Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. If you want to call me, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. You can also email me. That's easy also.

Just send an email to info at karm.org. And I'll put the subject line, radio comments, radio questions, things like that. So we'll get to those. Maybe we'll get to those today because Fridays are often slow. But hey, you can solve that. You can give me a call.

And why don't we just do that right now? Get on with Steve from Utah. Steve, welcome.

You are, there we go. You're on the air, buddy. Hello, Matt. How are you today? By God's grace, doing okay. Hanging in there, man.

Hanging in there. Yeah. So one of the things I wanted to ask you was what are your thoughts on Steve Gregg? Well, you know, I used to know Steve back in the day. And he's not reformed. He's an Armenian from what I remember.

We haven't talked in a long time. He hosts a radio show for the most part, what I've heard him say and do is good. Okay, well, I've started reading a book is called three Christian views of hell.

I'm not anywhere near close to being done with it, but it seems like he kind of softens it up a little bit. Just from what I've read so far, and are there three viable views of hell? Yeah, I mean, I'm going to say this carefully. I'm very much adamantly convinced of eternal conscious torment in the scriptures. I wrote a series of articles dealing with annihilationism, which is the cessation of eternal conscious torment, ECT. It's called eternal conscious torment. And so I hold to ECT and others don't. I wrote 182 articles related to annihilationism, doing word studies and doing all kinds of stuff.

I'm absolutely convinced that ECT is correct. So, anyway, having said that, there are other views that are held. One of them is annihilationism, that a person either right away or after a period of suffering is annihilated and is not eternally suffering. Other ones just say, well, no, after you're dead, you don't exist anymore.

And that's another form of annihilationism. So, you know, there's views. Well, from what I've heard of him, I mean, I've listened to him speak on YouTube and stuff like that. And I like his talks.

He seems to be a very good speaker and seems to be very knowledgeable about what he's talking about. It's just like I'm saying, just based on what I'm reading so far, it's a bit softened up. And there is some thought of annihilation after a certain period of time. Well, that would be problematic. Yeah. Yeah, that would be problematic.

There's logical problems with the idea of that. Have you read that book at all? No.

OK. I just wondered what you thought of him. I mean, you know, I really liked him and I think he's stuff's pretty good. And the books actually written very well also. Yeah, he's a good guy.

Yeah. So anyway, the other question about him is, is let me let me just ask you something that I have not done any research on at all. And I just wanted to find out what what your thoughts are. My wife has a friend who's very liberal person and she claims to be a Christian and everything else and believes she follows the Bible to the letter. One of her views is that revelation happened in 70 A.D. Yeah.

And Steve Drake supports that. And I am like, what on the heck are you talking about? So that's called pre-tourism. Have you heard of this theory? Yeah, it's called pre-tourism.

And the pre-tourist view is the view that in 70 A.D. when Rome came in to destroy Israel, Jerusalem, that that's when all these things were fulfilled in 70-ish A.D. And Jesus came back in the armies of Rome. And it's just, in my opinion, it's a foolish view. It's foolishness. And that's what I told my wife. I said, ignore her. She's a liberal, for one thing. You know, I mean, that's bad on my point.

On my side, I guess. Let me show you what verses you go to to refute pre-tourism. It's called full pre-tourism.

And then there's partial pre-tourism, which is OK. But full pre-tourism is teaching that Jesus returned in the armies. That's how he returned. But when you go to Acts 1, 9-11, and after he had said these things, he, Jesus, was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way you watch him go into heaven.

That right there just refutes pre-tourism. What they do with this pericope is that they then reinterpret cloud, sky, and they say, well, cloud means a cloud of witnesses. They just import things from different parts of the scripture to make it fit their theology, and it's problematic. It's a problem.

Yeah, I found a lot of problems with it. I told her, I said, you know, I called and talked to Matt every now and then, and I trust a lot of what you say. So I'm going to call Matt and talk to him about it, even though I haven't done any research on it on my own.

And she told me, and she told me, don't call him and ask him that without doing any research. I said, well, you know, I'm pretty cool. That's all right.

