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. Everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. If you want to listen online, we have finally got something fixed. We have another YouTube account, and so you can check that out.

There's a link in the calendar area. I think Laura's going to fix that. Is that right, Laura? You can nod. That's good. And so she'll be doing that.

And we're just going to be moving from account to account when needed. Not a big deal because we have the stalkers out there who don't like what I say on the air and then complain to the powers that be, and then I'm not allowed to have the freedom of expression. Because they call it this thing called disinformation. What is disinformation? What is the standard by which you have truth so that you can know what is not true? You see, that's something they never tell you.

Why? Because truth is not a thing they want to deal with. Which reminds me, I'm rewriting my first novel, The Influence, and literally I've been going through the issue of truth, and the angel and the main character, Mark, in my editing, just finished a dialogue on the nature of truth as it rests in the heart and mind of God.

And how do you know truth and things like that. Nice discussion. That's for the readers later on so they can learn a little bit about some issues. And I think my wife was editing through the first chapter. She says, it's scary. She says, it's not easy to read. She didn't mean that the style wasn't good. She goes, man, these demons and stuff that you have, it's intense. I said, yeah, I've had a couple of women tell me they couldn't finish the novel because it was too intense for them in some places.

But anyway, I'll be releasing it probably in about a month when I get through all the edits and stuff. All right, well enough of that. Let's see, we have five open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Yesterday we talked about, I opened up about the shooting at the elementary school in Texas. And again, our hearts just go out to them. My wife and I prayed for them and stuff. Now, you know, a lot of unbelievers are going to ask the question, why didn't God stop it? Where's God?

And they complain. Where is God when these bad things happen? Well, we could ask, where's God when the good things happen? Now, you see, they complain when something bad happens. But they don't praise him when something good happens. So an atheist might mock and say to the Christian, well, you let, you know, your God let this happen.

How could he possibly do that as though they're in a state or a standard or an ability to judge God? And they raise a complaint. But when something really good happens, you know, the economy gets better.

Or we see somebody save a bunch of lives. We don't hear the atheist say, well, I guess your God could take credit for that, can't he? Well, they don't do that.

They only argue one way. Now, that's one point. Here's another point. I like to ask them, to what level do you think God ought to stop bad things from happening?

And it's a question. Because they'll say to me, well, he said stop, for example, a shooting at a school. OK, let's say that. I can ask you why that's the right thing, according to your thinking, why it ought to be that God would not allow it. And they'll say, that's right. If he's good, he wouldn't allow it. He's omnibenevolent, they'll say. And I'll say, well, you know, the Bible doesn't say he's omnibenevolent, whatever that means. But I say, OK, let's just say that this shooting is something he steps in to stop, and we don't even know if he already has intervened and stopped a whole bunch of them.

But you wouldn't know, would you? Because if he's intervened in countless other situations and stopped a lot of bad things from happening, how would you know? See, the only thing you can do is raise a complaint. Well, let's work with it a little bit. How far should God go in stopping evil?

That's a question I ask the critics. How far should he go? Where's the line that he should say, OK, this I'll allow, and that I won't?

And then how would you know that's the right standard? So I've asked atheists before, I say, so in a case like this, it was a mass shooting. All right, so he should stop that. That's right, he should stop that. OK. Should he stop a politician from lying because it can affect thousands and thousands of people? Should he stop that? Well, yeah, I guess he should. OK. Should he stop some man or woman from thinking something wrong? Well, no, he shouldn't stop them from thinking something wrong, just doing something wrong.

Well, why? Because are you saying that God should allow one kind of evil and not another kind of evil? Thinking evil's OK, but doing evil is not? How do you know thinking evil isn't an evil in itself? That's done in the mind. So why are you saying he should stop here but not there?

What's your criteria? And then they'll say, oh, because of physical harm, because the atheists like to say, oh, that's what's good is what reduces harm. And I'll say, well, can you define for me what reduces harm is? Oh, that's good. So what's good? What reduces harm?

