Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network.

Today is September 7th, 2023. If you want to give me a call, all you've got to do is dial 8772072276. We're having problems with the clubhouse, club deck thing. We feed the show to that platform.

They did an upgrade yesterday and messed everything up, and now we can't get in at all. At least I can't. If you are interested, you want to join in, there's two ways to do this. One of them is to go to the Discord server. You can also just go to rumble.com forward slash mattslicklive.

That's the easiest way. You can get in there and you can watch and participate with the chatters and stuff like that. All right, hold on a minute. Yawn. Sorry about that.

I had a good yawn. So there's that, and hopefully everything's working fine. I'll check some stuff. Something's up. We had a little technical difficulty.

Let me make sure I got everything right here. Oh, that's why. Oh, man. Because I got so much to do. All of a sudden, one little bit, I messed up on that.

All right, now I should build it here and everything. Okay, like I said, if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. And if you're new to this show, you're not sure what this show's about, I'm a Christian apologist. What that means is I defend the Christian faith.

Apologetics is that branch of Christian theology that deals with the defense and the establishment of the Christian faith. So I teach on all kinds of topics. I'll be teaching on Bible study tonight, as a matter of fact. I teach on all kinds of stuff. I've been doing radio for 20 years now, and answer questions.

So that's it. If you've got questions on Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Unity, Baha'i, Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, UFOs, the occult, Oneness Pentecostal, is baptism necessary for salvation, evolution, some philosophy, let's see what else we talk about, Christian theology, Christology, Trinitarian theology, Soteriology, Eschatology, talk about all kinds of stuff. You know, I love doing that. I love being able to answer all kinds of questions. Not that I say that I've got all the answers right, but I have the privilege of being able to do this. And I've been doing it full time now for about 18 years. It's a blast.

And I did a lot of work beforehand, before I started doing this 18 years, full time. So there you go. Okay, that's a good yawn. I wonder how many people yawn when I yawn. They're listening, or even watching. Four open lines, why don't you give me a call, 877-207-2276.

Joseph from Utah, welcome, you're on the air. Hey, Matt, this question was posed in a chat asking if water baptism is essential for being part of your Christian walk. I believe it's essential, but I know a lot of people were saying it wasn't. Well, what does it mean by Christian walk? Because that's what I want to know. You know, as being a Christian, you know, walking through life as a Christian, you know, saying, hey, I'm a... No, hold on, hold on. So, see, a walk means one thing, but are they saying that baptism is necessary for salvation?

That's the question. Is that what they're saying? Well, no, the question basically was, do I need to be baptized to be Christian? No, you should be baptized, but baptism is not what makes you Christian.

Baptism is an outward declaration of your inner faith that's in the Lord. So, what if you have someone who is on a deathbed? I use this example a lot, who's on a deathbed. And I've seen it, I used to work at a hospital where they have tubes in them and they can't even talk. And they're still alive, etc. You know, that last hours or days of life, I've seen it.

So, what do you do then? What if they confess Christ on a deathbed? Do they have to be baptized in order to be a Christian? Well, of course not. Do they have to be baptized in order to walk with God?

Well, they're not even walking, but really they're not doing much. So, you don't have to be baptized in order to be saved, but you should be baptized. It's part of the obedience that we have to Christ. It should be there.

Okay. Yeah, I thought it was something that we needed to do because Christ did it, and so we want to be like Christ, and so it was important that we do it too. But Jesus did it to fulfill Old Testament law. That's what he said in Matthew 3.15, to fulfill all righteousness. So, we don't do that to fulfill the law, the Old Testament law. Jesus did because he was entering into the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. In Leviticus 8, Numbers 4, Exodus 29, these are the chapters where it describes what a man needed to do in order to enter into the priesthood, and Jesus fulfilled those.

So, that's why he got baptized. Okay. Well, thank you again, brother Matt. I appreciate you answering my question, and I hope you have a blessed rest of your day, and I'm going to continue listening until I get home, like always. Well, God bless, brother. God bless.

