Matt Slick Live: December 3, 2024

Opening Banter and Show Introduction

The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live! Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm .org.

When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers. Taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want, as usual, give me a call. The number is 877 -207 -2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call.

And I'm going through my notes, going through some stuff. There we go.

Getting there.

All right. I don't think we have anybody calling right at the moment. I can always get to email and do some email questions and some issues, have some interesting discussions I've had recently discussing theology.

And one of the things that's kind of coming up interestingly is the cult mind stuff. It's coming up more and more. It's kind of interesting. So I'll probably end up talking about that. Okay, Mr. Bill, you got a call up.

Call me up and tell me what, if you heard anything, if you got any comments worth making, call me up on the show. And we can talk, 877 -207 -2276. For those who want to give me a call, you can do that.

Also, you can email me at info at carm .org, info at c-a-r-m dot o-r-g. Put in the subject line, radio comment, radio question, one of those. And then we can get to it. And for those of you who don't know, maybe you don't know, but people send me questions.

I have a ton.

I have so many questions I can get to. It would be kind of fun to do 50 questions in, let's see, 50 questions in 5 minutes. You know, something like that. Here you go, where are you going? And then try and answer questions as fast as I can.

I could just do them all and say, don't know, don't know, don't know, bang, done, all right. But I don't think that's how it's going to work. You know, my wife and I were talking about my radio show today.

And there's some factors, you know, and some issues and some stuff about everything. And she says, you know, your show's different. And I said, okay.

She goes, it's not like a real professional Christian guy. What does that mean? And she said, well, you know, you're just there. You just say stuff. You're not like these super polished guys who have to give all these answers a perfect way and all this stuff.

You just go for it. And I said, okay, I guess that's a compliment. And so anyway, we're having that discussion. And she said, it's, you know, but it works. You know, people listen to you. They either hate you or like you.

And I go, yeah, that's true. She says, you just say it like it is. I go, that's true, I do.

Just say it. She goes, you're not afraid of saying it either. I go, nope.

And so I got a kick out of that. Anyway, okay, let's get to it. Let's give it a shot.

Debate Feedback on Unconditional Election and Anti-Reformed Criticism

Hey, Bill from California.

Bill, buddy, welcome.

You're on the air.

Matt, how are you doing?

Doing all right, big man, doing all right.

So what do you got? Fill us in.

I was in the store, so I've heard parts of it. But it was pretty brutal, the first chapter. He went over to it.

Hold on, let's go over.

This is the opponent that I debated on Friday, who's a rabid anti-Calvinist. We don't care if you're Calvinist or not, folks. When they misrepresent in an attack, call us pagans, say all kinds of ungodly stuff and get vitriolic, then we have a problem with that.

And this is the guy I debated. And apparently he wrote a book, is that correct? Using AI, is that right?

That's what I heard.

Yeah, Matt Slickman, Electric Company.

Yeah, I heard about it pretty bad. Okay, so you were in there, you heard stuff.

So tell us.

Yeah, I was in the store, so I've heard parts of it. But the parts I heard was pretty brutal. I guess the second chapter, he's going to quote Calvinists. I'm sure you're going to be in there, James White.

So was he able to, how do I say this politely, offer any cogent arguments of any sort in the first chapter?

Not now. He might be in the second chapter.

Right, so you heard the debate, right, that I had on Friday with this guy, right?

Definitely.

And what's your analysis of this debate?

He has no debating skills whatsoever.

And his arguments were not valid.

He couldn't answer the questions. It was bad. That's why you need 25 questions before you debate anyone. Answer these and I'll debate you.

That's what we're going to do.

Yeah, we're going to work on that.

I already have a list for different particular groups, but I think I'm going to do a generic thing and just say, you know, here's a list of questions you have to answer if you want to debate me. And then we'll work on that, you know, stuff like that.

But, yeah.

That debate was as brutal as Chris Fisher debating Chris.

Okay.

It was pretty bad, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah, it was bad.

You know, it's interesting, though, seriously, why people want to do debates, not just with me, but why people want to do debates in general. They very often don't know the material and don't know the basics of logic and argumentation.

I find that to be rather problematic.

Yes, I do, too. But, yeah, it was brutal Friday. And then they kicked you out of the clubhouse.

That's right.

They got mad that they kicked me out.

