Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Thanks for listening this Truth Network Podcast.

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Well, this is an article, it's more of a table that I've been working on for a long time. A table signifying the difference between the Father and the Son, and also in the Holy Spirit, in personhood and the attributes of, and I've got over 130 verses I've been analyzing in four different categories. So, and then I have to put them into an outline. Anyway, I've been working on this for quite a while, and I'm still working on it, and I did it today for a while, for a couple of hours, and taking so long is because I have a file on oneness, and it is, you know, a file on Calvinism, one on Eastern Orthodoxy, I have one on Roman Catholicism. I have a lot, actually they're outlines, I do outlines, files, they're outlines.

I have one on science, philosophy, the canon, slavery, let's see, the one and the many, baptism, government, Islam, interpretation of the Bible, biblical apologetics, atheism, oneness, trinity. Anyway, so I do these things because I like, you know, I have so much information I have to have at my fingertips. I've learned that doing this with outlines is just the way to go. And so, my outline on oneness is so far just, it's only 24 pages.

So that to me is pretty small, and yeah. So I'm learning, and as I go through this table, which I'm going to be releasing on the tables and charts section on CARM soon, probably by the end of the week, then what I do is I open up my document on the, and word on oneness, and I put my notes in there as I learn stuff. Oh, what about this?

I can say that. And so I'm going to be analyzing in the oneness document, I have 66 verses that I have to go through in scripture to say the oneness use it this way, or I use it this way, 66, so that we're in discussions, I just click on one of them, it goes right to it, I've got it analyzed, look at the Greek, whatever it is, and stuff like that. And you know, you've got to have issues to do what I do.

And boy, do I have issues. All right, we have four open lines if you want to give me a call. 877-207-2276, Rudolph from Raleigh, North Carolina. Rudolph, welcome, you're on the air.

Yes sir, thank you. Are the Lutheran churches okay? Yeah, now there's, like there's Presbyterian, it's like saying that a Presbyterian church is okay. Yeah, with reservations, there's some good Presbyterians, there's some bad ones, there's good Lutherans, there's bad ones. And so I went to a Lutheran college, and I got to study under a guy named Rod Rosenblatt, and Dr. Rod Rosenblatt, one of the top scholars inside of Lutheranism, and a great guy, I learned a lot from him. And you know, I was thinking about this because coincidentally, yesterday I had a discussion with a Lutheran guy last evening, and a very polite conversation.

I don't agree with some of the aspects of Lutheranism, but that's okay. And I said, look, I'm just trying to understand your position better. Maybe we could just talk and you can answer questions.

He goes, yeah, sure. It was really a friendly conversation, very polite, very nice. And so I was taking a lot of notes and trying to figure things out because an issue of baptism with Lutheranism, I still don't understand it.

I'll just tell you right away. This will be a segue into why I'm going to say what I say about Lutheranism. I like, let's put it this way, I like Reformed theology because it's neat and tight, and things make sense. In Lutheranism, things aren't as neat and as tight and don't make as much sense to me. So that's not to say that I'm the judge of what makes sense or not. It's a subjective thing. But I like Reformed theology because it's more precise and a little bit more refined, where Lutheranism, in my opinion, is a little bit blurry.

And I don't mean that negatively. It's just that there are certain aspects of Lutheran theology that I just cannot figure out. Even back when I was in LCMS College, Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, at Concordia University in Irvine, California, back in the late 80s, I took all the classes from Rod Rosenblatt and some other theologians, but I wanted to learn theology. I was preparing to go to seminary.

And so we got to know each other, Rod and I, and I would take him places and take his kids' places and stuff like that. And so I learned a lot. But even then, I just wasn't satisfied with some of the answers.

Communion, for example, and baptism. Does it save? Does it not save? Well, yes, it does kind of. What? That was the kind of thing I would get.

