Truth Talk Live 1/9/24

Hi, this is Joanne Vigner with the podcast It's Storytime, Meemaw, and answered prayer for stories that point children to God. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host.

Welcome everyone. 25 years ago, God put it on our heart to start the Truth Network, and one of the big things we did in that launch was a show called Truth Talk Live. I was not the original host.

I did not want to be the original host. I had two guys that were on fire for God, and then one of them got called to go work for Billy Graham, and the other one got a throat disease. And they needed someone to talk in the afternoon live to speak the truth in love, to combat darkness, to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I said, well, I'll fill in, because Robbie Dilmore was too busy selling cars and fighting cancer and all kinds of other stuff in his life. And Steve Noble, he was probably in nursery school at the time.

I mean, he's just a young buck, and who knows where all these other cats were. And so here I am, Stu Epperson, back 25 years later. We have repackaged, relaunched, reset Truth Talk Live, and you will be hearing from Steve Noble, and you will be hearing from those other guys. You'll be hearing from Robbie Dilmore. You'll be hearing from a bunch of holy hosts full of the Holy Ghost, and we're so excited to be with you. And we are on Facebook Live.

Robbie, I'm trying to get this shared over from my page, so I'm working on it. It's a little work in progress, but the camera, what camera do I look into for the, for the, right? The camera right there is you. Everyone's like, no, don't look into that. Please, no, we don't want to see you.

No eye contact. Wow, we're on, now is that your page right there, or is that an old page? That's my page. Okay, so I just started, I don't know why I wasn't following that before.

Or if you go to Christian Car Guy on YouTube, either one, but if you go to my Facebook profile and you look at live video, that's me. Got it. Very good. Okay, I'm seeing it all here. And then, so this is on this page now. I don't have it up here yet, but I know it's coming. I know it's coming. I see the December 29th one, but maybe because I just followed you.

Well, it actually takes a couple of minutes for whatever reason for it to get on Facebook. So I'm eating some yummy, boss lady brought in some homemade sweet potato pie. Don't tell the boss man that I'm eating in the studio. I could be in trouble.

It's so good. He's in the building too. That would be bad. Well, hey, you know what? It's, you know, I put the stew in studio, Robbie, so I got to enjoy a little food once in a while and I'm putting the food in here, but I'm being very careful with all this equipment and it introduced our, our amazing, uh, oh no, he heard, he's listening. You can't get away from him.

Oh my, we're in trouble. It introduced our awesome producer here. This guy is unreal. What a blessing he is.

Cornish. Yeah, he is. And he's been with us terribly long, just a few months, but man, he is on fire and so helpful. He's been while you've been out and you know, just call on him anytime. He's right. Nick in time, just in time for Christmas, right?

If he laughs at my jokes, then he qualifies. You know what I'm saying? Well, hello, Raleigh. Hello, Charlotte. Hello, Ohio. Hello, Lynchburg, Virginia. We had Indiana yesterday. Indiana. Yep.

Cause our, you know, one Oh 6.5 FM Dayton goes all the way into Indiana in the edge of their Muncie and other parts. And there's people streaming. Hello to the, my friends that I was just on a cruise with Dr. David Jeremiah. Unbelievable.

Hello to you. This is your show. Well, it's a Lord show. We all work for him. He's the boss. He's the good shepherd. We are his sheep and you can call the number 86634 truth toll-free 86634 87884. I'm going to say it slowly.

86634 87884. What do you want to hear more in 2024? That's the question. Because we are going to reach more people for Christ in 2024. That's my resolution to reach more in 2024 with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only message that can change someone's life, that can set the captives free, that can bind the strong man and plunder all of his possessions, a la Mark 3, 27. And so that's why this program, Truth Talk Live, exists.

And that's why we are here. So we'd love to hear from you about what you want to hear about. What do you want to talk about? You want to talk about the church that's gone woke that needs to go awake? Do you want to talk about all the stuff going on in the Middle East and the attacks and how do we stand by Israel? Do you want to talk about how far Christians should push that political envelope and engage in that? And where do we go? What do we do with all the anger and the vitriol?

Do we just abstain from the process? Do we jump in and try to be redemptive there? What is it you want to talk about? What do you want to hear driving home in the afternoon on Truth Talk Live? We're bringing back some oldies but goodies, and we have—who's been so good to sit in the hot seat for the last week or two—the Christian car guy himself, Robby Dumoure. Robby, it's been fun hearing you, man.