Yeah, that's right.

And now they're just saying a lot of mean stuff. So why is this important? Why do you think this is important? Give me an answer. Why do you think?

Why do I think what's important?

All this stuff is important.

Yeah.

I mean, you know.

Well, I mean, I still consider Sam a brother in the Lord, a sister. I mean, maybe not charity as much. But, you know, Sam's a nice guy. But they just misrepresent Calvinism. And most people do.

And that's okay. You know, they should do it properly.

A lot of people don't. But that's it.

Okay. Whoops. Hold on a sec.

Okay.

Boy, I turned that off. Well, I'm glad you heard it. And it was unfortunate. But I've got another debate coming up this week. It's Friday on, does the Old Testament imply the Trinity? And then another one after that.

Does the Bible support Mary's intercession in heaven?

So that'll be interesting.

Are you debating on it?

No, I forget who I'm debating. I've got to put these things up. I've got to get all that stuff. I've got to get all that together.

Yeah.

So that will be on the CARM calendar?

Yeah, I'll put it on the calendar. I'll do it. We'll get this going.

Yep.

All right, Matt.

Thank you.

All right, big man.

Sounds good, buddy.

Thanks for calling in.

God bless.

You too.

God bless.

Okay.

All right, that was Bill.

I've talked to him many times. He's a good guy. And what we're doing, we're battling. This is kind of how it works. We're battling a group of people who are rabid anti-reform people.

I mean rabid.

They don't exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, seriously. I don't just mean they're mean. They don't exhibit the spirit of fruit.

The spirit of fruit?

The fruit of the Spirit. They don't exhibit patience and kindness. They misrepresent. And they're trying to go global. What they want to do is write books and then develop a global ministry attacking reform theology specifically.

And so the only reason I'm paying a little bit of attention to them, just a little, is because out of small things, big things sometimes arise. And the hatred and narrow-mindedness that they're using with convoluted logic just makes some people believe them.

And so that's a problem. And I'm very reticent to say someone is or isn't a saint, unless they're just obviously a Mormon or Catholic, doing official Roman Catholic theology. Then, you know, I'm sorry, you're outside the camp.

But these are people who affirm the basic doctrines, and then what they do is they make judgments about what the essentials are. And then they violate the level of the essentials spoken of in Scripture and then raise others to those essentials, other doctrines that are not in there.

And then they say, if you're guilty of these, then you're not a Christian. So they make a lot of mistakes, and a lot of Christians don't know what the Scriptures actually teach. So they have problems.

And this can start a cult, and they are cultic. They have cult mind practices. That's one of the reasons I'm concerned is because of this. Anyway, that's what it is. Let's get to Alberto from Georgia.

Watchfulness, Knowledge Increase, and Christian Travel

Alberto, welcome. Hey, Alberto.

You're on the air, man.

What's up, buddy?

Yeah, how you doing, Mash Lake? My question is, you know the Gospel said about, you don't know when the hour of the Lord is going to come. You've got to be ready, right? So if Jesus Christ really lives inside of your soul and spirit, why do you have to be watching everybody when the Lord is going to come?

There's somebody living inside of you already.

Oh, I didn't understand everything you said. No one knows the day nor the hour of the Lord is living in us. And what?

It said that the Lord, you don't know, you have to watch and be ready because you don't know when the hour of the Lord is going to come, right? In the Gospel. So the Bible says that Christ really lives inside of you already in your spirit.

So why do you have to be watching, be ready, watching when the Lord comes? You don't know when the hour is going to come. Why do you have to watch? He's really living inside of you already.

Because he tells us to. That's why.

He says you know the signs.

Yeah, but if Christ lives inside of you already, he's using his spirit for him.

Yeah, but you see, Jesus, he knows all things. It doesn't mean we do. So what we do is we just, we listen to what he says and he says watch and be ready and we're going to do that. It's as simple as that, you know.

Okay, another question I got then.

Okay.

You know Daniel chapter 12 verse 4 talks about, you know, about the knowledge increase and all that in the last days. You know, knowledge will increase more now because the last hundred years, they say that the experts or scholars say that every 12 hours it doubles our knowledge, you know, of technology or whatever.

