WWUTT 1970 Q&A At the Movies, the Nephilim, Self-Defense, Calvinists Marrying Arminians

What's with these at -the -movie sermon series that some churches are doing? Where does that come from?

Who are the Nephilim and can angels have flesh and bones? And should a Calvinist marry an

Anabaptist? The answers to these questions when we Understand the Text. This is

When we Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .utt

.com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. I think I'm the one that's the exhausted one this time around.

We're pretty even. Pretty tired. Yeah. But we're back on, back on the podcast, so had to do a

Q &A this week, as we promised last week. Yes. That we would actually answer questions from the listeners this week.

That's right. And you can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. Before getting to that,

I'll come back again to Psalm 68, beginning in verse 28. Your God has commanded your strength.

Show yourself strong, O God, who has worked on our behalf. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring gifts to you.

That was a prophecy fulfilled in the Magi. Yeah. The king's men, they weren't exactly kings, but still brought gifts to the

Savior. Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, trampling underfoot the pieces of silver.

He has cast out the peoples who delight in war. Envoys will come out of Egypt.

Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God, referring to those peoples of foreign lands that will come and pay tribute to the king.

We see that today, for we are all, those of us who are not Jew by descent, of the

Gentiles that pay tribute to the Savior and have been brought into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Amen. So, we are all about proclaiming the gospel through this program. He who died, rose again from the grave, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

So, we respond to questions from listeners on the Friday edition, and here is the first couple of things that I have here.

I don't think these are really questions. They're just statements. Okay. Then I'm going to play the most recent video that we did and respond to a few questions that came from that.

Okay. And then I have a few other miscellaneous questions. We'll see what we can get to here. Okay. This is from Brad. It has to do with,

I suppose, the podcast I did, it wouldn't have been yesterday, but Wednesday. All right. When I covered

Matthew 7, 1, judge not, lest you be judged. Oh. Thanks for bringing back the podcast,

Brad says. I know this must take a lot of time from you and your family, and we really appreciate it.

Aw. Well, the kids are all in bed. Yes. And I'm sitting here next to my wife, so it's something we do together, and we enjoy it.

I mean, during the week, it would be the kids are in bed, and I'm in bed. Yeah, and you're in bed. A couple of nights a week.

Yeah. It's not every night. It's not every night. No. We go to bed together some nights. Yeah. So Brad said on yesterday's podcast -

I'm asleep. I'm just there. When you go to bed early?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you're pretty much out most of the time when I come to bed. Yeah. And you've been out for some time.

I just haven't, huh? Yeah. Oh, yeah. You are a heavy sleeper. If you had just fallen asleep -

Unless it's a baby, and then I'm wide awake. Yeah, that's true. Right. If Bubz stirs, you do too.

Yep. But yeah, if you had just fallen asleep, then when I come in there and lay down, you might stir awake.

Yeah. But if you've been out, you're out. I mean, there is no... You've got a good two -thirds of the blanket in your possession already.

And I can't pull on it to try to stir you so I can get a little more blanket? Oh, how funny.

If you're burritoed in there - I get burritoed, yes. The blanket's yours. I can't ever get it back. There are other blankets in the room.

He just doesn't go get them. I like the coolness of it. I like the coolness of the room anyway, so.

So, anyway, Brad goes on here. Sorry, Brad. Yeah. This had to do with Matthew 7 -1.

On yesterday's podcast, you said something that I found quite humorous. So, he sent me this on Thursday. That would have been Wednesday's episode.

Okay. You said, that's the pot calling the kettle black. So, I was talking about judging hypocritically.

Oh, yeah. So, I used that expression, the pot calling the kettle black. Yeah. You're guilty of the same thing you're accusing.

Just judging. Yeah. Yeah. The reason I found this so funny is I have only heard that from those who are quite a bit older than me, and I am 50 years old.

Becky may have married an old man trapped in a young man's body. I actually married an old woman trapped in a young woman's body.

What? You have that old soul thing about - I was like, hang on a second.

I'm not following. And Annie does too. Yeah, she does. Our oldest daughter feels more at home with older people than she does with people her own age.

Yep. It turns out to be. And she gets along fine with all age groups. Yeah, she does. All age groups.

Right. She has friends her age. But she definitely has that mothering, grandmother type of attitude towards everybody.

Yeah. And loves her grandparents dearly and does so well with her grandparents, her great grandparents even.

Yeah, definitely. So, he goes on. If you need some other old man quotes, here you go. That's handier than a pocket on a shirt.

I've never used that one. Handier? Handier than a pocket on a shirt. All right. Or, I'm busier than a one -legged man in a butt -kicking contest.

Oh, dear. Maybe we should have given the forewarning on this episode.

Language may not be suitable for young listeners. Have a great week, and thanks again for all you do.

Awesome. I hear a lot of people still use that expression. That's the pot calling the kettle black. Usually, the way that I hear it most often used is pot meet kettle.

Yeah, that's true. They've kind of shortened it. Right. The whole expression is kind of contained in those three words.

Modernized it. Pot meet kettle. I didn't think of that as being an older expression, but thank you,

Brad. Oh, no. It's been around. Oh, it's a long... I know it's been around a long time, but...

I know it's old. I know it's old, but I mean in the sense that, like, no one younger. Only that generation. Right. Okay. No one younger is using it.

Yeah, fair enough. Chris from North Carolina. Good morning, Pastor Gabe and Becky. Hello. It's really great to hear y 'all back on the air.

Aw. We checked out Squirrely Joe's Coffee over July and really like their coffee.

Oh, good. Their customer service is excellent, too. Yes. The A Little Nutty is so far my favorite.

That one was good. That wasn't your favorite one, though. It wasn't my favorite. It was the morning something. Early bird or something like that.