So look, I did a little bit more research while you're there. I did a little search on Steve Gregg and some of the one comment is he doesn't endorse any single view, but some readers perceive that he's leaned towards universal reconciliation. So that's just an opinion that the Internet brought up. So you might want to call him and ask Greg specifically, ask Steve, do you believe that everybody's going to be saved eventually? Because if he says yes, that's a false teaching.

If he says no. Okay, good. You know. Yeah. And I don't, I wouldn't expect him to say yes, just based on the stuff I've heard from him already. He seems like a pretty solid dude.

Yeah, he is. We used to have our discussions back 20 some years ago when I was doing radio one day a week. And then we had a discussion on Reformed theology versus Armenian theology. And the host asked that Steve and I get on and just give counter views, not debate. And I said, okay, I'll agree. We did three Tuesdays like it was.

Each Tuesday we were on. And I said, okay, that's fine. And so we came on and I just gave a position. He gave his position and we just went back and forth, supposed to be informative. And Steve started debating it, started refuting, started getting into it. Well, I told the host I wasn't going to debate. I wasn't going to do that. I just kept trying to keep my word, you know, what the host wanted.

And finally towards the last day I'd had enough and started tackling it. I remember that. I remember I was agitated by his attack on it. But, you know, I know that about him. But other than that, I think he's a good guy.

He knows his stuff. Okay. Well, that's nice to hear. I'm going to do kind of my own research on this because I found that comment about 70 AD pretty absurd. It is. It is.

It's absurd. So Jesus did not return in 70 AD. And furthermore, we've got nobody waiting so I can show you this too. In 1 Thessalonians 4, starting at verse 16. Now, remember what I said. I read in Acts 1, 9-11 where the angel said he's going to return from the sky. The same way you saw him go up. They went up into the clouds, up into the sky.

That's how he's going to come back. That's what they prophesied. Now, in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God. And then in Christ shall rise first.

And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Exactly. Yeah. I realize that. Yes.

Yeah. So, in my opinion, the full Preterist view is just ridiculous. It's obvious when you read scriptures that their view is incorrect. Like I said, what they'll do is they will alter all kinds of stuff and interpret it and do stuff.

It's really bad. Well, and like you said, if you read the book of Revelation, which is a book that I have read probably more times than any other books in the Bible, it's like, where do you come up with this out of this? And I'm a pretty logical person. I don't know where you're getting this from. Where's the bowls? Where's all this stuff that happened in 70 AD? Well, they have their answers. And it's worth you checking out. I don't want to just say, believe a guy in a radio named Slick. I want you to check things out. No, I think you have a very good solid grasp on things because your logic and your backup is phenomenal. Well, good. Yeah, so I appreciate that.

But still, you need to do your studies, you know, and be convinced in your own mind that the Bible says in Romans 14.5, each man should be fully convinced in his own mind. I'm always reticent to say, you know, you should trust some guy in a radio named Slick. You know, it just doesn't sound good.

You've got to do your homework. You've got a weird name, that's all. Yeah, it is a different name, that's for sure. And I did learn to run as a kid because of it quite well. In fact, here, I'm just totally off the topic. Back in the day when I was having heart problems, stress-related problems, and I went to a cardiologist and everything was fine. I just had too much stress in my life at the time. And he said, because you know something?

You've got an extra large heart in a good way. He says, it's not bad. He says, it's like 10 years younger than you. He said, did you do a lot of running as a kid? And I started laughing. I said, yeah, because my last name is Slick.

That guy chased a lot. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. That's really funny.

So anyway, it's a little off topic as well. A couple of days ago, I heard you talking about evidence demands a verdict. Yes, good book. Very good. In fact, I listened to the audio book when I was doing a lot of traveling and on the road a lot. That is literally the book that convinced me that the Bible was true. Good. It's a good book.

Hey, there's a break, buddy. It's a very good book. I'm glad you had it.

Everybody should have it. It's just one of those books you should have in your library as a Christian. We've got to go, buddy, okay? All right, man. All right. Well, thanks, my man. I appreciate it.

All right, buddy. God bless. Thank you.

God bless. Hey, folks, you want to give me a call? 877-207-2276.