Knowledge is increasing every 12 hours. So even though we got a lot of knowledge increase, we still are not wise or like 2 Timothy 3, 7 says, every learning never comes to knowledge of the truth. So we got all this knowledge, even in the scripts, we got all these commentaries and apps and translation.

Yet we're more biblically illiterate than any other time in the history, basically our generation.

So there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is the proper use of knowledge, but knowledge itself is just, you just have information. And without the guidance of the Lord, then we can misapply that knowledge.

Like we can make nuclear bombs. Is that a wise use of our knowledge?

Is it?

Things like that. And so we need to be wise about what we do.

Okay.

So, so what about, we've got all these, as an example, we've got all these commentaries, all these apps, all this information, yet we have more false prophets and more false teachers, more than any time in history.

Don't you agree with that? I assume so. More biblically illiterate than ever.

Correct?

But Jesus warned us about that in Matthew 24, false prophets will arise to deceive many, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24, 24.

So these kind of things are on the rise. And the verse you're quoting on Daniel 12, 4, there's something else that you might want to mention in there. It says, steal the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.

And this seems to be fulfilled in the last 100 years. We can, you know, I was just, I took a 12-hour trip from, flight from Dallas to the other side of the planet, to Istanbul, you know, last month. So, and vice versa.

So we can go around the world in 24 hours, you know.

Hey, there's a break.

You want to hold, buddy?

Uh-huh.

Is that it?

Okay.

I'll put you on hold.

Hey folks, be right back after these messages. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877 -207 -2276. Be right back.

It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it's easy. 877 -207 -2276. Let's get back on with Alberto. Buddy, are you still there?

Yes. Yes, sir, I'm still here. Hey, I was watching this video on YouTube, and I got this new supersonic jet, you know, for business people. It can fly from the United States to Europe in three hours. You know what I mean?

Another quick question, too. You know, like, so you should travel to Istanbul, you said. So if we have all this access to the Internet, you know, and social media and YouTube, like people connected to Zoom and all that, wouldn't it be beneficial to save the money not going yourself or other missionaries or pastors traveling to other countries and cities across the United States, or did you just take over the Internet?

That way you save your money in traveling expenses and hotels and people could just, you know, why is it necessary that all these missionaries or pastors traveling across the country or different countries just to teach the Bible, or you simply just talk to them through the Internet?

The reason I went is to learn so that I can understand what it means to be in certain places and see certain things. So, for example, I went to Rome, and I went to the Vatican, and I've discovered something that I use because of that trip.

I can say I've been to the Vatican. I can say I've been in Sistine Chapel. And I can ask the Catholics now. And I did it last night. I was on a chat room, and I said, the Catholic Church claims to be the apostolic truth, that they have the succession of apostolic authority, that they're like the apostles.

Great.

If that's the case, did the apostles gather millions of dollars of wealth for themselves, billions, and statues and fine gold and silver? Is that what they did, like I see in the Vatican? I asked the question.

And the Catholics have trouble with that. But now I can say I've seen it and what it was like.

Do you see?

So there's advantages to stuff like that.

I hear, too, also, I heard the pastors, they say, like I saw on the Internet one time, sometimes people go to other countries to learn the culture because you learn better exactly the words. I heard one guy say in that country, the one word can mean so many different things.

Yeah, but that's studying linguistics. But, yes, there's things like that, okay? But it's okay to go to other countries. It's like someone taking a vacation. I don't take vacations. I just don't. But what I do is study, and then if I'm going to do a so-to-speak vacation, I try and spend it learning so I can talk to others about it.

That's why I go to these trips. I'm doing another one at the end of next year. We're going to go to Jordan. We hopefully go to Sodom and Gomorrah. And so when you've been to these places, particularly if you're a radio personality or you're an apologist, you say, look, I've been there.

I've seen this. This is what it looks like. Just like I've been to, like I said, the Vatican, and I've been to Pompeii. I preached in Corinth and Thessalonica. I've seen the actual inscription of Galileo in Greek.

In Delphi. And so I can say, look, I've been there. So it's worth this kind of thing for that.

All right.

It confirms the scripture that this scripture is true, basically. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yep.

One more quick question. I'm going to let you go real quick. All these years Christians have been visiting Israel, right, and missionaries and all kinds of stuff. How come Israel, the vast majority of the Jews, are still blind to the gospel?

Why is that?