Early bird, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I have yet to try some of the other flavors, he says.

I highly recommend them to my fellow listeners. It is great to be able to support Christians in business.

Definitely. In the meantime, there is a lot going on in the world. One thing I've noted in the visible church is the increasing popular trend of at -the -movies sermon series.

Yeah. It is a tragic display of pandering to carnality and the desire to be entertained.

Yet it is not the problem but the fruit of the root. The root of the problem is a low view of God, a low view of the scriptures, and a low view of man as having been created in God's image and thus created to enjoy

God. Hmm. These churches have created their own golden calves and worship them instead of worshiping

Christ. I listened to most of the worship service Saddleback recorded for the first week that they exegeted

Toy Story 4. Instead of Christ exalting liturgy, they have adopted a liturgy of emotion.

Wait, what? Yep. So the pastors, which by the way are a husband and wife team.

Right. So the husband and wife team come out dressed as Woody and Bo Peep from Toy Story.

Okay. In this particular case, it was Toy Story 4 was the focus of, that's the focus of the sermon.

Not Christ. The sermon? Right. Like during a Sunday. Yes. Oh. So like the whole church is decorated like a movie theme park.

And it wasn't VBS at all. No, no, not VBS. Yeah, it's like VBS for adults. I mean, you know, you kind of get off course a little bit, you know, a little extra.

Okay. Not really. I mean, if you do VBS right, you can keep it thematic. I'm saying for Saddleback, you know.

Saddleback's been off course for decades. I know. I was trying to give them something. Okay. Go ahead.

You're being way more charitable than I am. I'm trying. So anyway,

I got to figure out where he's at here. Instead of Christ's exalting liturgy, I read that part, there is no doctrinal confession rooted in tried and tested church history.

There is little to no scripture reading. The sermon itself was a prerecorded talk rather than an in -person pastoral teaching, exhortation, encouragement, and application.

Is that right? I thought that. They recorded. Yeah, I thought that the Woods were actually there.

Andy and Stacey Wood, who were the pastors who succeeded Rick Warren. Thus the

Woody. At least the clip that I saw, it looked like they were actually there. Thus the Woody.

Oh, yeah, right. Woods. Yeah. Never made that connection. I mean, they're just doing a movie. I don't think the last name probably had anything to do with it.

Maybe. Different Saddleback campuses had different movies. Oh. Because one did

Maverick, and yeah, there were other films that were covered. That is just odd.

But Saddleback's not the only one. That's true. Chris here is singling out

Saddleback, but Life Church in Oklahoma City was another one. There were a bunch of them.

A bunch of churches in the month of July were doing this at -the -movie series. It kind of points back to a criticism

I've made of a lot of these megachurches in the past. They're all drawing from the same source. Oh, yeah.

For sure. And this is one of those occasions where you can see, okay, you guys got together and had a powwow and decided you were going to do this in the month of July.

Or somebody said, hey, this is a great idea, and everybody's like, yeah. Yeah. Like social media.

Yeah, right. Or something. I don't know. So when Ed Litton... Yeah, they're kind of copying each other. Yeah. Right. So when

Ed Litton got in trouble with the plagiarism scandal a couple years ago, it pointed back to J .D.

Greer because he was ripping off J .D. Greer. Right. Well, then, as people were kind of doing their sleuthing and figuring out where J .D.

Greer was coming from, it turned out he was getting all of his material from a company called Docent. Yeah. So there's people out there writing this stuff that other churches are grabbing ahold of and just regurgitating it.

Yeah. And that's about the best way to put it, too, is just vomiting it back up. It's not gospel -centered.

It's not biblically based. It is all in the world. It's carnal, as Chris had pointed out here.

An attempt to try to appeal to worldly people. It's a Baden switch, but there's no switch.

Yeah. It's like a Trojan horse, but there's really not anything inside. Nope. It's just, here you go.

Here's your trophy. A piñata with no candy. It used to be that when these pragmatic churches were doing this kind of a thing, these gimmicks to try to appeal to unbelievers, get them to come in the door, it used to be 30, 40 years ago, they would do this kind of stuff, the unbelievers would show up, and then

Baden switch, here's the gospel instead. Right. They're not even doing that anymore. Well, no, it'd be offensive.

Right. It would drive people off. If you're going to draw them in with carnal things, you're going to have to use the carnal things to keep them there.

Yep. Which is exactly what happens. Because as soon as you stop doing that, they're like, oh, well, this isn't fun anymore.

Yeah, right. I don't like this anymore. You're appealing to their flesh, you're going to have to continue to appeal to their flesh.

But what did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 2, 1? When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the witness of God.

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the

Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Right. That's not what you see these churches doing. And Paul also talked to the Corinthians about how he became all things to all people.

That's one of those passages that sometimes these churches will use to try to say, well, see, this is why we're –

Oh, yeah. Because we're being all things to all people. Yeah. Yeah. But Paul said that. Whatever I need to be to proclaim

Christ. To the Gentiles I'll be as a Gentile, to the Jew I'll be as a Jew. Right. That's not the same thing as,

I'm going to put on Toy Story 4 to appeal to these Greeks over here. You know, that's not at all what he meant by that.

Anyway, finishing up Chris's letter here, he says, the sermon itself was a prerecorded talk.

Okay, I read that part. It is also telling when the preacher and his fake preacher wife – it was funny.

When I read that the first time, I thought he was calling her a fake wife, but she's a fake preacher because she's a woman. Right. So, yeah.

It's telling when the preacher and his fake preacher wife come out on stage wearing ill -fitting costumes depicting cartoon characters.

He even admitted that it felt weird to talk about serious things when dressed like that. It is very sad and rather infuriating to see what passes as worship on the

Lord's Day in many quote -unquote churches. Is there any wonder that the Ligonier state -of -the -church surveys reveal abysmal lack of biblical literacy?

