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.

Today is February 17, 2023. So just to give you a heads up, on Sunday I fly down to LAX and then the next day I go to Israel for two weeks. So I won't be on the air. I won't be on the air live for the next two weeks.

But Charlie Spine, Chuck Spine, he's going to tackle the show. So there you go. It should be fine.

You can just call in and ask questions. And if he doesn't make it one day or whatever, they'll put on an old show. Not a big deal. And when I get back, we'll talk about stuff and what we did and how Israel was. I hope that if any of you get a chance to be able to go that you do because it really is neat. It'll be the second time I've gone in like six or seven years and it really is an enjoyable thing to do. It's great to be able to see the place where Jesus was, go to the garden where he walked.

It's just awesome. There's so many wonderful things to see in Israel and I'm just looking forward to it. We're actually talking about doing another trip to some other countries in a year. So we'll see how that goes as well. That's all you can do is just have fun. Give it a shot. All right. All right.

All right. Now, let's see. I'm going to check because if you want to email me at info.com.org, you have a comment or a question, you can do that.

And then what I'll do is sometimes I read the comments and questions on the air and I enjoy that. We've got nobody waiting right now, so that's what I'm going to look into. Let's see.

Do we have any emails that have come in? Let's see. And let's see if people want to do that. OK. OK. Wow.

All right. Boy, look at this. People ask me quite a bit about the assurance of salvation. If you get some time, can you show it? Can you yourself know you're saved?

Yes, you can. 1 Timothy, excuse me, 1 John 5 13, these things are written so you may know you have eternal life. You can know you have eternal life.

What some people do when they doubt that they have eternal life, it's because they look at their works. If you think in any way that your works, your goodness, your sincerity is what gets you saved or keeps you saved, then no wonder you would probably have problems wondering if you are or are not saved. We are not saved by our goodness. We're not saved by our sincerity. We're saved by what Christ did and our faith in him is what is necessary. If you don't even have a ton of faith, but you just have some average faith, that's OK, because that's what the Lord wants you to understand is that faith is only as good as who you put it in. So you need to put your faith in him.

And even if it's not a whole bunch, it's well placed because of who it's in. And so if you look at your works and you fail because we all do, and you consider that maybe you may not be saved because of whatever condition or situation your heart is in. Well, that's something to talk to people about. I mean, if you're out there pillaging and stealing and doing all kinds of stuff, committing adultery and fornication and just doing bad things all over the place, well, hey, maybe you're not saved. But people struggle.

They struggle against their sins. And we want to understand that when you are struggling, it doesn't mean you're not saved. It just means that you're struggling and it's OK to struggle. I'm not saying you don't have success, don't have victory.

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that a lot of times what happens is we just struggle. We just struggle about what's going on. And it can be difficult sometimes.

That's all. So having said all of that, yes, you can know. You can know if you're saved. One of the best ways, basically, is are you struggling against your sin? Are you trying to be a good Christian and you're failing, but are you trying? Are you confessing Jesus as Lord? Do you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? Romans 10, 9 and 10. Do you do that? If you do, well, God would like to see me like you'd be saved.

As long as you're not believing in the Mormon God or the Roman Catholic gospel, which is no gospel, the Eastern Orthodox gospel, which is also no gospel. All right. So let's see if we've got anything else that has come in. Oh, and by the way, we are encouraging you to go over to to go over to Rumble because on Rumble we're going to be it's like YouTube. And a lot of people are going over there.

Lots of people because they're tired of the censorship that YouTube is doing. So I would suggest, you know, make an account over there and go over, check it out. It doesn't mean you have to go through all the time, but check it out and follow us on Karm.

It really does help a lot. If you want to know the social outreaches that we're making in different venues, you can go to Karm.org forward slash social media. OK, let's see. We'll do this Karm.org forward forward slash social media. I'm going to type in social media and see what happens without doing anything, no hyphens or anything. I'm just typing it in and there it goes right to where you got to go. So just type in a Karm and social media and there's 15 places we're on and a lot of Facebook entries.

Gab and Odyssey and Rumble, Twitter, USA Life, YouTube, Getter, Instagram, Sermon Audio. A lot of stuff going there if you want to check it out. All right, so there you go. All right, all right. So what we're going to do now is I'm going to read some hate mail because it's Friday and I like hate mail.