How fun. And a couple of things that have really been the highlight for me is people calling in with prayer requests, right? I mean, things that are on their heart that God has put on their heart for 2024. And then the testimonies. Oh my goodness, the testimonies. I mean, yesterday the lady with the gourds, did you hear the story? No.

Yeah. Well, we were talking about where is your—Dr. Carson and I were talking about where is your prayer portal. And this wonderful lady in Indiana actually called in and talked about how she was asking God, you know, if you're really there, you know, she's picking gourds, right? She says, show me a black gourd. Have you ever seen a black gourd? I never have.

I haven't either. And she said, man, she lifts up a leaf, and there, you know, God just winks at her, and there's this black gourd. And she's looking at her black gourd and going, you know, God, that's just not right. I doubt if you're the God of black gourds. You're probably the God of white gourds, man. So help me find a white gourd.

So she had salt and pepper gourds. But anyway, that was her—and then there was a young man who lost his brother, and he'd gotten a confirmation, you know, during his brother's service and that his brother was saved. And then he walks outside after the service, double rainbow. Right? So those kind of testimonies, oh, my goodness. We had—all week long, in fact, I took a sound bite from the first week I host of a lady calling in with her testimony and used it as my—for my sermon illustration. Oh, come on. Isn't that something?

Yeah. You know, this is the one talk show where we learn more from listeners than they learn from us. And I love that. And you have a testimony. We want to hear it. What's God doing in your life?

What's your resolution? I know we've talked about that. But what are some ways—what can you share God's challenge you in in 2024 that you can share with everybody?

And we're like, hey, that's a good idea. I need to do that. I need to study that.

I need to read that. I need to reach out to that kind of person. I want God—what stronghold is Jesus going to break in your life in 2024?

We're talking about that tomorrow at Wednesday in the Word. 866-34-TRUTH. Toll-free 866-348-7884. Your call's coming up. More on Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Epperson. Robby Dilmore is in the house. We'll be back right after this quick break.

This is the Truth Network. Another thing I've really been wanting to talk about—I know this is just—maybe we should talk about this. And call and tell me.

Call and rebuke me. But the illegal immigration, to use that language, is now practically almost going to be outlawed. If you say illegal immigration. But 12,000-plus people are coming in illegally to our country every day. It's overwhelming people. People that have families can't even do their job.

And it's really gotten crazy. So what do you do—you're sitting here, you're a believer—and what do you do when your government is aiding and abetting illegal activity? When your government is absolutely criminal?

What do you do if you're a believer? I'm not playing any card. I'm not playing the Democrat or the Republican card. Robby, this is a real issue. This is Truth Talk Live. So we've got to talk about it.

And how do you talk about that? I mean, you see the flood of people. There's no denying it. Fentanyl's coming in. There's child abuse. There's huge sex trafficking going on in our country and in our government. Our president and his leaders are just letting them come in and they're kind of laughing at us. We say there's a crisis.

There's no crisis. It's just we're, you know, and now the only state standing up to it is the state of Texas. And now our government, instead of saying hallelujah, Texas is standing up and they're trying to keep people from coming in until we at least vet them a little bit, make sure they're not criminals. Our government's suing Texas.

So it's kind of upside down. 866-34-TRUTH. I want to talk about that. Maybe not right now, but first we've got to bring someone on the air who's a longtime Truth Talk Live-er, one of our original hosts, and he is full of the Holy Ghost.

Alex McFarland. Alex, are you there? Can you hear me?

I am here. Man, what a joy that Truth Talk Live is back on the air. That's amazing.

And I just give God glory. Listen, I'm on a commercial break with another show, but I just want to show you and Robby and all the great staff at Truth Broadcasting, you're changing the world. This is great. And Angie and I, we can't wait to listen to Truth Talk Live every time you're on. You're amazing. Well, and you're hosting a big national show. He's like an author like Robby, you know, like he still remembers the little people, even though Alex is huge.

Alex, tell us real quick. February 6th, Greensboro, North Carolina. Listeners from all over the country are going to come to this. An amazing forum.

You've got Lauren Green from Fox News. You're going to be speaking. Shining Light, not Shining Light, but Southside Church, right, in Greensboro.

Plug it real quick. Hurry before you got to go back on your show. Southside Baptist Church, the Evening of Impact. I'm giving a lecture on critical theory, critical race theory.