I call them blurry answers. They seemed to make sense of those guys, but they didn't make sense to me. And so I remember talking to Rod about this kind of stuff, and he said, look, you know what? You're better suited to go to Westminster Seminary down in San Diego, which is where I ended up going, because I was thinking about going to a seminary and a Lutheran thing just for a few weeks, but I did not because I needed something more precise. Okay, having said all of that, which I'm really rambling and reminiscing at the same time, I like Lutheranism in some of its aspects.

It is incredibly good and wonderful in the doctrine of grace, God's mercy to us. But I'm reticent to agree with its sacramental system, and it seems to be that the baptism and pronouncement of forgiveness by a Lutheran pastor as well as a Eucharist or the Lord's Supper are actually means of grace, but they don't say they're means of grace the same way the Catholics do, where Catholicism says it's an actual, grace is like a substance that's infused into the soul, paragraph 1999 in the Catechism. And Lutheranism would deny that, but then they start approaching Presbyterianism, from what I understand, and that Presbyterianism would say, yes, baptism and the Lord's Supper are means of grace, but they wouldn't say that God is obligated to perform anything in them, but that they are the means by which grace is a little bit closer to us through God's presence. And this is the fuzzy stuff I don't like in Presbyterianism, in Lutheranism, and other things. So, and I'm a Presbyterian, and so with Lutheranism, are they Christians?

I'd say LCMS is. The ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, I'd be very wary of. The PCA, Presbyterian Church in America, is Christian, but the PCUSA, you've got to be very careful of. I wouldn't say it's Christian.

So you see, there's good and bad in it, and I gave you a long answer to say, yeah, it's pretty good mostly, okay? The only reason I would ask that question is because this morning, I was listening to Erwin Luther, and the person asked him about Luther, when he didn't like Jewish people. He was talking about the Jews, and he was kind of anti-Semitic towards the end of his life because nothing happened during his life. Luther blew it. He absolutely blew it, and Rod Rosenblatt, he talked about this when I went to LCMS college. He says, oh yeah, Luther blew it. So it's not me just getting on him. Yeah, he did, but it still does not take away from the magnificent work that Luther did in moving away from Catholicism, and he did.

It was fantastic. So yeah, he blew it. He made a lot of mistakes, as did Calvin, and for those who think Calvin had Servetus killed, no, he didn't. That's a misnomer of history. People don't understand it, but everybody blows it, and Luther did, but on the other hand, Luther unified the German language with the translation of the Bible into German. He brought back into the light of day the true gospel, where the Lutheran church had buried it under its tradition and its magisterium, and it had buried it. So Luther did a fantastic job.

He did. Okay? Okay.

Yep. Thank you very much. You're welcome very much. All right, Rudolph, God bless.

Buddy, you always like it when you call, so keep calling, man. God bless you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Bye-bye. Okay. He always has good questions.

Four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 8772072276. Chris from North Carolina.

Chris, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, man. How are you? I'm doing all right. Just more hanging in there. Anything else right now? What do you got, man?

Yes, sir. I hear you. I don't know if you remember me.

You get a lot of calls, but my call yesterday, you had like three minutes left, talking about how I would like to be married and experienced how to be a good husband and a good father. I was just, you know, I'm 45 years old, and I've never had a girlfriend. I know that's weird. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. It doesn't sound weird to me at all. No, I'm serious.

It doesn't sound weird to me at all. Okay. No, I'm serious. Yeah. No big deal. Okay.

I appreciate it. No, I'm not joking. I'm not joking at all. I'm not joking at all, you know. I'm dead serious.

If you don't happen to have a girlfriend, okay. So, no big deal. There's reasons for that.

I'm not worried about it. And so what? Okay.

Yes, sir. I appreciate, you know, I understand. Well, you know, I've been in, you know, the ministry all my life, and, you know, there's stuff that's been weighing on me. I don't know if it's because, you know, it's close to middle-aged crisis. I'm 45, so. And, you know, I almost remember I was telling you that my sister was suggesting maybe if I, you know, get into the ministry, because I, you know, I do believe God has a color on my life.

