WWUTT 2405 Q&A New Pope, Effectual Calling, Talking With the Dead

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May 9, 2025

Responding to questions from listeners about how Christians should think about the new pope, what is the differences between effectual and external calling, and what if someone you know believes they're speaking with a dead relative. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

00:00: What are we as Christians to think about the Pope? What is the difference between the external call and the effectual call of the
00:08: Holy Spirit? And how do we speak to someone who thinks they're hearing from a dead relative? The answer is when we understand the text.
00:24: This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word, brought to you by Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.
00:34: For more information about our ministry, go to www .wutt .com. Hey, once again, it's
00:40: Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. And you're welcome for joining us here today.
00:46: Yay, thanks. You're always welcome. Always welcome here. Let's begin with the Word of God, Proverbs 10, starting in verse 18.
00:54: I've got four verses to knock out here, but they all thematically go together. Awesome.
01:00: So verse 18 is, the one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
01:09: When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
01:16: The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth.
01:22: The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.
01:29: So what theme do all four of those verses appear to follow there? The mouth.
01:34: Yeah, talking about our words. The control over your mouth. Exactly. What kinds of things are we saying? Are they of benefit to anybody?
01:41: You think of the instruction in Ephesians 4, 29, that we are to build one another up with our words, giving grace to those who hear.
01:50: Whereas the heart of the wicked is of little worth, and the words that he says, what comes out of his heart comes out of his mouth, and the words that he says does not benefit anybody, doesn't build them up, but rather tears them down.
02:03: It brings ruin. Kind of going back to one of the verses that we looked at last week. The mouth of the fool brings ruin near.
02:11: That was in verse 14. Is it saying that people who lie, I'm sorry, in verse 18, is it saying people who lie, they have hatred in their heart?
02:20: The one who conceals hatred has lying lips. So his heart is hateful toward other people, but he's acting like everything's fine and he loves everybody, but in his heart, there's something scheming that's going on.
02:35: That is not for the betterment of people around him, but will actually be looking for his own personal advantage, tearing others down in the process for whatever will get him gain.
02:48: Whoever utters slander is a fool, so he's speaking false words about other people.
02:54: And again, somehow to benefit himself, making it look like that he's in the know, or he's better than these other people, or whatever it might happen to be.
03:02: So the person who in their heart does not have a high regard for other people, then is always looking for ways that he can either take advantage of others or tear them down.
03:15: So instead, verse 21, the lips of the righteous feed many, are of benefit to many people.
03:23: But fools die for lack of sense, and not just the fools who are senseless, but even the people who are listening to those senseless fools will also follow them to their destruction as well.
03:37: It's kind of like what I shared on the broadcast on Thursday when we were in Jeremiah 14, the symbiotic relationship that the false teacher has with the person that listens to it.
03:49: So as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4, that people who wander from the truth will store up for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
04:01: So the lying prophet lies, speaks lies so that he may take advantage of others, but those people that he's taking advantage of, we often think of them as being victims.
04:13: But again, they're going after the false teacher because the false teacher is telling them what they want to hear.
04:20: Right. And so all the more important for us to understand the messenger and test his message according to the word that we may listen to those words that are pleasing to God and not be taken advantage of because we were listening to somebody who appealed to our flesh.
04:39: Also like when words are many, transgression is not lacking. I think of pop music. Oh, yeah.
04:46: Hip hop, especially because it's like that entire genre is just all about me, singers singing about himself, all the money he's making, the women he has, the drugs he's doing.
04:57: Yeah. Yeah. Where words are many, transgression is not lacking. That's true.
05:03: All right. Well, this is the end of the week edition of When We Understand the Text, and we like to take questions from the listeners.
05:09: You can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
05:15: Babe, there's a new Pope. Oh, yeah. Or rather, I should have led this by saying the
05:21: Vatican has chosen a new Antichrist. Yes. So what is this guy's name? Robert.
05:27: Pope Bob. He's actually taking the name
05:32: Leo XIV, but yeah, he's Pope Bob. I really, I don't know.
05:37: I think I would have more respect for them if they went with their original given name.
05:44: They go and adopt a name that's been used like, what, 15, 14 times?
05:49: Well, 14 times. Yeah. Especially. And then it's like, why? Anyway.
05:55: I don't remember why. Are you following their shoes? Are you like, what? What's the deal? Now, I know whenever there was
06:03: First Communion, and then there was, what's next? So your Catholic upbringing, you're talking about.
06:09: My Catholic upbringing. So there's First Communion, and then there's, you go through this.
06:14: Confirmation? Yes, confirmation. Okay, there you go. You go through that process, and then you get, you pick a saint, and then all of a sudden, that saint's name is part of your name.
06:25: Okay. Like, not legally, but just that's what you call yourself then. Sure. And so I'm wondering if, like, the
06:32: Pope does the same thing. Like, do they legally change their name to that? Or do they, like, just adopt that, and then that's what they're called?
06:41: Or how? Yeah, it's not a legal name change. It's not? It's just, he's known by that name as the
06:47: Pope. That was his Pope name. And Leo's appropriate, because Leo means lion. And 1
06:53: Peter 5, 8 says, be sober -minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking for someone to devour.
07:01: Well, there you go. So I'm all right with the Pope calling himself Leo. Yeah. I'm still going to call him Pope Bob, though.
07:07: So this question - I mean, is that his, like, astrology sign?
07:14: Yeah, not a Leo. Because remember, we just had Pope Francis.
07:20: There was Pope Benedict, Pope John Paul. Yeah, it's all just -
07:26: They just recycle them? Yeah, they just, it's kind of like hurricane names. Oh, what's the next one? Oh, yeah, this one's coming up.
07:31: Yeah. Hurricane names. So this question comes from Ryan.
07:38: He says, as a Christian, should I care about who the Pope is? Obviously, he doesn't answer to me, or frankly, for God, but I know that he is a cultural figure.
07:48: How should I respond? I really like Virgil Walker's response, he says, and then posted it here.
07:54: A new Pope has been crowned, but the old lie remains. No priest, no pontiff, no
08:00: Pope can save you. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.
08:08: Flee false shepherds, run to Christ. Amen. So, yeah, it's true that we, as Protestants, as evangelicals, or dare
08:19: I say, we as Christians, don't have any sort of reverence for the Pope.
08:24: He claims to be the Vicar of Christ. Like he's the representation, the head of the church,
08:31: Christ on the earth. That's the position of the Pope. Now the Roman Catholics will ground this in Matthew 16, 18, where Jesus said to Peter, you are
08:43: Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
08:49: So the Roman Catholics use that verse to say, that's the papacy right there. Jesus appointed
08:55: Peter to be the first Pope. And so the Pope today, Jesus, yeah, that's what they're saying.