So it's a circle. Well, what justifies that? Nothing, except to say, well, it's what people want. Oh, so now you're telling me that what people want becomes the universal standard of truth?

Is that it? Argumentum et populum? And it goes on and on and on. And the critics, if they will actually sit down and entertain a real conversation for a little bit, will find out very quickly that they don't have a leg to stand on. Now, I'm not saying it's a good thing that this happened. But I will say this. You know, it was an evil. And God permitted it. He permits all kinds of bad things to happen. And he permits all kinds of good things to happen. But we don't have the right to say, this is how far God ought to go.

This is how far we ought to leave and let him go or stop as though they have some universal standard of goodness in their arrogance. Another thing is that when we fell, we fell in Adam. Romans 5.19 talks about this. Through his transgression, we fell. He represented us. Now, there's an odd thing about that representation. Because in it is the typological manifestation of the true representation of Christ to us on the cross. So if Adam represented us and then we died when he died, then is it not the case that we have responsibility the same that he did? Because God said to Adam, tend the garden. And he did. And then he failed. And now the curse is there.

And thorns and thistles and the sweat of the brow and everything else that lives in the world. And yet, we're still told to do that. We're still told to exercise what's called the dominion mandate out of Genesis 1, 26 to 28, to take dominion over the world. But we're to do it equitably and fairly.

All right. So this brings up the issue of what I want to bring up called federal headship of representation. Adam represented us. And we were in him. But it does not stop with him. Because each successive father represents his descendants. And there is a sense of that biblically. And I can give you the verses out of Hebrews 7, 7 through 10, 1 Corinthians 15, 22, Romans 5, 18, et cetera.

He talks about this. But within this is the freedom of responsibility. Or should I say the responsibility of freedom. Because freedom has responsibility with it. And God has made us in his image and whether the believers or the unbelievers want to accept all that goes with it. The fact is, we have the representative quality of the people in us, in our descendants, and also the representative quality of God in our freedom.

How then are we exercising our freedom? How much freedom should God stop in order to satisfy the critics? How much should he say, OK, I'm going to stop here. And maybe he has 1,000 times. And not once has any unbeliever critic said to the true living God, thank you for what you've stopped. Well, they can't. They don't believe in him. They don't trust in him. And they wouldn't know. So in their arrogance, they assume that God only lets bad things happen.

They're foolish in this. And they don't understand that we have freedom. And that freedom brings responsibility. And though we do not always act responsibly with the freedom that we're given by God, we recognize this because we see failures, we see inequities and sin and rebellion and death. We still know that we have that responsibility. As Christians, we know this. And we're to act in a manner that's pleasing God. So one of the reasons I believe that God allows evil to happen is because of our freedom, that he allows us to exercise our freedom, to let that freedom stand and be part of what we are. And in that, there's good and bad that comes. If you want God to intervene so much, you're saying, lessen our freedom.

But this is the problem. The critics want freedom from God. And then they complain to God and about God when things don't go as they think they should. And they don't realize that when Adam and Eve were in the garden, that things got bad after they started thinking such things as, and I'll paraphrase, I'll do what's right in my own eyes. I'll decide what is true.

I'll decide what responsibility I have with my freedom. When our ancient parents, Adam and Eve, acted like atheists, it went bad. You see, atheism does not include God in the realm of explanatory power or of the ultimate reason for our existence or the foundation of morals. What the atheists do is they negate God from all of these. And in that vacuum, what fills that vacuum is pride and arrogance and their own subjective view of morality.

And they will then fill that void with what they think is right and good, homosexuality, LGBTQ, abortion, racism, socialism, communism, all kinds of things that stand against the truth of God and his nature and his revealed. And then when things go bad, they complain to God. And God says, you don't listen to me.