All right. Yeah, hey, I love talking about baptism, and I believe, and maybe this will prompt some call, I believe that Jesus was sprinkled. No, it's not.

It's not common, but I affirm that because of what the requirements are in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled. That's what my position is. If you don't agree, well, that's okay.

We can talk about it. And I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is by being poured. We should be baptized, absolutely, but it is not necessary in order for us to have our sins forgiven and be Christians. Now, to reject baptism is not good, but you do need to be baptized, and you should be baptized, okay? But it's not the thing that forgives you of your sin. It's faith in Christ that does that, that justifies you. Baptism doesn't justify you. It doesn't make you right before God. And the cults and false religious systems will often teach that baptism is necessary, that you have to be baptized in order to have your sins forgiven.

Well, then that would mean you're not justified by faith alone in Christ alone, and that would be a false teaching. All right. Give me a call, four open lines, 877-207-2276-TEG. Cool, from Ohio. Welcome.

Hi. I listen to your show a lot when I get home from visiting my shut-ins from our church, and I have a question. I've always been studying that when we die, that we go to heaven. As a Christian, you would go to heaven, because Jesus said on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. But then when I read Thessalonians, it says the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we will be quickened. So when do we go to heaven? Okay, when the dead in Christ die, they go to be with the Lord. That's 2 Corinthians 5-8, talks about that. The bodies will be home with the Lord. The unbelievers don't go to be with the Lord because they died without Christ. That I know.

Good, and they have judgment. So, that's Romans, no, Hebrews 9-27, it's appointed unto men to die once after this as judgment. Okay, so that's that. Now, what you quoted in 1 Thessalonians 4 is dealing with the return of Christ. And so it says in verse 16, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. What this is talking about is the return of Christ. So when he returns, those who died already physically are with him.

They will rise first. They will be joined in their resurrected bodies first. Then we who are alive remain. So it's just your resurrected body, right?

Right, right. It's the resurrected body, not the soul. The soul goes already to heaven? Yeah, the spirit soul, we're already with the Lord.

We are awake, we're aware. It's not soul sleep, that's a false teaching. And so those who died ahead of time before Christ returns, they will be resurrected.

Okay, I was concerned because I teach a class and I don't want to teach it wrong. Because to me that was a little bit confusing, if the dead in Christ will rise first. But it's the body part, we get the new body then, right? Right. And you can cross reference that with 1 Corinthians 15.

And let me see, because it's 35 through 45. That's what talks about that which is sown is that which is raised. So, and I'm looking for, because it says in the twinkling, let me see if I can find that. The moment in the twinkling of the eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised imperishable. Okay, that's 1 Corinthians 15, 52. So when you go to 1 Thessalonians 4, it talks about the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ. So the resurrection is at the last trumpet.

Okay. Okay, the other question I have then that leads from this, my people have asked me if that's the case, what about people that are Christians that were burned at the stake, Christians, you know, so now they have just ashes, they don't have bones, or the ones who were eaten by a shark, you know, in the ocean during the war. God resurrects their bodies.

He is able to reassemble all the material. Because think about it, people have died, they've died, you know, 6,000 years ago, and they're in the ground. Well, there's nothing left of them. Right. It wasn't God going to say, uh-oh, what am I going to do?

I can't raise them, uh-oh. That's not going to happen. Okay, that's why I told them that God is capable of finding every part and get it together.

That's right, he will do that. We don't know how. The last thing I have is, the last thing I had was a few weeks ago I listened to you, and somebody called about Jesus living in our heart, and you said that he doesn't live in our heart, which I agree with you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say he doesn't live in our heart, I say the phrase, ask Jesus into your heart, is not in the Bible. Right. Because Jesus does live in us. Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on.

So in John 14, 23, Jesus does make his abode with us, he does live in us. All right? Okay. Right. Okay. But I think sometimes people say heart when they mean soul, you know what I'm saying?

Yes. Yes, but the phrase, ask Jesus into your heart, is not in the Bible. That's what I'm saying, the phrase is not.