And hopefully you will enjoy it as well. But if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. All right, let's check this out. OK, that's on predestination.

That's not a hate mail, I'm looking for a hate mail. I mean, whoever Christ, whoever calls the name of the Lord, well, so am I, whoever does. That's right, we believe that. So if you believe that only some are given an opportunity and some aren't, then who are the ones that are given the opportunity? As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed, Acts 13, 48.

So, you know, it's just a lot of stuff like that. A lot of people, what I've found is that when I teach this stuff, a lot of people just don't react well to it. But I show them scripture and many, many, many times over the years, I've had people tell me that they didn't like what I was saying, but they wouldn't check it in scripture. Sure enough, that's what it says. And then they would gradually come to adopt it because that's what the Bible says. All right, let's see, your research on Mormonism is flawed. On example is the section that asks, are Mormon Christian? I know you believe they aren't.

If your research was correct, then that would be true. We do not believe in three gods. Heavenly Father is God.

Jesus is our Savior. I was born and raised in a Baptist church 45 years, and I've only converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the last year. But I also studied for a year before I decided to convert. To be fair, I ask that you please do more research and talk to mainstream members, not fundamentalists. Well, I could tell you that Mormonism is not Christian.

In fact, what I'm going to do is discuss it just a little bit because that's what the email is, you see. So he says they don't believe in three separate gods. Well, maybe he didn't because if you've been raised in Christianity and you convert to Mormonism, you may not know what the Mormon Church actually teaches. So Mormon doctrine by Bruce McConkie says there's many gods. Articles of faith by James Talmage, page 443, says there's a mother goddess. And Mormon doctrine by McConkie says God used to be a man on another planet. And Doctrine and Covenants 130, verse 22, The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's. And let's see, in Joseph Smith, History of the Church, volume 6, page 476, says God the Father had a father. Let's see, after you become a good Mormon, you have the potential of becoming a god. Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, page 345, 347. God resides near a star called Kolob, pearl of great price, pages 34 through 45.

The Trinity is three separate gods. James Talmage, articles of faith, page 35. These are writings from Mormons, Mormon experts.

Okay, this is not what I'm saying, this is what they're saying. God is increasing in knowledge, says Joseph Smith. Journal of Discourses, volume 6, page 120. God has the form of a man, he said that in Journal of Discourses, volume 6, page 3. Elohim is literally the father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed his mission in the flesh.

First presidency in Council of the Twelve, 1916. God the Father, compiled by Gordon Allred, page 150. How about this for Jesus, according to Mormonism?

Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers and we are all born as siblings in heaven to them. That's Mormon doctrine, Bruce McConkie, page 163. Also the Journal of Discourses, volume 6, page 8. Gospel through the ages, page 15. Jesus paid for all of our sins when he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Laurel Rolfing, sharing time. The Atonement, Friend, March 1989, page 39. Jesus' sacrifice was not able to cleanse us from all of our sins.

Murder and repeated adultery are the exceptions. Journal of Discourses, volume 3, 1856, page 247. The Holy Ghost is a male personage. A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, by LeGrand Riches, Salt Lake City, 1956, page 118. Salvation. There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. Doctrine is a salvation.

Volume 1, page 188. One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God. That belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that's needed for salvation. That's Miracles of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kinball, page 206.

Can you imagine that? It's a doctrine of Satan to say that we're saved by the grace of God alone. There's faith in him. It goes on, we accept Christ's atonement by repenting of our sins, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and obeying all the commandments. Gospel Principles Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1979, page 68.

As these sins are the result of individual acts, it is just that forgiveness for them should be conditioned on individual compliance with prescribed requirements. Obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Articles of Faith, by James Talmadge, page 79.

And one more quote. Heaven. There are three levels of heaven.

Celestial, terrestrial, and celestial. Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie, page 348. Now, I just read these, and I get a lot of them from Bill McKeever. Bill McKeever runs Mormonism Research Ministry in Sandy, Utah, mrm.org. And what he's done is gone through, because he does this full-time with Mormonism, he's gone through varying resources. He'll just read Mormon resources, and he'll find a quote.

