Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 8772072276. Hope you like what you hear today. May the Lord bless you and the callers and hearers and all of that. If you want to watch, go to the CARM website on the right-hand side of the homepage.

You will find the link there. You can see me in the studio here doing my thing. There you go.

I painted behind me and tried to make it a little bit more artistic. You can give me your feedback on that if you want. How about that, huh? Okay, four open lines.

All you have to do is dial 8772072276. I want to hear from you. Let's just jump on the air. Get to Alex from Florida.

Alex, welcome. You're on the air. I really want to make a joke right now every time I call it.

Well, you are a joke. People are going to think you're rude, man. You're going to start getting more hate mail. Well, we need some more hate mail, so it's pretty good.

I do love hate mail. That's right. Quick and slick. I got you fast.

Yeah, you got me fast. I know you like tea. Speaking of drinks, have you ever tried rose tea? Rose tea sounds too sissy for me. I like manly tea.

Put kitty litter in there, some yard clippings, and a couple tea leaves. I'm good. Do you like to visit the hospital frequently? Well, when you do this stuff as much as I have, your body just adapts.

Usually there's quick evacuations and issues, but I'm fine. You're an anomaly, man. That's what my wife says while she's rubbing her forehead a lot. I was calling about the term son of man. I've heard some other callers calling about it before, so I'm doing my Bible reading.

I'm in Ezekiel, and it goes Ezekiel 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 1, 6, 1, 7, 1. All those verses, they talk about son of man. What exactly does that mean when he's referring to Ezekiel as the son of man? He's just the son of man, son of a man, and just a title that Ezekiel is that. Jesus is called the son of man, but it's in different context and different reference.

So he says, and you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, et cetera, in Ezekiel 7, 1. What it is is a, well, let me get this. There we go. It's just a phrase. It's all just a phrase that God's using to describe him. But I suspect there's probably something more behind it.

There always is something more. So that's what I would think about my head. Yeah, it kind of popped out to me. All right.

Well, yeah, I was just wondering. But yeah, maybe it's just like you said, it's just kind of a title. He's referring to him as the son of man. Well, you know, son of man, as in mankind.

And it's probably an ancient term used for a designation of an individual, just showing that you're one of the children of humanity, things like that. Okay. Do you have time for one quick question, another one? That was one. There's another one.

Go for it. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Here's another one.

Here's another one. All right. So me and my wife were discussing last night about God being everlasting, his word being everlasting. And we were kind of going back and forth about this. You know, John 1, 1, when it says, in the beginning it was the word, and the word is with God, and the word was God. And the word is talking about the Logos, the word of God. But she's saying about how you have the Bible, the book of God's word. But in John 1, 1, is the reference to the word not only Christ, but is it also to the Bible?

Can I make that distinction, or no? No, the context of John 1, 1 is very clear. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, and the word became flesh. And so when we say that he's the word of God, in that sense we're saying he is God the word. But the phrase is also used of scripture. John 10, 35, if you call them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken. So it's a phrase used of Christ and also the Bible, or the scriptures. You can also go to Acts 4, 31, and begin to speak the word of God with boldness. So it's a reference to the scriptures as well. Okay, and then here's where it gets a little confusing. You know, when you go back and forth and you're saying the Bible is the word of God, but then you can say the Bible, can you say the Bible as a whole had a beginning?

Is that wrong because it is the word of God? Well, yes, the Bible did have a beginning in that the written form of it had to come into existence. So yeah, it had a beginning.

Not a problem. But here's where I'm thinking though, but the Bible, God's word, it's everlasting. So, technically, it was always with him in the beginning even though it wasn't written out.

Did you see where I'm coming from? Yeah, just as your sentence in question you just asked was always with God. Because it was ordained to occur by the foundation of the world in a mind of God who created all things actual out of an infinite realm of potentialities. And so all of those things have actuality or potentiality in the mind of God and are actualized in history. So you can say that the word of God has that quality as well, the scriptures, that they were always in the mind of God but came into our realm of existence in written form 2,000 years ago or so.

Okay, so both me and my wife are saying a true statement. Yeah, it just depends on the context and how it's meant. Jesus is the word of God, the scriptures are the word of God. They have different contexts, different things.