I agree. So do they ask Jesus? The phrase, okay. Yeah, the phrase. And so they receive Christ, John 1, 12, and Jesus lives in us, John 14, 23.

But we don't, there's nothing that says ask him into your heart. Now that doesn't mean if you say the phrase you're not saved, it just means that the phrase isn't there, we've got to be careful what it means, we have to make sure that people understand the context and speak these things properly, that's all. Okay? Correct.

Okay, that's why I agree with you then. I love listening to your show, I get to listen to it every Thursday evening on my way home, so thank you very much. Excuse me, wow, I got yawns all of a sudden, you're welcome very much, sorry about that. You need a nap.

I tried to take one. It's been a super busy day today, super busy. Yes it has. But they're good things, they're God things, so that's all right. That's right. So you have a great day and thank you for your answers.

You're welcome, well God bless, thanks for listening. Okay. I'm moving by. All right.

Let's see, it's 4.16 and 20 seconds. I think there's going to be a break coming on here any minute, but let's see if we get to Matt and there's the break. So hey Matt, hold on buddy, we'll get back to you talking about Jesus and his baptism.

All right. We'll be right back after these messages folks, if you want to give me a call, three open lines, or 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. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. All right, let's get on with Matt from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome, you're on the air.

Hey Matt, thanks for taking my call. I had a question that was sort of a follow-up regarding Jesus' baptism. I think I'll start with a little bit of context of why I'm even thinking about this. Are you familiar with the 40-year period or so after Jesus' death or the temple was destroyed? There's some writings that suggest there are a few anomalies occurring in the temple over those 40 years, like the door was open every morning to the temple, or the menorah would run out of oil and would stop burning. And that was very odd. And so are you familiar with those?

No, I'm not, but that would be very interesting if we could find documentation of some sort for that. Yeah, it was like some old rabbis was writing about it. But anyway, I've always wondered, like, why was that? Was it because Jesus died or was it because the Spirit of God didn't dwell in the temple anymore? And so my question regarding Jesus' baptism, you know how it says the Holy Spirit came out of the sky like a dove and the voice spoke to enter Jesus at that moment. I was wondering, do you think that when Jesus was baptized, did the Holy Spirit leave the temple at that point and now dwell in Jesus on earth? No, because I wouldn't think so because a sacrifice hadn't occurred because the covenant, the new covenant is ratified with the death of Christ.

He was 8, 13, and he was 9, 15 through 16. It talks about that. So my first reaction would be, no, it was the Spirit. He was still involved in the temple.

It wasn't until the crucifixion when the temple veil was torn in two that would be, for me, the dividing line. Interesting. Do you think at that point the Spirit left the temple? Yes. Interesting. Yeah. Okay.

Well, I guess you answered my question. Thank you, sir. I appreciate you. Hey, no problem, man. God bless. All right.

Okay. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 8772072276. We'll get to another Matt from Middleton, Connecticut.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt. How are you today? I'm doing all right, Matt.

So what have you got? I actually called a few weeks ago. We were talking about John chapter 18, verse number 9. Okay. And there was just one more question about it that I should have asked and I didn't ask at the time. But I guess I was just wondering, have you ever heard a non-Reformed believer use that verse as a proof text against what was taught in John chapter 6? I'm confused because John chapter 6 is a huge chapter. Well, you know, because John 18, 9 says about how it was, what had happened was to fulfill the word which he had spoke.

Yeah, he was not one. I was just wondering if someone ever, because I know you've had a lot of debates with people that are against Calvinism, if they ever tried to use that. And see, all he was talking about was that, you know, incident right there and he wasn't talking about, now obviously I don't believe that because I believe in Calvinism. John chapter 6, he's talking about election onto salvation. You know, I would be on your side in that debate, but I'm just wondering if you try to go that direction. No, I've not had anybody use that. That verse shows that they can lose their salvation.