Oh, it's not surprising at all. We've been going through the results of that Ligonier survey in our

Sunday night series at church. So, going on here, I'm convinced that discipleship begins in the home and should be complemented by the church.

Wherever my family lands in a church, we're in the process of evaluating a couple local churches with the intent to join one in the coming months.

Our children will be with us in the service and teaching times. We catechize in daily family worship.

We sing doctrinally sound hymns at home. Our desire is to bring them prepared to the worship service so they can be further equipped to worship their creator.

This is our prayer. And one thing I would push back on with regarding that, Chris, is that discipleship is in the home and in church.

For some families, discipleship doesn't begin in the home. It begins in the church. Because they need to hear the gospel and be brought to saving faith in Christ.

That's evangelism outside the church. Sure. But the discipleship that happens there gives them the equipment they need to put discipleship in the home as well.

True. So, in some cases, the order's going to be the other way around. Yeah. Discipleship began in the church and then it came to the home.

So, discipleship belongs in both places. Agreed. There should be discipleship in the church, discipleship in the home.

It's great that for you, especially while you're searching for another church, you're not waiting for a church to disciple you before you disciple your family.

Right. You're continuing with that discipleship. And that's really good. That's great. So, Chris says, keep doing what you're doing, brother.

Y 'all inspire us to keep studying the scriptures in the way that they are intended to be understood.

In Christ, Chris from North Carolina. Insightful. On some things, because I didn't know about the movies in the church.

Yes, of the things that I have been coming home and ranting to you about lately, that hasn't been one of them. Nope. So, we haven't covered that one yet.

And I've been off of social media almost all summer. Yeah. Which has been a blessing, to tell you the truth.

It is good to take a break from that for a while. Yeah. Everybody should fit a social media fast into their growth.

It wasn't necessarily fast, just a, you know, I'm going to step way back. I think naturally, you just kind of stepped away from it because you were busy.

Yeah. You're a tutor again with the homeschool group that we're a part of this coming fall. So, she's been prepping on those things.

Yeah. So, while Chris was mentioning here doing catechism and family devotions and stuff. So, we did our family devotion last night.

And we walked our kids through chapter three of the Baptist, the

London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689. So, chapter three is on God's decree.

Right. And I took them through several paragraphs, understanding that God has foreordained all that comes to pass.

Uh -huh. Yet, he is not the author of sin. Uh -huh. He knows the future, but not because he looked down the tunnel of time to know what the future is going to entail.

So, I talked these things through with the kids. And when I got done, I said, so, you guys good?

You understand what it is I'm saying? They all just kind of nodded. A couple of them were kind of glassy -eyed. I don't know, but I'm going to nod anyway.

And I said, okay, could you guys do a sermon on it? And my eight -year -old daughter piped up and said, dad,

I can't do a sermon on it. I'm a lady. It was adorable.

It was adorable. All right. So, now we're going to questions about the most recent what video.

Okay. And I did this video on the Nephilim. Do you know who the Nephilim are?

No. Maybe? A lot of different theories concerning who the Nephilim are. Well, in the King James Bible, it says giants.

Oh, okay. So, Genesis 6 -4, there were giants in the land. Yeah. But in most of the modern translations, it's going to say there were

Nephilim in the land. So, who are the Nephilim? And here is the short 90 -second video that I did covering some of the theories on who these beings could be.

All right. What? In the generations before God judged the world in the great flood,

Genesis 6 -4 says the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them.

Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. There are a few different theories concerning who the

Nephilim were. In Genesis 4, we're given a dark genealogy in the line of Cain, and in Genesis 5, we read the genealogy of his brother

Seth. So, one theory goes that the sons of God were the descendants of Seth who were righteous, and the daughters of men were the descendants of Cain who were unrighteous.

These two came together, bad company corrupted good morals, and their offspring were violent and evil, so that you could no longer tell the righteous from the unrighteous.

Another theory is that the Nephilim were fallen angels, since sons of God is used in Job 1 and 2 in reference to angels.

However, angels are unable to procreate. Jesus said that in the resurrection there is no marriage, for we will all be like angels in heaven.

So, a third possibility combines the other two theories, and the Nephilim were men possessed by fallen angels, who bred with women and raised mighty yet violent sons.

This would explain how the Nephilim were in the earth before the flood, and also after all life on earth was deluged with water and destroyed.

A day is coming where God will again destroy the unrighteous, men, and fallen angels.

This time by fire. The only way to be saved is to believe in Jesus Christ when we understand the text.

I saw you groove into that jam while the video was playing. Yeah, I liked it. Alright, responses we had to this video.

First one's from Thomas. Not being given in marriage does not mean unable to procreate.

Jesus qualified his words by saying specifically the angels in heaven. The ones that stayed righteous didn't take wives.

The angels that rebelled might have taken wives. Just my thought. Thank you for all the work that you do.

Your videos have been phenomenal for years. God bless you and yours. That's sweet.

That is a very kind comment, Thomas. Okay, so that particular quote from Jesus, will be like angels in heaven.

This is taken from the exchange that Jesus had with the Sadducees in Matthew 22. Now, remember the

Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection of the dead. So, they're trying to give like this story problem to Jesus.

Yeah. To try to demonstrate. See how complicated the whole resurrection of the dead thing is. You can't even make sense of this story.

So, here's what we read. Matthew 22, starting in verse 23. On that day, some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question.

Saying, Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife and raise up a seed for his brother.

That's what we call Leveret marriage in the Mosaic law. Right. The Sadducees continue.

Now, there were seven brothers with us. And the first married and died. And having no seed, he left his wife to his brother.

So, also the second and the third down to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died.