Son of God can mean Christ, who's God the Son, but can also mean angels in Job. So a word and phrases mean what they mean in context. Yeah, it was just interesting because you know how it is late at night, you're with your wife and you're talking to bed and you're just going back and forth and you're tired and it's almost like we're going back and forth, but we're both saying a true statement. This is why I say to people on a regular basis, always define your terms. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you know what, that's probably what I did wrong there. Yeah, okay.

All right, well I appreciate you clearing that up for me. Well, always define your terms. Then use the terms in sentences. Then use scripture and logic to validate or invalidate the sentences.

So terms, scripture, excuse me, terms, sentences, and then scripture and logic. Okay? Yeah, and maybe laying down with your wife in the dark with no Bible up there. Probably isn't the best time for that conversation. Why not? You can have a good time just talking with her about stuff like that. It's not a big deal. You know, it's not a big deal. Yeah, yeah. I think it gets to the point though where we don't have the answers and it's like, hey, let's just revisit it in the morning. I was like, yeah, I'll call Matt.

What do you think about it? There you go. I don't trust, we're not going to go down the Jesus being sprinkled route, but I'll trust you on a lot of other things. I'll tell you what, here's a homework assignment for you.

You find when Jesus says that he had to fulfill righteousness in Matthew 3 about his baptism, that means the Old Testament, find where whatever he was doing was a requirement of being immersed in water. See if you can find it. And when you can't, you can come back to me and say, you're right again. Okay? Okay. All right?

Okay, brother. Yeah, I got you. Just trying to help you out. Just trying to help you out a little. All right? I know. Yeah, no, I get it. It's love. It's your way of showing love. Man, not really.

If I look at it and say, I insult you, I say, wait a minute, I have been insulted. Dang it. All right. Yeah. Okay.

What's the world, man? Yeah. All right? All right, brother.

I appreciate it. Okay, man. Talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Hey, folks. You want to give me a call?

All you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Let's get to Rudolph from Raleigh, North Carolina. Rudolph, welcome.

You're on the air. Yes, sir. Um, what are oneness to the cultists? Cultists? Okay.

What did they believe? Want another answer? I'm playing with you.

Because you've called so much time so far. I'm just giving you a hard time. One is Pentecostals, deny the doctrine of the Trinity. And they say that, there we go. They deny the doctrine of the Trinity and say God is one person.

And they are overly charismatic. They hoop and holler and run around the church. They say you have to be baptized, quote, unquote, in Jesus' name. You can lose your salvation because you keep it by your goodness.

And let's see, what else? Oh, you have to be baptized in Jesus' name in order to be saved. So they deny the doctrine of the Trinity. They say Jesus is one person.

They have problems with the hypostatic union or the incarnation of Christ. They require baptismal regeneration. And the speaking of the charismatic movement of speaking in tongues with, they call it, was it receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Ghost.

That's right. The baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. So you've got to speak in tongues to prove your baptism in the Holy Ghost. And that means that you're a true Christian. And it's a non-Christian cult. Okay. Are they anything like the Trinitarians?

No. They're not Trinitarian. They deny the Trinity.

Okay. So what do Trinitarians believe? Trinitarians believe that God is one being who exists eternally as three simultaneous co-eternal persons. Baptism is not necessary for salvation, not the means of salvation. But we're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So there's differences there quite a bit. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much and God bless you. I'll talk to you later. All right, Rudolph, man, God bless, buddy.

All right. If you want to give me a call, four open lines, 877-207-2276. I'll get to Mike from Greensboro, North Carolina. Mike, welcome. You're on the air.

Hello. I'm just reading my way through the Bible and getting into Leviticus. I noticed some of the commands in Leviticus were pretty much straightforward. And some of them, well, they seem a bit like they would cause a bit of a problem if you were talking to a non-believer. And they would say, well, I should be able to do this because you mix two different kinds of flocks. Because of what? I didn't hear that one. Because of?

Nowadays we mix two different kinds of flocks into one fabric. Oh. Yeah, the answer is that God had certain requirements only for Israel and others for Gentiles.

That's all. So there's a phrase in the Bible, say to the sons of Israel. Let's see if I can find it.

Say to the sons. Let's see if I can find it quickly. I've got an article. I always have trouble finding the article. Where certain things, you know what, there's a break.

You can find it during the break and I'll give you the reference for it and it shows you more documentation. So hold on, okay? Hey, we have four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Everybody welcome back to the show. All right, let's see three open lines, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Mike from Greensboro. Mike, welcome. Hey.