You're getting what you want. You're getting what you deserve in the world that you have made, in the world where you have kicked me out from schools, from politics, from society, from education, from entertainment. In fact, they've insulted God, demeaned God, ridiculed God. And then when the fruit of their poison is manifested in society, they then blame God and complain. And then what they want to do is restrict the rights of others, to take care of the problem that they themselves helped cause. They don't realize that freedom brings responsibility, not restriction. Freedom means that we are to act in a manner that is consistent with the will of God, not to be free, so to speak, to go murder and destroy, but free to be responsible for God. The unbelievers want freedom without God. We want freedom with God. The unbelievers want responsibility without God. The believers want it with God. And only in God can the ultimate truth stand. And only in Him can goodness come. And then when He's at the center of everything, these killings, these inequities don't happen.

But that's what it is. Hey folks, there's the music. Why don't you give me a call? 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. We have four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call. Let's get on the air with Chuck from North Carolina. Chuck, welcome. You're on the air, buddy. What's up, Chuck? OK, thanks, Matt.

Well, Matt, you know, it's kind of more of a comment. When I was a kid, I'm 69, when I was a kid, I used to go duck hunting, walk down. I never thought of bringing my gun to school to shoot somebody or something.

It was insane. I had a.22 rifle, could go out in the woods. Or in the garbage stop, where they dug out the landfill, where they dug out the land. And shoot my.22, and nothing was ever a problem. No way in the world did I ever think of shooting somebody. Yeah, we do know that there were some bad people back then.

You and I are very close to the same age here. But the thing is, the leftists don't realize that they're the ones who, in a secularist worldview, have made things bad. They're the ones who've destroyed this world, our culture and our country. And then they say, see how bad guns are. Well, why weren't guns bad 60, 70 years ago?

They weren't. Now, they had the same rights, the same everything. And all of a sudden, now guns are the problem. No, guns aren't the problem now. It's the people who were the problem. They ignored that, and then they passed more laws to try and restrict the freedom of those who are abiding by those laws. It's insane. The left has about as much brains as a couple of rocks rolling down a hill. Yeah.

Yeah, they do. Yeah, it's insanity. And I remember listening to a pretty good Bible teacher. And he said this 40 years ago.

He said, when the Lord returns, there's going to be mass psychosis on the earth. Maybe. Well, we're certainly. Well, I don't know what to say. Well, who knows? You know, that's not, well, if it's true or not.

I know. I don't know where to start from the Bible. I personally don't, can't, you know, don't, and I've never deducted that from, you know, all the times I've read the Bible, so I just didn't hear enough. Well, the Bible does talk about the conditions that will exist at the time of Christ's return. And, you know, one of the things he asks in Luke 18.8, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly, however, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Now, that's a question. That's Luke 18.8. He's talking about his return. When he comes, when he returns, will he find faith? And literally, in the Greek, it's the faith. That's what it is in the Greek.

You can say it, you can say it without a definite article, and you can say it with a definite article. It's just, will he find faith or will he find the faith? Teintisten, that's what it is in the Greek. Will he find the faith? So we know that there's going to be an apostasy. 2 Thessalonians 2 talks about that. And we know that out of 1 Timothy 4, I believe it is, that things are going to get really bad.

And we also know from Matthew 24, the signs pointing to his return are going to get really bad. It's going to get worse. And they don't realize. They get rid of God, and then things get bad, then they blame God.

It's insane. Yeah, the 1619 Project, what a bunch of foolish, very foolish people. They're just planting the seeds for their own demise. It's self-destruction. Really? Yeah, there's a bit of a leap there, but yeah.

The society is going to be destroyed. Yeah, and that's what they're doing. Well, the 1619 Project says that the anniversary of America began with its arrival of slaves in 1619. And so they just... Rather than 1620, well, actually, rather than the Declaration of Independence. Right, yeah.

Yeah, it's racist. And there's so many things to be able to talk about this, and bitterness. Everybody's been wronged, one way or another. And when people remember wrongs, not suffer to them, their ancestors, and say, this is what the Muslims do. And they say, this is why you owe me, because of what your ancient fathers did to my ancient fathers. What? And then they complain that that doesn't get anything done.

