You find a good church.

You get involved with the church. Now, have you ever, I want to make sure you understand it, have you ever asked Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins to receive him, to trust in him and him alone? I have prayed to him, and I always trust what he has done right for you. Well, the concern I have is that you say you pray to him and trust him, and yet you're rebelling against him at the same time.

Right. That's why I'm struggling. Yeah, and you should be struggling. I'm glad you're struggling.

I'm glad it's difficult for you. I don't want discomfort for you, but I do want discomfort for you if it brings you to repentance as God has worked upon you and is speaking to you. You need to trust in Christ alone and give yourself to him all the way. In Luke 14, 28, Jesus talks about calculating the cost of what it is you want to take to do.

To be a Christian does not mean I intellectually believe in God. It means I faithfully trust in what Jesus has done and realize that I need to follow him. He said in Luke 9, 28 that if you do not, or John 9, 28, if you don't pick up your cross daily and follow after him, you're not worthy of him.

He calls you to follow him, to not serve your own flesh. You must repent of your sin. You must stop that sin.

You must get rid of that situation of living together. You must depend on Christ alone. You need to be going to church. Do not go to a Catholic church at all. And you need to find a good church in your area.

Attend and you get right before God. That's what you need to do. All right.

You've given me some wonderful, actually, advice and hopefully I can get through that and follow through. Well, I tell you what. I tell you what. We have someone who is such a sweetie, and her name is Joanne, and she runs the prayer ministry at CARM.

And CARM, I don't know if you're familiar with it, it is my website. But if you were to email and say, you know, email prayer at CARM dot org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G, you can email her. And people, they agree to pray. But she has this habit of talking to people, and she's a sweetie.

And she would be glad to talk to you and just, she has a southern accent too, and just, you know, spend time with you and help you. So that's, you know, if you want, you know, I'm just telling you. All right? Right.

So prayer at CARM dot org. Please keep listening. And why don't you call me back in a few days or in a week or so and let me know what you're doing. All right? I will do that.

Thank you. And I listen to you all the time. I like the hate mail too. You have a great sense of humor. Yes, well, you know, I like to laugh and have fun. And I'm glad you like the hate mail. I love it. I think it's fun. It's terrible. But it is fun. It is fun.

That's right. All right, Julia. I care about you. Okay. I care about you and I want you to do what's right before God.

So contact us at prayer at CARM dot org. Okay? If you want.

I mean, you know what you want. All right. All right.

Well, God bless, Julia. Okay. All right. All right.

Well, that is important ministry work. All right. Let's get to Natalie from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Natalie. Welcome. You are on the air. Hi. So can you hear me?

Yes, I can. Okay. So I was driving and I heard that you were talking about the rapture and you had quoted the verse, the verse that a lot of people use to say basically that there is a rapture.

Yeah, there is. Like a proof text. So when they say that, you know, cause I grew up in a dispensational church that says like the rapture is going to happen first and we're all going to be brought up in Christ and then the tribulation is going to happen. But when I read the Bible, I don't see that. So when you use that verse that says that the dead will rise, the dead in Christ will be resurrected and then we'll all be brought up to Christ. But I think of like verses of like Revelation 20 four through six that basically like, I won't read it all for you, but it basically talks about those, it says that like John is seeing the people that had not worshiped the beast, had not taken its image, had been beheaded for their testimony of Christ and that they were serene with Christ. It says that this is the first resurrection. So it's putting the first resurrection basically after the tribulation, but then many people believe that there's going to be a rapture before tribulation and I just feel like it doesn't add up when I read it. So I wanted to know your thoughts on that.

I agree with you. I believe in the rapture, it's in the Bible in first Thessalonians four, but when does it happen? When it's going to happen. Well, here's something that's going to mess you up even more. Now you've heard the phrase, you know, two men are in the field, one is taken, one is left, right? And that's supposed to be the rapture, right?

It's not. And when people read the context, you find out that those verses can't be used to support the rapture because those verses aren't about the rapture. In Matthew 24, Luke 17, the ones who are taken are the wicked. That's what the verse is. I just challenge anybody, just read the context, go back and forth. Matthew 24, Luke 17, find the parallels. Two men in the field, one is taken.

Read the context. You'll see the wicked are the ones who are taken. And they even ask Jesus, were they taken? In Luke 17, at the end of the chapter, he says, where the bodies of altars gather. Now, when you go to Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the parable of the wheat and the tares. And the wheat are the believers, the tares are the unbelievers. But in Luke, I mean in Matthew 13, 30, he says, don't tare them up, you know, equally yet, wiggle the harvest. And he says, and he'll say to the reapers, first gather the tares.