So, she's married all seven of these brothers. How sad. And then she dies.

And I'm laughing. I don't like this story. So, the

Sadducees say, in the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be?

For they all had married her. Right. And Jesus' response is in verse 29.

You are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

But are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God saying,

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? Is he not the God of the dead but of the living?

And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. All right.

There's another aspect to this answer that Jesus gave here. I'm going to wait to expound on it until I get to Troy's comment.

Which is coming up next. But first of all, there's the comment in context. Jesus saying that there will not be marriage nor given in marriage but we are like angels in heaven.

Well, when God created marriage, what's the first instruction that he gave to Adam and Eve to do?

Procreate. Yeah. Be fruitful and multiply. Yeah. So, that is the outworking of marriage.

That is the fruitfulness of marriage. Yes. So, if there is no marriage in the resurrection but we will be like angels, there's no procreation.

They're connected with one another. Now, I know some will say, well, you're kind of taking a leap there because Jesus doesn't say we won't procreate.

All that's tied up in marriage. And hence why I felt like I could confidently say in that video, angels can't procreate.

There is nowhere in the Bible that indicates that angels marry or procreate.

This is something that God has given to us to do. And only us, right?

Yeah. Only mankind. Only those who are made in his image. Well, animals, you know. Well.

But we're talking about in the context of marriage. I meant people versus angels. Well, right. I know.

But I didn't want to say like procreate and just kind of leave it at that. Okay. Fair enough. And somebody's going, well, Gabe, our dog just had puppies.

So what are you talking about? True. Anyway, so that's the context of the comment and I think rightly applied there.

It's implied that there's not marriage nor is there procreation. Being like angels means that these are things that God has given for us in this lifetime that don't continue in the next.

Angels don't do it and neither will we. All right. So this next comment comes. And that includes the fallen angels.

And that includes fallen angels. Right. They can't procreate either. Correct. Okay. So Troy says, in the reference of Matthew 22, 30, the context is that they cannot die.

There is nothing said about procreation. He quotes Luke 20, verse 38, because they cannot die anymore being like angels.

They are sons of God being sons of the resurrection. What about the angel that wrestled

Jacob? He has flesh and bones. Okay. There's two claims there. Okay.

I'll get to the Jacob comment here in a little bit. But first of all, his reference to Luke 20, verse 36.

Honestly, I think Luke 20, 36 supports my point even more. But I didn't use that one because I'm trying to fit all of this into a 90 -second video.

And that quote was a little bit longer than the one from Matthew 22. Yeah. So hence why I used the one from Matthew.

But here's the comment exactly in Luke 20, beginning in verse 34.

Okay. So Jesus said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.

But those who are considered worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot even die anymore because they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the

Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.

So where Jesus qualifies the statement by saying they cannot even die anymore, but they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

I think that supports my point even more. They can't die anymore. So there's no procreation.

The people that live in the resurrection forever live in the resurrection. There's not a need for procreation.

Right. God has given that for this life and for those who live to come to faith in Jesus Christ and then those who come to faith in Christ.

When we inherit the resurrection, we are like angels. There's not marriage. There's not procreation because we all live forever.

True. So anyway, but I appreciate your comment, Troy. Good challenge on that. The next comment that he made there, what about the angel that wrestled

Jacob? He has flesh and bones. I think that's speculating too, though. I mean, you're just assuming that the angel that wrestled

Jacob had flesh and bones. Because it isn't said, huh? It doesn't say that.

Now, he certainly has the appearance of a man, but it's also pretty well understood this angel that wrestles

Jacob is called an angel. The angel is God. Yes.

He wrestled with God. And of course, you have the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. That's probably a pre -incarnate

Christ. Yeah. Discussion for another time. But anyway. But to assume that he just automatically had flesh and bone, he might have felt like he had flesh and bone.

But we don't want to assume that these angelic appearances, like the angels that went into Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue

Lot, went into Sodom to pull Lot and his family out. Right. Though they appeared as men, we should not just automatically assume that they had all of the working functions of men.

They of course sat with Abraham and ate. Abraham and Sarah prepared food for them.

The Lord, who's appearing in the manifestation of a man, along with the two angels that are with him, they sat with Abraham and ate.

So maybe they do have human function. I don't know. I'm not sure. But I think that it's still a lot of assumption to say that they're flesh and blood, human -like beings that are there with Abraham or that wrestled with Jacob.

Yeah. And are therefore flesh and bone. Well, I mean, every time that they appear, when Jesus was born, the shepherds were scared.

Yeah, right. And when the women went to the tomb, the angels scared them.

I mean, they're frightening. Yes. So for them to go in and save Lot and the family and sit down and eat, they would have to take on a more similar appearance.

They have some kind of a human form, correct. Right. To not scare them into falling down.

But they're also immortal. That's true. This is not like Jesus becoming incarnate.

Very true. You know, conceived of the Holy Spirit, went through the entire life cycle, is very

God and very man. If you were to have poked such an angel, would they have bled?

You know, God wrestling with Jacob, Jacob overpowers him or is able to hold on to him.

The angel says, let me go. And Jacob says, not until you give me a blessing. Yeah.

And God does bless him, but also touches his hip so that he walks with a limp for the rest of his life.

Right. It's almost like, yeah, I'll let you win. This is the power that I really have over you.

So what was that? And there you go, as a reminder. Yeah, exactly. Right. So could

Jacob have broken this angel's arm? You know what I mean? Yeah. We're not given any indication like that.

I think that the appearance of a man is, for everything that we can perceive of these beings, they are like men in that form.

But I don't think you can really make the argument that they had flesh and bones. Yeah. Why don't we see angels?

Or do we? And we just don't know it. Yeah. Entertaining angels unaware. Yeah. As it says in Hebrews.