Hey. Yeah, we will be continued. All right, I found the article and what you can do is you can go to CARM and look up why do we follow some Levitical laws and not others. I guess I should have followed it there first. That's all right.

That's okay. So in the left column, I have a table there, speak to the sons of Israel, is a phrase designating instructions only to Israel. And down in there, instructions on bringing in offering to the Lord, atonement, don't eat fat from an ox, sheep or goat, procedures for peace offerings.

It goes on. I have 27 things listed there. And so, you know, make a tassel. You do that, your two laws on cleanliness, an adultery test, confession says. On the right column, it has things that are for everybody. You shall not do the customs of the nations which I shall drag out before you.

And it goes on and there's listings of theirs. Don't uncover the nakedness of various relatives. Don't lie with animals, males, females, homosexuality.

And these are universal. So there's certain ones that are spoken only to Israel and they represent a system of purity for Israel because they were the ones who were supposed to bear the Messiah. And he is to be pure.

So this is representative ultimately of his purity. The Gentiles, however, were not under the same Levitical obligations in many areas, but they were in some, like don't commit adultery, et cetera. That applies to both. But there are certain things, Nazarite vows and laws out of number six.

That only applies to the Jews. Okay? Alright, cool. Thank you. Okay, makes sense?

Yep. Alright, buddy. Alright. Bye-bye. Okay, God bless. Bye.

Alright, if you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Let's get to Alex from Utah. Alex, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt. How are you? I'm fine. How are you? Doing good. I had a question in regards to the verse in Leviticus 19, verse 28.

Okay. My wife and I were watching a video that he did, and he stated that this is the only spot in the Bible that talks about tattoos, but then my wife brought up Revelation 19, 16, and Isaiah 39, 16. And we were wondering, in those two verses, is that figurative speech, or is that literal? Well, the Revelation 19, 16 is figurative, a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords on his thigh. It's the thigh.

How do I say this politely? Well, let's see. The thigh represents the area next to genitalia, and so it's a place of authority, and it's an important place in Judaism. This is why, I forgot where the rule is, but if two men fight and one reaches out for his etc., then there are to be consequences. They represent progeny, authority, headship, kingship, all kinds of stuff, depending on the usage.

So that's why that's there. Now, what was the other one, Isaiah, what? I believe the verse was Isaiah 49, 16, where it says that we are engraving on his hand, because the verse in Leviticus 19, 28 says no marking. I was wondering if that kind of refers to marking.

No, I don't believe so. And we'll go back to Leviticus 19, 28 here in a little bit, but it's Isaiah 49, 16. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. So it looks like what that is is just another metaphor, an expression, to inscribe. So there's that. When it's talked about this in Leviticus 19, 28, you shall not make cuts for your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves.

I am the Lord. Now, this is spoken specifically to the Jews. They are to remain clean. There were tendencies of people who wanted to worship, pray to their dead relatives.

They'd make cuts in their bodies in mourning, M-O-U-R, to mourn, and also to mark permanently in their bodies. And this is done for occult practices in bad ways. And God's saying, don't do that.

And I know Ray, and Ray's correct. It's the only place in the Bible where the tattoo marks issue comes up. This is all that I'm aware of. So we're not to do that. Now, can we then make tattoos for ourselves, or have tattoos? That's up to the individual because it looks like this here is for covenant Israel back then in that context, which doesn't apply now. Okay. All right.

And one more thing if I could ask you. This kind of led to a little bit of a debate between us on whether every time it stays in the Bible, specifying that we're saying that we're engraving on God's hands, or God holds the world in his hands. Is that literal or figurative?

God doesn't have any hands. So it's figurative. Now Jesus does, but of course this is written before then. And so the Bible is full of expressions, and we just need to understand those expressions as being such.

So they can be transliterated or translated into English. You know, for example, in the Hebrews, when God, in the Hebrew, when God clears his nostrils, that's what it says in the Hebrew, but what it means is he's angry. And so we say, and the anger of the Lord. So there's things like that.

And since God, by definition, doesn't have hands, then when he says, I've engravened you on my hands, I'll cover you with my wings, then he's speaking metaphorically in a term for you to understand. Okay? Okay. Thank you very much, and thank you so much for your ministry. Me and my wife love listening to you, and you're a huge blessing to God.

Well, hey, man, praise God. Hey, you know, I'm coming down in a couple weeks to Utah, down there to Provo, to preach. I don't know if you're in the area. Yeah, I was actually, I was going to try and reach out to you about that to see what location you were going to be preaching on in more of a Provo. Yeah, it's City on a Hill Church.