It doesn't help anything. What people need to do is forgive, forget, move on, and abide in truth and love. This is what Jesus taught. But the world is moving away from what he taught. And I suspect that he's removed his hand from our country and other countries. Well, they've basically turned their back on him.

He's removed their hand of protection upon them. And they're going to suffer the consequences. That's what we are doing. That's what's happening here in this country.

The solution is Christians repenting, praying, and standing up, marching, not rioting, but doing everything peacefully, and voting, and doing what they're going to do, because wickedness is in control. Because we believe in love. We don't believe in that stuff. I mean, it's good to protect your family, if you need a firearm or, I don't know, they've got these guys with this, you see on Stevie, I'm so disabled I can't lift a toothpick. I'm just, it's pre-back operations. But anyway, I don't know, some of these guys say you shouldn't even have a gun to protect yourself. You should learn some of this kung fu stuff. Or these tactics, actually, that they teach in the massage, and the seals, and all this. But I'm not going to worry about it.

I can't worry about that too much. Well, I've had Judo, and kung fu, and Krav Maga. So I've got years and years of martial arts experience. But you know why I have to, because of what I do for a living, you know why the Second Amendment was there to provide defense against the government? That's what it was for, to make sure that the government could come in and do what it was doing again. That's why they put it in there, and they debated whether to put it first or second, but they figured they put it second.

And so it's there. And it's not just so that we can have guns because we think they're cool. It's so that we can defend ourselves against the government in its oppressive ways. That's what it was for originally, in that context. OK? Because then they could defend themselves.

Well, because it was just shooting equal weapons, right? But we don't have that. Now it's not so good now. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm glad I'm saved, and I want people to get saved. One thing got me today, you know, and it killed me.

I'll tell you what, I was in Scotland on a ship over there. And I handed a girl a track after I bought Jonathan Edwards' surprising work, you know, on the revival, surprising narrative of their work in New England, something like that. And I'd never heard of him before. But then I was walking out of the store, and she ripped that track in half, and that just killed me. That cut me to my heart, you know?

It did. It just got me, you know. But anyway. Well, I do appreciate calling. Yeah, yeah.

Thanks, man. Just kind of, you know, my thoughts and just how crazy things have gotten, you know. Yes. You know how you used to play as a kid. Yes, I remember. And how it was safe. Not anymore.

Just to be able to go out and play. You're right. Yeah.

Yeah, you're right, Chuck. Awful. Appreciate it. Appreciate it, buddy. OK? Yeah, thanks, man. I'll see you later. All right, man.

God bless. Hey, folks. White Open Lines, if you want to give me a call, 8772072276.

We have to kind of go with the flow of the times here. And there's a break, so I want you to give me a call. We have five open lines. All want to hear from you? 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. Let's get on the line with Rick from High Point, North Carolina. Rick, welcome. You're on the air. Matt Slick.

Rick from High Point again. OK. First thing. OK, hold on. First thing, I listened to your commentary when you first came on, and I listened to you every day. Of course, I disagree with you a lot. But all I got to say concerning that commentary is amen, amen, amen, and hallelujah. You were right on point with everything you said.

This is the first. This is the, let me call him town. This is the problem I have when I listen to you and people talking about Christianity. The problem so many people have with you, the Christian folk, evil master theologians, they might know the Bible and quote it like you can, but you are the only person that I know, number one, that can back up what you say with Christians, with scripture. But number two, you don't know how to apply common sense. 99% of the people I talk to with Christians on your show don't have common sense at all, not in how to apply it with the Bible.

OK. They just don't. Just like the guy that just called, and he was saying, he was trying to, I guess, show this woman something or whatever, and she ripped her up and hurt him to his soul. But that was her right.