I don't know if it's so much as teaching, but, or preaching, but to, you know, you know, to help Christians to, you know, I don't do the, for them not to do the same mistakes I did, you know, to trust more of the Lord and trust more in His word and, you know, get more involved with Him personally, in a personal life. And, but anyway, I'm sorry, I'm just nervous. That's all right, brother.

Okay. So my sister's like, well, maybe if you get in, you know, answer the call, maybe, you know, you'll get married or get, you know, you got to send your wife. And I was, I don't know if I agree with that, they say, because, you know, it's, I mean, I'm not asking for money or anything.

I just want, you know, to be loved by somebody that, you know, loved me for me. Hold on, brother. We got a break. I got to interrupt you. I'm sorry. You got a break. Hold on, bro. We'll continue after the break. Okay.

Hey, folks. Sorry about that. We have two 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.

Two open lines, 877-207-2276. Chris, you still there, brother? Yes, sir. All right. So, sorry, I didn't want to cut you off, but had to. And so you were saying? That's fine. Yes, sir. That's fine.

You know, I, you know, it's just that I don't, I really don't know the future if I'm supposed to be married. You know, I would love to. I'll tell you what.

I'll tell you what, brother. If you feel a call to go to the ministry, then you forget about the ladies, you forget about everything else, and you obey God. If you feel that you're called from God, then God's calling you.

You need to obey him and not worry about the other stuff. And don't look for a wife because if you're going to follow God and he has ministry for you and he's not blessed you with a wife yet, then there's a reason for it, and it's to prepare you for something later on different. And so the preparation of you in not having a wife is something only you and he will know about and that it'll be, if he's calling you from ministry, it'll be used in that context. And then in that context, if God provides for you a wife as part of your heart's desire, then by God's grace that will be the case. Your object needs to be to glorify God and to serve him and let him take care of all the peripherals in the meantime. If you move into ministry to get a wife, then you shouldn't be in ministry, period.

If that's why you want to go in there to get a woman, then that's the wrong place to be. You go into ministry to serve God and to, as I tell people, to get your back stabbed. Because what you'll do in ministry is you will help people who will injure you and then you can't speak against them because they mean well. They will speak against you sometimes. It's just the nature of ministry.

Not everybody's going to do this, but you have to be willing to suffer the attacks of even those who say they love you. And it might be that having a wife in this situation would hinder you from doing what you need to do and being what you need to be, at least in this present situation. So the goal is for you to serve God.

If you feel there's a call in his life, then you better answer that call and you better look to him and not to anything else and then let him provide and ask him to provide in the process. That's what you've got to do as a man of faith because ministry is tough. The toughest thing in ministry, by the way, is in people, is in situations. The very toughest thing about ministry is dealing with yourself, period.

You've got to deal with your own heart, your own sin, your own lust, your own pride, your own stubbornness. You've got to unearth, dig out of your soul the idiocy, the stupidity, the sin that is there, and you've got to work it out and dig it out while you're serving others. And don't think that just preaching is what ministry is. Preaching is a small aspect of serving God because to serve God means to serve his people. If you love people, great, that's the second commandment, but the first is to love God. You love God, and then the love of God flowing through you will work into the people, and that's what your love has to be because it needs to be other-centered. And if your desire for a woman is so strong that it's not self-centered, I'm not trying to say you're selfish and all that, but it's a big thing, then are you being loving because love is other-centered, God's love of the world he gave.

And if you're going to love God, it's to serve him and serve others. And then if he gives you a wife who will stand with you to serve others, that's what you're going to need because think about this. It could be that you're going to be in ministry for the purpose of doing something if you're going to ministry where you're going to need a special woman to stick by you. You're going to have to have a special woman, and they're out there.