Hey, that's worth something. And he put it into a file. I actually remember seeing him working on it once when I was there at his house. And he's working on that file, and I said, I covet your file. And so he's published this. Now, a lot of what I read was from him, and a lot of it is from my own research as well. But I'll tell you, I have a document from him. It's over 200 pages long. And he said he doesn't want the credit for it. It's just the research, and he wants others to use it. But I'm just giving him a pat on the back, because he did a lot of good work, and a lot of this documentation is from him.

So that's mrm.org. I'm just giving a plug for Bill. I hope he's listening. And maybe Tammy is too.

I'm waving to you. All right. Maybe they're listening. Maybe they're not.

Who knows? All right. So there you go. That's what Mormonism teaches. The guy says, I need to do more research. Wow.

You see, I have a lot of research on Mormonism. Hey, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned.

Date 7 7 2 0 7 2 2 7 6. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Anthony from Virginia, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. I wanted to ask you a question about Galatians 5 19 through 21, and I wanted to start by just reading the passages in question. So it says, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, cruising, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, is Paul teaching works, righteousness, salvation there? No.

How so? Because he gives a list of things people do and says if you do them, then you won't inherit the kingdom of God. So it seems like he's adding works to salvation there. He says, those are the things that get you damned. So do you say those are the things that not doing them is what gets you saved? Well, he says those who do them won't inherit the kingdom of God, which obviously means they're not going to heaven. I got it.

Yeah, I got it. He says if you do those things, you don't go to heaven. Where's the list of things you have to do to go to heaven? Well, you can't do those things is the point.

It's based on your own behavior and actions. Hold on. You asked, is he teaching works, righteousness? I'm trying to get you to focus on what he's saying here. I'm playing logic with you.

I want you to think. He said, these are the things that he says will keep you out of heaven. All right, so that's what the negative is. Then you said works, righteousness, which is doing works to get you into heaven. So, where's the list of the things you've got to do to get into heaven? This is what you think here is a list of things that keep you from heaven. So, what are the things you have to do to get yourself into heaven? Well, it doesn't say that here. But the point is that our behavior impacts whether we get into heaven or not. And that's the classical definition of works, righteousness, and salvation.

Okay, you're not hearing me. So, let me ask you some questions here. Do you believe you have to be good in order to go to heaven?

Yeah, you can't do these things. They seem to be bad things. Okay, I just asked. Do you have to be good to go to heaven? It's a simple question. You say yes.

Okay. What good things do you have to do to keep yourself right with the infinitely holy God? Well, being good means not doing evil things. No, no, no.

Stop, stop, stop, stop. What do you have to do that's good? Okay. Not doing a bad thing is just not doing something. What do you have to do that's good to get yourself right with God? What positive things do you have to do?

What is it? I guess like love your neighbor and love your God. Love God, love your neighbor, things like that. Okay. So, things like that.

Is there any more? Obey the commandments. Okay. Obey the Ten Commandments.

Okay, we'll stop there. Are you obeying the Ten Commandments? Maybe, maybe not. Is it either the case that you are or is it the case that you're not? Are you doing that? Maybe not. Let's just go with no. No. So, you're damned, aren't you, by your own words? Maybe. Not maybe.

If you say by your words you have to keep the Ten Commandments to be saved and you say you're not keeping them, then by your own words you're damned. Right. Yeah. So, you're lost. That's what Jesus taught. Okay, yeah.

Where did Jesus, excuse me, we're going one thing at a time. You have to learn how to focus. You don't know how to focus.

You don't have to work through things one thing at a time. You're actually not answering my question, which is kind of concerning. Okay. I'm trying to teach you in your ignorance.

Well, you're not answering my question. Okay, I have to put him on hold because he is not willing to be taught and to be guided. Okay, so I'm going to give him a chance to cool down and let's try it again, Anthony. All I have to do is click a button and you're silenced. So, are you going to cooperate or are you going to be difficult? Sure.

Yeah, if you want to play games and mislead your audience, go ahead. Okay, Anthony, you're getting angry. That's not the fruit of the Spirit.

If you're supposed to love God and love your neighbor and you're so angry like that, then that's another way you're damned by your own words. I'm not angry. I'm just pointing out what you're doing. You're playing games. You're not answering the question.