You can go to my website, which is alexmcfarland.com. Look for the Evening of Impact. There's the meal, there's Q&A. We're going to teach you how to stand strong for truth amidst all of these ideologies today.

Amen. Okay, alexmcfarland.com. Amazing events. He's got a Christian kids' camp, Christian worldview camp that he hosts. He's had thousands of kids come to Christ, equipping them. And he started his radio career right here behind these mics, Robby, in this room. And the Truth Booth. The Truth Booth. We'll have to tell that whole story with him another time, but I want him to call in and say hello.

So encouraging to hear from him, you know. And he's doing this thing on CRT, which is really interesting, because, you know, the scribes came from Jerusalem to check out Jesus in Mark chapter 3. The Sanhedrin leaders probably sent them on a kind of emissary to check out Jesus and say, is he for real? And they said that Jesus is demon-possessed, and that he is casting out demons by the demons, which was like—that's the unpardonable sin, by the way, just to cut right to the chase of Mark chapter 3. But the fascinating thing is that tactic isn't old.

It didn't start with the scribes. It's very common in battle for an enemy to, you know, to accuse another enemy of exactly what they're doing. And so Alex is doing this big event on CRT, critical race theory. Well, critical race theory was invented by Darwinian evolutionist Marxists at Harvard University four years ago, and it is invented by people who are racist, who either hate white people or hate black people and want to promote division. And they want everyone to be race-baitors. Instead of saying, hey, what unites us?

Let's come together. They're trying to divide us, and it's not the unconditional love of God that the Bible teaches. It's not judging a man based on the quality and the depth of his character, but it's completely judging someone based on their skin color.

That's what CRT is. Alex is doing an old seminar on it. But that's another something we should be talking about, because it's not—you know, Nero, what did he do when he wanted to kill all the Christians in early Rome? He accused the Christians of burning—of setting the fire, you know, that he himself set. That's the beauty of the show, Stu, is that a place for Christians to talk frankly about things that are really on their heart, right? Where can I do that? You know, where's my outlet to do that? And with our brothers and sisters, you know, if this is on your heart, you know, that's where we want to hear it. We want to have a show for that very purpose where you can speak openly on, you know, judgment-free zone, so to speak. Well, and you may be a big—you may be a believer, and you may be a big advocate of critical race theory, and it may be you're sympathetic with racial healing, which we should be as Christians. But, you know, maybe I don't agree with you, but you know what?

Let's talk about it, and let's not beat each other up, but let's show that we can lovingly agree and disagree, and, you know, and change my mind, but speak the truth in love. But it's really fascinating that the Christians in our culture today, just like the scribes call Jesus demon-possessed, right? Ironically, in the next verse and earlier before that, the demons in chapter 3 earlier, and in chapter 2 when Jesus cast out the demon, the demon said, called Jesus the Holy One of God. So there the demons have accurate theology about who Jesus is, and the religious leaders who had it all together, you know, who were scholars, who had Isaiah, Jeremiah memorized, and all the prophets, you know, from Genesis to Malachi memorized, right? They were calling him demon-possessed. The one they prayed for every day, multiple times a day, and the Messiah to come, they're standing in front of them, they're calling them possessed by a demon. It's evil.

Evil! Well, that's what the enemy does today. He calls Christians the most tolerant, the most loving, the most gracious people, he calls them intolerant, bigoted, prejudiced, you know, gender-phobic, homophobic, racist, and that's the last, that's the farthest saying from the truth. And yes, there are people that name the name of Christ, that, you know, do evil things, but I'm not going to accuse them of being Christians.

But, you know, so it's really interesting that there's nothing new under the sun, and how do we live, as believers, in a culture that is antagonistic? It's no longer just, hey, tolerate what we believe, but you have to champion it. If you don't endorse, you know, same-sex marriage, then you are, you're a hate monger, which is the farthest saying from the truth, which makes Jesus a hate monger. Because he didn't endorse it, he condemned it. He said, marriage is between a man and a woman.

Multiple times. For this cause, a man shall leave his mom and dad and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. They're made in God's image, in the image of God he made them. He hailed back to the Genesis account, which is clearly God's design. Does that mean God hates the homosexual?