Now I've got one. I've got a special woman. She has put up with me and through things I've done as a Christian apologist, she married me not thinking we'd ever even own a home. She was willing to move wherever and go wherever in order to serve God through me in ministry. And even when, I can tell you all kind of particulars, but even when I had to make a decision on a matter of conscience that was going to cost both of us greatly in ministry, she stood by me and says, you do what you've got to do before God. Now that's a good woman. Now except for her taste in men, you know, and I don't trust her that way because look, she married me.

That's not very good decision-making. But she has got, I'm just telling you, she has got qualities that a lot of women don't have, and a lot of them do, but she has some good qualities that she's willing to stick through the thick and thin no matter what, whether we have or don't have. She's willing to do that while her husband would go into ministry and suffer and watch him suffer. You've got to find a woman who's going to be like that in ministry. You don't just find one on the street corner, you know, walking down this or that or meet her in the store or, hey, she's the third few in the congregation. You've got to find a woman who the God's saying, look, dude, you've got problems, you've got issues, we're going to clean you out, and we need a woman who's going to be able to handle it with us. And so praise God that you're not married now. If God's calling you into ministry, he's going to shape you, he's going to prepare you, and if he has a woman for you, she's going to have to be a special woman.

And if and when you find her, just like Proverbs says, she'll be more valuable than gold. So in the meantime, you've got to trust. And if you keep focusing on the thing of ministry, if you think that's what God's calling you to do, and you turn your eyes to that, you turn your eyes to him, you bend your knees and you start now. May your will be done and not my will be done, Lord.

And you emulate the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you've got to do. Okay? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. And I understand what you think I was, you know, I just want to, you know, to just be with the woman. It's not right.

I mean, it wasn't. I understand. I think you're a God.

If what you're telling me, your attitude, your sensibility, your tone, you suck a godly man who wants to honor God, but yet you have real loneliness issues. I'm not knocking that. I'm just saying, you know, come on. You know, it's good to be here. Yeah, it's okay. That's what kind of makes me, you know, you know, you know, and I thought that it would make me bad because I don't want to think like that, but you know, I'm human and sometimes I do get lonely. I apologize for getting emotional, but I appreciate your work. It's okay, brother. Thank you, man. It's okay, brother. Look, man, if I was there, I'd just give you a hug, man.

And I'd just suffer with you, okay? Let me tell you, it sounds to me like he's prepping you. He's prepping you. Just bend your knee and your heart took him. Let go. See what he does.

Ministry is hard. It's hard, and you've got to learn to trust him, okay? You're going to be fine, man. Yes, sir. Thank you, man.

Thank you. You know, will it be all right, like, in the future if I can call? Of course.

You know, just talk. Okay. Hey, if you're coming out to Idaho, just let me know, all right, man?

You've got a place to stay, okay? Thank you, man. Thanks. All right. All right. You have a blessed day.

You too, brother. God bless. Bye-bye. Okay. Look at that.

Perfect timing. We'll be right back after these messages. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

A lot of stuff there. I'm not sure what you're – so why don't you formulate one question instead of a multiple fractured question, and we'll go with one at a time. Go ahead. Gotcha.

Okay. So I guess the first question is, do you theorize that race doesn't matter after we're glorified? It doesn't matter now. But also after glorified – Right. Yeah, it shouldn't matter now, and there's only one race, the human race. We just have different sizes, shapes, and colors. So – and we're going to be in glorified bodies in the same bodies we died in, but they'll be glorified. And Jesus retained his crucifixion wounds.

They recognized him. So there you go. Okay. Right.

Okay. But is it safe to say that, like, he – like, obviously he's glorified, and he's in a glorified body. So if it doesn't necessarily matter, is it safe to say that he was a Middle Eastern Jew, should we say that he still is? Yeah, he was a Middle Eastern Jew, and I would say he still is in that body type and skin complexion, whatever it was back then. But he wasn't the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nightgown, as he's so often depicted. Right, yeah, because I know a lot of people want to fixate on race and stuff nowadays. I was just curious, because that's just kind of one of those questions that got me thinking.