Yeah, but it still hurts. Both of us being Christians, you know, we still have a right to disagree. Now, here's my question. When you just screwed me up with the gun plan, you said that the right to burn arms was meant for people to defend themselves against the government. Am I right?

Yep. OK. How were they supposed to defend themselves against the government with a gun? Explain that to me. By doing what they did in the Revolutionary War, by rising up together and resisting the oppressive government that was upon them. And so my research has led me to believe that they retained that right of self-defense and self-protection and the right to develop a militia because they understood the power of government and how oppressive it can become.

And that was the reason they included it. OK. But would you not agree that it would be a better way to resolve stuff like that without violence, so much violence?

Absolutely. If we can resolve it without violence, that's exactly how it's supposed to be. But we have the right, biblically, we have the right as Christians of self-defense. And Luke 22, 36, Jesus said, go buy a sword.

And that was the gun of the time. And so he told people to do that. He didn't say, everybody go do it. He said, look, we have one.

That's enough. So he's not advocating violence, but he certainly is teaching them the right of self-defense. And a lot of people don't realize, Jesus himself was physically violent. Yes, I do. I do know that.

When he went into the temple. That's exactly right. And it was for a. See, that's what.

Go ahead. It's for righteousness sake. Where he went into the religious area and he cleaned house in more ways than one. Cleaned out.

That's right. Cleaned out. And we Christians, particularly the men, need to clean house in the Christian church today. Now I'm not saying go in and push the pulpits over, but they need to stand up for righteousness. And when they get their own house in order, then we can start getting the outhouse in order.

One last thing on now. OK, I'm an independent. I'm not Republican, Democrat.

I'm independent. But now I'm not pro abortion. OK, now I do respect the law. The woman's right.

Just like any other law, the Supreme Court is set. Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying the woman has the right to kill the life in the womb? Hold up. I said I don't respect the right of law. I didn't say I like it.

No, I didn't say you like it. That's just like, oh, wait a minute. No, no, no, no, hold on. You said something. Go ahead.

Now you tackle it. Are you saying it's OK for women to kill the life in their womb, to kill the babies? No. The Bible says, the Bible says, do not murder.

Right. That's what it says. It don't say it.

Just people get it twisted. It doesn't just say do not kill. It don't say that. It says murder.

Killing and murder is to do the same thing. Are you saying, what are you saying with the woman who, are you saying they have the right to do that? They have the right to kill the life in them?

Is that what you're saying? OK, let me say it like this. I respect their right. I didn't say I had the right.

Well, because it is the law, just like the law. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What right? Here we go.

I love the thoughts you made in your house. Go ahead. What right are you saying you respect? The law, Roe v. Wade. OK, so you respect, hold on. So you respect their right to kill the baby in the womb.

That's what you're saying? No. I respect her right to choose to do it. Oh, so you respect her right to choose to kill the baby in the womb. I have to if it's the law. No, you don't if it's the law.

No, you don't if it's the law. OK. OK, well, the law is not supreme. No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no. What about the area of the law, though? Hold on.

OK, go ahead. The law is not supreme. God is supreme.

Whenever a government, whenever a government becomes oppressive, and whenever a government starts to destroy its own people and destroy what it's meant to do to provide for the people, to protect the people, and to provide for the safety of families and the population therein, and when a government turns against that, then we have grounds to redo that government. We do not, as Christians, we do not approve of their promotion of homosexuality and abortion. We do not approve of it, and no Christian should ever approve of a woman's so-called imaginary right to kill the baby within her womb. It's not her right.

OK. OK, now, now, now, listen. I stand corrected, because what I was doing when I made this statement was looking at it from a true legalistic standard, and not the Christian realm. I stand corrected. So let me get this straight.

So you were dismissing the truth of God and using a secular viewpoint as being valid? Well, I guess I have to admit that I'm wrong. Wait a minute.

I got to admit it. I want you to do, after the radio show, after the radio show, I want you to politely and gently walk to the nearest wall and bang your head against the wall several times. OK, just want you to kind of shake that out of you. OK, I want you to just say that. I have no problem doing that. I have no problem doing that. But now, here's the thing, though.