Many of them are not. When I went to, for example, went to Jerusalem. Here's an example of being there. I went to Jerusalem a year and a half ago. I've been in the Mount of Olives. I can look down and I can see the Mount of Olives.

I can see where the path of the soldiers would have come and what it meant to Christ to see it in the dark. I've been to a place where they have a reenactment of the area 2 ,000 years ago. They actually have actors.

They just work there. They dress around. They dress in period style from 2 ,000 years ago. And they'll sit and they'll make pots. They'll weave. And we're able to walk through and see what they're doing.

And they're Christians in Jerusalem.

Okay?

Mm-hmm.

So they're Jewish Christians. Jewish Christians, right?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah? Yeah.

Messianic Jews, they call them. Messianic Jews, that's what people call them.

Yeah. And so you can go there and I can offer things. I can see things. Like, for example, we went into a rebuilt synagogue of that time.

Oh, wow.

Now I know what it means. I know how big it was. I've seen the actual room where they took the roof off and off of Peter's mom's house, mother-in-law's house, and they lowered down the man. I've been to the actual room.

I mean, I'm above it. I'm in it. But, you know, they have a plexiglass. They couldn't see it.

Uh-huh.

So, you know, these things are real. I can say to people, I've seen it. I've been there.

Mm-hmm.

And this is why, another reason it's so valuable to do stuff like this.

Okay?

Okay.

Makes sense.

All right. Thank you.

Okay.

You're welcome.

God bless.

Okay.

God bless.

Keep up the great work.

Thank you very much. All right. Let's get to Dorothy from Virginia. Dorothy, welcome. You are on the air.

Thank you. Thank you. I just have a question. I don't know how to answer this Unitarian Clubhouse. You know, I'm a Trinitarian. He's a Unitarian. And he said that Matthew 28, 19 was added. And I told him, I said, I don't have to use it.

I mean, I use it as a formula. I used to. And I just want to ask you, was that added by the Catholic Church, I think you said? No.

No, no, no, no.

Nope.

It does not. That's not it. So what you can understand, Unitarians are cultists.

It's a cult.

Mm-hmm. You can tell him to call the show. And I'd be glad to discuss the inherent problems of Unitarianism. And for those who don't know what that means, it means God is not a Trinity. God is one person.

There are natural problems with that view. And I present them to Unitarians of varying degrees. And they're stumped by some of the questions we ask. So I could do that very easily. But, no, that's not something that's added into the text by the Catholic Church.

Okay. I didn't think so.

No, no.

He's just making it up. He doesn't know. If he's going to say something like that, what you do, you say, Oh, interesting. Could you please show me the documentation for that? I'd love to see that.

Well, you do your own research.

Well, no, no, no, no, no. You're the one who made this claim. You're the one who said it. So, really, I'm interested to know what it is that caused you to say that. Where's the documentation? Or, this is what I ask him, are you just spreading rumors?

Which is it? Gossip?

Rumors?

Which is it?

Okay.

So show me the documentation.

Okay.

Okay.

I will tell him that. I'm going to try to get him to call in the show. I tried to tell him to call in today. But thank you. Thank you so much.

You are welcome so much.

Okay.

No problem at all.

Thank you. Have a good afternoon.

God bless.

God bless.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

That was a good call.

I like that.

Unitarianism is interesting. It's false doctrine. Let's get to Patrick from Charlotte. Oh, we've got a break. Hey, Patrick, I just clicked on you.

Hold on, buddy.

Break's coming up right now.

We'll get right back to you after the messages.

Hold on.

Be right back, folks, please.

Stay tuned.

It's Matt Slick Live! Taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Priscilla, Aquila, and Church Leadership in the Home

All right, buddy. Welcome back to the show. Let's get on the air with Patrick. There you go, Patrick. You're on the air, buddy.

Hi there, Matt. Thanks for taking my call. My question is, you know Priscilla and Aquella in Acts 18?

Mm-hmm.

And they have a church at their home, right?

Yes.

And my question is, would Priscilla be a... Do you think Priscilla was a pastor of that church?

No.

But it says that she was a pastor of that church, right? When they met up with Apollos in Acts 18, and they took him home and taught him the Bible more accurately, you know, because they took him home to their church, and it said both Priscilla and Aquella.

So, wouldn't you think that Priscilla was involved with the teaching?