09:01: And Jesus is not appointing Popes. They're appointing them themselves.
09:08: But they will say that this is like an unbroken line of succession. So Pope Leo XIV is the 267th
09:15: Pope, or something like that, if you count from Peter all the way to today. Oh. But going all the way back to Peter, even, there's no evidence that he was ever a
09:24: Bishop of Rome. There's no historical evidence that he had ever been - Or Catholic, for that matter.
09:30: Well, yeah, but Roman Catholic doesn't come along for hundreds of years later. So there's no evidence that Peter was ever there, let alone that he was the
09:40: Bishop of Rome and therefore could have been named the first Pope. But even going by what we have in Scripture, Peter is not the rock.
09:49: Christ is. Right. When Jesus says, on this rock, I will build my church, there is nothing in Scripture anywhere after that verse, before that verse, that is indicating there is any other rock but Christ.
10:02: First Corinthians 10 .4 says, the rock is Christ. Ephesians 2 .20
10:08: says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
10:16: Cornerstone, right. And if you go to 1 Peter 2, you have the guy that the
10:21: Roman Catholic Church claims is the first Pope saying even there that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone and the rest of the church is built upon him.
10:32: For he says that you are chosen in precious stones. You are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
10:48: And then goes on from there to say, for it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen in precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
10:58: That's Christ. Christ is the rock on which the church is built. Yes. Now, Peter is certainly a stone, and he is definitely a foundation stone because of what's said there in Ephesians 2 .20.
11:11: But he's not the rock, and the church is not built on him. The church is built on Christ.
11:18: Or should be, to be sound. Well, yeah. I mean, if you got a church that's not built on Christ, then you don't really have a church.
11:25: Or you have a church, but it would be a false church, not the true church. But furthermore, you know, there's other things in Scripture that indicate to us that Peter did not have some kind of primacy over the rest of the apostles.
11:41: Peter was rebuked by Jesus just a few verses after that one. Yeah. That's true.
11:47: After he said, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, saying to him, blessed are you,
11:52: Simon Bar -Jonah, for man did not reveal this to you, the claim that Peter made, you are the
11:58: Christ, the son of the living God, man has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven, it was not revealed to him by flesh and blood.
12:05: But then a few verses later, when Peter tries to oppose Jesus going to the cross,
12:11: Jesus says to him, get behind me, Satan. And Peter had a real knack for sticking his foot in his mouth for somebody who's supposed to hold a position that is infallible.
12:25: Yeah. And then you also had the apostle Paul rebuking Peter in Galatians chapter two, because Peter was choosing to eat with the
12:33: Jews and shunning the Gentiles. And so, Paul opposed Peter to his face. Right. Paul had this authority as an apostle in which he could rebuke another apostle if that apostle was in the wrong.
12:46: So, Peter had no primacy there that Paul had to be in subjection to. Whatever Peter says goes,
12:53: I guess. I have to be in subjection to him because he's the one Jesus appointed to be the rock on which the church is built.
13:00: Nothing in scripture reflects that in any way. There's not even another verse after Matthew 16, 18.
13:07: Even if you're looking at that one with some level of confusion, okay, when Jesus says, you are
13:12: Peter and on this rock, I will build my church. Peter means rock. So, is Jesus talking about Peter?
13:17: You have no other passage after that to confirm that theory. You would just be reading that into Matthew 16, 18, but can't cross -reference it with any other passage.
13:27: So, there's nothing else in scripture that indicates that about Peter. Now, going back to Ryan's question, though, how is it should we think about the
13:36: Pope? Because he's obviously a cultural figure. Well, I think it is important that we know who this is, because the number of world leaders out there who claim to be
13:47: Roman Catholic. That's what I was going to say. And they're going to follow, especially in Europe, they're going to follow whatever the
13:53: Pope says. Right. And it's connections. So, it's like all of the Catholic churches are autonomous or whatever.
14:01: They're the same. It's going to be the same no matter where you go. Well, yeah. The Catholic churches are not autonomous. It's a hierarchy.
14:07: Well, yeah. I used the wrong word. I meant like they're all connected. They're all the same.
14:12: If you go to one in a different language, it's still going to be the same. The message will be a little bit different, but the structure of the mass is all the same.
14:23: Right. And so, it's going to – and the Pope can change that, because there was one
14:28: Pope who very much upset my grandpa, because he changed too much.
14:34: Wasn't it Francis? I thought he didn't like Francis. I think it was. Yeah. And so, but my grandpa, he stood up and he left, and you're in the middle, because he's like, nope, this is not right.
14:47: But it was just funny how it was like, yeah, the Popes can make such a crazy decision to change all the churches.
14:58: That affects all of Roman Catholicism. All the churches have to do it, because he's the Pope. I mean, there was a lot of people who went along with it too.
15:06: Right. They weren't as – Oh, of course. Bold as my grandpa. Well, it looks like this
15:12: Pope is very much a, you know, Francian or whatever. Whatever you would say about Francis, whatever his teaching was, this guy's following along the lines with it.
15:21: Oh. Really hard to think that this was not something very political, because he's made all kinds of statements about open borders and immigration.
15:33: Already? And what's like the most – For there? No, going back. Like, all of his teaching going back as a cardinal.
15:40: Oh, okay. I'm talking Pope Leo XIV. Yes. Pope Bob. Okay. Pope Bob.
15:45: Pope Bob from Chicago, incidentally. Pope Bob from Chicago. Yeah, he's from Chicago. This is the first American Pope.
15:52: Oh, I missed that. Yes. Okay. Well, that's interesting. In the history of Roman Catholicism, he's the first Pope from the
15:59: United States. That's interesting. Okay, that explains why he's talking about borders and stuff. Okay. Exactly. I'm caught up now.
16:06: Sorry, guys. Well, I mean, Francis did, too. Did he really? Francis said things. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Francis said stuff that appeared to be directly going after –
16:14: I just ignored Francis. Right. I was like, you're crazy, Felinas. But because he said some things about immigration, this kind of has that appearance of, oh, that's why they chose that guy.
16:25: Because it sounds like something that could oppose the President of the United States or some of those political issues that are kind of dominating this current administration.
16:34: And so that would be the reason why he was chosen and appointed. I mean, you've got to consider, too, J .D. Vance is a practicing
16:40: Roman Catholic. So it's important for us to know who is the Pope in Rome, because how much is the
16:48: Vice President of the United States going to be following his lead? Right. Will there be any opposition there?
16:54: Right. Things of that nature. I mean, he's a hugely influential religious and world figure.