City on a Hill. Okay. All right.

It's on the corner. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay.

Sounds good, man. All right. Okay. Okay.

God bless, Alex. All right. All right.

Four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back after these messages to get to Trey from Winston-Salem. We'll be right back. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show. We have four open lines if you want to give me a call. And all you've got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Trey from Winston-Salem, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, good evening, Matt.

I appreciate you taking my call. Sure. This may be a little controversial.

I don't know. I've run into it in the Christian camp and the Christian circles. I am a pastor of a local church, and my viewpoints often defer with a lot of people in the circle. But I believe that God's people should be bold. I believe that God's people should go out in the name of the Lord.

And, you know, I think God's people, you know, have really today got into mixes and stuff that, you know, it's kind of watered down the power and things of God on them. But my question for you, and the reason for my call is I got sent a video today concerning New Orleans, and the video showed the body armor on soldiers going into resident houses in New Orleans and confiscating their self-defense weapons going door to door to do this. I actually tried to get in touch with the sheriff of New Orleans to find out what was going on, only to learn just in typing in New Orleans on the search page that New Orleans actually has the number one highest ranked murder rate in America. And then I also learned that this sheriff woman, Democrat, had purged out the sheriff department. She just fired four of the top ranked sheriff deputies in her department in just recent months.

It hadn't been, I think it's just been a couple months ago, based on the report that I got off of the internet. So my question, I guess, is how far do people, especially in the Christian camp, you know, do they do this Romans 13 mess that these churches like to portray? I understand Romans 13 is in the Scriptures, but I also understand that the Constitution that we have is for we the people, not we the politicians or we the government. And when I see innocent people, especially wall-abiding people, having their homes brought in by armed military personnel with body armor, it's very concerning to me when I see that in America.

And to be honest, it really ticks me off because I look at this and I say, how would I react if somebody comes in my house like that? And my reaction is probably going to be different than what a lot of these Christians, you know, so-called say, well, render under Caesar and all this. But the Bible says render under Caesar things that are Caesar and unto God the things that are God. You know, and I think a lot of times people like to render under God the things that are, you know, to that to Caesar and that's error, that's not right.

So I was just curious to see what your thoughts may be on this. Sure, I think you need to continue to preach the truth to your congregation and let the door slap them on the rear on the way out if they don't like it. We have the right of self-defense. Luke 22, 36, we have the right to bear arms. Jesus even said to the disciples, do you have a sword?

They said no. He says, go sell your cloak and go buy one. So they bought a sword. We have the right of self-defense. The government has the obligation to enforce the Constitution. Now the Declaration of Independence says that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, the ends, speaking of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, life involves the issue of self-defense. Liberty, we have to have the right of being able to protect ourselves.

Pursuit of happiness, we need to have that right as well. So if a government stands in the way of that, this is in the Declaration of Independence, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem necessary or seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. So if someone came to my home and said, we're taking on your guns, if they have more guns than I do right there at the door, well, I can't stop them, but I'm going to get new ones. I'm not going to leave myself defenseless, particularly for what I do. And when I go out, about, around my town, I'm armed.

I have the right of self-defense, and you'll find in history, you'll find out, I'm sure you've already studied it, that one of the means of oppression that a government will use, or steps to oppression, is the confiscation of its weapons, because if the people don't have their weapons, they can't defend themselves, and they can't say no to an oppressive government. Now, here's something that is necessary for us to understand. The United States government is not to be trusted anymore. I'm saying this publicly, because the DOJ is being weaponized against conservatives.

So is the IRS. I believe, and this is my opinion, that Biden, the Biden family, is absolutely corrupt. Kamala Harris is an incompetent buffoon. And half the, let's just say, I wish I was better with names, because I'm so bad with them, let's just say that most of the men in the Senate and Congress don't have the guts to do what needs to be done. Women are rising up and getting it done. When women start doing what men are supposed to be doing, because men are too afraid to do anything, it's a real shame to men. We are called as men to stand up and fight for righteousness.

It doesn't mean we need to be violent. We need to vote these freaks out of office. And that's what needs to be done.

I agree. It's been my experience in churches. I'm talking good fundamentals, and they boost the Second Amendment and this and all that, but man, it's really hurt me, because when the rubber meets the road, they're nowhere to be found. They have folded like a lounge chair, and they're like, oh, well, that's what Caesar says. And I'm like, what in the world have we been preaching and the world has been going on all these years, and one little thing hits, and it's like the COVID thing.

