MS Top 6 #59

This is the Truth Network. Monday through Friday, Matt takes calls from all around the world on his radio show.

We've compiled this week's best, Matt Slick's Top 6. He looked at them and he named them. Now generally speaking, names reflect what something is. So Methuselah means when he dies it will come. And Abram means father of many. Abraham means father of a multitude.

So he probably named them in a way that would be similar to what they actually was. Like a giraffe might have said long neck four. Or he might have said a hippopotamus. He might have said fat big head. I don't know. But something like that. So who knows?

But he would have done it more sophisticated than what I was just doing. The descriptions of these things are that they are huge. They can't just be brought down with typical snares.

They have to be really worked very hard. The land one breathes fire. So a lot of people think it might be dinosaurs. I don't know. Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostril go smoke. There's a bombardier beetle and it mixes two chemicals in his abdomen and it produces fire. Why is it that the Chinese, and not only the Chinese but other cultures that are very ancient, have legends of fire-breathing dragons? Something's up. Legends generally have a root of truth in them and they are often changed.

But different cultures have these kinds of things too. Revelation chapter 12 verse 7. The dragon and the fall of Satan. Now is Satan still in heaven and his fallen angels?

Or are they cast down? If you go to Job 1.6 it says, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the sons of God seemed to be the angels. And so in Job, which is written well after the fall, certainly seems to imply that Satan can get into heaven in the presence of God. It implies that.

We're not sure when this occurs. Now in verse 7, then there was a war in heaven. Michael and the angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war. So Michael is the warrior angel. Gabriel is the messenger angel. That's just how it works.

That's their role. And the dragon apparently is Satan and his angels, the fallen angels. So there's a war that looks like it's going to happen. It's going to be a spiritual war. That's what I think so far. Okay.

Number two. Freedom in biblically is freedom to serve God and freedom to do what is right before God. And we have freedom in Christ because we're freed from the bonds of sin. Freedom in a secular sense is to do whatever satisfies your own flesh. But freedom in the Christian sense is to do that which is glorifying of God. And we're freely able to do that. We use our freedom from sin and from our enslavement to sin to serve God and represent him. That's what we're free to do.

Number one. Why God allows bad things to happen if he's not perfect. Well they happen because for one thing it's God's desire to allow them to happen. Another thing is because sin is in the world and sin results in various things. We have people who drive fast and then get in a crash and kill someone else.

And then someone else didn't do anything wrong. This kind of thing happens in the world. God permits it.

We have what's called federal headship or the males do. Made in the image of God both male and female, Genesis 1 26 and 28. And so we are representatives of God on the earth. And if we submit to God, things work out.

And if we don't, things don't. By allowing sin to happen in the world and the consequences of sin to happen in the world, God can then demonstrate how bad sin is and how its effects on other people occur. And then also one of the things is that he uses sin for his greater glory. The best example of this is dealing with the crucifixion of Christ. The Jews lied and the Romans executed him. And people bore false witness against him. These are all bad things.

And yet through the bad things the atonement of Christ's work on the cross bought us salvation. You guys give up or you're thirsty for more. I always trust a guy named Matt Slick on the radio. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Matt Slick's Top Six. For more on Matt and his live syndicated call-in radio show, go to truthnetwork.com. Got a question? Matt Slick has your answer. This is the Truth Network.