17:02: And whoever is going to be in that position of the Pope is going to affect some of the moral issues that are going on in our culture.
17:10: So what kind of direction are those moral issues going to take? He's going to have an influence on them. So that's why there is some importance to us paying attention to whoever is in that spot.
17:21: Right. And whatever his ethics or his politics might happen to be, because it's going to have a global impact.
17:28: Right. So it would be kind of like paying attention to who the President is? Yeah. Oh, of course.
17:33: Right. Or world leaders. Yeah. Just like we're interested in who the President is and what his politics are.
17:40: Right. So you're going to be interested in the Pope in that sense as well. Because it indirectly does affect you.
17:45: But it's the very fact that he claims to be the Vicar of Christ. You know, for us as Reformed Baptists, our confession of faith says he's an
17:53: Antichrist. Right. So. That's true. Yeah, there is kind of a direct impact there.
17:58: That's true. There's the Pope. And okay, like I started by saying, they've chosen another Antichrist.
18:04: This is a man who doesn't actually stand in the position of Christ. He stands opposed to Christ. What is the Vicar of Christ mean?
18:10: Can you explain that a little bit better? The term Vicar, the word Vicar itself, means it's from the same word that we get vicarious.
18:19: So if you live vicariously through someone else. Oh, okay. So vicarious is a substitute or a representative.
18:26: So he's meant to be the representative of Christ on the earth. He's the visible head.
18:33: Okay. So as Christ is the invisible head of the church, this is according to Roman Catholic theology.
18:39: Right. Christ is the invisible head. The Pope is the visible head. Okay. So he's supposed to be sinless.
18:45: Well, the apologists will admit that he's not, and the catechism doesn't say so. But most
18:50: Roman Catholics think that he is. Remember, they call him the Holy Father. Oh, that's true. That's true.
18:56: I had forgotten that. It's been too long. I'm grateful. And they really do see him as sinless.
19:03: Even if you have, even if you're going to come up with a Roman Catholic apologist like the Catholic Answers guys or something like that are going to say, no, no, no, no, no.
19:11: He's not sinless. You know, whatever a Catholic apologist says is really irrelevant because whatever the
19:18: Pope says goes. Right. That's true. And those Catholic apologists have no authority over the
19:23: Pope. So they'll try to like walk back his statements or clarify his statement. And Francis said all kinds of things that were not only unbiblical, of course he did because he's the
19:34: Pope, he's the Roman Catholic Pope. But it was even contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine.
19:40: Yes. So some of the things he said, like, you know, when he talked about how that atheist father went to heaven or when he said that mankind is basically good, things of that nature.
19:50: He's speaking contrary to even what Roman Catholic doctrine was saying. And you'll have the Catholic apologist that'll come out and try to explain, no, what he really meant was this or whatever was this or they can even just straight up say he was wrong.
20:02: He had a moment of weakness there when he said that doesn't matter. He's the Pope and you're not. Yep. So based on the very reasoning for his position, his words have all the authority and whatever a
20:16: Catholic apologist says doesn't matter. And the apologists have hated it when I've said that. Yeah.
20:22: But they know I'm right. In their heart of hearts, they know I cannot really oppose the
20:28: Pope. Matt Walsh is a very outspoken Roman Catholic. He's one of the,
20:34: I want to say pundits. Would he be a pundit? One of the talking heads of the Daily Wire. Anyway, I have no idea what that's called.
20:42: I've been an anchor. Opinion columnists. Oh, yeah, yeah. That'd be good. Opinionist. Opinionist.
20:48: We're all opinionists, babe. Yeah. And he's an outspoken Roman Catholic and he very much opposed
20:56: Francis. But it's like, it doesn't matter, man. You can't do anything about it. There's nothing you knew about it. Yeah. According to your church's doctrine, you have to do it.
21:05: You have to submit to whoever he is on the top of this thing. So anyway, all of that's just wildly amusing and at the same time, sad and heartbreaking.
21:19: So in other words, we have to buckle up and go for another ride on that crazy train? Well, every time there's a
21:26: Pope. And there's always going to be a Pope until Christ comes back. Fair enough. All right.
21:32: I do think that's one of those positions, one of those authorities that's always going to be there until Christ returns. So and again, it's why we have in our statement of faith and why a lot of reform denominations, including
21:43: Presbyterians, have in their statements of faith that the Pope is an anti -Christ. So claiming to be the vicar of Christ or standing as the visible head of Christ on the earth is an opposition to Christ, not a representative of Christ.
21:56: Right. The head of the church is Jesus, and it will always and only be
22:01: Jesus. And he is the rock upon which the church is built, and there will not be another one.
22:08: And I'm so grateful. Oh, yeah. Amen to that. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, whereas Popes are always going to be changing.
22:15: I'll get this pushback from Roman Catholics as well. Anytime they start bringing up the fact that Protestant denomination, there's always these thousands of Protestant denominations.
22:24: So which one is the correct one? And I'll fire back, which one of your Popes was the correct one?
22:30: Because they've all taught something different. They have. And there have never been two Popes that were in agreement with one another.
22:36: For like nine years, there were two Popes at the same time, Francis and Benedict, and they were as night and day from one another as two
22:45: Popes could have been. So who was the correct one? Which one was right?
22:51: That's the second one they brought in. Yeah, right. They try to make fun of Protestantism and say that we have so many divided issues and all this kind of stuff.
23:01: It exists within your conclave. So don't even give me that. This question comes from John.
23:08: He says, Greetings, Pastor Gabe. On your Wednesday podcast, you were talking about the people who took the blasphemy challenge and you were explaining how the only way someone could blaspheme the
23:19: Holy Spirit is to resist the gospel all of one's life and die in their sins. So we were talking about where Jesus was responding to the crowds who were saying of him that he's of Beelzebul and that's how he's able to cast out demons.
23:36: And so Jesus said that all kinds of blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them, but not the blasphemy of the
23:42: Holy Spirit. That's what we refer to as the unforgivable sin. So we kind of looked at the different possibilities of what that could potentially mean.
23:52: And there are some that just simply means, well, Jesus was only talking about the Pharisees. Only they could have committed the unforgivable sin because of what they know and what they saw with their very eyes.
24:02: And we're not there at the time of Jesus' earthly ministry to see what he was doing. So we can't commit the unpardonable sin.
24:11: But I don't think that that's the context either, especially with the way that it's worded in Luke. Matthew and Mark, I get why you might come to that conclusion.