No! Everyone's invited to the Gospel. But we don't make the rules, we don't define gender, he does, right, Robbie? And so that's the big action of truth talk live, to talk about these things openly, and to get people from the other side. You know, some of our original shows, we, you know, I sat in the studio with a homosexual activist, a lesbian pastor, and another homosexual activist.

Three of them, right here. And we had the best conversation. Didn't agree on a thing.

But we were gracious. I'm like, how am I going to change your mind if I beat you up, right? So this is how we're to do it. Yeah, and Del Falwell came on, you know, last week, and talked about that there are obviously organizations out there that the way they make their money is to create division. There's a lot of money to be made in that, but essentially what you speak of is the enemy is Satan, and our battle's not against flesh and blood, but it's against, you know, the obvious lies that he's telling. The enemy himself is telling lies in order to create that hate, to create that, and so the more we get the truth out there, which is what we are. He's the father of lies, and he advances, you know, the devil advances his mission through lies and through deceit, but also through trying to divide us as believers.

Right, exactly. And so that's where we have to come in unity. When I come back, I want to talk about what it means to bind the strong man, Mark 3.27.

And can Christians bind Satan? 866-34-TRUTH, weigh in on whatever you want to talk about in Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Epperson.

We're coming right back after this quick break. Don't touch that dial. 866-34-TRUTH. This is the Truth Network.

Truth Talk Live, where pop culture current events and theology all come together in a world gone mad. We serve a risen Savior. We serve the King of Kings.

He's coming back. Whether you like it or not, whether you like him or not, we're not here to be liked. We're not here to be loved. We are here to love you, and we are here to serve him and proclaim the truth and speak the truth in love and talk about a whole host of issues. We'll bring some more issues up. We'd love to hear from you at 866-34-TRUTH, things that concern you coming into 2024.

Maybe some New Year's resolutions or things you want to do more of or do better with. I'm Stu Epperson. With me is Robby Dilmore. He's been in the hot seat and graciously guest hosting the last couple of weeks, and he's done a great job. We had to start the year off with the ratings, Robby. We had to go to our ace, and you did a killer job with some great guests. I mean, wow, the state treasurer of North Carolina, the genius on date the Word who can give you a verse for your Bible. We're thankful, by the way, to our friends at VineTastic.

Oh, my soul. These guys have been such good partners with us. They've helped underwrite this program for years. You've heard of Le Blue Ultra-Vir bottle water. You've heard of Mighty Muscadine. Well, they have come up with this beverage that I've been drinking in the New Year. If you're diabetic, it's got no sugar. It's got no calories. It's got no carbs. It's got lots of taste. Well, it tastes really good. It's called VineTastic, and so we're grateful they're underwriting this segment of Truth Talk Live.

Our friends at VineTastic, you can learn more about them at their website, which is MightyMuscadine.com, and it's just a... It's a great drink. I'm telling you, it is absolutely... Well, you've got some diabetes issues, health issues. I have all that blood sugar stuff, and there's some things that you drink that just don't hurt your diabetes, and there's other things that actually balance out your blood sugar because of the things that are in it, and that's what VineTastic is now.

Well, and the diet drinks are scary because they've got all kinds of stuff, and I drink them too, but this right here, I mean, what it does... We're talking about health. We're going to have them on as a guest to talk more, explore more with them about how this will boost your immune system and all that. So thank you, our friends at Mighty Muscadine, and thank you to our friends at VineTastic for being underwriting partners of Truth Talk Live, and thank you to Joey, a caller.

Listen to this, the new 96.9 FM, Truth Divine on 96.9 FM in Greenville, South Carolina. We've got Joey on the line. Joey, are you there? Can you hear me? Loud and clear, Stu and Robbie.

So good to hear you here in Upstate South Carolina. Wow. Well, and I recognize the voice. This is the legendary Joey Hudson. He has been on the air for years, and he's a legend, man. Joey, God bless you, and you've enjoyed... you and your wife, Peg, have enjoyed this new Christian station in the Upstate 96.9.

Absolutely, we have. We have such a blessing, and what a great signal. As I've shared with you, I travel around the Upstate, from Greenville up to Oconee and Pickens, and around through Anderson. You've got a strong truth signal, and I'm so glad to hear you and Robbie on this afternoon. And then, by the way, I've got to call you out here a minute now. I love Mighty Muscadine, but you haven't shared any of the Biontastic with me yet.