With the law that just passed, and with some of the things they're trying to do, make exceptions for the rule. Write for the mother, write for incest. OK, well, then you're still killing the fetus. You're still killing the child.

And I've written a lot on it, and I've challenged people to public debates on it. And they don't want to tackle it, because they don't have answers to difficult questions. The life in the womb doesn't begin in the womb. It continues in the womb. The sperm and the egg are both alive. They unite.

They continue. There's then a unique genetic formation that lets it become the twin. But at that moment, that's what it is. I ask them, is it human or is it not human?

It's either one or the other. If they say it's not human, I'm going to ask them questions. Then what is it if it's not human?

And they'll say they don't know what it is. They just know it's not human. Then I'm going to ask them other questions like, well, then is it OK to transfer that fertilized egg and put it into the womb of a dog? Because if it's not human, it should be a problem, should it?

Then all of a sudden, well, that's different. Well, why? Because the genetics is not the same as that of the human. Then they say, well, it has to be personhood. What gives that definition the right place? Personhood is what makes someone viable as a human. Because if you have a man who's in a coma, and he's been in a coma, and he's not exercising into the attributes of personhood, self-awareness, awareness of others, communication, love, joy, peace, rational thought, he's not suddenly not human because he's not exercising the attributes of personhood.

Humanity and humanness are different than the mere attributes in the physical sense. And so if they don't know what it is in the womb, they should not be killing it. Furthermore, what happens to that life in the womb that alters its essence from non-human to human?

What is it that occurs that suddenly now it's changed in its nature and essence? Then there's the stupid people who say that the child doesn't have rights until it's born. They say, yeah, even an hour before, you can terminate. And it's just simply that the location is what gives it rights. Who are these people with low IQs who can't argue, who don't think, who are dead in their hearts, whose hearts are full of evil and wickedness that they would kill the innocent life in a womb because it's inconvenient?

Man, I'm telling you. The pro-abortionists are killers. They need to repent. They need to be dealt with. They need to be prayed over and upon. And these women, who are supposed to be the example of sacrifice, of care and nurture, have become the women and the people of death when they serve their own flesh and desire to kill the life in them because it's not human to them. When mothers start acting like this, our society is all the worse for it.

It's horrible. All right, buddy. We're going to go. OK, man? Call back another time.

There's a break. All right. Hey, 4 Upon Lines, give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. OK, everybody, welcome back to the show, 3 Open Lines, 877-207-2276. Let me just say, before we get to the callers, that we stay on the air by your donations if you are considering supporting us. We'd really appreciate that. All you got to do is go to karm.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G forward slash donate. And we ask $5 a month because that helps us create budgets.

What we're trying to do is get 1,000 people who do $5 a month so that we can pay bills, pay the missionaries, and continue in the radio show. And if you like what you hear, praise God. And if you don't, keep listening.

You'll see what happens. All right, let's get on the air with Mike from North Carolina. Mike, welcome. You're on the air, buddy. Hey, Matt, I really don't have a question, just more of a statement from my age.

I'm 75 years old. And I remember a time when you could mail order guns that had these magazines, and you just fill out the little form, send it in. You could get an M1 carbine for $20, an M1 Garand for about $30.

You could mail order pistols, handguns. And I also remember at that time, there was prayers in the school. We opened the school day with prayer. I went to a public school. The Ten Commandments at the entrance to our school were the Ten Commandments, one of which says, thou shalt not murder.

There was Bible reading every day, some passage from the Bible that was read over the intercom. So our society has changed tremendously. And what we did was we flushed God down the toilet and made whatever feels good. And even back then, they talked about violence, that television promoted violence. But I remember the violence that was on TV. The good guy always won. But that's not true today. What we teach is gratuitous violence.