Would you stop? I'm not playing games. Please don't accuse me of sin. That's another false thing you're doing. Okay, if you're going to live by the law, then you need to live by the law. I'm showing you that your understanding of the text is fallacious.

You think that Paul is telling you the things you have to do there in order to be good or to go to heaven. That's not what it says. I'm going to try and – I'll just tell you this. You're not able, at least right now, to think critically and clearly on this.

I'm trying to patiently show you. You agree, though, we can't – you agree we can't do those things or we don't go to heaven, though, right? I didn't say that, did I? Well, that's what Paul is saying. Is that what Paul is saying? Well, is he talking about the Christians here? Is he? Whoever.

Oh, it's whoever. All right, so are the Christians the one involved in pornography, impurity, sensuality, and idolatry, and sorcery, and enmities, and strife, and jealousy, and their outbursts of anger, and constant disputes, and dissensions, and factions, and envying, and drunkenness, and carousing? Is that what the Christians are doing? I've seen Christians do all of those things, yeah. A lot of Christians, yeah. So is this what Christians do? Some of them, yeah. Okay, so some Christians do this, would you say that those are real Christians then?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I can't look into their hearts, but they claim to be. So Christians can't do these things, right? Is that what you're saying? You say you can't look into their hearts, but then you accuse me of my heart. You say I'm playing games.

Don't be inconsistent now. Are you arguing true Christians can do these things? So what I'm trying to do is tell you that these are the issues and the deeds of the flesh, which are things that are practiced by the ungodly and the unsaved.

That's what's going on here. So true Christians don't do these things, right? They don't abide in these things.

They don't work in these things because they're changed. You don't know about that because you're not a Christian. All right, so people who do these things are going to hell. Calm down. I just want you to agree to that.

Calm down, Anthony, okay? So I'm just saying you don't understand what's going on because we've talked before, and you're not a believer. You're a false convert. You don't believe in true Christians. But now you're the one lying because I am a believer. You're the one who's... Okay, hold on.

So all I have to do is hit silence on you. Now you start calling me a liar. Now you're attacking my person and my motives. Well, you attack me first. Would you please just calm down, okay?

Okay, please do not call me a non-believer then. All right, let's be respectful. I'm trying to work with you.

You keep having outbursts of anger and disputes and dissensions. I'm asking you not to attack me, please. Would you please stop being so rude? I'm trying to work with you with what you say by your standard. You're the one who's showing outbursts of anger, disputes, and dissensions. I'm not angry. I'm just asking you to stop attacking me as a non-believer. You're a non-believer.

You're not a true Christian. Okay, so now you're the one attacking me. I think you're the one who's lying to your audience every day.

I could say that, but... Hey, hey, hey. Stop, stop, stop, stop whining. Stop whining, okay?

Stop whining. Maybe you could do me a favor really quick. Could you look behind you? Wherever you are, could you look behind you?

Just, you know... Playing games again, Matt? Playing games again? Could you look behind you and then look down? Avoiding the question, Matt?

Can you look behind you, look down, and see if your diapers are filled? Yeah, we'll move on. That such is the case with those who don't have the Spirit of God, and they don't want to talk. They get angry.

They're full of accusations. All right, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. Welcome back to the show. I just want to give a heads up here to Mr. Kitt for a $5.00 rent on Rumble.

Cigar head, $5.00 rent on Rumble, and Jesus Freak 48, $5.00 rent. So, please, you know, thanks. Praise God. You know, it helps us support the ministry. We do appreciate that. So, there you go. All right.

Now, let's get to the next longest waiting person is Buskman from Dayton, Ohio. Welcome. You're on the air. Once again, Matt, always wonderful to talk to you, sir. Hey, I'll try to make it quick, and I'll take your answer off the air so that you can get some other callers in.

Brother, Sue Epperson's commercial just come on during your show. I want your take on what's going on in Asbury, but get this, Matt. My brother Mark, I'm riding on 70 East right now as I'm talking to you on the phone here in the Dayton area.