Yeah, that's a good question. In fact, there's a video I saw once. It was on TV. What would Jesus possibly have looked at – looked like?

And they really went through and did the genetics and the appearance of that time and that place, the best of their ability, descriptions of the Bible. And he's not particularly a good-looking guy. He has darker skin than the standard white guy kind of thing, but not black guy. Just kind of in between, you know, like the Arab kind of a look, a little bit lighter, and had dark, curly hair and a close beard.

That's how they presented him. That's fine, I don't care, you know. But, you know, the Jews today, for the most part, just look pretty standard Caucasian. So I don't know how that works. So I just don't know. All right, well I guess that's all I have, so thank you. Okay, well God bless, brother. All right, you too. Okay. Hey folks, we have three – four open lines, 877-207-2276. Amore from North Carolina.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Amore here, regular caller. Oh, Amore, okay. I'm working.

I don't need much, but as much as I can. But my question to you is, it's been in the news, of course, and my pastor discussed a little bit this Sunday at church about the rubric's weight, and he's saying that, you know, God answered prayers in 50 years since 1973 when this was become a law. So what do you think? Is this good for America? A lot of people have been praying for this, evangelical, Christian ministry, Christian group organizations, loving in Washington. I've been here 30 years, so I see some of this. I'm not sure what your question is.

What's your question now? So my question is, this rubric's weight being reversed, I think God will be pleased with America, don't you think? That's just one of the things. And all rubric's weight did was give the power to the states, because the Constitution, from what I understand, the federal government doesn't have the right to dictate what it did in rubric's weight. It was bad law.

I've listened to lawyers talk about it. It's bad law in that it's not a federally imposed thing. It's supposed to be states how it's supposed to work in the Constitution. The states are the ones that are sovereign. Why, when during Obama's presidency, Wade did not do the same-sex marriage? Well, hold on. Hold on.

One thing at a time. So rubric's weight, it was bad law to begin with, it got repealed because it was bad law, and then the power went to the states and the states decide what they're going to do. The leftists want federalization and they want governmental control over everything. They want to legislate morality and stuff like that.

So is God pleased with America? Of course not, because it's not only that. A lot of them are still allowing the killing of the unborn as just willy-nilly.

Oh, you know, it's inconvenient. Go ahead and kill a child. And plus it's promoting homosexuality and this transgender stuff and redefining marriage, redefining sexuality. And then there's now a movement, people don't know this, but there's a movement for pedophilia to start coming in. And so what's the government going to do about this? I don't know.

Don't have any predictions about that. But they're using the same arguments that the homosexuals did 30, 40 years ago. So people say, oh, no, it's not going to happen.

So is God pleased with America? No. Well, I agree with you. I mean, I can hear your point. But what I'm saying is this.

Well, let's not just let's just consider it a rule versus weight. That's what you say. OK, but reversing things. I know some people will not say that. But thanks to Trump appointing all the Supreme Court judges, blah, blah, blah.

It's a lot of things. But don't you think reversing rule versus weight, even though it goes up to the states, some states will allow. I'm from the south. Maybe I don't know about our state of North Carolina.

It's still allowed right now. But don't you think that's a good start? Well, it's a start.

Yeah. And now what we need to do is get the leftist commie politicians out of office. We need to get the teachers union to start teaching math, science, English, things like that, instead of political agendized, political collect, correct, wokeness crap. We need to start that, too. We need to stop the idea of forcing people in corporations to have to accept homosexuality and go through sensitivity training for this. For a person's sexual behavior. That we've got to be sensitive to their behavior.

It's insane. So there's a lot more going on here than just this one issue. Plus, socialism is bad news. The Bible does not support socialism. And so there's a whole bunch of stuff that America needs to fix. And the only way to fix it is to get biblical. And, of course, the unbelievers don't want that.

I got one of these pictures all the time saying, pray for America, pro-America, which I agree. And I think reversing this rule versus Sweden, even though it's still a long way to go. Yeah, long way to go.