Well, I'm supposed to be in the Upstate on Friday. I'm going to bring you some, and you're going to... man, it's just trying to be healthy. But all their stuff is backed by science.

They don't sell the sizzle, they sell the science. And so we're trying to promote health on this program. We're going to do a whole lot of health issue programs related, have these guys on, the folks from Le Blue, the folks from Mighty Muscadine. And Joey, you might just be sitting in the hot seat, because you've got more... someone said you were hosting radio just around when Noah was building the ark, swinging the hammer and preaching the gospel out there, you know?

Him and Mrs. Noah. So we're going to call on you. What do you think, Robbie? That sounds like a winner. Let's do it. Well, look, I would be honored. It would be a pleasure to be a part of it. Again, just so good to hear your voices live here in the Upstate, and I look so forward to tuning in every afternoon at four o'clock. I'll be here.

Well, thank you. You know, we've got all the great Bible teaching in the mornings on a lot of these Truth Talk Live stations. A lot of stations... Hey, if you're a country western station carrying this show, God bless you.

We want to be on everywhere. But a lot of the Truth Network stations that carry Christian teaching in the morning, and then great talk shows in the afternoon, to mix it up a little bit. Let's talk about it. Let's talk it over. Let's debate. Let's have a friendly discussion, and let's challenge each other.

Like Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. Let's consider one another. Let's stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, looking forward to Christ's return. So we want this to be a vital role. We want pastors on as guests. You write a book, we'll have you on. You know, you have something, an axe to grind.

You've got a missions trip you're going on. We want to have these people on, Joey, and we want to spread the name of Jesus in the Upstate, my friend. Absolutely, absolutely.

I'd love to be a part of that. And again, just so good to hear your voice. And we welcome you to Upstate South Carolina. Well, it's good to be here.

God bless you, man. Robbie, what do you say to Joey? Yeah, I'm excited to see him and have him on. It's been awesome. Yeah, I was sitting in it. I was on this cruise with David Jeremiah.

This is so funny you said this. I was on this cruise with David Jeremiah just a few days ago. It was amazing. Mom went. First Christmas in New Year's, Dad's in heaven.

So it's really powerful, kind of therapeutic to be among people of faith. Of course, we missed Dad. He would have loved it. But he's eating a better buffet than we are.

And he didn't gain any weight like we did on this trip. But you know, it's kind of cool. I was sitting two seats down from a family, and my sister or someone said, hey, where are y'all from? They said, we're from Greenville, South Carolina. I said, no!

Greenville! So I got to tell them about the new 96.9. I wrote down a little card. And so they might be listening right now. So hello, new friends from the cruise, from the big, tall, loud Christian radio guy with the Truth Network stuff that I gave you a bunch of cards.

Thanks for listening, and God bless you. And Joey, that's how we spread the word, man. We're in Charlotte. We're in Raleigh, Lynchburg, Roanoke, all kinds of places. Reedsville, I got friends up there. We've got Ashboro. We got Cary and Apex and Wake Forest. We got, you know, all over, kind of near the coast down there in North Carolina, South Carolina. And then, of course, our new friends in the upstate. And then we're in Toledo and Dayton. And we're in Richmond, Virginia. Lynchburg?

In Lynchburg, Virginia. So, anyway, we're trying to grow. Joey, God bless you. Hey, we're going to lasso you into getting on here with us and hosting some, okay, brother? So stay tuned. And I'll see you Lord Will on Friday, and I'll bring you some vine-tastic from our friends at Mighty Musconine, okay?

I'm going to hold you to that. Good talking to you guys. Have a great afternoon. Thanks so much.

God bless. So that's just so cool. This is, you know, Robbie, everyone listening, I'm going to let them in on a little secret. Why do we call it the Truth Network?

Because we just networked. So Joey knows a lot more people than I do. He's going to tell people, hey, check out this station. Maybe tell someone who's like not really ready for church or ready for the Lord, but seeking or having some tough times in life. Check out the new 96.9 FM in Greenville.

Or Greer or Malden or in the surrounding area. And they turn it on and they can find the Lord to find a solid church. We've got some local pastors we're going to add to that station that want to be on in that area that we've been meeting with. So it's just networking. It's connecting. Everyone's a networker. You know, everyone's into network marketing, right? The question is, is it a pyramidal scheme or is it a pyramid kingdom building type thing, right? Where we're pointing people to Christ and he's at the head of everything.