We are headed to Cedarville University right now, Matt, because they're reporting the same activities happening at Cedarville University. So, your brother, Mark, and me, Buskman, your brother, are headed to see what's going on, and we just want your take on Matt's take on what's going on in Asbury, and I would love to hear your words off the air, Matt. So, thank you, brother, God bless, and I'll call you back and give you a report on another show, brother.

Sounds good. I want to hang up so we can listen to you on the radio in our car. Love you, Matt. Thanks for your show. Bye-bye. Thanks a lot. All right.

All right. That's interesting. Something else is happening. I'm hoping it's true. I don't know if it is. I don't know if it's not.

I can't sit here not having been there, not having interviewed anybody, not having seen anything. I can't say it's true or it's not true. I certainly believe that God, the Holy Spirit, can work things in miraculous ways and bring people to repentance, and what he said and others have said and have heard is they're coming to repentance, confessing their sins, people getting saved.

Hey, I'm not going to complain about that. If that's what's happening, then praise God. It's exactly what we need in this country, and I hope it spreads, and I hope it spreads through all this country because that's what we need. I hope it's a real revival, but we'll find out. We'll find out what the fruit is of it, but here's something to think about. We know that for people like Todd Bentley, who's a heretic or could go down in there, there are going to be false teachers weaving themselves into this, trying to participate and maybe elevate themselves in it. This is some of the things that got to work, we've got to be careful of, and hopefully the Holy Spirit, if this is real, and I hope it is, will work through and expose these false teachers for who they are because the truth of Christ is worked by the ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit.

You know what? I'm hoping it's real. I don't know if it is.

I don't know if it's not. I can't say, and so we'll see. And for those of you who are in the area of either one, like what he just said, going down to, I forget the name of the place, Clayton, I think it was, at any rate, if it's going to go, take film, take pictures, you know, and see and upload it to the web.

Let's just see what's happening. Now, I can't go there because I'm going to Israel in a couple of days, and that'll be gone for two weeks. And I would love to maybe fly out to one of those places and just kind of check things out. But by then, I'm sure everybody else is going there. It'll be a tough thing to get to. But maybe someone who lives 100 miles away from there could fly in and we could stay at their place and then drive in and go check it out.

You never know. It'd be fun to go to Kentucky and go to another place if it's happening. I hope it is real. I hope it is what we need. I mean, I hope it is a movement of the Lord, of revival. And I need to write an article on revival. Maybe I will tomorrow because I've actually got some notes on it.

Been thinking about it. We've been talking about it, some guys and I, and what we need to look for in a revival is repentance, confession, elevation of Christ, repentance, things like this. This is the work of God, and we certainly need it. May it spread. I don't want it to be an emotionalism thing where a tidal wave of emotions sweeps through the land and then it becomes nothing but spiritual debris.

Don't want that to happen. We want the truth of who God is, and may the Lord be glorified in it. So keep praying for revival in this country. I prayed for it periodically, need to pray for it more. I've asked God many times, please send your spirit upon this nation. Raise up Christians. Raise up Christians.

Convert the politicians to the truth and get our country back. That's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping it does work. I'm hoping it is from God. So there you go.

That's what I know, which isn't a whole bunch right now. Let's get to Earlene from North Carolina. Earlene, welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, this is Earlene, but I'm actually from Richmond, Virginia. Oh, okay. All right.

So what do you got? Hey, Matt. How are you? How are you doing, Matt? Good.

I'm doing okay, by God's grace. Good. Good.

Good. My question is, what scriptures in the Bible states that a woman cannot be a preacher? You go to 1 Timothy 5.17, to lay the foundation here, and it says this. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. So now we can see that elders include preachers and teachers. So those who preach and teach are by definition elders, okay? When you go to 1 Timothy 2.12, Paul says, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but remain quiet.

For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve. Now that's in 1 Timothy 2.12 and 13. The very next chapter, Paul says that an overseer, an episcopas, must be the husband of one wife. Deacons must be men of- Is that 1 Timothy 3? 1 Timothy 3. You said the next two.

Okay. Yeah, the very next, yeah, that's right. And then what Paul does in verse 15 of 1 Timothy 3, he says, he's giving instructions on how we're to conduct ourself in the household of God. So he's giving specific instructions on how we're to behave in the household of God. So women are not to teach or exercise authority over men in the church. There's a theological reason for this.