24:20: But the way that it's given to us in Luke sounds a lot more like it's the witness of the Holy Spirit that a person would continue to resist and having never submitted to the call of the gospel, then on the day of judgment, that's ultimately the thing they're getting judged for is that they did not believe in Jesus Christ and did not listen to the witness of the
24:38: Holy Spirit that showed us that Jesus is the Christ. And so John goes on to say, you already know that I'm Reformed, therefore
24:46: I understand what you were saying. But for the rest of your audience, would you elaborate on that understanding, comparing it to the general gospel call with irresistible grace?
24:57: So the general gospel call is the call that everybody hears whenever you hear a presentation of the gospel.
25:03: Okay. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He rose again from the dead. Whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
25:12: You've heard the gospel call. You've heard what we call the external call, not the effectual call.
25:19: So the effectual call being that work of the Holy Spirit that happens on the inside of a person to believe the message that you just heard.
25:27: Now the Holy Spirit does not do such a work in every single person, but only those who believe you know the
25:33: Spirit has done that work in them. But the Spirit is still behind the external call.
25:39: Even if a person didn't listen to that call and didn't believe that call, the
25:46: Spirit was still in the delivery of that gospel message. And so the person that does not believe in the gospel has still resisted the
25:54: Spirit, even though the effectual call has not been worked out in their hearts. John 6, 37, all that the
26:01: Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
26:07: And verse 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
26:14: And it's the Father who sends the Spirit that has worked in that message of the gospel to regenerate our hearts, that we may go from the stone -cold sinner that was in resistance to God and opposed
26:29: Him and was in rebellion, and now having heard about our sin and need for a Savior, we're broken and convicted and desire to know
26:37: Jesus Christ. And so that's the effectual, that's the effectual work of the Spirit that's done in the heart of every person who believes.
26:44: The cause and effect? Yes. Effectual. But everybody who doesn't believe has also resisted the
26:52: Spirit. Whoever commits that blasphemy will not be forgiven. And again, like I said, it's not what the atheists were doing with the blasphemy challenge where they would record themselves saying,
27:04: I don't believe in the Holy Spirit, or they would curse Him out, and now therefore saying, see,
27:10: I blaspheme the Holy Spirit and I can never be saved. That's how convinced I am that none of this is true. Well, they haven't really done what they think they've done.
27:19: That wasn't what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was. You don't accidentally commit blasphemy of the
27:25: Holy Spirit because you said, holy cow. Okay. And the fact that you would be convicted in your heart over it is just evidence that you haven't done it.
27:35: Exactly. Yeah. Yes. Well, we're going to stop there for the first half hour of the program, and if you want to join us for more, then you've got to subscribe to the broadcast.
27:44: Go to www .utt .com. Don't forget you can also record us a voice message there.
27:50: Thank you for joining me, babe. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. And folks, if you're listening on the radio, we thank you for tuning in.
27:59: You can catch us online or through whatever podcast app you like to use looking for WWUTT.
28:06: This is a production of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona, and you can find out more about our ministry and what we believe, a statement of faith, going to providencecasagrande .com.
28:18: God bless. The grace of God be with you all. So the
28:31: Roman Catholics have selected a new Antichrist. For the first time in the history of their religion, an American has been named
28:37: Pope. Robert Prevost of Chicago, who took the name Leo XIV, or as he's more affectionately known,
28:43: Pope Bob. They say he's the 267th pope succeeding St. Peter, who was the first pope.
28:49: Now how did they figure that? In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am?
28:55: Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed are you,
29:01: Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
29:06: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
29:14: According to Catholic Catechism 881, the Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the rock of his church.
29:20: The Roman pontiff, they say, is Peter's successor and vicar of Christ, who has full supreme and universal power over the whole church.
29:29: They have built their entire religion on a misinterpretation of Matthew 16, 18. Peter is not the rock,
29:35: Christ is. Peter himself said so. For it stands in scripture, Jesus is the cornerstone the church is built upon, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
29:46: Now someone will say, but Peter means rock. Of course it does. Peter is part of the foundation, but he's not the rock.
29:52: Ephesians 2, 20 -21 says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
29:58: Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
30:06: Lord. If Matthew 16, 18 means Jesus gave primacy to Peter over the rest of the apostles, why does the
30:13: Bible never mention that? If Jesus created the office of the Pope, what are the biblical qualifications for that office?
30:19: Where are we told to submit to it? A few verses later, when Peter tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross,
30:26: Jesus said, get behind me, Satan, for you are a hindrance to me. You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
30:35: If the Pope succeeds Peter anywhere, it's that moment right there, when we understand the text.
30:41: This next question comes from Jenny, you remember Jenny, formerly of Kenai, Alaska.
30:48: Oh yeah. Remember? Yes. And my husband and I recently moved to Idaho in the summer of 2024.
30:55: Nice, a little bit warmer, I assume. It is kind of funny to me though, it's like, oh, you just went from really cold to cold.
31:02: Well, at least now she can get deliveries a little bit easier and cheaper. That's true, yeah. Gas probably isn't as expensive either.
31:09: Oh yeah, no joke. So welcome to the lower 48, Jenny. Yes. I think we said that before.
31:16: It's almost been a year now. So she goes on, last July, my husband and I moved to be closer to my parents.
31:23: Naturally, it was completely God -ordained, as instead of enjoying more time with my folks, I assisted with my 88 -year -old dad with my mom's care from a couple of hospitalizations to in -home care to hospice care, and eventually her death in December of 24.
31:39: Sorry to hear that. So yeah, just a few months ago. I returned in January for several weeks to help my dad with her estate.
31:48: Also, I was encouraging him to consider moving closer to where I live, as he currently lives 1 ,200 miles from me.
31:56: On a recent visit, my dad stated that in the evening when he sits over his iPad and peruses news, social media and whatnot, he also has conversations with my mom and claims she is talking back with him.
32:14: My brain cannot comprehend this. I honestly didn't know what to say in response to that, but it does indicate to me that he's not moving anywhere.
32:22: Is this hallucination? Or the fact they were married for almost 61 years and he's living in the house they've resided together in for 46 years?
32:32: Just curious what your thoughts are on this. As always, I love, love the podcast.
32:38: I listen to it regularly and have found myself educated, often laughing and usually convicted. I'm thankful that you share that in the
32:46: Hear the Word of the Lord podcast, it takes several edits to get the perfect reading.
32:54: I appreciate all that you do. God bless you and your family. You know, Becky can probably testify too to sitting outside this room and the number of times that she's heard me start a podcast over and over and over again.
33:09: And it's the same line over and over and over again. And it's like, okay, you got to keep moving.
33:15: Keep moving. I don't know what you're hung up on, but you got to keep moving. I don't make that many mistakes once I get started.
33:23: Right. But it's getting started is the hardest part. Yeah, I agree. There might be two or three edits over the course of a broadcast, but I've probably started and stopped a dozen times before I actually get going.