Usually people who do teach them to lose their salvation also teach that they have to keep it by how good they are. And so that's what I'll tackle mainly. But no, I don't recall anybody. They may have, I just don't recall it. Okay. But like, you know, I guess what I'm thinking about is if someone tried to say that that was what he was talking about. He was talking about that incident, that you know how he's the physical provision of the disciples and that he was protecting them physically in that scenario in John 18. Yeah.

You know what I'm kind of saying? Not really, but this is where Judas betrays Jesus. He went out and so it is a verse to show that Judas was never saved because he says of those you've given me, I lost not one.

So Judas wasn't given to him in that sense of a salvific giving by the Father to the Son. Okay. Okay. Yeah. All right.

That's what I would say. For some reason in my mind I just could see somebody trying to say, you know, trying to deny what he's talking about in John 6 in terms of all that the Father gives to me will come to me, whoever comes to me, I won't cast out, you know, that he's talking about saving the elect that he has chosen and that they would try to twist 18.9 and say, oh no, he was just talking about protecting the disciples by making sure they went, you know, he says, let these go their way in John 18.8. You know what I mean? In John 18.8 it says, I told you that I am he, so if you seek me let these go their way.

Okay. You know, I'm not sure what you're getting at because I think you're talking about people who are trying to use John 18.9 to show that we can lose our salvation. Is that it? Well, no, I was thinking more along the lines of using that verse as a way to deny what Jesus teaches in John 6 about, you know, all that the Father gives to me will come to me, whoever comes to me, I'll never lose any of them. Yeah, so you mean set scripture against scripture. This is what a lot of people do. Yeah, like just trying to say the fulfillment was just what he was talking about in John.

I mean, I don't think it would be a good argument. Okay, I'm confused. Again, I'm really confused because the fulfillment, a fulfillment of what? To fulfill the word which he spoke, of those whom he had given you unless none, so about what Jesus had spoken is probably referring to John 6, but we know that Judas was never saved to begin with. John 6, I think it's 67. Okay.

So I think that's what's going on. Verse 70, that I myself choose you that well, yet one of you is a devil. And so, verse 70, so, you know, he already knew that Judas was a devil. He was not saved to begin with. Okay?

Okay. But there's a side note, though. A lot of times people will try, when I quote them scriptures, they'll go to another place of scripture and to contradict it. And they don't even realize what they're doing, that they are trying to set scripture against scripture. So remember that point. If you're talking to somebody and you quote something, well, over here it says this. Well, wait a minute. Are you setting scripture against scripture?

You shouldn't do that. We have to understand both the context, don't we? Let's see if we can work with that together. That's what I try and do with people. All right?

And the context of John 18 would be, and he's talking about the physical. Hold on, hold on. There's a break coming up.

Okay? So hold on. We'll be right back, folks. After these messages, please stay tuned. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show.

We have two open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Give me a call. Let's get back on the air with Matt. Hey, you're back on. Okay?

All right. So I read the context during the break, and I think I know what you're getting at, that John 18 is just about the physical aspect of their deliverance because the Jews were going to come with a sword and stuff like that. Is that what you're getting at?

Yeah. I was just saying, I was wondering if maybe in your conversations with people that reject Calvinism and predestination and election, if they would try to say that what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 6, verse 39, was fulfilled entirely in John chapter 18, verse number 9. Well, no, there's too much of a distance between John 6 and John 18.

I always have to read in between to see if there's something new coming up. But you can also go to John 17, 12, which is in between those two pericopes. When I was with them, I was keeping them in your name, which you have given me, says Jesus. I guarded them, and not one of them is perished, but the Son of Perdition, so that the Scripture must be fulfilled or be fulfilled. So the whole of the Scripture, no one was lost except the Son of Perdition, but it's not lost as in losing salvation because we know from John 6, 70 that he was a devil. He wasn't a believer in Christ. So it's consistent with Reformed theology to say that he didn't lose the salvation because he never was saved. And it looks like John 18 is dealing with the issue of physical deliverance. It could be that because it seems to be the context, and I think also it might deal with the issue of what's coming to them later on with the preaching of the gospel when they are commissioned after the resurrection to go forward, and that it was not their time to die because they died, except for John, as martyrs in the faith years later.