Kind of curious. I don't know. I do happen to believe that there are angelic manifestations even still today.

I mean, demons manifest themselves. Right. True. I have counseled people that have seen these spirits that have appeared with them in the room.

Yeah. And I have no reason to, even though I've never seen anything like that, I have no reason to say that they're not actually encountering these demonic presences.

I believe that's really happening. I think the UFO phenomenon that's going on right now. We talked about this before we went on our little hiatus.

Yeah, that's true. But yeah, the UFO stuff that's becoming more and more prominent is demonic.

They're demonic manifestations. Yeah. And it doesn't just mean that only unbelievers see them.

Even believers will see them as well. Right. And you have other cryptids, stories of other cryptids like Bigfoot, Mothman, different creatures that'll make these appearances.

The whole Skinwalker Ranch thing. Yeah. That the History Channel did a special on. These things can be demonic manifestations.

Yeah. And quite frightening. And people have, even believers that encounter them will tell stories about,

I called upon the Lord, I was praying to God in my mind, and the presence left me alone. Mm -hmm.

I meant like the happy ones. You know, the ones from God. You were still talking about angels.

Not the scary ones. I was. The argument I'm making here, though, is if those demonic presences are going to manifest themselves in that way,

I truly believe angels will as well. True. That's true. Why would only demons be showing up?

True. And haunting everybody? But you don't hear about the good ones. At least not as often. Well, you do.

People just don't do as well. They're not doing podcasts out of those. True. They're doing podcasts out of the spooky ones.

Why? Why not? Give me some happy news. Somebody make me a happy angel podcast. I need happy.

All right. Still comments on this video. This one's from Jen. She says, I appreciate this perspective.

I'm no expert, but the idea of demon possession makes some sense. So she likes that third theory that was presented there in the video.

The idea that fallen angels are capable of sex is interesting, but I always struggled with the idea that God would author that life.

God is the author of life, and that he breathed life into demon hybrids is foreign to me.

Again, I'm no expert. What I know about demons from the Bible is that they were able to possess a man and a boy and make them hurt themselves.

Jesus sends the demons that were in the demoniac into a herd of pigs.

There was also a spirit of divination that gave a woman information she couldn't have known, which then gets cast out by the apostles.

This was when Paul was in Philippi. It seems like demons inhabit humans more than mate with them in the

Bible. So thank you for offering another take on this particular topic. Yeah, I lean more toward that third explanation.

Yeah. That it was fallen angels possessing wicked men and then taking women and procreating with them with the seed of a man.

Yeah. And then having offspring that became mighty and violent men.

Now, some will take that theory and they will say, well, how do you get giants out of that? You can still get giants out of that.

Yeah, pick the right genetics. Yeah, right. You have selective breeding. Yeah. I mean, people who would own slaves would do this.

They would pick the hardiest slaves and have them procreate so that their offspring would be even stronger slaves.

Yeah. They could do this and the demons would know how to do that. Yeah. So they take, they possess the biggest men, take the most fertile women, possess really large offspring.

Yeah. And continue to do that, making them larger and violent and aggressive. And they, you know, violence was in the land is what's talked about there in Genesis at the time of the flood.

True. People were just wicked and evil. And if you had this, the sons of God possessing men and then procreating and having children, you've got all kinds of sexual immorality that's wrapped up in that as well.

Yeah. So anyway, that's the, I tend to lean more in that direction. Now, the other theory, again, the first theory that was mentioned there in the video,

I had a few other folks contact me and comment on that and said, yeah, that's kind of where I lean.

Yeah. The concept of the line of Seth are the sons of God and the line of Cain were daughters of men.

Okay. So the wicked line of Cain. Yeah. And so as these families begin to join together, you lose the righteous line.

Right. And bad company corrupts good morals, as said in 1 Corinthians 15. Mm -hmm. All right.

This next comment from GC Allred, then we're on to something else now. Okay. There's the Nephilim video.

This from GC. Now they're miscellaneous. Yeah, miscellaneous comments. My dear friend, thank you for taking my question.

My question is this. As a retired police officer, I have a great concern about my brothers and sisters in Christ versus a fallen world and that which has been pitted against Christianity.

The church I attend is very biblical, but very lax in security.

I've been told that if it's God's will, if we live or die, then we do not need to worry about security within the church.

My personal belief is that being safe within the church is everyone's responsibility, just like it was in your own home.

Please give me some insight on this. I really do not wish to be a statistic of a mass shooting.

I think it's very good that you have to exercise some kind of security. Maybe your church has a particular opinion about guns.

Nobody should come in the church packing guns. If somebody comes in to kill people, then we shouldn't try to fight them back or kill them, maybe apprehend the culprit, disarm him somehow.

Maybe that would be your angle on that. But I still think you have to take some measure to make your building secure.

Yeah. You can't just be sitting ducks there. Why do you lock your doors at night? Yeah, right.

So even if you're having church, you're keeping things locked. You've got people posted at security points.

Those kinds of things are still a good idea to do, even if you're pacifists in the sense that we shouldn't be carrying guns or firing back on those who fire against us.

Turn the other cheek, which I don't think that's the way that passage applies. But I've heard that used in that way.

Oh, yeah, a lot. We shouldn't carry because we just need to turn the other cheek. Can I just add, thank you for your service.

Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate that. For the work you've done as a police officer. Consider this from Exodus 22 too.

This isn't an exact parallel, but this is still from the law of God and it's worth considering. Exodus 22, if the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guiltiness on his account.

But if the sun has risen on him, there will be blood guiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution.

If he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. Okay, we're just talking about a thief here.

We're talking about a thief who is breaking in at night. You don't know his intent. So if a thief is breaking in, we're not even talking about somebody who's coming in to harm your family or kill people.