33:37: Yeah, because you said that the podcast, when we're both on it is the least amount of edits.
33:45: This is the easiest. Yeah. Because then I'm just talking to you. Yeah. So I don't have to go back and do all these edits and splice my voice in together here and there and where I stumbled and whatever.
33:55: And I mean, because we're just having a conversation here. Right. That's so true. And where I don't know what
34:01: I'm saying next, you talk. And that's right. Or vice versa. So, okay.
34:08: But on the hear the word of the Lord, you're reading the Bible. Yes. And I mean, I go through that.
34:14: And sometimes I'm like, you know, because in the wording, it's not worded the way
34:19: I would say it. And so just reading somebody else's words makes me stumble a little bit.
34:25: And then reading those names. The names are the tough part. Names. And that's what.
34:30: Not just of people, but of cities, too. Oh, yeah. I'm like. That's what brought this up last week.
34:36: So a question that I got was how I was able to say all those names so smoothly. And I said, it's a combination of practice and a lot of edits.
34:46: Yes. To make it sound like I rattled those off more smoothly than it actually was.
34:53: So, yeah. And then there's I think I said this, too. But the most difficult challenge has been remembering how
35:00: I pronounce that name the first time. Oh, yeah. Right. So that I'm being consistent in those pronunciations.
35:07: Yes. I have certain rules that I've kind of set for myself that whenever I see this grouping of letters,
35:14: I'm always going to pronounce it this way. And that's one thing that when I listen to some of the other
35:19: Bible readers, Max McLean, for example. So you bring up an app and you're listening to somebody read you the
35:25: Bible. Sometimes I'll listen to them to see how they pronounce the name. Right. There's been occasions where I didn't agree with their pronunciation.
35:33: So because that grouping of letters is pronounced this way here, then I need to pronounce it this way here as well.
35:39: Yeah. And anyway, so with those rules in place, sometimes I'll forget like, okay, that's my rule.
35:46: But did I say it that way the first time? Yeah. Anyway, that's been the that's been the challenging thing about it, too.
35:53: But coming back to Jenny's question here. Yes. So her dad thinks that he's still talking with his wife.
36:02: And that's pretty common. And that she's talking back to him. He's 88 years old.
36:08: Okay. You think that's pretty common. So what do you think is going on there? Well, one, loneliness, because everybody talks to themselves.
36:17: You pick a random person, you ask them, do you talk to yourself? Of course, you know, whether it's out loud or in their head, you know, there's always something.
36:26: But whenever you're married for so long, the other person becomes that voice, you know.
36:33: And so sometimes you do hear. So it's almost like your own thoughts. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
36:38: It's almost like your own thoughts. They would say. Right. Yeah. But anyway, my grandpa, he went through that.
36:44: And he would just holler out my grandma's name, expecting her to answer. Oh, yeah.
36:50: Because he was in one side of the house and she'd always be in the other side of the house. And then he'd get confused as to why she's not answering.
36:58: And so, but it was the kind of thing that it was just an expectation that's always been there.
37:04: And so to not have that is, you know, I think it has to do with number one, the voice in your head kind of changes because you've been around someone so long.
37:12: And then the number two is because just the expectation of them being there. Right. And the loneliness that sets in.
37:19: So there's probably, you know, not to say that it's dementia because. It could be that too.
37:25: There could be some element of it without it being like what we think of being full blown dementia. Right.
37:30: Right. Just some sort of decline in the brain of what's reality and what's.
37:36: Right. You know, you're kind of like living in your brain. One thing we can know for sure is that your mom is not talking to your dad.
37:47: Right. We know that for sure. This is not the way that spirits operate.
37:53: I think that it is possible for somebody to see a vision of a deceased loved one or even believe that they're talking with them.
38:03: But what they're talking to is an evil spirit. This is not the way that God has designed for souls to be after the body dies.
38:14: The soul doesn't wander around in the earth restlessly looking for peace or has to accomplish something first before it can actually be at rest and then go be with the
38:25: Lord or something. It's just not the way those things work. As Hebrews tells us, it is appointed for every man to die.
38:32: And after that comes judgment. Ecclesiastes 12 .7, the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
38:41: So when the person dies, their soul goes to be with the Lord. And asleep for just a while.
38:47: Yeah. So it's not wandering. Yeah. It's not restless like you were saying.
38:54: I'm speaking of that in a Christian term as well, going to be with the Lord. Right. When the body dies, the soul will appear before God and then judgment will occur.
39:04: Whether they would be cast into the place of eternal torment, like Luke chapter 16. We're not too far away from getting to that chapter in Luke.
39:12: But that's where you have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And so even those who are unbelievers will still have to stand in a judgment and then get consigned to that place.
39:24: Right. Whereas those who are in Christ, our souls will dwell with him forever until the day that Christ returns.
39:31: And then even our bodies will be raised from the dead. And we will meet him together in the
39:36: Lord. We will meet him in the air together with all the others.
39:43: The dead in Christ will rise first. We who are left will be caught up together with him. And so we will always be with the
39:49: Lord. Did I say that right? I got around to it eventually, right? Yes. I think so. Paul says this in 1
39:56: Thessalonians 4, 13, and he's responding to a concern that the
40:01: Christians in Thessalonica had about their brothers and sisters in the Lord who already died because they were thinking, well, they've died and the day of Christ hasn't come.
40:12: So are they not going to be there on that day? And so Paul is responding to that concern in saying we're all going to be together on that day.
40:20: Right. The dead in Christ have fallen asleep is the way that he puts it. They are asleep.
40:26: Do not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
40:37: So the souls that have gone to be with the Lord are going to return with him. The bodies of theirs that have been buried in the ground will be raised.
40:44: So the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are left will be caught up with them in the air. And so we will always be with the
40:51: Lord. So our dead bodies will be raised to become imperishable bodies like Jesus also received a glorified body.
41:00: So we also will receive. And so we anticipate that day. But in the meantime, our souls are not wandering around in the earth.
41:07: Right. If your mom was in Christ, then that's where she is. She's with Christ.
41:14: And I don't know what to tell you to say to your dad. Yeah, it could be just a coping mechanism.
41:22: So I'm not sure how to handle that as far as like whether to deter him or let him cope for a while.
41:30: Yeah. I haven't had to advise many people on that. I would recommend talking to your pastor.
41:37: Or even his pastor. Yeah, his pastor. So who is it that has been shepherding?
41:43: They're not living near each other. Right. Yeah. Twelve hundred miles away. And I get it. I get why he doesn't want to move.
41:49: I remember when we had a wonderful lady in our church. This was in Kansas. And she was a widow.