Yes, but women can teach. They're not to be pastors and elders in charge of men and ecclesiastical positions in the church. That's not their position. There's nothing wrong with a woman teaching a man doctrine.

Okay?

But the point is, is that at the ending of Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy all actually give special thanks to Priscilla and Aquella. Why would he do that?

Because they deserved it.

You know, he would have given thanks to Aquella, but why would he give special thanks to her?

Because they were doing good work, and he just gave special thanks to them.

That's all.

Yeah, that's what he said. He goes, I thank them for the church at their home. I'm just saying that he kind of puts Priscilla in a position of authority.

No, he doesn't. He doesn't do that.

I've heard that if they mention Priscilla's name first, then she's got some kind of an authority. Is that the way the wording would be?

No.

You're just guessing.

That's what I've heard. Whenever they mention the first person, that means that person has more authority than the second person.

No, no. For example, the list of the apostles is in different orders in different places. So if it's an issue of authority, then their authority is switching all over the place. And that doesn't make any sense.

So it's just not correct. So the church was in their home. That's all it means. It doesn't mean she's an apostle. It doesn't mean that she is a pastor or an elder.

But she could have been. That's the point.

I'll say this. The Bible teaches women are not to be pastors and elders. It forbids them.

But Paul gives them special thanks, Priscilla also. So why would he give her special thanks if she's doing a sin?

Let's try this again. Patrick, I can just tell you this. I answer your question so many times in so many different ways. You just refuse to learn.

You refuse.

I'm just telling you that I think you're wrong about...

Hold on.

You just get this idea in your head. It doesn't matter what answers I give you. You're just going to argue with them. Nothing in the text requires that she was an apostle or an elder. It was just a church in her home.

He gives her gracious mention. That's all that happens. It doesn't say the apostle or the elder so-and-so give her name. It doesn't do that. You're the one assigning value to that. And it's not necessary because it's not required of the Scripture.

You need to repent.

If they have a church at their home...

So what? If I have a church here at my house... Patrick, if I have a church here at my house, my wife's here, does it mean she's a pastor?

No.

Well, she probably would be involved with the Bible studies.

Patrick, Patrick, I want you to do something here. I want you to calm down.

Well, I'm just showing you that you could be wrong about women pastors because Paul believed in them.

No, I'm not.

Paul believed in Priscilla and Aquila.

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick, can you show me where Paul affirmed a woman pastor in the Bible?

Show it to me.

Go ahead.

Like I said, at the ending of Romans, in the ending of 1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy, Paul gives special thanks to Priscilla and Aquila because they have a church at their home. That's what it says.

So they have a church at their home. Does it mean she's a pastor? You agreed to that. Patrick, you don't listen. You are full of just insane illogic. You always do this. You always call up. I give you an answer.

You ignore the answer, and you go on like a dog returning to his own vomit, the Bible says. You need to be warned about the...

You could be wrong. This also is always what happens with Patrick,.

Is that after a little bit, he just keeps talking, and then he doesn't listen anymore. He just starts trying to dominate the overtalk,.

And I just don't put up with it.

I've been talking to him for years, not only on the radio, but also in other venues. This guy could not, seriously, he could not argue his way out of a wet paper bag.

If it was, if there was a neon sign with an exit sign saying, this way exit, he still couldn't get himself out of it.

He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know how to think. There's got to be something else going on with Patrick. We need to pray for him, and we need the grace of God to be upon him, so that God will open up his heart and his mind for the truth.

Normally, I'm really patient with people, but I've talked to him, I don't know, 50 times. Seriously, a lot of people don't know.

I know who he is.

We've had so many discussions. Humble. Clay says, Patrick is allergic to listening.

That is true.

He's allergic to listening.

Interesting stuff.

All right, I'm going to get into a little something. Let's see if I can remember a conversation we had today. Discussing in a chat room, we were discussing, let's see what we were discussing. We were discussing counterfactuals.

It was really interesting, because we're talking about a theological perspective. A counterfactual is something that is not true, but would have been under different circumstances. For example, Matthew 11, 23.

Jesus says, And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

So what Jesus is doing, is he's raising what's called a counterfactual. He's saying, if this had happened there, then things would have been different. That's what he's saying. This means that Jesus knows the conditions in which other things would have happened to bring about other results.