It's based in the created order of God himself. Finally, Titus chapter 1, starting at verse 5, it says, for this reason I left you in Crete that you would appoint, or order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, elders. So remember, the preacher is an elder. And it says, if a man is above reproach, the husband of one wife. So that's in Greek, a husband of one wife, a man of one woman.

A woman cannot fit this. This is the instruction of Paul the apostle. So that's why women are not to be pastors and elders. Okay? Okay. Okay.

One more question. Since they can't be pastors, does that mean women can only teach? They're not to teach or exercise authority over men in that church context. They can teach women, they can teach children, they can do all that, but it's not to be over men in the church. Okay? Okay. So they're not to be in the pulpit. Then that's my question. They're not to be in the pulpit preaching and teaching.

They're not to do that or not to be elders. And I'll say to anybody who's listening, just to let you know, I'd be glad to have a public formal debate with you on this out of the word of God. Okay. Okay. All right. I appreciate that very much. Thank you so much. You're welcome so much. God bless.

All right. Now let's get to Ryan from Pennsylvania. Ryan, welcome. You're on the air. Hello?

Hello? If I don't think I hear anything, let's give a few more seconds. And what about women praying aloud in church, in the chat room? I don't have any problem with women praying aloud. As long as she doesn't turn the prayer into an opportunity to teach and exercise authority as some people have done. I've heard prayers where people get up and they'll, instead of just saying, Lord, please bless us, they'll say, and as you said in your word, it'll give a two minute dissertation on teaching, you know, in a prayer.

They use it as a cover to do what they're not supposed to be doing. Let's get to Dave from California. Dave, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt. Hold on.

Let me turn this all the way down so there's more. I have a question about Moses and the first five books of the Bible. I don't understand how Moses, how did he get all of that content? I mean, I'm wondering how, what's the span of how many years from Adam and Eve to, or from creation to the last book, or to when Moses started writing.

It's a long time. And he was raised, you know, he was a baby and then raised by Egyptians. So I'm just wondering where he got all that content, so that's my question.

All right. Having been raised in the Egyptians, it may very well have been the case that he had access to other writings and ancient things from them as well, that they may have collected from other cultures. That's one possibility. There are people traveling from all over the Mediterranean area and they would go to Egypt because it was the economic military capital of the area at that time. So it would make sense for 40 years, he studied, that's a possibility. Then he was in the desert for 40 years. And a lot of the people out there knew the stories of their ancestors and they could have conveyed those to him because he was there with them for 40 years.

And he spent time with the Lord and the Lord and the Holy Spirit could work to convey what those true stories are and he compiled them. So hold on, I'll be right back. After these messages, ladies and gentlemen, please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I just want to let you know that we stay on the air by your support. Would you please consider supporting us?

All you got to do is go to karm.org forward slash donate. We ask $5 a month, not very much, and it does help. But if we get a thousand people doing that, we can actually do pretty well. Maybe even give our missionaries a bit of a raise. They haven't had one in a few years, neither have I, but rather them get it.

And so by God's grace, maybe that'll happen. Who knows? You know?

So anyway, karm.org forward slash donate. Let's get back on here with Dave from California. Dave, did that help enough?

That was helpful, Matt. But I do have a bit of an issue with him being raised by Egyptians, which the Egyptians hated the Jews, Israelites. And so I don't see how any of that, any history of Jewish history would even be allowed for him to read or learn about. So I don't think that he would get it from there. I don't know, obviously, but I don't see how he'd get it from the Egyptians, even though everybody, it's like a Mecca there, everybody's coming in and bringing information in.

So maybe he scooped it up from around town or something. I don't know, but then for sure... He's among the Jews. He's among the Jews. Do you think you would have heard things from the Jews? Maybe some Jews taught him, maybe the Spirit of God was working on him before.

Who knows? We just can't say what would or wouldn't have happened. And just offering some of the theories, because he did have a lot of information or access to it from the Egyptians. It sounds to me like he would have kept records of what happened with the Jews beforehand.

And maybe they had a section where this is what the Jews have said is the beginning of the world. Who knows? Maybe he read about it and then he's out in the desert for the next 40 years and he says, this is what I've heard, and they say, yeah, that's the case. You just don't know.