The COVID thing hits. The altars were closed. They shut the altars down. They closed the church. That should not happen in America.

That's right. You know, when we are there, and fortunately the church that I'm at now and involved with the good craft, the altars stayed open. You know, we refused to shut it down because we knew that in a time of crisis, God is where you turn to.

God is where you go. And that is what needs to happen across America is these people in these churches need to stop bowing down the seeds. They need to put God back on the throne, and they need to start getting some things squared away because it gets so aggravating with me when these pastors in all these churches, they just go around and they're just worried about their little baked beans and their mashed potatoes and riding around on church fuel, it seems like. And it's so aggravating that we have sold out America for ease of creatures of comfort and materialism and a bunch of crap.

You know, and now it's time that the rug is being shaken in America. God is tired of the mess, and he's putting us through some discomfort so he can see exactly what we're made out of. And it really bothers me right now because the camps and stuff that I see going around these churches and stuff, I'm finding out that the church is really not made of a whole lot.

It really bothers me now. It really does because these guys here should be standing up. They should be going out in the name of the Lord. They should be bold. They should be getting some things squared away. And it's a very small percentile that's actually even doing anything. It's very concerned.

It's very concerned. You are right. Man, you are my kind of guy. See, I believe in standing up for truth.

No, I'm serious. Because you and I, we'd be friends, alright? I mean, that's it.

You have to go, okay, you and I are friends. That's it. Done. Settled. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's aggravating.

It is aggravating. Well, what do the Christians do? They're following the blonde haired Caucasian surfer Jesus, dressing a woman's nightgown. They're not following the Lord Jesus Christ.

No, that's following the one who overturned the jumping tables. Go ahead. Man, I'll take it a step further.

I'll tell you this. Most of the churches and all these camps that you'll see do this, the Spirit of God, they talk about the Spirit of God, but most of them haven't really walked in it really, really strong-like. And I'll tell you something, if people get into the Spirit of God like they need to and get in there and let the spiritual aspects of God, because the Holy Ghost is real, the Holy Spirit's real, I believe it's the same, and I'm going to tell you something, if people would just get involved with it and really seek it, they'll get this boldness I'm talking about, because it will change their lives. They'll be in church all their life. Mama and grandpa grew up, and they'll be playing all this stuff, but I'm telling you, if they get a hold of that Holy Spirit and stuff, it'll change them.

It'll change them, because they'll get that boldness, and they're going to know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real, and God will be by their side. And I think so many times they forget that, because they've got so much of a head knowledge without actually having the interaction with God like they need to. And I believe that. I believe that.

But I do. I believe it's time for people in the churches of America today to get off their butts, to start getting out there and start saying, hey, hallelujah, in the name of Jesus, we're going to take America back, we're going to do some things for the glory of God, and all these people that's going around here threatening and all this stuff, their voice is no more than toilet paper, because we've got God. And that's how it should be. That's how it should be. We've got millions of people bowing down to four or five people, so to speak, and the correlation of the numbers, and the people are just so dumb, they don't realize what's going on, or they don't care.

It's very aggravating. Good stuff, brother. You move here to Idaho, we'll get along. All right, man. All right, bro, I'll have to come check you out. All right.

Any time. All right, Trey. All right.

That's my kind of guy. All right. Hey, we'll be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. And if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. D.G., welcome, buddy. Howdy, how are you? Everybody has me on. So everybody, this is D.G.

He goes to my Bible study here on Thursday nights at the house, and he's a great guy and supports us. And I'm tickled that you're calling. Is this your first time calling the show?

Oh, probably the second or third time, but it's been stretched over years. I just try to listen and learn. Well, you're definitely learning, that's for sure. Well, that last caller kind of, he left out some information. Okay, just to let the viewers know, or people, listeners, I should say. I was a cop for 43 years, so I know what I'm talking about. Okay, he talked about New Orleans having the number one murder rate per capita in the country.

That's correct. And he talked about cops with bulletproof vests going in, and taking arms away from people, et cetera, et cetera. He left out a lot of information. I mean, that's a scary thing, and everything you guys said, I agree with probably 99 percent of it.