And it gets more and more graphic. And it's not just the TV, but it's the video games. They did a study on these video games and these shooters and found that a lot of these shooters were experts at the video games. And some of them had never been to a shooting range. They learned how to shoot through the video game and could execute from the video game.

They could execute tremendous shots. Well, also, in movies, evil people are the ones who are the heroes now, people who fornicate, who lie, who steal. Those are the ones who are now the heroes. That's another thing. Right. And there's a phrase, I believe it's in Judges, I've got to find it, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

And it's a phrase that is used to describe the decay of the nation of Israel and its morality and how it rebelled against God and breaks apart and becomes oppressed because everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And that's exactly what's happening today. Yep. Right.

And back then, an abortion was illegal. Yep. And you're right. We can just think the secularists, the humanists. We can think the secularists, the humanists, and the atheists for changing our country and for bringing to bear the increase in violence and adultery and divorce and pornography and mass shootings and all of it. You can think the leftists, the secularists, the humanist atheists for it.

Yep. Put the blame where it belongs. But in my lifetime, I have seen enormous changes in this country. And I never thought about it the way I do now until I became a Christian. I became a Christian at a very late age. I was 49 when I became a Christian. I was raised a Catholic.

But as I tell people, I gave it up for Lent and became a born-again Christian when I was 49. Good. I'm glad. Well, good. Somehow God opened my eyes.

Yeah, by his grace. And I'm with you. I'm 65. And I've seen great changes. It used to be that you could say something you didn't like about a politician, and they wouldn't get you canceled or fired from a job. But now if you say something that isn't popular, then the students in colleges and universities rise up to silence you. They don't want you to have free speech. They get rid of your social accounts. They get you off of the air. In fact, I've had it happen to me numerous times here, because I'll say something about COVID, or I'll say something about disinformation, or I don't trust the government.

And all of a sudden, a little while later, I'm not allowed to broadcast on a certain venue. It used to be we were free. But you got to understand, the secularists' idea of freedom is not freedom. It's oppression. And then they call it freedom because they don't want you to freely say what you think, because you might disagree with them. And so therefore, no, we want freedom, freedom for truth, freedom for everything, not what you think is true.

They're hypocrites, liars. Yeah. Yeah. One more thing. I'm Cuban descent, first-generation American.

And I remember when Castro took over, I was in Cuba throughout the 50s before he took over, and then afterwards. But one of the first things he did was he collected everybody's guns. Absolutely. He used to say, yeah, he used to say, armas parque, which means, why do you need guns?

You don't need guns for anything. And so he rounded them all up, and now they're stuck. Yeah. They can't defend themselves.

That's right. Totalitarian regimes don't want an armed citizen, because the armed citizen can then fight back. They want control. That's what the secularists want. They want control in all areas, from freedom of speech to self-defense.

They want control. I've been telling people this for a long time, and I'm not the only one. And if we Christians don't stand up and say, hey, we've had enough of this, start uniting and petitioning and gathering publicly and protesting, we need to do this kind of thing.

And it needs to be done. And no, ladies and gentlemen, don't put your hope in the pre-Trib rapture. Don't do that. No. It's not happening. Sorry, I'm going to step on some toes.

I love you. I think that's done an awful lot of damage. Yes.

Yes, it is. And in many ways, because that's one of the things, before I became a Christian, I used to make fun of. The pre-Trib rapture is something that has done an awful lot of damage to the body of Christ.

Yeah, I believe it has. We need to be out there working and changing society, not putting our hope and escaping out of it. And Jesus says, when Luke 18, 8, when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith? Well, the pre-Tribers are going to say, yeah, because we've all gone. But they don't realize that he says, when he returns, he will take out of his kingdom those that are stumbling. His kingdom is here. People don't realize it, because too many dispensationalist pre-millennialists and pre-Trib rapture people have been teaching this escape mentality.

And we live in America, and we don't have to go through suffering, because we're blessed. And it's coming down around us. It's coming down. And so I've been telling people, wake up. Don't put your hope in that.