It could be all kinds of stuff. And the thing that I can rest on very easily is that if, you know, with God, anything's possible. So if God just gave him all that information at once or over a year or whatever on his own, he wouldn't need to learn from anybody else. I mean, because, you know, scriptures, God breathed, right?

Yes. Paul the apostle spent three years in Arabia being taught of the Lord after his conversion. So what God does is, the things that are instantaneous with us is justification and our awareness of Christ and things like that. But he tends to shape us over many, many years using real events, real people, and time to shape us to get us where he wants us to be.

He could give this to us instantly, but he chooses not to. The same thing with Moses. I mean, my favorite definition of Moses is, he took 40 years learning he was somebody, 40 years learning he was nobody, and 40 years being used as nobody. It's 120 years there, three sets of 40, and it's how God shaped him to be used. 80 years, 80 years before he was used. He was in his 80s when he started doing this stuff with Moses, you know.

So there's a lot of stuff, he's old, so God takes his time with us and teaches different ways. Okay. All right, well, thank you. Okay. Well, God bless. All right. God bless. Okay. Let's see.

Let's get to Cole from Missouri. Hey, how you doing, Matt? Doing all right. Hanging in there.

Got a lot of background noise, but what do you got? I got a, I'm driving. Okay. Can you hear me?

Just barely enough. Yes. What's your question? Go ahead.

When Jesus was talking about the unrighteous lamb and the guy making friends so he can make eternal friends with that righteous lamb, I don't know exactly what it looks like. What about me? I don't understand that. Okay. Let me explain it.

Okay. So the unrighteous steward, I'll give you the short version of it. The unrighteous steward was stealing from his landowner. The landowner found out about it and said, give an account of what's going on.

The unrighteous steward, then what he does is he connives. He says, how much do you, you know, you owe the landowner, the guy goes, you know, a thousand dollars. Okay. Write your check for 500. How much do you owe? You know, 10,000. Okay.

Write it for 3000. This kind of thing is what he does. And the reason he does this is because when he's let go from his position, then what's going to happen is he's going to be found to be in favor with the people that he arranged to deal with. And so therefore they'll receive him into their home and this is eternal dwellings because Jesus references it.

I'm giving it very quickly here. And he says the people of this world are more sly than the people of the, the unbelievers are more sly than the people of the faith because they're making sure they're in. So here's the thing. Part of what people don't know about this is that the landowner is a good man and in the culture, his reputation was paramount. And the way it worked is that a steward understood that what he did, the tenants would think that what the steward is doing is representing the wish and the desire of the landowner. So by going and saying, reduce your bill, the landowner didn't say it, but the guy's doing it so that the people in the land will think it's the landowner who's doing this and they're going to celebrate how great the landowner is. They're going to have all kinds of parties.

It's going to be great because they're going to just love talking about the landowner. In that culture, the reputation of a man was very, very important. So it would not be the case that he would then say, give me all the money. He lied.

I want all my money. Then his, he just looks even worse as people came off their high of celebration of being excuse me, a lot of their debts, how great this guy is to suddenly he's a penny miser. And so his reputation would have been tanked. The landowner knew this, the landowner was counting on the goodness, excuse me, the steward was counting on the goodness of the landowner and the landowner knew it. That's why the landowner praised him for being smart. That's when Jesus says, and his master praised him righteous manager because he had acted shrewdly for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind in the sons of light. I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. What he's saying is you have got to get this right. Even if you do things that aren't that ethical to get into heaven, it's worth it for you. That's what he's saying.

This is how important it is to get into heaven and not go to hell. And that's what's going on there. Okay. That's a short version.

Oh yeah. And that sounds good too, but I was wondering what, I know he says the unrighteous mammon and it'll be good for you to use it wisely so you can get into heaven. I was wondering if that meant like people that got, kind of like the kids, they got the money, use it to help the ministries and it'll stick well with you in the judgment.

No, no, no, no, no. That's not what this is about. This is about the issue of eternal life. That's what he said at the end of it.

I thought that's what he said. He said you'd be shrewd like that guy that he was making an example of, I don't know. It's about eternal life. He says that you'll receive you into eternal dwellings.