But I think for me, being just merely reversing, and I know we're still going to go to the states, everybody's states still a lot, but I think it's better than just watching for 50 years. Reagan did not do anything about it. Bush did not do anything about it. Obama did not do anything about it. And this has been 50 years. Only Trump, well, a lot of people don't know, it doesn't matter, sorry, but at least he appointed the Supreme Court.

They just look at the audacity, even though they are not terrific. But at least it's a good start. It's a good start. Let's hope it gets better.

Let's hope that this is happening. The fight is just beginning. We don't know if it's just beginning. But I think for 50 years, since 1973, nobody wants to touch it, even the politician, the president, the preacher, doesn't even talk about it. Look, I got you, I got you, I got you. I understand what you're saying. That's ridiculous. You are the one talking about it, though.

I think Bill Clinton doesn't even talk about it. Well, I am absolutely confused. What? I'm not sure what you're getting at. Do you have a question?

What I'm saying is, a lot of people in power, in 50 years, they don't want to touch this rubric. Okay, let me ask you, do you have a question? Do you have a question?

How about that? Well, again, I just questioned you a while ago, going back, and you said, is it good for America, this rubric? It's a good thing you said, but as what you said, it's still a long way because you still go back to this state and every other state. Yeah, but you asked, I just said what it was.

You said, is God pleased with America? No, there's a lot more to be done. Yeah, you said that too.

I heard that. So, yeah. What I will say is, I think it's kind of a little bit good start, that's what I'm saying. It's a good start.

Let's continue. But we need to get these morons out of office. They're morons. They don't like the Constitution.

They don't like America. What? Yes, but you're you on the show. You are doing a great job. I know you have a lot of listeners and you're making a difference. I'll tell you that to be honest with you.

You are making a big difference in your listeners. I don't know. You know, that's a good question actually. I believe so.

I believe so. Because you are there, apologetic. You're confronting.

That's another preacher that always let's just not talk about it. There's the break, buddy. But anyway, you have a blessed day.

Continue what you're doing. God bless you, man. Hey folks, five open lines. 877-207-2276. Give me a call. Five open lines from the Red Pack. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right. Last segment of the hour.

If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. As you guys can tell, I don't have much respect for the people in our government right now, and I don't. I think that they are out for their own interests.

I think that most of them, there's some good ones in there, but I think that for the most part, you can't trust them. They are spending us into oblivion. They're raising taxes. They're causing inflation. Then they send money overseas. The first interest is not America.

They're trying to line their own pockets. This is what I believe. This is my opinion.

Just my opinion. And in my opinion also, America's doomed. We're going to collapse. There's going to be an increase in civility, blackouts, increase in oppression from society and government, and Christianity will become the whipping boy. That's what I believe will happen. That's my opinion.

Am I wrong? I don't know. I hope I'm wrong, but that's what I suspect. And the reason I suspect it is because of what I'm seeing around me. What I'm seeing is an increase in lawlessness, an increase of the people who are only lining their own pockets, a decrease in the respect that people have in the governmental powers to do what the Constitution says. We see societies becoming fractured over things like homosexuality and abortion, things that are highly moral in their topical relevance in society. And yet we have fracturing of people in this. We have the blurring of the lines of sexuality, which means then you won't know what male-female is, which then means that the perverts are going to use this kind of stuff in order to increase their perversion and take advantage of the situation.

So that's going to happen. I believe in the depravity of man. I believe that people are not good by nature but are bad by nature and that they need laws to govern them and good godly laws. And I believe that if left to their own will that most people will do only what's in their own interests. Now, are people in one sense good? Yeah, in another sense they are.

People want to help other people. That's part of us too. So I'm not saying it's all just as bad as it can be. But I am saying it's going to be getting bad. I don't think America is going to make it.