Be right back. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right. I want to welcome back to the show if you want to give me a call. As usual, the number is 877-207-2276.

I want to hear from you. Give me a call. You can also send me an e-mail.

That's easy to do as well. You can direct an e-mail to info at karm.org, info at karm.org. Put in a subject line, radio comment or radio question, and we can get to them. All right.

Let's get to Ed from Utah. Welcome. You're on the air. Hi. How are you doing? Doing all right. Hanging in there. Thank you.

You know. So my question is that my daughter is 20 years old, and there's this boy that came into her young man that came into her life, but basically it's like a three-week relationship type of thing, and there's already been so much chaos and heartache and just a lot of drama with this kid, but long story short, my daughter keeps saying that God sent this young man to her, and why would God send her him if it wasn't from God, and she's like obsessed that this is a relationship from God. So when we talk to her, we're like there would be peace in this relationship, or we'll bring up Bible verses and stuff like that, but she's just not at stepping in.

She gets offended. So I was just trying to, I've been kind of looking around and hearing different things, but I was just trying to get your opinion on how to approach it, essentially, because she keeps on saying it's from God, and she says she reads her Bible, and she's away from college right now, but she goes to church, and she's always had that, me, I've lacked my faith since I was younger, but she's always had faith since she was a little kid, so just for us it's just kind of hard because we don't know how to approach it. So basically I'm just trying to figure out what's a good way to approach it, because she keeps on saying this is from God, and she'll make these excuses that she has to do X, Y, and Z, or he has to do X, Y, and Z in order for this relationship to be able to continue the type of thing. All right, first of all, at 20 years old she's not physically mature in her brain, and it doesn't happen for another three years, average for women that are five years for men. So there's going to be a lot of irrationality and over-emotional connections, and one of the things you've got to be careful about doing is working against her emotionally, because a lot of times people get emotionally convinced, particularly women at that age, when you speak against what they're emotionally committed to, they'll then get emotionally hardened often, and then find intellectual ways to justify their emotions.

So this is something you've got to be careful of. So what I would recommend that you do is to be thoughtfully prayerful about what it is you say and do with her, and that you would say, well, okay, I understand what you're saying, and you just have discussions, and without knowing particulars, it's hard to really deal with and give you specific advice. So generically speaking, you want to see what she says compared to the scripture. You always want to point back to the word of God, is what you're saying found in the word of God, is what you're saying and feeling in the word of God. But logically speaking, just because someone comes into a person's life and there's some tough times doesn't mean it's not from God, but doesn't mean it is from God. So sometimes God will send people into our lives that we need to discipline us, shape us, cause us to learn to be more patient and kind, and we can think, well, why would that be from God? That this person is so difficult because that's how he often works with us, but doesn't mean it is from God. Okay, it could be from the devil, I'm not saying it is or isn't, there's just all kinds of variables. So what you need to do is be careful how you talk to her, of course, you want to be loving and kind and supportive as much as possible. It was my daughter and some guy, and it was just nothing but trauma, so to speak, or difficulties, I would be then, if I was convinced that this is not of God, in my situation, if I was convinced of that, I would ask thought-provoking questions. I wouldn't say, he's not from God, you need to dump him. It's not how you handle it. You might want to say, do you think these difficulties are what God is trying to use to help you, or do you think it might be something else going on to stumble you?

I don't know, what do you think? And you see what her thinking is about it. It causes her to think, it causes her to articulate, and sometimes, by simply doing that, things become clear. I remember hearing a statement from somebody who said, sometimes you need to talk until you know what it is you need to say.

I love that statement, because sometimes you're just not sure what you're saying, it sounds better now that I've said it, now that I hear myself say it. So that kind of a thing, and then if it's really bad, then you just get a blacked-out van, and you get two guys with masks and hood masks on, ski masks, and then you just arrange a meeting with the guy, and then he's transported to a part of the forest, and then there's a discussion with bright lights and stuff. If you really want to torture him, just use country music in the background, that would break me any time, country music, it's over for me, I'll tell you whatever you want.

