MS Top 6 Season 5 #5

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. Number 6. Did Adam and Eve have navel, Billy Button? I would say probably not. I can't say that's exactly correct, but I would say probably not. They weren't born to the womb.

The placenta ties in with the navelical cord into the stomach area for nourishment, and they didn't have that, so I don't see them having that belly button. Maybe I'm wrong, but, you know, that'd be my position. Number 5. Your will, a devil's will, or God's will. How do you know the difference? Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we don't because we can't always know, infallibly, within our own hearts, every motive that we have that is pure and right, and so we could be thinking we're doing the right will of God when we're not. It's certainly possible.

Well, doesn't that mean we don't have any hope? Well, no, no, no, because there are ways to know you're doing the will of God. Like, for example, I know I'm doing the will of God when I love my wife and I help her.

I know that. I know I'm doing the will of God when I treat someone with respect and honor, and I don't lie to them, even if it hurts me to tell the truth. I know I'm doing the will of God because the will of God is clearly revealed in Scripture in many ways.

I know I'm doing the will of God when I uphold my word that I've said to someone. Number 4. Okay, but what about getting a job? You have two job options.

When I had this real situation once, I couldn't get a job, couldn't get a job, and then got two job offers in the basement the same day, and both had advantages and disadvantages. Now, what do you do? Well, you've got to make a decision, and you want to make the decision that's in the will of God. Both are ultimately in the will of God, but one might be one that he prefers you to have.

How would you know? Well, there's no celestial voice out of heaven telling you. So what you do is you pray, you weigh things, you make a decision, and you go forward and you trust. And sometimes not knowing the will of God is the will of God. That's a hard thing to understand sometimes. So you want to make sure that we're in prayer, that the Scriptures don't forbid what we want to do, and we can move forward prayerfully, and hopefully we're in the will of God that way.

Number 3. Do you believe the Bible teaches that a Christian that's been born again can be possessed by a demon and needs, quote, deliverance, unquote, from that demon, and if so, what is the difference in that and a stronghold that's mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10? If people tell you that a Christian you would even possess and need to be delivered, that's a very dangerous false doctrine.

It just doesn't happen. So what I'm going to do is go to Matthew, let's see, Matthew 12, 43, I believe it is, yes. Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, that's demon possession, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order, unoccupied. Then it goes and takes along with its seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.

The last date of the man becomes worse than the first. So the implication is, well, it finds it empty so it can go in. The corollary is if the Holy Spirit's there, it can't go in. So no, Christians cannot be demon possessed, okay?

Number two. Well, have you heard of, quote, deliverance, unquote, ministries going on? Yes. And they're dangerous. You have?

Yep. In what way? Well, what they do often is destroy people, make them worse, open them up to demonic oppression, cause emotional trauma. Let's say there's a man and a woman in the deliverance ministry.

They go over to a party. There's a bunch of Christians there, and then they have an insight to one Christian there. You know, you've got a demon attached to you, and hopefully it's not in you. I do? How do you know? Well, we're aware of these things. I do? Well, what do I do? Well, let's meet, and we'll talk about it. So they meet a week later, and the couple comes over, and this Christian says, well, what's up? Well, you've got a demon in you.

Yeah, we can tell. Well, what do I do to get rid of it? Well, what you have to do is confess all sorts of your sins from the past and trust us to be able to heal you and get it out. And then we'll give you other things you have to do in order to maintain your position and make sure to come back in. So now this person is under the control of these wackos.

Number one. No, you do not have to speak in tongues to have the Holy Spirit, not at all. And so you have the Holy Spirit when you receive Christ. You trust in Christ as Lord and Savior, and you are cleansed.

You're justified. The Holy Spirit lives in you. Some false religious systems will say that you have to get the Holy Ghost. You've got to speak in tongues, and that's how you know you've received the Holy Spirit.

That's a load of crud, right? It's one of the evidences that you have the Holy Spirit. A greater evidence is found in John 16a. When He, the Holy Spirit, when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. So I wouldn't look to speaking in tongues as a manifestation of the Spirit. I'd look at what's the Spirit doing in your heart and your life in regard to your sanctification, because He convicts of sin. If there is no conviction of sin, but you want to speak in tongues, I wouldn't say such a person has received the Spirit.

But if the person is convicted before God, before people of their holiness, their lack of holiness that is, their sin, and they don't speak in tongues, that is better evidence for the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now I've had the time of my life. I hope you had the time of your life. It's okay now.

Goodbye, my friend. 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.