Yeah, they're just stealing. It's night. They break into your home. You don't know who they are. You don't know their intent.

So if you strike the person in defense so that they die, there is no blood guiltiness.

Right. This is self -defense just protecting your property. So how much more so should there be self -defense to protect life?

Right. There's nothing wrong with that. Now, somebody says, okay, but we have church in the daytime.

So if a person comes in and kills somebody, we can't kill him back, according to this passage, because the sun has risen on him and there would be blood guiltiness on us for striking him.

No, because you have no idea who he is. Right. You don't know what he's doing. The whole concept behind this is when the thief breaks in at night, you don't know what his intent is.

And so you strike him to put him down, protecting your family and your property.

With somebody who comes into a church and starts firing, you know what his intent is. Very true.

Put that guy down. And that is just. That is justice being done because he's taking the lives of people.

You take him out. Yeah. And justice is served. And by the way, that's consistent with a pro -life position because you're protecting life.

You're saving life by taking his. And that's also according to the laws in our land. You have a right to self -defense.

Yeah, true. In that circumstance. So far anyway. A citizen can put him down. You can't wait for the police.

He's going to wipe everybody out. Right. So put him down. That's where I'm at on that.

That's what our church exercises. Yep. I'm right there with you.

I feel more comfortable with someone who knows how to handle a gun properly than I am without anybody who knows anything about guns.

Yeah, right. I'm like, no, I'd rather have you by my side. Of course, you know, I'm speaking as a

Texan. We're here in the state of Texas. We are. Everybody's carrying. Basically, yes. True.

But there's going to be other states, of course, where the gun laws are much more strict. Carry around a bat.

Carry around a bat. Yeah. I mean, if you're going to defend yourself somehow.

Right. You can throw it back. Gotta have something. And that's what the Israelites had when they went up against the

Philistines. When David fought against Goliath. Yeah. They just had farm tools. Yeah, right.

They just had farming tools because the Philistines wouldn't let them have swords and shields. That's true. When David was given

Saul's armor and it didn't fit. Yeah. Saul and Jonathan pretty much had the only armor.

Wow. And so that's why Saul gave his armor to David. Oh, that's curious. That's all David would have had was just Saul's armor.

The Philistines did not let the rest of the Israelites have weapons. Wow. So, yeah.

Anyway. But if you can possess a weapon, if you can defend your church, you have biblical grounds to do so.

This next comment comes from Michael. Gabe and babe depends. He said.

Seriously, what he put. Gabe and babe and the word depends in parentheses. And he says, sorry,

I had to do it. You're choking my wife here, Michael. Choking her. I got a tickle.

Oh, goodness. So, he says, question. When choosing to implement a do not resuscitate directive.

Am I refusing to trust in God's plan? Okay. When choosing to implement a do not resuscitate directive.

Am I refusing to trust in God's plan? I think I'm a little confused on the application of this here.

So, do you mean somebody else has said do not resuscitate?

And so, you're wondering, do I need to honor that or do I need to resuscitate them? Or are you saying that you want to implement a do not resuscitate order for yourself?

And if in doing that for yourself, are you saying, I don't really trust in God, then I'm just going to have to stand up and do it myself. God, I'm telling other people, don't try to bring me back to life.

And in doing that, am I saying that I don't trust God? Do you get what I'm saying? Do you get how I'm phrasing the two?

Yeah, I think the second one, by how the wordage went. Okay, so you think it might be that he's saying,

I want to implement a do not resuscitate, like I want to put it in my will. Right. But does that mean that I don't trust

God? But I don't understand the question. How would that mean that you don't trust God? Everybody has their different reasons for do not resuscitate or resuscitate me, please.

I mean, if you're convicted over it, if you have doubts, then don't do it. Right, totally.

Don't put it in your will. Now, I know why some... Also, it depends on circumstances.

Yeah, I mean, I understand why someone would put that in there, because the person is basically dead in all ways except their brain.

Right. And they're on life support and just kind of continue in this comatose state in which even if they do come out of that, they're going to end up with just lots of brain damage.

There's going to be lots of physical problems for the person that ends up coming out of that. Right. So maybe their desire would just be, don't try to bring me back, just let me go.

Right. I mean, you can make the argument that a do not resuscitate is trusting in God.

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. I mean... I trust my soul to him. He's taking me home. Get me out of here.

Yeah. I'm not telling you what to do one way or the other. No. But if you're convicted about it, if you feel guilty about doing a do not resuscitate, then don't put it in your will.

Yeah. Be sure about it before you do it. Right. And I mean, talk to family, too.

Yeah, right. They're a good soundboard for you. Of course, it's kind of a downer to talk about if I'm put in that situation kind of thing.

But it would be nice for them to have that comfort to know what you would want in that situation.

Yeah. Because when my grandma was in the hospital, my family wanted to keep her going, if you will.

And my grandpa said, no, absolutely not. Because she would not want that.

Right. And he would know. And he would know. Yeah. So yeah, it was... And we know he would much rather have her around.

Oh yeah, definitely. So it was one of those things that everybody took comfort in knowing that's what she would want.

Right. And there was no question about it. Yeah. Well, she was also, wasn't she 90? Mm -hmm. I mean, it was her time to go.

Yeah, yeah. I think sometimes the medical advancements are great.

Yeah. I mean, the medical progress we've made is fantastic, but sometimes we can just kind of go too far with it. Yeah. Like, it's your time to go.

The Lord's taking you home. Right. Yeah. Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints.

Yes. So anyway, I don't know if that helps or hinders, but it would be good for you to talk to at least those close to you.

Exactly, talk to family about it. So that way they can make that decision with as much peace as they can.

Right, you're making that together as a family. Yes. Especially so you're letting them know what your desire would be.