I mean, I agree, but the problem here, things get worse when you don't have good communication. The communication I'm talking about is, number one, all police officers wear bulletproof vests, and they've done that for, I don't know, since the 70s maybe. Okay, also, maybe those officers had a reason to go into that house, and I would bet money that they had a warrant. And if they have a warrant, then they're doing, at least going through procedures. Now, I realize there could be problems, since the FBI has problems with their warrants, but I won't go there. But the point is, he didn't give any information on those people. He just condemned all police officers wearing bulletproof vests going into houses with guns. And I realize in the future that may happen, but still we have to give pertinent information.

We have to communicate with each other, because when we don't do that communication, there could be more problems. That's true. I do know that during Katrina that the military, was it?

Police officers are going from home to home confiscating weapons from law-abiding citizens. That was a problem. I know that happened. Yeah, and that was probably under a federal regulation, if I'm not wrong.

I don't know, but I'm guessing. And for a long time, New Orleans was under the control of the Justice Department, because they were so corrupt. But I'm sorry, but I get wound up when you start condemning all cops. And most cops are pretty good people, and they try to do a good job, and they don't like a lot of the stuff they have to do sometimes, etc. And information is important.

Absolutely. When I see cops, very often I'll say, Hey, thanks for being cops. I appreciate what you do, and I value it. I don't think you get enough credit.

I think you risk your lives for people, and you do a great job. And I've had so many cops just say, Thank you, thank you. And then I'll say to them, Just remember that when you're chasing me later.

And they get a chuckle out of that. But I do. I say it regularly.

No, you do. And I know you support the police, and it's just where things are going. We've got to tell people what's happening in this world. Oh, yeah. Yes, we do.

It's getting bad. But I don't trust our government. I don't know if you do, but I don't trust the feds. I don't trust the DOJ. I don't trust the IRS. I don't trust Biden. I don't trust Harris.

Pelosi. No, I don't either. I don't trust that Democratic sheriff down there either.

Nope. And if you're a Democrat, I don't trust you. You've got to give the cops a fair shake, and you've got to communicate things properly. I agree.

You are correct. All right. Don't let me go and get some good questions. All right. We'll see you Thursday for the study, okay? I won't make it. I've got a medical procedure happening.

Well, you need prayer or transportation? I can't wait for the next one. It's all taken care of.

No, it's not a biggie. But I'll be there for the one after that. I'm really enjoying Romans.

Okay, good. If people are listening and they can get there, that's a good idea. In fact, why don't you tell them about the Bible study? Just because you go, and are you enjoying it? I'm more than enjoying it.

Before we did Romans, we were doing James. And that got really deep, and that really made me think about things. It touched me in a personal way, so I could, you know, we're always working, I'm being more Christ-like and bringing glory to God, because that's the way we're here. And so, I mean, I'm getting all that. Not to speak of the fellowship, and it's a great group of people. And I really enjoy it.

It's just, I know I'm kind of quiet usually, but it's coming in, and I'm just learning, and I'm learning. And you can always learn, and the Bible is so deep. And I appreciate it. And I don't even mind if we're going to take a year to go through Romans.

Yeah, we're going to take about a year. And I keep telling people that it's going to change their theology, and it's going to affect how they appreciate people's preaching. It's a profound book, and there are depths in there that a lot of people are just not aware of. But that's okay. We're getting through it little by little. Oh, it'll be great.

It's good. It's all good with the Bible. And I appreciate your teaching.

And I even appreciate you repeating like you do. But a good teacher does that. Yeah, it's called inculcation.

That's right. I won't put you on the spot and ask you theology questions. But, you know, so be merciful to you. Okay, brother. Okay, you have a nice day, guy.

Say hi to Nick. Okay, will do. Thanks a lot, DG. God bless.

All right. Hey, we have four open lines. 877-207-2276. Why don't you give me a call? All right, let's get to Derek from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hello?

I hit the button. Go ahead. Are you there? Hello, Matt? Yes, I hear you. Okay. How you doing, sir? Doing all right. Hanging in there, ma'am.

What do you got, buddy? Hey, I was listening to a guy called Dr. Michael Brown. And the other day, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday of last week. But he was saying that in the 1970s, I guess, well, whenever he got saved or whatever, he didn't believe in apostles. But like in the later, well, like in 2000 or something, all of a sudden, he believed, oh, well, there are apostles.