41:55: So she was one of the widows that we cared for. Her children were trying to get her to move.
42:01: And it wasn't even that far. It was like two hours away. Right. She lived by herself. We at the church were happy to help her in whatever way that she needed.
42:12: We went over and watered her plants for her. We did grocery shopping for her. There were different things that we did for her.
42:18: Because she could not get around all that easy. Right. When I first came to that church, she was actually still getting around quite fine.
42:23: Yes. But obviously, as she got older, she wasn't able to do that anymore. Yeah. Her kids were always trying to persuade her to move to where they were.
42:33: And they could take care of her. And they wanted to take care of her. Yes. But she absolutely would not leave that house.
42:39: That same house that they all grew up in. She and her husband.
42:45: I think she had a couple of husbands, if I remember right. One passed away, got married again. He passed away. But they all lived in that same house.
42:52: All of her pictures were there. All the memories were there. Yes. She just did not want to go anywhere else.
42:58: They could not convince her to move. And so I understand that desire for him to want to stay there, especially when he was with her for over 40 years, you said.
43:08: 46 years in that house. Yeah. And he would feel completely lonely, even being with you.
43:16: Not to offend you, Jenny, but even being with you. It's just a new environment. It would be so different.
43:21: Right. This is not the house where I was in love with my wife and shared all these wonderful memories in this home.
43:28: It would be something different. So I understand why he would not want to move. Nonetheless, where he's at, he surely had a pastor that has helped to shepherd him.
43:39: Right. And your mom. So talk to him. Talk to the pastor. Let him know those things.
43:45: And if there's any way that the elders there can help talk to him. Yeah. Caring for him and helping him understand, too.
43:52: To talk to the Lord, not talk to his wife. Yeah. That's a good way to say it.
43:58: Yeah. But Jenny, we appreciate you entrusting that with us. Yeah. And I hope that that was of encouragement to you as well.
44:05: If you are able to motivate your dad to come and live near to you, then hopefully the
44:12: Lord can move in his heart in that way. Folks, we thank you for listening to the broadcast.
44:18: I don't know that I gave the email address before, but when we understand the text at gmail .com. And then, of course, we've got the voicemail page.
44:26: I've changed the website a little bit. It is a little bit different host than we had before.
44:32: It actually goes back to what we had five years ago. So if you go to www .utt .com, you'll see all the stuff there on the web page.
44:40: I'm going to try to update some of the transcripts to the videos, do a little bit more work on that than I have done in the past.
44:47: And then, of course, there in the menu in the top, if you click on the voicemail tab, you'll be able to record a voicemail to us using your phone or your computer.
44:56: And we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be back next week responding to more of your questions. And we thank you so much for all the support that you give to the program.
45:03: Definitely. Becky's done. She's going to go to bed. I'm going to stay on for just a few more minutes here.
45:11: And you'll get the details on that in just a moment. But love. Yes. I love you. I love you.
45:16: Thanks for being along with us here. Anytime. The perpetual virginity of Mary is the idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, remained a lifelong virgin even after Jesus was born.
45:30: This is despite the fact that the apostolic witness in all four Gospels and Acts and two of Paul's letters mentioned
45:37: Jesus having half -brothers and sisters who had to have been born to Joseph and Mary. Though Jesus was born of a virgin, the
45:44: Bible says nothing about Mary remaining a virgin. So where did this idea come from? The earliest mention is in the mid -2nd century in a pseudepigraphical work called the
45:52: Proto -Evangelium or Gospel of James. This is not to be confused with the New Testament Book of James, who
45:58: Paul said is the half -brother of the Lord. In this historical fiction, Mary was dedicated to the temple by her parents.
46:05: And at the age of 12, it was decided that she must get married. So a man named Joseph was chosen by Lot.
46:11: But Joseph protested because he was an older man who already had children from another wife. This is the made -up explanation for Jesus' half -siblings in Scripture.
46:20: As in the Bible, the virgin Mary became pregnant with Jesus and Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem. Only this story adds a donkey and two of Joseph's sons.
46:29: Before they got to town, Mary went into labor. So Joseph found a cave for her to stay in while he went to fetch a midwife.
46:36: When the midwife saw Mary, a luminous cloud overshadowed the cave. There was a burst of light and the infant
46:42: Jesus just appeared and began to nurse from his mother Mary. The midwife ran to tell a woman named
46:48: Salome she just saw a virgin give birth. And she was still a virgin. Salome said, So that's what
47:01: Salome did. She inspected Mary. And when she pulled back her finger, her arm was falling off, as if burned with fire.
47:09: But an angel told her to take the child in her arms. And when she did, the arm was restored.
47:14: Pretty wild, right? Yet this myth of Mary's perpetual virginity eventually became accepted as truth, contrary to Scripture.
47:22: And this is not some minor disagreement. Roman Catholics go as far as saying if you don't believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary, you're anathema.
47:30: As 2 Timothy 4 .4 says, These are going to be a few housekeeping things here.
47:46: So I hope you'll bear with me that this will be of interest to you and even beneficial. There's three matters that I want to address.
47:53: The first one is a postscript to the three -part response I've given to Remnant Radio in recent weeks.
48:00: The second item is in response to a question that I received about a pastor I did an interview with a few years ago.
48:07: And then thirdly, I want to issue an apology and ask for your forgiveness regarding something that I said a few months back.
48:13: So first of all, regarding Remnant Radio. I want to reiterate that I strongly disagree with Remnant Radio's misrepresentation of so many arguments in the cessationist versus continuationist debates.
48:27: They are leading people the wrong way on this issue. They very poorly exposit the
48:33: Scripture if they exegete the Scripture on this subject at all. And I have personal experience in the kind of division that their mishandling of this subject can sow.
48:44: However, I don't think that they are doing this deliberately. I do think that they're brothers in the Lord.
48:49: So despite my strong disagreement, this is not to say that I'm calling them out as heretics. I have sent them my three -part rebuttal with links, and I'll wait to see if they listen to it and issue a response.
49:01: In the meantime, I have noticed that they are attempting to do a little housekeeping of their own in the charismatic world.
49:09: All three men, Joshua Lewis, Michael Miller, and Michael Roundtree, have apologized for interviews and associations that they have had in the past, and they are doing what
49:21: I believe is some diligent work in calling out false teachers within their own movement. I pray for God's wisdom when they do this.
49:29: Calling out false teachers, especially among charismatics, is not work for which there is much praise.
49:35: And I also have personal experience in this. Just recently, Remnant Radio released a video in which they said that Dr.