Right, that's what I'm saying. They know what to say when you're in that position. Yes. So as hard as, I mean, nobody wants to make that decision.

Nobody. Nobody wants put in that position, nobody wants to make that decision. Of course. So just make it as easy on your family as possible,

I guess. This next one's from The Office Calvinist. That's funny. Hey Gabe and Becky, thanks for being the most endearing podcast around.

Aw, so sweet. I have a question for your Friday Q &A. Should two people who love the

Lord deeply and love each other, but differ on soteriology, which again is the study of salvation, because this is coming from The Office Calvinist.

Yeah. They differ on soteriology should they get married. He's reformed, she grew up Anabaptist, they both want to get married, but they see this as a potential hindrance if they do get married and have kids.

Can you share any thoughts, wisdom, or advice about this situation? Just as an aside, this question is not about my situation as I am married and my wife woke up believing

Calvinism one morning about a year ago. Her words, not mine. Thanks and God bless.

Okay, so in this particular scenario, you've got somebody who's reformed or a Calvinist, you got another one who's an

Anabaptist. Should they get married? Okay, explain the difference. Okay, so a

Calvinist is gonna believe that God has foreordained from before the foundation of the world, he has predestined some for salvation.

But there are others that he has not predestined, he's left to their sin, to their just condemnation.

So they will perish, but that's the justice of God. Right, okay. That's what a

Calvinist believes. Or reformed anyway, I'm even quoting from the, or paraphrasing,

I'm paraphrasing the London Baptist Confession of Faith, which is a reformed confession.

Okay. So that would certainly be on the reformed side of things. An Anabaptist is gonna be more semi -Pelagian.

I did that just to get that look. She's looking at me like you did not explain that at all.

You just made it more confusing. Thanks, there's something else that has to be. Pelagian, Pelagianism is the idea that we can be good without God.

Oh, okay. Like we can do something good enough to attain or merit our own salvation.

Semi -Pelagianism is gonna be the idea that we're a little bit good, God helps us the rest of the way, and kind of pulls it like we're meeting each other in the middle somewhere.

Or it might be God does 99 % of the work and I do 1 % of the work, but there's still, you know, it's a synergistic idea.

It's God and man working together to achieve my salvation. That would be semi -Pelagianism.

So that's what you have with Anabaptists. You've got a reformed view, you've got an Anabaptist view.

You've got the Calvinist view, you've got an Arminian view. So they both wanna get married, but they see this as a potential hindrance if they do get married and have kids.

My immediate response to this would be, don't get married. That's what I was thinking too.

At least not yet. Hold off on it a little while. Yeah. Continue to go to church, study together, and you're either gonna grow closer together and more like -minded on these things.

That's what I was thinking too. Or you might grow farther apart. And only time will tell. Yeah. Because I mean, any union could be blessed by God.

And we're talking about two believers here. Thank you. Yes, of course. I don't see it being an everyday thing until you get to children.

Yeah. And then once you have children, it's gonna just complicate everything because you both have totally different approaches.

Totally different. And when it comes to children, I become a mama bear.

So you're gonna protect your kids. Right. And teach them what you feel is right.

And if you both are teaching what you feel is right to your children, then somebody's gonna be wrong.

And you're teaching your children that the other parent is wrong, not by saying they're wrong, but just because your words are conflicting.

Yeah. And that becomes a division in the home. So you don't wanna start off on that foot.

Right. Yeah, you don't wanna have family devotions in which dad is saying one thing and mom is going, nope, nope, sorry, that's not true.

Yeah, that's not the way to go. That's gonna be problematic. Especially, you know, like when

I'm reading that here, he's Reformed and she's an Anabaptist. That's what I hear you saying. She's really devoted to her

Anabaptist roots, which might be, you know, like Mennonite. That was the church that I was baptized in.

They just, it's conflict from the beginning. So they have to, and especially being newly married, they would have to know how to maneuver each other, like how each one ticks and work through that.

And, you know, actually be ready for that kind of. If you're doing pre -counseling, pre -marital counseling with a pastor,

I would hope the pastor's walking through some of those issues. Yeah, definitely. Some of those things, that you're able to recognize that.

Yeah, because you would, I mean, you would really have to learn how to communicate with one another well before even starting that relationship.

Yeah, I mean, you have a different understanding of the application of the atonement. Yes. Did Christ die for his elect, or is it some universal atonement that's just out there that anybody can reach out and grab a hold of?

Which of course, that's what an Anabaptist is gonna believe. Yeah. Because it's God does a little work and then

I do some work and. Right, we meet in the middle. And then we meet in the middle and I'm saved. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, I don't know the couple. I'm just thrown out there, but my,

I agree with you on the waiting part. Yeah, at least waiting. Yeah. Like I said, my immediate reaction is no, but wait.

You're also very harsh, too. He's very black and white.

Yeah. I hate to tell a couple that's in love, like this ain't gonna work, guys.

Yeah. Especially if they're two believers. Right. But yeah, in this particular case, in this circumstance, I mean, when you're really thinking it through, there has to be some sort of a like -minded.

There are couples that I have known where the husband is a Calvinist and the wife is not, you know, something to that effect.

I've seen that in couples before. It works out fine. Yeah. I knew one couple, this was really bizarre, but he was a cessationist and she was very much not.

So he believed that the apostolic gifts, the apostolic miraculous sign gifts had ceased.

But she believed, no, they're still going on. I can even have one right now. And I was,

I don't know how they made their marriage work. They did, they had beautiful children, but I was just looking at that going, I don't think that would have gone over well.

Yeah. I don't think that would have worked. Now, Becky and I, when we got married, I was more on the

Calvinist side of things. You were more on the Arminian side of things. Because we met and got married in a

Wesleyan church. Right. Wesleyans are Arminian. Yes. So yeah, no way around that.