And I said, huh? How could he make that statement? So I guess because the charismatic movement and all this, but when you look in Galatians chapter 1, and then Paul starts talking Corinthians and Acts chapter 1, when Judas had betrayed Christ, then all of a sudden, then the bishopric, when all this started happening around chapter, verse 20, 22, somewhere around there, and they started to elect someone else to go. But one of the criteria that they stated was basically the person had to have seen the risen Christ at the walk of the Lord.

And Paul said, I was born out of due time, but I saw the Lord. But how could that be part of the apostles because they don't meet the criteria? Well, did you know there are seven kinds of apostles in the Bible? There are.

Okay. So there's the 12 apostles and those who are among the actual direct disciples of Christ. Now, Paul was an apostle, but he was not one of the original.

Now, we know that this is interesting because when the disciples said that they needed to replace Judas, they said someone who's been with us from the beginning. Paul was not, yet he was called an apostle. So we know there's 12 apostles, and then we could say that Paul was an apostle and maybe of a different category in that sense. Barnabas was an apostle, but he performed no miracles and did not write scripture. Jesus is called an apostle. There's also false apostles.

Okay. Now, this leaves two more. There's the word or the verb in Greek, apostolo, means to send. There are apostles in the sense of simply being sent. They're messengers.

They perform no miracles at 2 Corinthians 8, 23, for example. As for Titus, he's my partner and fellow worker among you. And that's it.

He's like that. And so there are places in the scriptures where we see people who were just sent. And then we have another category where basically anyone involved, it could be possible that anyone who was involved in Christ's ministry before his death and saw him after his resurrection could be referred to as an apostle.

All right. So are there apostles and prophets today? Now, let's leave the prophets thing aside because that's another discussion. Are there apostles? Certainly not in the 12 apostles context. Certainly not in the Pauline context. Could it be that they're in a Barnabas kind of apostolic?

There's no miracles. They did not write scripture. If we were to say that an apostle is someone who's sent, if we were to say that, and sent by the Lord and commissioned, then we could call him an apostle.

The problem with that, of course, is that it raises too many questions. And Paul did say in 1 Corinthians 9 and 1, Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the risen Lord? The apostolic authority issue, now that's another thing, because the apostles had authority, had to have been with the Lord and seen the Lord.

That's not for today. Now, we hear people who will say, Oh, you know, I'm an apostle of God and I was talking to the Lord and he told me blah, blah, blah. And I always like to see, Oh, he told you, right? He told you now. So how did you react when God told you something? Well, you know, I'm just telling you this stuff now. If God spoke to me, it'll take me days to recover getting off my face. And so I don't buy what they say.

They're too casual. And so are there apostles today? Not in the biblical sense of authority and being sent with the ability to perform certain miraculous things and authority positions in the church over other people.

I don't see that in Scripture today. That's my opinion. Right.

Okay. I think that's what I myself, I agree with what you just said. But you see these people say, Oh, well, I'm an apostle. I'm being and consecrating the person that was an apostle. I mean, like if Jesus didn't do it, how could you do it?

Right. And I want to say to them, show me the scriptural position for your apostolic authority. And if you claim to be an apostle, what goes with it? Now, people have called me an apostle every now and then.

I've gotten that every few years. You're like an apostle, Matt. You defend the faith. You speak authoritatively. You tell us what the truth is. And I say, well, I appreciate that, but I'm not an apostle. I'm just a guy who does this. That's it. Now they want to see I'm obnoxious and irritating. Hey, I'll claim those titles.

No problem. But I'm not going to claim, you know, I'm an apostle. It's into my, in my opinion, it's a self exalting. But if I were to walk into a church, Hey, just call me apostle slick.

It just does not sound good on multiple levels. You know? Right. Yeah.

It's in the, this is happening a lot in the new apostolic reformation church. And they are. Yeah.

And it's a problem. It is. Okay. Yeah.

And I wanted to get your view on it because I was kind of looking at it from the first century church perspective. And they're like, we'll call, but then all these people are saying now, oh, well, we're going to ordain and we're going to consecrate a person to the office of an apostle. Wow. Yeah. I have a problem with that.

And what does it mean? Does it mean they have authority? That means they can teach and preach and do miracles. Can women then be apostles and be preachers and teachers? We've got problems.

They don't ask those questions. We got to go buddy. All right.

There's the time. All right, man. You too. God bless Derek.

Hey folks, we're out of time. May the Lord bless you. And I hope you have a great evening and by his grace, we'll be back on here tomorrow and we'll talk to you then. We'll see you. Bye.