And that's really the modus operandi. So we have other friends that support us, like Persecution Project Foundation, NubaHospital.com. You know, our listeners have stepped up to help them. You had Matt Chancey and Ed Lyons on, remember? Darrell Bock Oh, man, absolutely. And then, you know, Gospel for Asia and these, you know, wonderful, amazing opportunities that we have to partner with these people sharing Bibles, partner with these people going overseas.

Of course, Land and Rescue and all that they do with us. And then we've got all our radio hosts that we're going to, you know, bring on James Banks with Encouraging Prayer and Nikita Koloff. He'll be manning up here pretty soon, I'm sure. Robert McDonald That's exactly right. He was the most, you know, Nikita Koloff was the most hated man on planet Earth in 1986. And now he's a talk show host on the Truth Network. So if people want to know what we've been doing in the 20, it's been about 10 or 12 years, maybe 13, since I've been off live radio, Truth Talk Live. Okay? And so here's what I've been doing. Ready?

Just turn on the Truth Network. I've been meeting people like Robbie Dilmore, who, you know, around the time I was going away, you were cranking up with a Christian car guy. How long has your run been? 15 years? Nikita Koloff 18. Robert McDonald Oh, my soul. Okay. So we got Robbie Dilmore. Okay, this is what Nick, this is what happens.

Okay. We've got the Steve Noble show and he's still doing his podcast. He's jumped into the homeschool section, you know, space and done real well, and he'll be back. Nikita Koloff Dr. Michael Brown. Robert McDonald Dr. Brown.

We developed, we helped him launch his show. Nikita Koloff You know, there was a time, Stu, I don't know if you remember this, but I came on, no, Noble came on at 9. I came on at 10. Robert McDonald Saturday morning. Nikita Koloff And then Dr. Brown came on at 3, on Saturday.

Robert McDonald On Saturday. And you got to tell the story about the deacon. What'd he tell you? What'd he tell you? Nikita Koloff He walked in, he goes, oh, man, you must really like to talk on the radio. I was like, oh, no, I can't, no, these people are gonna call in deacon. He goes, oh, man, ain't nobody gonna call you. Nobody's ever heard of you. He said, you better be ready to talk.

There can't be no dead air. That's great. But you thought, you know, you thought I was gonna be here and we were gonna just kind of have some fun. Robert McDonald Oh, yeah, yeah. I expected Stu to be here that Saturday.

My first show, oh, my goodness, I was terrified. Nikita Koloff I probably should have been. But, Robbie, I had to take the training wheels off, baby. I had to kick you out of the nest, buddy. You had to spread those wings. Robert McDonald Training wheels were never on. I was like, what the... Nikita Koloff Christian car guy, no training wheels. But, you know, it's been a blast because we have seen, and these programs that kind of got going here, they're bigger than Truth Talk Live ever was.

They're bigger, you know, and hallelujah. We don't care who gets the credit. You know, I was just in Dave Ramsey's office in Nashville. He had a great little sign on it. Robert McDonald Oh, yeah, I remember.

Nikita Koloff It was Eisenhower, Pat, one of those guys, you know, Reagan maybe. It's amazing what's gonna be accomplished, right, when no one cares who gets the credit. Ramsey had that as a thing, and look at what he's developed, you know.

But we had all these guys, and it's neat to see how they've grown. We'd love to hear from you if you want to weigh in on a hot topic, if you want to tell us what God's doing in your life, what you want to hear more in 2024 on Truth Talk Live, you can call us at 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-348-7884. More fun coming up. Stay tuned. This is the Truth Network.

It's a new year. It's a new show on the Truth Network and Affiliates Nation. Why are we gonna add affiliates? You want to, you live somewhere, you can't hear a radio station that carries this show? Call them.

Tell them to carry Truth Talk. Robby, we're working on getting on the Big Bird, right, the emboss receiver. So station's all over can carry us. I talked to a guy who's got stations in Detroit and other places he wants to carry the show.

I'll get you his information after today, and you can reach out to him, okay? So, Truth Talk Live, I'm Stu Epperson, with me is Robby Dilmore, long-time colleague, loves Jesus, and we are trying to spread the good news here, all across the world. Kind of the tagline for the show is where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Theology is the key in those three prongs, because it's all based on your view of God.