49:43: Michael Brown of In the Line of Fire—I mean, if you know anything about the charismatic movement, surely you know the name
49:50: Dr. Michael Brown—they have called him out as disqualified for ministry. And I agree.
49:56: I probably have more reasons for why he's disqualified than they do, but in particular, they have in view a recent investigation that revealed
50:07: Dr. Brown engaged in sexually abusive misconduct with two adult women about 25 years ago, the early 2000s.
50:15: One of these women was a married woman in his congregation. It's a bold stand for Remnant Radio, and it's not going to make them popular, especially considering how much of a leading figure
50:27: Michael Brown has been in the charismatic movement. Now, I've been critical of these third -party investigations in the past, and I've written articles about this.
50:37: I hesitate to automatically consider them beneficial. It often seems like the whole point of hiring an outside party to do an investigation is to find something wrong.
50:47: And if they want to, they will. That's the whole reason such firms exist. It's like the old adage goes, when the only tool that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
50:57: They seldom share the same beliefs of the ministry that hired them, and the victimhood politics of the present day almost certainly influence these investigations.
51:07: We've seen this in the Southern Baptist Convention, costing Southern Baptist churches millions of dollars.
51:14: In this particular instance, though, I think that we can consider just the details that the third -party investigation was able to affirm and compare that with the words of Dr.
51:28: Brown himself to see if he actually understands the gravity of what he did. The investigation found that Dr.
51:37: Brown engaged in, and I've got to find a way to word this carefully because I don't want to get descriptive. He engaged in a good deal of physical touching in intimate areas, which, again,
51:50: I'm not going to give the details of, but it's enough to say that it was not the kind of thing that any man should be doing with any woman, not his wife, especially with a married woman in his own congregation.
52:02: Dr. Brown said that his actions were, quote, these are his words, certainly foolish and irresponsible, but neither sexual nor amorous in any way, unquote.
52:14: And I think on that witness alone, Dr. Brown should be dismissed from ministry.
52:20: How could those actions not be sexual in any way?
52:27: Just because they didn't result in, let's say, going to bed together, then they were not sexual or amorous?
52:33: This reveals to me that Dr. Brown doesn't actually see how wrong it was what he did.
52:39: That's enough to see that he's not truly repentant and is therefore unfit for ministry.
52:46: And again, I applaud Remnant Radio for taking the stand that they did and calling this out.
52:52: As said in First Timothy 3, 2 and Titus 1, 6, an overseer must be above reproach.
52:58: That's an overseer's first qualification. And Dr. Brown does not meet that qualification.
53:03: He has brought a reproach against himself and his ministry.
53:10: So that's the first item on to the second matter, which also has to do with a minister's qualifications.
53:16: And this is in response to a question from John in Texas. This is a different John than the
53:23: John that I responded to in the first part of the program. John wrote in and said, Pastor Gabe, I appreciate your recent interview with Justin Peters about the movie
53:31: The King of Kings. I can tell you it was helpful for me and another member or sorry, another family in our church.
53:37: I went looking for some other interviews, and I found that both you and Justin have done interviews with Joel Webben.
53:45: I'm guessing that Joel was not nearly as controversial then as he is now. He's made jokes about his and I'm going to omit the word, but a private area of his body.
53:55: He said that he doesn't permit his wife to read certain theology books. He's into identity politics, but from the right instead of the political left.
54:04: I was wondering if you have said anything about Webben or if you were going to. Not that I'm saying you have to, but it seems like something you might want to address, given that your name comes up with his in a search on YouTube.
54:16: Thanks again for your ministry. So I appreciate that, John. And I've been thinking about this.
54:21: I actually talked to a couple of people at church about it too. Often when a minister starts delving into subjects that I don't want my ministry to be associated with,
54:33: I'll just stop promoting him or mentioning his name at all. If he's still preaching the gospel. Great. I rejoice in that, but I'm not going to draw any attention to him as some of the things he's doing and what he's teaching now are getting into dangerous territory.
54:48: If I have an open door to reach out to such a person, to such a minister and say something to them about it, sometimes
54:54: I will. And there was a period of time when Joel and I had a good rapport with one another, and he's had this tendency to say some foolish things publicly, even before he got really controversial.
55:06: And I just kind of chalked it up to inexperience. And so I'd reach out to him and say,
55:12: Joel, that wasn't a smart thing to say. And he'd usually agree. But then, you know,
55:18: I would come to notice that this was part of a pattern with him, which I'll mention again here in a moment.
55:25: Joel began to surround himself with a different kind of crowd. And anyone who knows who he is and who his associations are, you know what
55:34: I'm talking about. It seemed like Joel was in search of a platform, a niche that he could make his own and become a thought leader in.
55:41: And he found it with what we what is sometimes called white Christian nationalism.
55:47: He started making some very charged political and social statements that were they were clipped and shared by leftist media because of his radical takes.
55:55: And that gave Joel a lot of exposure. And his YouTube channel has since blown up. Now, even though his
56:02: YouTube has over one hundred thousand subscribers, he really thinks he's bigger than he really is. And honestly,
56:08: I think some of his critics have that same problem. I think that they they've made
56:14: Joel something of a hobby horse that's really giving him more of a platform than he deserves. And even his critics are kind of viewing this as being viewing him as being bigger than he really is.
56:24: He's made some really self -absorbed statements like I'm the best we've got. He'll congratulate himself for the things he says he's made.
56:31: He made an extremely racist comment about Haitians and said that any pastor who doesn't agree with him is disqualified from his office.
56:39: I did say something about that comment in one of my Saturday episodes on this podcast. Just recently, he made a comment about being disciplined out of your church.
56:49: And if you're a white heterosexual male, then you were probably excommunicated for being a true
56:56: Christian. Now, even Tom Askell of Founders Ministries spoke up against that one.
57:02: These are the same kinds of woke identity politics that have been foisted on us in the last decade.
57:07: Only Joel is doing it from the right side of the political aisle. This is not of Christ and it should be roundly condemned.
57:16: Jay Antelope, I hope you're I hope I'm pronouncing your last name correctly, Jay. From Providence perspective, he said that Joel's pattern has been to say something stupid, get called out, dismiss it or mock those who call him out.
57:30: But then a big name calls him out like Tom Askell just did. And then Joel apologizes and says something like what
57:35: I meant was. And then he moves on to say something else. Stupid wash, rinse, repeat. On top of all of this, it came out just a couple of months ago that at the beginning of his time as a pastor near like, you know, in the first couple of years as a pastor, whenever that was,
57:51: Joel slept with a woman in his congregation to whom he was not married, nor did he end up marrying her.
57:58: He will say that he wasn't actually a pastor then, but the evidence affirms that he was. And shame on those people who have been defending this, including at least one of the guys at CrossPolitik.