You got to recommend that, I'm just saying. Yeah, I think what trips her up is, because she's had little relationships back in the day, but they were obviously living in the world and things like that, but this kid was, she met him from church, and he talked the talk, but he didn't walk the walk, so he's living in the world right now, drinking, getting drunk, and doing all these things, so it's kind of like... In that case, in that case, 1 John 2, 4, 1 John 2, 4, 1 John 2, 4, 2, 4, 6, 8, 1 John 2, 4, it says this, the one who says I've come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

If this man professes Christ, but he lives like he doesn't know Christ, then the scriptures say he's a liar. Okay? Good. Okay. Right on. Sweet. Thank you so much.

I appreciate your help. Okay. All right. Sounds good, buddy. You have a good day. All right. Well, God bless. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, we have nobody waiting right now.

The number is 877-207-2276. I'm going to get us some radio questions, and let's see if I can pontificate without getting irked, and I like words like that. I think it's fun. All right. Let's see. Okay. What's creation? Oh, we already went over that. Creation perfect or good? Went over that one. How about, let's see, you've got to scan them a little bit as I'm going here.

Thanks for your show and answering my question. Did Jesus die for an infinite number of sins? That depends on how we want to define stuff or examine. Is it possible to have an infinite number of sins?

I would say no, because an infinite number of sins requires that there be an infinite number of events in which sin abounds, and since that's not the case, I would say no, Jesus did not die for an infinite amount of sin. Okay. All right. We've got callers coming in. They're going to give you 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, the number is 877-207-2276, you can also send me an email, info at karm.org, info at karm.org, and put the subject line radio comment for your question. Let's get to Jean from North Carolina. Jean, welcome.

You're on the air. Hi. Hi. Hi, there. Hello. I just, hi, can you hear me?

Yes, I can. Uh-huh. Okay.

Great. I had a comment that was geared towards the father you just said speaking with or anyone who has those kind of issues. You know, like I had to talk to my daughters and my granddaughters as they were growing up and I let them know that before you gave your life to the Lord, the devil, the enemy was around you and still is all of your life. He knows what you like, what you don't like.

He knows how to bring you what's going to be attractive to you. And when you are not mature in the Word, you don't know how to discern things and you should pray for God to give you discernment each and every day. And it's just like when Jesus was talking to the religious leaders and they were acting like they were of God, but he says, you are of your father, the devil. And he has been deceiving from the beginning, he's a liar from the beginning, which was in the Garden of Eden, and you know, because there's no truth in him.

He was a murderer and a liar. So you have to be careful, especially with young women like you were telling his father, I mean her father, how you approach it. But letting them know, wait a minute, you know you're saying this is from God, but honey, the devil's been around you all your life. He knows what you like or what you will like. And he'll bring you that. And because, and he was God's praise angel. He was able to manipulate the atmosphere in heaven for praise and worship. So because he's a liar and a manipulator, that's what he still does. You just have to be careful.

You have to pray for God's knowledge, his wisdom, his understanding, and his discernment each and every day, and that he will help you, you know, that he will guard your heart. Well good, appreciate that. That's right. Okay. Yeah. And I just wish I could have said it to the father, but that's just something that I think fathers and mothers don't, oh well good, I don't think mothers and fathers say enough of these things to their children.

Because the children are quite smart and they're always trying to define life, but it's always at their level of knowledge and experience. And that's where we come in. Yeah.

That's right. Well thank you. I appreciate that. But I thank you.

Sure. Okay. And thanks for what you do. You have a great rest of your weekend. You too. Thank you very much. Okay.

God bless. Bye bye. Okay, bye. All right. Okay.

The number is 877-207-2276. Let's get to Elaine from Utah. Elaine, welcome. You're on the air. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Yes, I can.

It's a pleasure to talk to you. You mentioned a book a little while ago, just a couple minutes ago. And you said every Christian home should have that in their library.

And I missed the name of the book, so if you could just repeat that, that would help me. Sure. It's a book that demands a verdict. Okay. Say that one more time.

Evidence that demands a verdict. Perfect. Got it. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful weekend.

What are you talking about? I'm praying for your wife. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, God bless. Okay. Bye bye.

Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, that's a book everybody should have. If you're a Christian and you want to, you know, what books do I need in my library? I can give you a couple recommendations, depending on how deep you want to get into stuff. But I would recommend that book.

Evidence that demands a verdict. I've got a couple of copies of it. It's just good. Another one that you should have is Kingdom of the Cults by Dr. Walter Martin. Kingdom of the Cults by Dr. Walter Martin. Just recommend that you get that book as well. I'd also recommend you get a single volume commentary on the Bible. The new Bible commentary is good.

Single volume commentary. What that is, is a thick book that has commentary on the entire Bible, every verse in the Bible. And the reason it's valuable is because you can take it with you and when you're reading through scriptures and you go, well, you know, what about that verse?

You can turn there 90% of the time, 95% of the time, it'll give you a good answer issue related to what it is you're reading, instead of having to read, you know, a thousand pages to get one answer. So that's another good book. Now, there's different kinds of doctrine books to get, which I recommend. But one that I would just recommend on Systematic Theology, and it sounds really highfalutin, but it's just called Systematic Theology, and you should have it in your library by Wayne Grudem, G-R-U-D-E-M. Wayne Grudem is a good Systematic Theology and it's very well liked. And what that does is it disarranges theology in a systematic form. So a book like that is very useful because in the Table of Contents you can look up something like Soteriology, the Doctrine of Salvation.

It'll have subtopics and you can go research in a subtopic and you can go read. It's a condensed systematic approach to theology of the corpus of Christian thought and it's based on scripture. So it's a good book to have. And also it has, I believe, an index of Bible verses in the back and you can say, what about this verse? And if it's listed, you just go to that page and read about how that verse has been used and analyzed.

So I'd recommend that. Now, if I don't mind, if you'll excuse me for tooting my own horn, there is something on Karm that is useful for learning the basics and stuff like that, and that's the Karm Statement of Faith. And normally I wouldn't recommend anybody's statement of faith, it's just a statement of faith, it's not that big a deal.

But this one is a little bit different because it's lengthy. And I've heard that people in different countries have printed it up and use it to teach out of, in a low level, entry level kind of thing. So for example, it discusses topics like the Bible, God, Trinity, Jesus, Jesus and spiritual death, virgin birth, resurrection, substitutionary atonement, baptism, man's condition, divine election, salvation, justification, regeneration, eternal security, sanctification, free will, Calvinism and Arminianism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Christian church, church membership, church officers, the rapture, second coming, millennium, spiritual realm, eternal judgment, Catholicism, kingdom work, morality of sexuality, marriage, heresy, open theism, mulism, living and creation and evolution. Now these are not exhaustive, but you can go through and you can see an orthodox position of something. Like God, the section on God, it says there's only one God and it has all these references, the Christian God who is the one and only necessary Trinitarian being, consisting of three simultaneous and distinct persons, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

The Trinity is spiritual in nature, who has always existed, is non-contingent, unchanging, transcendent. So you see, it goes on like that and it's a good way to learn as well. So I recommend something like that. You can print it up and you can just have it and the advantage of something like this is it's very brief and if it causes you to go study, you go to your systematic theology and you read pages on a particular topic. And if you want history and you want evidence that shows the reliability of the Christian documents, the history and stuff like this, other sites, archaeological sites, evidence that demands a verdict is great for that. So I recommend that kind of stuff and there's also another book that I recommend and I have to go to, I forgot the exact title, I think I remember all of it, it's Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes by a guy named Bailey.

And there it is, I got it. The reason I recommend this book in particular is because of all things that it does, it goes through parables. You might think, well, parables aren't my thing, but the reason I'm saying it is so good is that what it does is it takes the parables and it puts them in cultural context. And I'm going to tell you that it's one of the books that I recommend if you really want to understand cultural context enough that it'll open up a whole bunch of scripture understanding. I recommend that book and like I said, also the book Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. And if you have those few books, you have a lot of great information.

There's a lot of good books out there and I'd recommend those. Hey, we have nobody waiting, give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back after these messages. 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.

Like I said, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. Let's get to Luke from Washington, DC. Luke, welcome.