It's based on Scripture. And do you have a bibliocentric, Christiocentric, missiocentric view of the world? Do you see the world through the lens of God's Word? And I love a slogan I've already picked up and bandied around is, is, in the Word more in 2024.

I want to challenge everyone to be in the Word more in 2024. I just saw Jerome posted Psalm 1 this morning on Facebook. I love Psalm 1. To his delight is in the law of the Lord. Are you going to be conformed to this world and how the world thinks, or are you going to be transformed by his Word from the inside out? Bathing in the Word, studying the Word, reading the Word, meditating on the Word, memorizing the Word, and then spreading the Word, like we're doing here on the Truth Network.

And see, the beautiful thing of it is the relationship. And Jesus is the Word. And so as you're in there, as you're actually studying it, it's like you are literally talking with God.

That's it. And here's your opportunity for him to whisper in your ear. And often, you know, through prayer and studying the Word, like, man, all of a sudden, he'll begin to open your mind to things you've never seen before.

That's the Holy Spirit. Like, you are actually interacting with God in a relationship when you're doing all those things. It's not a legalistic thing. It's not something I've got to do because I want to get right. It's the things I want to do because I want to be in relationship with God. And that's, you know, the beauty of what you guys do every Wednesday, man.

I challenge my basketball guys all the time. You want to get a text from God? Open your Bible. Boom. There it is. Let's talk to Joseph Greenville, South Carolina, on the new 96.9 FM.

Joseph, you're on the air on Truth Talk Live with Stu. Go ahead. Hey, how you doing? Fantastic. Happy New Year. Yes, sir.

So far, so good. I've got a question about the thousand-year reign of Christ when he comes back for a thousand years. Yes. What exactly will that look like? Will he be of physical presence on the earth?

Will he be in heaven? Who's in charge? What government makes the call?

I don't understand how all that's going to work. Robbie, I'm so glad you're here today. Oh, an easy one. Great question. You were made for this moment, right here, right now.

Bing. Well, you know, again, there's lots of different views on that. There's a whole lot of views on that. Because people study Revelation, and eschatology is a wonderful thing.

So I don't, you know, everybody's got to, you kind of study it and then come up with your own view. And so what you're about to hear is completely how I interpret that information myself, personally, is that – Okay. Yes, he is, in fact, going to bring his church, right? He's in charge, and we are going to reign with him.

Right. It'll be like a theocracy, just like he was, you know, God of Israel, you know, he will reign, you know, and whatnot. But it'll be, you know, he was only mentioned once in the book of Revelation. And I would say what we've got to be real careful is not to go beyond what is written – Right.

– you know, on that. So as you study that, and we can't unpack that in the last year or two minutes, Joseph, but I wouldn't – I would say – I love the question. What we do know for a fact is he will return, and he will reign. And whether or not it flushes itself out exactly as my eschatological, which all that means is a fancy word to make me sound smart – study of end times – it may not look like my eschatological view exactly looks, whether I'm pre-trib, post-trib, pre-mil, or post-mil, or a-mil. You know, some folks think we're in the Millennium Kingdom right now.

I mean, I don't ascribe to that, per se. But he will return, he will reign, you know, and it will be peaceful, and he will ultimately reign forever. And there will be a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem, you know, on this recreated earth.

So getting into the deep X's and O's on that, we won't have time today. But a great question, the most important thing – not to argue about those little particularities or the granular stuff – is are you ready for the return of the king? The next great event in history, right?

So – and if you are ready, who are you going to hang up with me and go ask someone else, are you ready for the next great event in history? Because we are to be ambassadors of this king, because when he does return, it's not as a little cute, you know, cuddly baby in a manger. It's not as a traveling rabbi on the hillside teaching and casting out demons and healing the sick. He's not going to return as a bloodied sacrifice, Lamb of God on the cross. He will return with a fire in his eyes and the sword coming right out of his mouth, and he will return to judge the nations. And if you don't know Christ, he will throw you into hell. And that's why we're still here, inviting people to heaven. So right now, we can spread the good news before it's too late, and the return comes in Armageddon and the Millennium, and whatever order they happen, all that, it will happen.

It's inevitable. So we've got to be ready, Joseph. I love your fire, man. Thanks for calling in. Thank you, sir. God bless you. We're going to skip over to Alabama and talk to Wakata. We might take one more call, but the number is 86634TRUTH. This is Stu Epperson, this is Truth Talk Live, and Wakata, I probably mispronounced your name. I can't pronounce Alabama, but talk to me, man. Happy New Year!