So I think there's some of that probability, or possibility I should say, within that context as well. Okay? Okay. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be, if someone tried to play that card, it wouldn't be a good idea because it doesn't add up when you compare it to, like you said, the rest of what Jesus says on that subject in the Gospel of John. That's right. I guess I was just curious about it, if anybody ever tried that argument. Okay.

No, I haven't heard it from there. Okay. I thank you for your time, Matt, and I wish you the best.

Sure. Thanks. Appreciate it. God bless.

You're the best-wished. All right. Well, God bless, man. Thanks. Take care. Thank you. All right. All right. Hey, Four Open Lines, why don't you give me a call? 877-207-2276. When? From North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. I'm calling about the previous caller that was asking about the 40-year period between after Jesus died and the temple was destroyed. I'm no great Talmudic expert, but in one of the tractates of the Talmud, it's called Yoma, and it explains how the Jewish leaders did Yom Kippur.

And there are several interesting things that happened. On Yom Kippur, you can read in Leviticus 16 that they would cast, the high priests would cast lots, one for the Lord and one for the Azazel, or the scapegoat. And according to the Talmud, in chapter 37, paragraph A and B, it says that for the last time, for the last, no, it says that every year that the lots would come out in the right hand for the Lord and the left hand for the Azazel. And they considered that a miracle. And then another thing that would happen is that the westernmost light of the menorah in the holy place would light by itself. And the fellow was talking about the menorah. And then the third thing, which is really interesting, is that in that chapter of Yoma, it says that they would take the scapegoat, you know, they would kill the one for the Lord, they would take the scapegoat and they would tie a yellow, a red strap to one horn of the goat.

And then they would take the goat and take it out into the wilderness and throw it over a cliff. And the other half of the strap was on the door of the temple. And the Talmud says that when, and there's a lot of stuff in between, that when they threw the scapegoat over the cliff, that the strap on the door of the temple would turn white. And they said, well it reminds us of Isaiah where he says, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

Well those things happened apparently. They were recording that, not as scripture, but as, you know, this is what happened. Well, and then it says later in paragraph B that the last 40 years before the temple was destroyed, which was destroyed in 70, that the lots didn't come out the same way.

Every year before that they had always come out right hand for the Lord, left hand for the Azazel, but the last 40 years they came out opposite. And the menorah didn't light. And the strap on the temple door didn't turn white. But that the door of the temple, now this is just on Yom Kippur, the door of the temple would swing open. And the rabbis said, we don't know what that means, but we're afraid it means judgment. Well, the big question is, well, what happened approximately 40 years before the temple was destroyed? Well, that's when Jesus died. And the once raw sacrifice, and the temple sacrifices were no longer necessary or salvific. And so I think it's a pretty amazing thing that the Talmud would talk about. And when you compare it to Hebrews where it's, and I think it's chapter 9, he talks about the ritual of Yom Kippur and how that sin offering didn't cleanse anybody's conscience because it didn't really forgive sin. It was the blood of the Messiah and the future that forgave sin.

Well, I think it's a beautiful picture of the once raw sacrifice, that those miracles that these unsaved Jewish people recorded, they weren't trying to point to Jesus, but it really does. You know, I'd like it if you were to send me the documentation for that. Sure. In fact, I will xerox that page out of the Talmud and send it to you if you'll, I guess I'll give you my e-mail address or something, your caller. I'll give you my e-mail address. Just info, info at karm.org.

Okay. info at karm.org. Okay, I'll go to the library tomorrow and xerox that and I'll send it to you. Sure, it was a documentation web page because I have a Talmud online and so I could look it up.

Well, it's in yoma, it's in tractate yoma. Yeah, just write it down and send it to me because I can't right now. But send it and I'll go check it out and stuff like that because I didn't know that kind of stuff.

It'd be interesting. Yeah, it's chapter 37, paragraph A and B and I'll send it to you. Okay, sounds good. Okay, thank you. All right, appreciate it. All right. Okay, whoa, boy, another yawn coming on.