You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Long time. How are you? Oh, wow.

It is a long time. How are you doing, brother? Good, good, good. I didn't see you at Clubhouse. What happened? Clubhouse? No more Clubhouse? I don't go to Clubhouse too much anymore because it's a circus.

It's no controls. People are rude. They over talk each other constantly.

It's just a ball, and that's why I don't go there very often. How is Joanne doing? Joanne is okay? She's getting better. For those who don't know, Joanne works with Carm and runs a prayer ministry.

She had surgery, and it's been a rough recovery, but she is getting better, and so we hope to see her back working with us pretty soon, depending on what her schedule is. What are the other social media you are on? Sorry, what are the other social media you are on? I use Discord. I'm on Discord on a regular basis, X sometimes, and Facebook, and Instagram. But Instagram has too much paganism on it, so I don't go there very often, but I'm trying to figure out how to get more videos and stuff on all the social media stuff. I'm prepping not to do some more video work, but at any rate, that's what I do.

So thank you. My question is John 1-1. So the Greek, is there any difference of the Son of God, it's a Logos, Theon, Theos, something different?

I'm not sure if I understand the question. Okay, the question is, you know, Jehovah Witness wrongly translates that the word was not Jesus, it's a different word in Greek, Theon, Roshon, Theon, God the Father, and then they say Theos, Theos and Theon are the same word. The form of the word Logos is nonative, masculine, singular. So when it says the word was God, Theon, Theon I believe is the accusative, the direct object.

So how it works in Greek is like this, I'll use it in English, an equivalent. We have the word actor, actors, actress, actresses. It's all the same word, but actor is not very specific, but actors means plural.

An actress is a single female who acts. Actresses is plural female. They're all the same word, but they change form, they're cognates.

So we call this a declension, to decline, actor, actors, actress, actresses. So nouns decline in Greek, ancient Greek. So you have Theos, Theon, Theou, Theos, and you have these, you have nominative, genitive, dative and accusative.

So nominative is the subject, genitive shows possession, the dative is indirect object, accusative is a direct object. And so you learn all this in Greek. So all that's happening there is it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. That's how Theos, the word, that's the nominative, masculine, singular, because it's the predicate. And so all it's doing is just talking about the position that it has in Greek, okay, if that makes sense. It's the same word, Theos and Theon are the same work, the same way, table and tables is the same word, or actress and actresses are the same word, just different forms of it.

Okay? So what about in Hebrew, the idea of God in Hebrew? Theos? Well, that's different, the Theos is a Greek word, not a Hebrew word, okay, so, uh, Hebrew. How do you, uh, in a Hebrew expression for a word? Uh, well, that's Remah, there's different words, uh, for the word of God in, uh, in Hebrew. Alright, so if I were to go to Genesis and just type in the word word, uh, so then it's the word, uh, Dabar, in here, uh, there's other words that are used of it, uh, there's Dabar again, and so there's just different, uh, different words that are used, wind, spirit, sometimes called word, alright, but the major one I'm seeing so far in Hebrew is just Dabar, and there's, yeah, and another one, Gebar, okay, so they have changes of words that mean the same thing too, Dabar, Gebar, it's Hebrew, it's different, alright? So do you have any article about this, uh, to read and understand more clearly?

Well, on, uh, on John 1-1, on John 1-1 I do, I wrote an article back in, uh, 2008, and it goes, just go to Khan and look up John 1-1, yes, and I'll, uh, yeah, so in the beginning right, in the beginning was the word, that's what it says, okay, alright, and then the word was God is, I can read it, you know, not a big deal, but, uh, that's what it is, so then I go through and I show this, and, um, you can check out the article, okay? Is there any difference in Aramaic? Same thing, right?

The difference what? Aramaic language, you know, the language that Jesus spoke. Oh, Aramaic, Aramaic is a dialect of Hebrew, alright, so it's related to Hebrew, uh, so I have a study in Aramaic, so I can't tell you, okay? Okay, thank you. Okay, well there you go. Right, brother, God bless.