Thank you, and Happy New Year to you all, too. I have a question. I've been asked to do a Bible study. I am a born-again Christian, born again by the Holy Spirit, and I've been asked to do a Bible study. And my question to you all, which is more important, teaching on the birth of Jesus, or why we need Jesus. Teaching on the birth of Jesus, or why we need Jesus. Wow. That's great.

You know, it's interesting. The birth of Christ is in two of the Gospels, and parts of it are in... Yeah, no, Mark doesn't cover it at all. John talks about his deity.

In the beginning was the Word, right? John 1. But Matthew and Luke, namely Luke. And there's really no biblical, there's zero biblical challenge or compulsion for Christians to study and worship the birth of Christ. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to celebrate Christmas.

Now, I'm not an anti-Christmas, right, or a never-Christmas guy. But I would tell you this. You study and you teach through the Bible, and if you come to a passage on the birth of Christ, a la Luke 2, right? And there we're in the same country, shepherds abiding in their flock, keeping watch of their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. You get to that. You teach right through that scripture, and you teach how she brought forth her firstborn babe, and she laid him in a manger.

You teach right through that. And who is this king? And what do those wise men in Matthew 2, what do their gifts represent? And this and that. And so, but every bit of narrative and every bit of scripture in the Old and New Testament points to Jesus Christ. So I love your question about the why. It's all about the why. From every part, from the beginning to the end, right, Robbie?

It's about him. And so I say, I would say as you teach, I would encourage you to grab a book of the Bible and just go through that book. And as things come up in the scriptures, you teach that, and you connect it to the rest of the scripture, but connect it to Jesus, because he's the author of scripture, and all those things. Jesus said in John 5, these are things which speak of me. In fact, that was the Pharisees' mistake, wasn't it? They were searching the scriptures looking for who knows what. They were standing right in front of the living Word. They had no clue.

I love the same word. So the question is, again, if I had to teach, in this day and time, teaching about salvation, which is more important, teaching about when he was born, I'm told that I will be given scriptures to teach on Jesus' birth, which I have no problem with that. But I'm asking because I'm concerned that we need to know how to be saved more than we need to know when he was born.

Well, I would say, yeah, when is not, you know the answer to this, when is not as important as why. So you've got to, of course you talk about when. The virgin birth is a historical fact that did happen in history, but you've got to get into why he was born. You've got Matthew, Matthew 1.21, he came to save his people from their sins.

Go, Robbie. Dr. Darrell Bock I would say I could argue that by teaching when, you can get to why real easy, because there's a lot of reasons it happened when it did, because it was exactly the right time when we desperately needed it, and God's timing was perfect on that, which is, had that not happened, you and I wouldn't both be talking right now, right? Dr. Debbie teaching on the birth of Christ, you're talking about, we just spent a month at Christmas talking about how the birth of Christ impacts our birth in Christ, right? The first thing you said to me when you identified yourself, you said, I've been born again of the Spirit. Well, the only way you could be born again is if Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, and if Jesus Christ died in your place and was risen again, right? And so because he came and was born in time, Galatians 4 says that, you know, in the fullness of time, God sent his Son, born of a woman. You know, so all of these significant things, from the birth of Christ to the prophecy of his birth in Genesis 3.15, they point to the why. And so if we don't get to the why, then you're exactly right, Wakata.

We can't tell people why he came and how they can be saved. There's nothing more important than that, so say yes, and then you jump in there, and you teach them how to do this, okay? That's why God's got you there, to teach them.

You're already teaching us with great questions. Thank you. And my name is pronounced Wakita. Wakita, I'm so sorry. It's okay. It's my boy to give you a name.

That's why I had to address that. I like that. Okay. Well, God bless you. Well, we're thankful for you, and let's pray for her right now. Robbie, pray for her.

Lord, thank you for Wakita. And I thank you for the gift you've given her in this class. Lord, I pray you'd give her wisdom, how to turn what the people are asking her to do into the message that you have for the people. You give her that wisdom, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you all.

Yes, ma'am. Email us to get on our newsletter, newsletter at truthnetwork.com, newsletter at truthnetwork.com, Truth Talk Live. We'll be back, Lord willing. The Lord doesn't return before we get back. Tomorrow at the same time, Truth Network. Your program powered by the Truth Network.