And then gather the wheat and the barn. The first ones gathered according to Jesus are the wicked. That's what it says, Matthew 13. And a lot of people, this just blows them away because when they're taken, he explains the parable, they're taken to judgment. But how can that be if the rapture is pre-tribulation rapture and yet the wicked are the ones taken first? It doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, it's like when I read the Bible and I hear this because it's like, you know, they always, there's always the saying, well, you know, God is going to take us up. Can you hold? Sorry to bother you, but we're going to have a break, okay? I want to hear what you have to say, just after the break, all right? Okay, hold on, Natalie. Hey, folks, we have two open lines. We're going to give you a call, 877-207-2277.

It's actually right back. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show, the last segment of the hour. Let's get back on the line with Natalie. Are you still there? Yeah, I'm here. Okay.

So you were saying, and then we had the break, so where were we? So, yeah, because when I read the Bible, you know, I know that at some point there's going to be a rapture, but it always seems the rapture will come after this great tribulation. Right. Now, I know that there are people that are fretters that believe that all this stuff has already occurred. I personally believe that this will be a future matter. So it's kind of scary to think that a whole, like, a very large group of Christians think that we're not going to be here when these things occur. And if we are here, I feel like they're not going to be prepared for that type of, you know, and it's scary to think. That's my concern, too.

That is my concern, too. Uh-huh. Yep. Okay. I didn't know if I was wrong in the way that I read these things, and maybe I was wondering if you thought the rapture were to occur before tribulation, or what your thoughts were on that.

No, I have a study that I'm going to be presenting. I'm going to work on it as a PowerPoint presentation, video commentary I'm going to go through and show that I have a very, very, very, very strong argument that the rapture occurs after the tribulation, and that it is also going to occur with the new heavens and new earth. Believe it or not, there's no literal thousand-year reign. And that's my position. And, you know, if you disagree, that's fine.

But I have a very good argument, a very good argument. One of the things, however, back in the rapture, Matthew 24, 31, 29 and 31, Jesus says, but immediately after the tribulation of those days. Now, he says the tribulation, people say, well, it's not the great tribulation. Well, yes, it is, because it says in Matthew 24, 21, then there will be a great tribulation that has not occurred. And then he says in 29, just eight verses later, but immediately after the tribulation of those days. So that's after the great tribulation period.

That's the phraseology. He says, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky. The power of the heavens will be shaken. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet, and he will gather together his elect from the four winds.

The gathering of the people, that's the rapture, because it's concomitant with the arrival of Christ, by Jesus' own words, happens after the tribulation. Yeah, those are my thoughts exactly. Well, thank you. Thank you for confirming what I was reading. You have a good day. You too. God bless.

All right, that was Natalie. Let's get on the phone with Rick from Salt Lake City. Rick, welcome.

You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How are you? Doing all right, man.

Hanging in there, buddy. I got, well, I really appreciate, and I think what you have to say is definitely Christian-based. My sister sent me a book by a guy named Dr. Harold R. Eberle, and I'm not, I mean, he's very informative, but then he goes on these weird tangents, and I'm not getting a good vibe on it. I don't know anything about it.

To be honest, I know nothing except for what I researched during the break, because I saw ahead of time that you were asking. And, of course, I can't judge a book by its cover, but I did find this. This is worldcastministries.com, his website, that he and his wife pastored a church, and that's a problem. Women aren't to be pastors. I saw that in the book, too, and he mentioned, talked about a pastor, and then used the word she afterwards. I go, well, that's a red flag. It is. There's other red flags. I get, he's almost trying to downplay Satan, as if Satan is not truly, in fact, I got to hear, is not truly an adversary of God.

He's more of an adversary of Michael. I'm like, what the heck is this guy talking about? Okay.

I don't know. If what you could do is, if you want, is you could send me the quote and the page of the book. Send it to info.com.org, and it's about this guy, and here's the book, and I can do an exposé on it, because lately I've been doing more and more on what I call preachers and teachers, and so I'd be glad to do that.

I went through the statement of faith, and now you've got to understand, I'm a bit excessive in my doctrinal understanding, and I found his statement of faith to be minimally sufficient. There's something heretical in it, but I wish it was more detailed than some stuff, but I don't... Do you know anything about a New Apostolic Reformation? Yeah, that's bad news. It's bad news.

It's called NAR. It's bad news. Is he involved with that? His book is called Systemic Theology for the New Apostolic Reformation.

Okay. Stay away from him. Yeah, NAR is a bad movement of present-day apostles and prophets, who then direct people, and that God has appointed them for the present-day church, and there's a hierarchical structure that is developing, and that the Christian people need to submit to that hierarchical structure of the apostles and the prophets, and they will tell you what is to be done and what you're to teach. And so, now this is a story, but I heard this directly from a teacher at a Christian college who is geographically located very close to the Reading area, where, let's just say a lot of the NAR stuff has come from, and had people who went through their schools of evangelism and stuff come up to him. They didn't know who he was, that he knew his theology very well, and they said, can we pray for you? And he said, sure, and they prayed, and he asked them what the gospel was, and they didn't even know.