Sorry about that. Hey, if you want to give me a call for open lines, 8772072276. Scott from Washington. Welcome, you're on the air. Are you there? Hello? Scott.

Okay, are you there? Yeah, I could hear that. I got another call and anyways, forgive me about that. So my question just had to do with I heard the last caller and he mentioned lots and it got me thinking I've always sort of wondered what's the deal with casting lots?

I'm just wondering kind of where'd it come from and why we don't do it anymore. Okay, so I believe it's in, I forgot where the verse is. Where is that? Where you cast a lot but the outcome is ordained of God.

And maybe someone could find it and just put it in the text there someplace and I'll find out where it is. So the idea of God being sovereign over all things. It would cast lots as a means, at least biblically, to find out the will of God because they would know that even a lot which is supposedly some sort of random thing is ultimately not random and so they would do that. So the Jews did it and the Romans did it too and they cast a lot for Jesus' garments. So now the question then becomes after the resurrection, is it the right thing to do because they cast lots for the new disciple, Matthias. Right. So that's what they did and let's see, they drew lots. Well this drew lots.

I believe it's, I don't know if it's, they gave lots, drew lots, how it works. So that's what they did, trying to find out and it fell to Matthias and they added him to the disciples. The question is, was it the right thing to do?

Obviously after the resurrection and everything, I just found it kind of strange that it's kind of the only thing we hear about it and I've never heard of anybody practicing that for any reason. Yeah, I'm with you. Hey man, we've got a break so hold on, okay buddy?

We've got a break. Hey folks, you want to give me a call? 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get back on with Scott.

Are you still there? Yes sir. All right. So I did a little bit of research, just a little bit, on cast lots.

Oh, and thanks Jimmy, Jimmy Smythe, for that reference. Proverbs 16, 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.

Thanks, appreciate that. Proverbs 16, 33. All right, so I did just a quick search for the phrase cast lots, and it occurs 21 times in the Bible. Interesting. Not a big deal. Let's look at the references.

But that's what they did. Okay? Yeah. You know, I just find it funny, you never hear about, say a church is hiring a new pastor, and their split decision, these two guys are both great. You never hear about them casting lots to decide what. You know what? Someone, one of the producer typed in a note in the Comrex.

A caller called in, the Amish cast lots to choose a new pastor. That's what it says. Yeah.

Interesting, don't know if they do or don't. But hey, you know, I would think that that's not the best way to do it, because you could end up with a real lame-o. You know, the Bible says you're supposed to examine them. Maybe they have, you know, a small pool of four or five guys or whatever it is, and they cast lots to see. Yeah. I guess one more question off the top of my head about loss is, I don't know if you know or not, but just to me it sort of sounds like equivalent to us like rolling dice. But you did say you mentioned drawing lots, that it might be a different term. I wonder if it's like one thing, or it could be a multiple ways of casting lots.

Is that a term or is that a, you know. That's what I was wondering. Just from that, when they draw it, you know, you've seen, you know, who gets the short stick, you know, that's a form of doing lots to see. So, I don't know what the casting of the lots is. Now I'm kind of curious.

I would assume it's something like dice or something that they would carry and they would throw and, you know, like all heads, all tails, whatever it is, you know. So, who knows? Yeah.

I don't know. Something to study though. I never had to really study that before, but I think it'd be interesting to learn about. Yeah. Well, yeah, maybe I'll look into that too, just for fun. And just before I let you go, I got to get going, but I'm the one who mentioned my friend yesterday, who's kind of going into Catholicism and I mentioned that you're willing to give him a talk with him and he's going to get back to me if he wants to do that or not. So, I'll let you know. Yeah. I won't chew him up.

I'll just say, here's what this script, this is what Catholicism teaches, you know, and here's what scripture teaches, you know, and see what he, he's on his own. Generally though, when someone gets into that kind of stuff, they're already committed to it. Oh, I like this. I like the pomp.