Yeah, I'm a pessimist. Not because I want to be but because I study what the Bible says. And what does the Bible say? Well, you know what? Hey, I'm glad you asked. So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to the Bible and I'm going to read or I'll go through some of the things that the Bible says are what's going to happen at the end times, at the time of Christ and things like this. Now, this is pretty depressing, okay? So I'm going to go through, get my article, Signs of the End Times.

I'm going to read you some of the stuff that the Bible says. Now, I do believe we can push this back. I believe we can make a big difference.

I do. I believe that the Christians, when they're united, they can push back the work of the enemy. And I believe that if Christians don't do that, then the enemy will win. I believe it's up to the Christians. You know what Jesus says in Matthew 16 and 18? The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

You know, I see people, Christians, think about this. Christians walk up to a gate and they run. Look, the gate, it's there. Run away. What are gates? Do they chase you?

They don't chase you. You're knocking down the gates. This is the power that we have in Christ. And what are the Christians doing a lot? I don't know.

I don't want to knock on a gate. Someone might answer it. And so, because I believe that the Christian church has all the power that is invested in them in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that if they were to move, the Christian church move together, that we could change society.

I believe that. But what does the Bible say is going to eventually happen? Unless those days be cut short, no life would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect, those days would be cut short. Matthew 24, 22. Now, there's a lot of stuff that the Bible says that's going to happen towards the end. The presence of false Christs and false prophets.

And you know what? That can certainly occur inside of the governmental system. We have, just look around, we have governments all over the place who are just oppressing their people. Look at China. Common China.

Just oppressive. And they're trying to get into South America. They're trying to buy land and stuff and control America. They're trying to do that and get into the energy reserves here in America. And they're building bases and buying property outside of military bases. They're doing this. And what do our people in our country do?

Well, they got money because they're interested in money. So, because of all this stuff, there's going to be war, the Bible says. And persecution of the faithful is coming. Persecution of the faithful. Now, it's already happening. Now, how bad is it going to get?

Well, we don't know. There's going to be apostasy. And because people are going to not be resting on the strength of God's word, on the truth of who Jesus Christ is, that's why there's going to be apostasy. So, what about you? Let me ask you, what about you?

Are you going to go apostate? So, things are going to happen, and maybe I'm wrong about my interpretations. Just think about that.

You can't trust a guy named Slick on the radio. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm not reading things right.

That's certainly possible. But the Bible does say that there's going to be apostasy. Before the return of Christ, there's going to be apostasy.

It says in 1 Timothy 4 to 1, but the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to the deceitful spirits and doctrines. It doesn't mean everybody. It doesn't mean everyone. Some are going to do this. There's going to be an apostasy. Does it mean every individual?

No, it does not. Now, what about you? Let me ask you. What are you watching for?

What are you looking out for? Are you safe from apostasy? Maybe you might be driving along.

You might be listening to a podcast later. You're like, yeah, I'm safe. I know what the truth is. Well, do you know what the Trinity is and how to defend it? Do you know who the person of Jesus Christ is?

His resurrection. Do you put your faith and your trust in what Jesus did on that cross? Or do you put your faith and trust in what that preacher said about you getting healthy and wealthy? Do you put your faith and your trust about what you can get or what God will do for you?

Your best life now. What's your faith in? Is it that Jesus is supposed to help you? And you know what?

I'm still sick. So maybe Jesus doesn't care about me. Maybe I'll go look someplace else.

Maybe that's it. Maybe you've got financial problems and you've been asking Jesus and he's not solved your problem. He doesn't do it for a lot of people over the world. I've talked to people on a regular basis who are living in Africa, not concentration camps, in refugee camps. I'm serious.

We have a guy that we are in regular contact with. Refugee camps. People who are put there and they have tents that they're living in, little buildings that they're living in, and they're praying for God's deliverance.

And you know what's not common? Except the minimal requirements of what they need to survive is being met. But we in America, you know, we're sitting there going, oh, man, we deserve, we deserve better. Well, what is your hope in?