But yet, I mean, it wasn't like Becky was fully devoted to Arminianism. If we're gonna get married, we have to be

Arminian. I was still learning a lot. So she was gonna follow the spiritual lead of her husband.

Right. And that's why that worked. Right. Even though I knew she wasn't there yet, but she was still, we were going to grow together as we studied the word.

Right. So that wasn't a reason for us to, I think it's gonna differ, the situation's gonna differ from one couple to the next.

So you have to assess those things on a case -by -case basis. And get plenty of counsel. Yeah. There's no harm in that.

There's no harm in waiting and getting counsel. Right, premarital counseling is a great tool.

Use your resources. Yeah, absolutely. And talk to family too. And maybe you guys can come, or maybe they can come to a decision on we're gonna raise the kids this way, and then when they get old enough, then they can choose, because I'm still gonna believe this as we go through our marriage.

Now, if you're a Protestant and she's a Catholic, no. Answer is absolutely not. Yeah. You are, it is an

Orthodox person marrying either heterodox, depending on how devoted to Catholicism they are, or just an outright heretic.

Yeah. So, yeah, anyway. We could go on with those scenarios. Somebody's gonna email me for sure.

Well, what about this? Yes. He likes the London Baptist Confession of Faith, and she likes the

Westminster Confession. What do you do with that? You smile and nod.

Yeah, that's right. She wants to baptize babies, and he doesn't. So now what do you do?

Yeah, like I said, we're at the end. Yep. And here I'm coming up. No, not opening that can of worms.

I'm giving y 'all ideas, so now you can email us when we understand the text at gmail .com.

Hey, a reminder that we're gonna be at G3 in September. Yes. What's the dates of this thing?

The 20th through the 20, no, 21st through the 23rd. It's the 20, the 20th is a

Wednesday. So the 21st through the 23rd. 21st through the 23rd, although we're gonna be there that Wednesday.

Yes. So this is in Atlanta, the G3 Conference. You can go to g3min .org

or .com. They'll both get you to the same place. Since I get that confused, they went ahead and bought both domains.

Aw, that was kind of them. Just for you. Just for me, that's right. Hey, there's gonna be a lot of cool stuff unveiled at this

G3. There's some things I know that I actually can't say. I'm curious now.

I know, I know. I've told you, you just, Becky's just playing it for you guys. Or I just totally forgot, because that's my brain.

Now one announcement that I can say, because they've already publicly said this, the documentary on cessationism is gonna be debuted at this

G3 Conference. So be looking for that documentary, it's gonna be awesome. You get to see it for the very first time at G3, and then they're gonna make it available in other ways.

I know the guys that have put it together, rumor has it that I'm in the documentary. Oh, cool.

I know I got interviewed for it, I don't know if they kept my clips or not. So, I'm not that great at interview, but we'll find out.

You always say that, too. I'm such a boring interview. You can listen to the podcast in which

I can read scripture and exegete it for you, that's one thing. But actually, sitting there and having a conversation and having to answer questions and make it interesting,

I'm just not as good at that. Yeah. I'm just not interesting. I just don't think

I'm as good at that. I find you interesting enough. We have great chats. We do. But this isn't an interview.

This is true. You're just hearing, me and Becky, we're always like this. We are. Now we just turn the mic on and we do this.

That is true. Anyway, G3 Conference, you can register by going to g3min .org.

They're thinking it might sell out. Becky and I procrastinated on getting our hotel room.

It's not that all the hotel rooms are gone, but as I talk to my parents who live in the Atlanta area, we're going to be staying with them.

We have to drive a little further, but in this case, we can bring all the children with us.

That's right. This is going to be the first G3 Conference we're making an entire family get together.

Yes. We're all going to be there. It's going to be exciting. Just in case the children are listening to this episode, not the dog or the fish.

Yeah, the dog can't go. The fish has to stay too, yes. That's it. Right. And Miss Sonia can't care for them because she's going with us.

That's right. She's going to be there too. We hope to see you there. If you can register and be there for the conference or if you're planning on being there for the conference, we've got a booth.

So where you see the exhibition hall, all the wonderful, awesome booths that are there, come find us.

We'd love to say hey. Yes. That wraps things up for now, I think. We are back on the regular schedule of the podcast.

So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I'm back in our New Testament study, which is in the Sermon on the Mount. Thursday, we continue in Isaiah.

And God willing, we'll be back for another Q &A next week. Yeah. Let's pray. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together.

We thank you that we can dive into your word and answer tough questions. The scriptures have all the answers that we need concerning life and godliness in this faith that we have in Jesus Christ.

So guide us in these things. As we read about in James 1, let us not just be hearers of the word, but we do what the words say.

We walk in holiness and in righteousness, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others so that they too may be one out of the world to Christ and become adopted sons and daughters of God, inheritors of your kingdom, that we may be with you in eternal life forever in glory.

We also pray for our children, God. Those of us who have kids and are shepherding our children, may they grow up learning the word and trusting in Christ and come to faith in Jesus so that they too may live.

Protect us from these days. May we not be led astray by our flesh, by the world or by the schemes of Satan, but continuing to hold fast to Christ, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Because it'll mess up my audio if I leave it on.

You know, it makes the audio skip. So I'm gonna put all my questions on here now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm slow tracking. Slow tracking. Slow tracking.

Slow dragging. Yeah, dragging slow. Yeah, that's for sure. I feel so old.

I didn't wanna drink a soda, but I had an ice cream sandwich. Maybe I'm a - That sounds good. Maybe I'm awake enough for this.

I brushed my teeth though, so that would taste awful. Oh yeah. Not quite orange juice, but still bad enough.