What Jesus is doing is illustrating the importance of going to heaven and you want to make sure you get there. The unrighteous steward is not a story praising unrighteousness. It's a story praising the shrewdness to make sure that you are taken care of in the future.

That's how important it is. That's what the parable is about. Also, so the unrighteous mammon, the unrighteous mammon is shrewdness, because that's what he says. He says, use the unrighteous mammon to sort of set up your, he'll be received in eternal. At the end he says that. He says, be wise with the unrighteous mammon. And I thought that's what he was saying to us as believers. He's not saying to the believers that you can get into heaven by money, because mammon is money. He's not saying that.

He's saying, look how slick this guy was, excuse the pun of my own name, but look how slick he was in order to get in, to be taken care of later on. He goes, that's smart. How much smarter should you be about eternal dwellings?

That's the point that Jesus is making. Oh, in your decisions, in every decision. Okay, yes. Okay. Okay. All right.

That makes sense. Thank you. You're welcome. All right, man.

God bless. All right. Bye. Okay. All right. Now, let's get on with Matt from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, man.

How are you? I just wanted to comment on the guy that called earlier, was trying to, he was talking about the works of righteousness. And when Jesus was talking to the rich young ruler, and he said, you know the commandments, love God, and love your neighbor, and he is referring, the rich young ruler was a young Jewish guy that they were under the Mosaic law. So he was basically telling him, you know what to do under the old covenant.

That was before he went to the cross. Okay. Are you teaching or asking, what are you doing here? Do you have a question?

Do you have a question about this or what? I was just, well it was a comment on the guy that called earlier about the works of righteousness. This guy has called up before, he's not a believer, he denies the Trinity, he denies who Christ is. He just denies.

Yeah, I listen to your show all the time, and this is about the fourth or fifth time he's called. It's like, Jesus was dealing with a totally different covenant before he went to the cross. So that's why he told the guy, keep the commandments.

But after I go to the cross, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, okay. The reason he told him is because of what the man asked, and it was, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus is answering him according to his question. This man thinks that he can do good to get to eternal life. Love God, love your neighbor, he says don't commit adultery, do all this stuff. Are you doing this?

Yes, I am. The man's arrogant. And Jesus is now going to expose his pride, say okay, now you lack this, you know, sell everything.

Okay. So here's the thing, a lot of people forget. The standard of righteousness is not ourselves, it's Jesus. So Jesus is the only one who's kept the commandments perfectly. What people do is they want to keep the commandments according to their own heart, their own understanding. Well, I didn't do it perfectly, but God will understand. So they are reducing God's holiness and requirements to their own level, and then holding God responsible and saying, see how I can be saved by my works?

And it's foolishness, it's arrogance, it's Islamic theology, it's Roman Catholicism. What Jesus is doing in Luke 18, with the rich young ruler, Luke 18, 18 and following, is he's referring to him on his own level and showing him he can't keep it, which is exactly what I was doing with that other guy. He's not keeping the law. He does not keep it his own standard. He's damning himself by his own words.

I was simply doing what Jesus was doing. That's all. Right. Yeah. That's all.

Yeah. Angry Anthony. That's right, Mel.

Angry Anthony. That's right. Okay, brother? All right, brother.

God bless you, and have a safe trip over in Israel. Hey, thanks. I appreciate it. Appreciate it a lot. All right. We only have like 30 seconds left on the show. Sorry, Mark, from Raleigh, North Carolina, you're going to have to call back on Monday.

We will be on, or Charlie will be on here. I'm going to Israel over the weekend, heading out there, be back in a couple of weeks, and by God's grace, Mel, to tell you about the trip and everything, and please pray for me and for the others of us who are going as well. I hope one day that you'll be able to go. Pray for this country, and hopefully there's revival moving. Hopefully there's a revival that has begun, and it's spreading to people, and hopefully the Holy Spirit is doing his work in this world.

We certainly need it here in America. There are a lot of Christians who love the Lord who are praying, and perhaps God has heard us, and perhaps God is answering. Let's hope that is the case. May the Lord bless you. I hope you have a great weekend, and by his grace, I'll be back in about two and a half weeks, and Charlie will be taking over the show for two weeks. God bless him. God bless you. We'll talk to you all. God bless. Bye. Powered by the Truth Network.