Don't do that. And if they didn't, if they realized, we're in this world for real, and then they were to do what Christ said. Go make disciples of all nations. Things would be different.

But the Christian church here in America largely is weak, apathetic, and lazy, largely. There's a lot of good people out there, but yeah. All right? OK, buddy, we got another caller waiting. All right, man, God bless.

Dr. Littlewiggle. All right, so I just want to tell you guys that I'm going to be on Clubhouse tonight in a couple of hours answering questions. That's the plan, anyway. Clubhouse.com, or you go to Club Deck and download it. But also on your phone, Clubhouse. Just look for, just do a search for my name, Matt Slick.

You'll find it. Let's get on the air with Nancy from Virginia. Nancy, welcome.

You are on the air. Hi. I have a question about the, what does it mean, the scriptures, the pearls before swine? OK. Matthew 7, 6.

Do not give what is holy to dogs. Now, dogs was of reference to the Gentiles, to the people outside Israel. Now, you've got to remember, Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15, 24. He wasn't sent to the Gentiles.

A lot of people don't know this, but that's the case. He said he was only sent to Israel. Israel rejected the Messiah. We, the Gentiles, are grafted in. That's part of the divine plan, but covenantally, Jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.

Matthew 15, 24. And so dogs was a term used to describe the Gentiles. You can see that by going to Psalm 22, which is a prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ, where it says, dogs have surrounded me.

A band of evildoers has encompassed me. So what he's saying here in Matthew 7, 6, do not give what is holy to the dogs. To those who are ungodly, and do not throw your pearls before swine. Swine are the unclean animal, and pearls are of great value. Don't give holy things to the dogs.

Don't give it to them. What would be holy? The teaching of truth, for one thing. Because all truth rests in the mind of God. And that which is true is that which conforms with the mind of God. Therefore, truth has a holy value. When Christians give it to the unbelievers, they're throwing pearls before swines.

And what they're doing, when they let the unbelievers rule in politics and education and everything else, because they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing in the world, they're ultimately giving what's holy to the dogs. OK? Wow.

OK. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. God bless. God bless.

Also, folks, we have nobody waiting. I'm going to just finish up this verse, Matthew 7, 6. Do not give what is holy to dogs. Do not throw your pearls before swine.

Or they will trample them under feet and turn and tear you to pieces. What's happening in this culture today is the Christians are being more and more persecuted. It's not taught.

It's not reported in the news. But it's on the rise. And so you have to be careful. There is a concerted, organized effort to undermine the Christian faith. And there are legal battles going on that undermine the Christian faith. The unbelievers will turn and tear you to pieces. This is what Jesus says. Matthew 7, 6. Do not give what is holy to dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine.

Or they will trample them under feet and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7, 6. Don't give what belongs to God to those snarling haters of truth and righteousness, as one commentary says.

The snarling haters of truth and righteousness. They who make that which is bad good and good bad. So now that which is bad is abortion. But now they call it good, killing the life in the womb. And homosexuality and all that goes along with it, that is good. And if you don't agree, you're bad. And Isaiah 5, 20 says, woe to those who call good evil and evil good.

And that's what's happening today. And we Christians have that light. What too many Christians are doing, unfortunately, is taking that light of truth and are hiding it. Because they don't want to be embarrassed. They don't want to be ridiculed. They don't want to be silenced. They don't want to lose their jobs.

They don't want to lose friends. And so they don't speak up. And they go to church and get babysat and coddled and nursed. And the pastors are supposed to equip them for the work of ministry as they send them out into the world and make disciples of all nations. This is what we Christians are called to do.

We're not called to cast our pearls before the swine because they'll come after us. We need to be going, praying for them, and doing what's right before God in our world and in our churches and our lives. Amen to that. May the Lord bless you by his grace. Folks, we'll be back on there tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then. So we'll see you. God bless you. Another program powered by the Truth Network.