That's the one I want to get to. Is your hope in the work of Jesus Christ on that cross and his resurrection? Or is it in that plus the kind of money you have in the bank, how much you have, the kind of car you've got, wife, children, a good job? And if God provides for you, you'll continue to believe and support him. If he lets things get too rough, well, I don't know, but have my doubts about God's reality. Where is your hope? Is it in your personal gain, your personal ideas, is it in your personal comfort, or is it in the blood of Christ? Because I'll tell you, if it's in the blood of Christ, you can face the persecution's coming.

You can face what's going on and still survive. You've got to make sure, test yourself to see if you're in the faith. What are you believing in Christ for, or are you? Are you believing in Jesus Christ because of what he did on that cross and his resurrection, that he bore our sin and his body on the cross? Is that what you're trusting in? It doesn't matter what happens to you, whether you're healthy or wealthy or rich or poor.

It doesn't matter here or there or single or married. What is your hope in? Because you have got to put your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it can't be anything else. It's got to be in Jesus. Now, look, it says in the Bible that there are going to be false prophets who are going to arise and deceive many. They'll be false miracle workers, and Jesus says this. Let me go to the verse.

I think it's Matthew 24, 24. Now, I'm going to go there. I'm going to read it.

Now, check this out. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Now, Jesus says there will be false prophets. They're going to show great signs and wonders. So some people are going to be coming where signs and wonders, the miraculous is going to occur.

Now, Jesus also said this, Matthew 7, 22 and 23. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name? In your name cast out demons. In your name perform many miracles. Look, they're prophesying in his name. They're casting demons out. They're performing miracles. And he says, get away from me.

I never knew you. That means false miracles are becoming. People can do miraculous things.

What are you looking at? Well, here's a question. Are you looking at Jesus Christ as crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection? Or are you looking for the miraculous? Are you looking for a guy or a girl down the street at some church or some event and you've got it. There's a healing, therefore.

That person's from God. There's a healing. You see, that's what I'm looking for. That's what I want to see. I want to see the miraculous. I want to see the healings. I want to see the blessings because God loves us. We're a child of God. We need that blessing, the blessing, the blessing. Is that what you're looking for? That God is going to bless you?

Really? How about those Christians that were in concentration camps in World War II or the Christians who were persecuted heavily in North Korea or the Christians who were persecuted in the Middle East in Muslim countries, jailed, starved, beaten. What's their hope then? It's not in the miraculous. It's in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection.

That's what their hope is. They're at less risk of apostasy than many people here in America. Many people in America who say, yeah, health, wealth, and prosperity. Jesus died to sanctify my ego trip, as Robert Shuler says. Or Jesus doesn't want you sick. He doesn't want you poor. Oh, no, you're a child of the King, and you can wear a million dollars in jewelry and get robbed. You can wear a million dollars as a preacher, a million dollars worth of jewelry in the pulpit, a million dollars. Yeah, uh-huh.

What would you do if you were stripped naked and you're living in your car? Where's your faith? You see, the thing is we've got to decide what our faith is in. You have to decide what your faith is in and who it is in. It's either in who or it's in what. It's either in Jesus or it's in what Jesus can do for you, the what, the miracle, the bank account, the job, the spouse, the happiness.

You see, sometimes what God does is he lets you go through a desert time. You don't see him. You don't feel him.

You don't hear him. You go through things that are difficult, and more and more those things that you put your faith and your hope in fall away, and you're left with one thing, your faith and your trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That's pure faith because it's in what he did.

It doesn't matter where you are or what you have or what you don't have. What matters is you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead. Because if that's your faith, then when miracles come from people who point in a different direction, you won't fall for it. And when someone offers you mammon in order to compromise your faith, you won't because it won't be anything but him, and that's what you need. Keep your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in him and nobody else and nothing else. He's the object of your faith and worship.

There is the music. May the Lord bless you by his grace. I'm back on here tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. God bless everybody. Have a great evening.