I like the, the statues. I like the whatever. And they like that. That's why they're going into it a lot of times.

So, we'll see. Yeah. That seems to be what he's attracted to.

He likes the order of it, you know, the kind of, he's comfortable with the steps and all the little, you know, gadgets they got, you know. Yeah, that's a lot of people believe that if a church has the smoke and the robes and that puts you in contact with history and you feel that history as you're walking down doing all that stuff. And I'm like, so?

It's not history I want to be in contact with. It's Jesus. So, some people just have their eyes in the wrong place.

They want ceremony. We know that, don't we, Charlie? Yeah.

Yeah, that's right. Charlie's on the, I can see him. Oh, hey, Charlie. How are you doing, buddy?

He's waving. We know that because a family member, let's just say, is involved with one of these groups that is pom-pastic, make up a word, pom-pastic. So, pom-pastic, I like that word, pom-pastic. You got to have the pomp and that's what makes it spiritual, pom-pasticism.

I got to put that in my slick-tionary. Oh, that's awesome. Pom-pasticism. That's right, as Mr. Kitt says, smells and bells. Yeah. I'm caressing up on a certain laugh.

Smells and bells, pom-pasticism. Oh, man. I enjoy laughing. You know, I've even made myself laugh a lot. I tell myself a joke, hey, you heard it, no I haven't. And then, ah, ha, ha.

No, it's so. You know, it's funny you say that. I was just thanking God the other day. I just kind of, something happened. I don't remember what it was, but it was something funny and it made me laugh pretty hard. It's good to laugh and it's a true blessing to be able to laugh, you know what I mean? Yes, I do know what you mean. I love it. I have a good sense of humor.

And so, when I teach, I often will use a little humor in there, you know. So, it's a lot of fun. Okay? Well, good. Thank you for taking those questions. I appreciate it. Hey, no problem at all. All right, God bless. Okay.

Well, that was Scott. We've got nobody waiting right now. We've got about eight minutes left in the show if you want to give me a call.

877-207-2276. I think what I'm going to do is, ah, oh, why, what happened to it? I had, oh, man, I had the whacko questions and stuff like, oh, I know what happened.

I moved it, that's why. I got some good radio questions and stuff like that. Anyway, let's check this out.

We've got nobody waiting. Let's see. Hello, thank you for all you do. Budding apologist. Debate atheist.

A bunch of people good. Sometimes face to face. Okay. Debitting a Church of Christ member over the necessity of baptism. He was adamant that it is required. I'd use the example of thief on the cross. He claimed that it was bad theology as most of the people around the area where the thief was from had been baptized. Oh, brother. So when people say that, well, he's probably baptized already.

Oh, he was? Can you show me that in scripture? Well, no. What they're doing is saying it's not there, but we just say it's there to make it fit our theology. That's all they're doing.

If God did not have that be said, there's a reason for it. Okay. How would you combat this approach?

That's one of the ways. I'd ask them if someone near and dear to him acknowledged Jesus tonight as Lord in their life, then crawled into bed and died in their sleep. Will he spend eternity in hell? He didn't answer.

See, there you go. Now, when someone doesn't answer a question like that, then they're stuck. They don't answer because I've done that with people who had to be baptized in water and dunked and all this stuff in order to be saved. They'll say, what about someone on a deathbed? They receive Christ and then they have a heart attack and they die. Do they go to heaven or hell? If they say they go to hell, oh, then you're not justified by faith alone in Christ alone, are you? Which is what the Bible teaches us. But if they say they go to heaven, well, then you don't need baptism to be saved, do you?

Either one, they lose. Okay. This is what happens when you have cult thinking. Cult thinking is like that and that's what it is.

It's bad theology. You can deal with it that way. He says, below is another example of a typical correspondence from someone with the same viewpoint. I'm normally driving while listening to you. Hey, how you doing?

That's Chad. Let's see where to lose my spot. I'm trying to listen to you. So I felt this would be the best avenue to correspond. I'm also an aerospace engineer. Ooh, I have a great UFO story. Ooh, boy, I like to hear that. Call me at the office. We can talk. That I hope to share one day with you.

Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you and, again, God bless. An oxymoron is a figure of speech.

Usually one or two words would seemingly contradict words derived from two Greek words, oxys, sharpen, moronos. Okay. So, um, a lot of more stuff. Baptism is not an outward expression. That's what he said. Yeah, I can answer all those stuff.

There's a lot of stuff. But baptism is not necessary for salvation. I'm not diminishing it. I'm just saying that if you add a work, a work that you do, being, it's a ceremony. Baptism's a ceremony.

You add a ceremony to salvation, then you're saying that the blood of Christ is not good enough, and that faith that God grants to you is not good enough, because faith has granted us by God, John. Philippians 1 29, and that faith is in Christ. John 6 29. So is the faith that justifies us?

Romans 5 1, Romans 3 28. Is that faith that God gives? Is it sufficient in and of itself to justify us? They would say no.

But sometimes I'll try to get tricky, and they'll say, yes, it is. You're justified by faith when you get baptized. And then my response is, so you're justified by faith?

Yes, you are when we get baptized. So you're not justified by faith when you have faith, are you? How can you not be justified by faith when you have faith? Because that's what it is. So you're justified by faith when you have faith. Oh, it's so simple. Why do people make things so difficult?

Because they don't have the mind of Christ. All right, all right, all right. Let me see if I can go over to the whack-o-mail, because we got something interesting. And I did move stuff around, and now I've got to find it. Let's see.

Calm-related stuff. Where did it go? Oh, that's in the wrong email.

That's why. So, hey, let's go over here. And, okay, come on. I got the whack-o stuff. I'm looking for it. But I do have a lot of whack-o stuff. I think it's right there. Now, there we go.

Let's see. I hate to disturb you again, but after compiling my research and having said it along email, I found some facts about Wicca. Despite its spells and incantations, Wicca is not witchcraft. Well, that's what witchcraft is, a spell on incantations, among other things. Wicca is a world religion, and witchcraft is a magical art, so is Wicca. There are some Christians who practice witchery. Well, then they're not Christians if they practice witchery. They're not Christians.

He goes on. Wicca was founded in England, but not by Gerard Gardner. Yeah, that's called the Gardnerian view. At any rate, Wicca is not an ancient Celtic religion. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Man's trash is under treasure. So, there's that. I know he said along. Okay, let's see. Man, this guy's got like 50 emails to me, maybe even more.

There's a whole slew, like 50. Seriously, interesting. Another person says, the spirits are still claiming God is Allah. I'm in trouble for saying otherwise. Okay, I don't know the context of that one.

You'll have to figure out who God is on your own. Wow. Okay, that didn't help any. I will be having six children. Gabriel is giving me eggs. Oh, man. You know, maybe I should save this one for wacko mail tomorrow, because it is pretty good, and I just read that little bit, and I think that I will save it.

That's a good one, you know. So, I didn't want to read any more, because it'll set me off. I'll start commenting.

I'll just save it for when it's a lot more fun. We do hate mail and wacko mail a lot of times on Fridays. Well, today's Thursday. Hey, by the way, I'll be teaching a Bible study tonight. I'm Romans 11.

If you want to join in, you can, and you can go to rumbl.com forward slash mattslickbiblestudy, one word, and you can join in. We start at officially 930 Eastern time. Now, that's pretty late, but that's because we live here in Idaho, and that's when people get off work and they come here. So, we usually take about an hour, and then people stay afterwards, and we talk a lot, and I enjoy that. I enjoy the fellowship.

A lot of good people there. So, there's that, and if you want to support us, please consider doing that. We would really love that. We do ask for $5, $10, $15, $20 a month. Just go to karm.org forward slash donate. That's karm.org forward slash donate.

It's not very much. We do ask for your support, because that's how we stay in the air. May the Lord bless you, and by His grace, we'll be back on here tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then, everybody. God bless. Bye. See you next time. Another program powered by the Truth Network.