Alright, okay, now let's get to Harold from Indiana, Harold, welcome, you're on the air. Thank you very much, say, uh, I appreciate you, I'm glad God has blessed you with, uh, what did you say, the AHD, or something like that, I believe I helped you, I have a grandson that has Asperger's, and he focuses in on something, and man, he just hits the book right down the line. Yeah, that's what I was diagnosed with years ago, yeah, years ago I was diagnosed with Asperger's.

Yeah, it's not always a penalty, is it? No, um, I've struggled because of it, but I use body language to make up for the deficit that Asperger's brings, and that's another topic. My question is on John 15, as our girl in the faith, I read back things that I've thought before and sometimes they don't always match up, it says, I am the vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch in me that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bring, that it may bear much fruit. Now I got in a conversation with the pastor the other night, now how, every branch in me, how can a branch in Christ be taken away? That's a good question, and it's one of the difficulties that I have in my theological perspective. So I'm honest when I think there's challenges.

But I've been thinking about this recently, and so I've got some ideas about it. Because there's questions, how can anyone be in Christ and also not bear fruit? Because notice what it says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, how can you be in him and not have fruit?

It doesn't make sense. He says, I'm the vine, the father is the vine dresser. Well this language was used in the Old Testament of God being the vine dresser. And the allegory of the vine would remain then with how Israel is called the vine that was removed from Egypt, Psalm 80 verse 8, I look at my notes I have in my Bible program that I wrote, Jeremiah 2.21, that God judged Israel for its lack of fruit, Isaiah 5, 1-6, etc. So what I'm seeing in it is Jesus speaking covenantally, that you can be in the covenant of God where he has included the people of Israel, and so they're in that covenant and in that sense in him, because Jesus is representing that covenant, in that broad sense. Because how then could you be in him and not bear fruit?

That doesn't seem possible. But on the other hand, in him is a term used of federal headship in Romans 6-6, Romans 6-8. And so that really helps with the issue of the atonement, penal substitutionary atonement, eternal security.

But here what I'm seeing, and also this is pre-cross, there's a lot of thoughts in my head I've been thinking about this. It's pre-crucifixion, so it's in the old covenant. So he's speaking to the Jews, he says, I'm the vine, my father's the vine dresser.

That would cause them to think the Old Testament. Any branch of me does not bear fruit, he takes away. He's talking about you're supposed to be in the covenant with God, that's what I believe that means. And so if you're not bearing fruit, he's going to take you away, which is covenantly consistent with language.

And he says, you're already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Now another issue here is that he's talking to the disciples, that Judas was there. And Judas is not bearing fruit. So abide in me, and I in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. So now he's clarifying that what it means to be in him is to be truly abiding in him. Not just, you're there with him. And so as he says, I'm the vine, you're the branches, he who abides in me bears fruit and in a part where you can do nothing.

So as we look at it, I think it's kind of really hard to understand sometimes. So I think what it is is a comment about someone who's abiding and then stop abiding, it's about someone who never abided in Christ, never was in Christ ultimately. Now are you sure Judas is here at this point?

I'm sorry? Are you sure Judas is here at this point? Judas? Oh he's talking to his disciples, so I'm assuming he's going to be with them. But Judas has already left, hadn't he? Um, no.

That's not until later. Judas, in 1422, Judas, not as scary as I do him, is talking. So disciples relating to each other, Jesus warning, Holy Spirit promised, reading through the headlines, prayer, high priestly prayer, and then Judas betrays Jesus later. So he was talking, financially, and I think that's the key to understanding it. Now I've read different people that said that that actually could mean that he takes away, could mean he lifts up, does that have to get him off the ground and cleanse him? No, I don't know how to look at that. I don't know. I don't think so.

I think that's just a pretty good thought. Okay, all right. Now let me get my head clear here. All right.

Well there's a music video. Call back Monday. Hold on, we've got to go. Here's the end of the show. Okay.

Call back Monday. Appreciate you, buddy. Okay. Sorry we're out of time, buddy.

That's what it is. All right. Well, God bless. Hey, folks. Sorry about that.

We're just out of time. May the Lord bless you. Have a great weekend. And by his grace, we'll be back on the air on Monday. Talk to you then. Bye-bye.