58:08: Like Dr. Brown, Joel Webbin is unqualified on a number of levels. Unfortunately, I think this is only going to get worse.
58:16: I think that his platform will continue to grow. It'll reach, you know, it's going to be a bubble that will burst eventually.
58:22: But in the meantime, he'll do some damage. And we must always be careful that any time there is some kind of anti -biblical social fad that we are not letting the pendulum swing too far in the other direction.
58:36: For years, we've been bombarded with the with the woke messaging of white privilege and white fragility and and white men are a scourge upon our society.
58:47: And Joel and others like him in that circle have seized an opportunity with, you know, basically what's what amounts to white pride.
58:57: The anti -racist propaganda from guys like Ibram X. Kendi, they call it anti -racist, but it's actually racist.
59:07: They've been saying things like segregation is actually good. In one of Kendi's books, he said that the most threatening racist movement is actually to be race neutral.
59:21: In other words, to not see skin color, but to just see people as people to do is
59:26: Martin Luther King, Jr., said to judge a man based on his character and not his skin color.
59:32: Kendi says that's actually racist. That's actually the big racial problem. And that's just absurd.
59:38: Kendi and other race hustlers like him actively condemned the whole colorblind mentality.
59:45: We're not supposed to see color. Remember growing up with that in the 90s, I heard songs like Colorblind from Michael W.
59:52: Smith and colored people from D .C. Talk. No, Kendi says. Instead, the only remedy this is an exact quote from Kendi, by the way, quote, the only remedy to pass discrimination is present discrimination.
01:00:09: Unquote. Discrimination is actually good, he says. We should discriminate.
01:00:16: And the white Christian nationalists believe the same thing. They have not beaten wokeness.
01:00:22: They've eaten it up. There's a reason why these guys are termed the woke, right?
01:00:28: It's the same wokeness ideology, but from the political right. I would argue it's still liberal and progressive, but but the the category wars are are obnoxious.
01:00:40: See, this is this is its own kind of identity politics. Slap everyone with a label and sort them out in their respective categories so we can label that label is bad.
01:00:49: Anyway, I digress. As First Timothy six, three through five says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our
01:00:58: Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, meaning this is teaching that should be producing godliness in the lives of people.
01:01:09: If that's not what they're doing. Then he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.
01:01:15: He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.
01:01:31: Let our focus be the gospel of Jesus Christ fixed upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.
01:01:39: Be careful of all the social messaging vying for our attention. It will come at you from the left and from the right.
01:01:46: Leave the noise where it belongs outside with the dogs. Revelation 22 15.
01:01:54: And that brings me to my last item here. And that is an apology. You might remember that about nine months ago,
01:02:00: I received a couple of emails from some listeners about a pride parade that was coming to their town.
01:02:06: This was otherwise a conservative community. And yet the city council was giving approval to a perverse display of homosexual pride in a parade right there in their city streets.
01:02:20: When asked what to do in this scenario, I said to go to the pride parade so that you might become familiar with what's in it and more effectively raise awareness about it and prevent something like this from happening in the future.
01:02:34: And that was frankly bad advice. I regret that I said it.
01:02:40: No one needs to go to a pride parade for any reason. Now, I was sure to qualify my answer by saying, don't go to participate in the pride parade.
01:02:49: You're just doing research. Lest anyone get the idea that this was my Alistair Begg moment, you know, when he encouraged a grandmother to attend her grandson's gay wedding.
01:02:58: Becky and I address a lot of issues on this program regarding liberty of conscience. And you've heard me say that I don't want to encourage anyone to do anything that could cause you or someone around you to stumble.
01:03:11: Well, this was advice that could have done exactly that and put someone in a morally compromising position.
01:03:18: No one has to attend a gay pride parade where such sin will be flaunted and celebrated to know what goes on in a gay pride parade.
01:03:26: Just like there are certain movies that no one needs to see to know what's in them. Some things Christians just should not put before their eyes.
01:03:33: I cannot recall exactly what my mindset was when I said that, but I think it
01:03:39: I think I got it into my head that we need to do more than just pray about it.
01:03:44: There surely must be a more activist approach that we have to take. But that would be pragmatism, and that's another issue that I've spoken out against.
01:03:54: As a friend of mine said to me after that episode, Gabe, you don't always have to have an answer for everything.
01:04:01: And he's right. I would have been best for me to say, I don't know what else you should do except to continue in what we should always do.
01:04:11: And that's pray, preach the word and pursue holiness. I'm a
01:04:17: Baptist preacher. So there's my three point sermon with alliteration. Pray, preach the word and pursue holiness so that episode will not cause anyone to stumble.
01:04:26: I've deleted that portion of the program that encourages anyone to attend a gay pride parade so that if somebody goes back and listens in the archive, they won't come upon that advice again.
01:04:37: Now, sometimes those episodes get recorded onto other platforms and distributed, so I can't get all of the copies of it.
01:04:44: But as far as my archive is concerned, I have taken care of that and edited that out.
01:04:49: Evidence of it ever being there exists in this episode where I have issued this apology, and I hope that you will forgive me.
01:04:57: The world is going to continue to be a darker place until the appointed day when
01:05:03: Christ returns in judgment with his angels and flaming fire. We shine a light by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ that we may snatch from the flames those who are heading to destruction.
01:05:16: Also, in Revelation 22, it says, let the evil doer still do evil and the filthy still be filthy and the righteous still do right and the holy still be holy.
01:05:32: Back to 1 Timothy 6 again, as for you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness, fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
01:05:57: I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our
01:06:16: Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time. I thank you for your continued loyalty to listening to this program, even when
01:06:26: I say dumb stuff. Sometimes I will continue to labor in the word of Christ, as has been my desire and my mission for these 15 years that God has blessed me to have this pastoral ministry.
01:06:38: I could not express in words how grateful I am to God for the love that he has shown me through Jesus Christ, my
01:06:47: Lord, and also the love that you have shown to me. Some of you having listened to this program from the very beginning, and we're coming up on 10 years here.
01:06:55: If it were not for listeners, I would not keep doing this. I would just be speaking to myself in an empty room.
01:07:02: But we hear from you and appreciate you, and we thank you as always for writing in and giving us an encouraging word.
01:07:09: I'm not able to respond to every email. Sometimes there's a lot, but we do read them all.
01:07:15: Every single one of them gets clicked on and read, even if I'm not able to reply. So once again, the email address is when we understand the text at gmail .com.
01:07:23: Or if you want to leave us a voicemail, go to www .utt .com and click on that voicemail tab.
01:07:30: To him who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.
01:07:44: To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.