They didn't even know what the gospel was. And this is a huge warning. I'm not saying that all of them are like that, but it's a warning, and maybe I'll get back into studying the NAR again, but they're clever and, in my opinion, dangerous, and you should avoid the NAR like a plague. Like I said, I got some red flags. I can see a hundred truths, and then all of a sudden I see something that just doesn't look right. And then I see another few hundred truths, and then another something that doesn't look right. A little 11.

Just a little 11. Yeah. A woman pastor is definitely bad, and though a church might have a lot of good in it, women pastors, I can't trust them. I just can't trust anybody to get the Bible right. They seem to, I haven't gotten into, I mean, it's an 800-page book, but it seems that they don't believe that Revelation is going to happen necessarily. They think a lot of it has already happened. Yeah, that's preterism, which is, full preterism is bad news. Partial preterism is within orthodoxy. Partial preterism says those events described in Matthew 24, Luke 17, Revelation 20, etcetera occurred around 60, 70 AD. But they're going to occur in fulfillment, in totality again, at the return of Christ. And that the ones were there, they're like book ends. It's called partial preterism.

That it was there, but it'll also be again. And that's within orthodoxy, except that if anyone says that Jesus returned in the armies of Jerusalem, of Rome and Jerusalem, that they're just flat out wrong. He also has a problem with Isaiah, verse 14, whatever, with Lucifer falling, and he thinks he's talking about something. To me it could be a parallel, but I don't see him not talking about Lucifer, because Jesus later on says that he saw Lucifer fall from the sky, like a bolt of lightning. And he kind of tries to discredit that also. So I don't know, just getting weird vibes from this guy.

Yeah, there's debate about Isaiah 14, 12 and following about, you know, you fall from heaven star of the morning, and some say that it's not necessarily Satan, there's some discussion about it, but it does seem to be like you fall from heaven, you know, you're in heaven. And so I'm with you on that one. So if you want, you can just write up some of those quotes in the book, send me the book, but just send me the name of the book, and what pages and the quotes, and I can file it away. And in a category I use when I analyze him, I will use that. I'm actually, I just released one on Andy Stanley, I'm doing another one on Sam Shamone right now. There's another guy.

And so, um, doing analysis on preachers and teachers. Okay. Right, Matt. We'll do it. We appreciate you always. Thank you.

Hey, buddy. God bless. All right. Okay.

Let's get to Johnny from Archdale, North Carolina. Welcome. Here we go. Hi. You're on the air. What are you doing? How you doing, Mike? Doing all right. So what are you doing? All right. I'm here with my friend Preston, and we got a question for you. He's going to try to explain it the best he can. We got hundreds of them, but we know you got other people to talk to, but he's going to try to explain it the best he can. All right.

All right. Now, uh, years and years ago, I wrote a paper up on the, uh, the omnipotence of God, the college paper, or is it freewill or are we puppets predestined for everything? And I mean, that's a big subject and I did everything I could for it, but anyway, regardless of the Bible, it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And if he hardened Pharaoh's heart against the Israelites, does that take away the Pharaoh's freewill? No.

Did he have a wheel after that or did God choose the wheel for him to go after Israelites? To harden the heart means to strengthen it in what he was already doing. But if he hardened it in that way, is that not God pushing him in that direction? Yes.

That's what I'm asking. Yes. It's him pushing in that direction.

Absolutely. Proverbs 21 to one says, God moves the heart of the king where he wishes it to go. So Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but God also hardened his heart. So the issue here is, can both be true?

And the answer is yes. Pharaoh hardened his own heart because he's wicked and evil. The plagues are coming upon Israel and he's getting his rear handed to him by the plagues that God is doing. And at one point, Pharaoh's going to give up and go, okay, uncle, you know. At that point, God hardens his heart so the rest of the plagues will be manifested for God's glory and the prophetic utterance of typology of firstborn sacrifice and things like that. That's all.

No big deal. And he still had his freewill, of course. So the hardening of the heart is something different than what I was thinking.

Is that what you're saying? Hardened does not mean he doesn't have a freewill. It's hardened. God has the right to harden it.

Now the question is, how is it hardened? You see, for example, if you and I are sitting there in a restaurant, I can make you do what I want you to do without violating your freewill. I can point to a direction, say, what the heck is that?

And you look over there. And I didn't force you to against your will. You chose to do it of your own free will. And that's just an illustration.

God can certainly bring circumstances around to do the same kind of thing and bring a judgment upon his heart and harden it even more than what he is. That's one way. Okay? All right.

But what is the purpose of hardening someone's heart even more in the direction of a simple way is what I'm not understanding. We've only got five, ten seconds left, so that the fullness of the ten plagues would come into manifestation so that ultimately the firstborn would die and those who went through the blood of the posts and through the door, which represents Christ, would be justified and be saved because it was a technological representation of Christ and it had to happen on the tenth. Okay. We're out of time. Call back tomorrow. We can talk about it. Okay. Good question. What day is the Sabbath? Earl, call back tomorrow about that.

The Old Wives Tale, call back. And also Gary from Utah. Everybody, God bless. See ya. program powered by the Truth Network.