Matt Slick Live: December 11, 2024

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.

Opening Remarks and Support Appeal

Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. I'm listening to Matt Slick Live! I think we're a little bit late there, I'm not sure, but that's okay. And if you want to give me a call, as usual, all you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

You can also email me, info at karm .org, info at carm .org, and then we can talk. And if you have any questions about all kinds of stuff, all you have to do is just ask. And you can also email me, info at karm .org, info at c-a-r-m-dot-o-r-g.

And you can... Man, I've got something in my mind here, I'm thinking. And you can... I'm sorry, I'm distracted by a thought. By a thought, maybe I'll talk about it. So if you want to email me, just put the subject line, radio comment, radio question.

And so, there you go. We don't have anybody waiting right now, but I just wanted to say... I talked to, I spent some time talking to Stu, and I'm going to say hi to the people at his church.

How are you doing?

I'm smiling, and waving, and stuff like that. So anyway, hey folks, look, this month, December, is the Matching Funds Drive. And so, if you want to keep this show on the air, we do need your support. Please consider supporting us.

And I ask, Lord, that you put it on people's hearts to do that. That if they are getting fed here, that they would desire to support it. In Jesus' name. Now, so, if you like what you hear, and you like my style of teaching, which is direct, to the point, non-compromising.

Now, you know, I've talked to people about the show. And I know that I say things sometimes that are difficult for people. And I know that, I've gotten word, you know, we've got emails and stuff like that.

I know we get a lot of praise, and I also get a lot of, let's just say it's not praise. And that's okay. You know, that's alright.

I don't mind.

Actually, I don't mind. I don't mind when people offer criticism. I have to listen to it. And not because I'm forced to, but because it's a smart thing to do. To listen to people's comments, and criticisms, and suggestions for improvement, and things like that.

And I welcome them. I do, honestly. They're tough, sometimes. And sometimes they're true. You know, that's a good point. That's really on the mark. I need to adjust that way. And I admit it. But I need to tell you that when you listen to me, a guy named Slick on the radio, that's a first warning.

But at least, I want you to know this. That my heart is to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead three days later. And that salvation is only through Jesus.

There's no other way to be saved from your sins, be delivered out of the eternal damnation, other than the person and work of Jesus Christ. And I'll continue to say things like Mormonism is not Christian, Jehovah's Witnesses is not Christian, Islam is a false religion, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox both teach a false gospel, have a false priesthood, and have a false Mary.

And I'll continue to say it. The reason is because it's true. And I will continue to promote Reformed theology, because I believe that's what the scriptures teach. And when people disagree with me and they call up, we just talk and that's fine.

You know, I show them scriptures. And the question is whether or not it's in scripture. So I will do that. And my views on eschatology, the end times, are a little bit different than the average bear.

And at least I show scripture for it. And on baptism, which my view is a little bit off center from what most people teach about baptism. It's not necessary for salvation, but you should get baptized.

But I believe Jesus was sprinkled in his baptism, and I believe that sprinkling, pouring, and immersion are all acceptable biblical modes. And that's my view. And I hold to that. And if you don't agree, that's okay.

Call me. We can talk. It's no big deal. And so I talk like this and I say things like this. And the reason I do is not because I'm trying to carry favor with anybody, get any favor. I'm not interested in that.

I'm interested in my obligation before my Lord and my Savior to teach the best of my ability to what I understand is the truth. Now, I'm not saying that everything I believe is correct. I believe what I believe because I think it's correct.

And it's certainly possible that I'm wrong about some things, and I'll flat out admit that. And one of my articles on predestination I wrote on another website, I wrote at the end, I'm absolutely convinced I'm right, but I'm also absolutely convinced I could be wrong.

And this is how we should be. We should be at that place where we're convinced we're right, and there's these reasons for it. However, it might be that we keep making some mistakes in these areas. Now, I will go that far up to the essentials of the Christian faith, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his physical resurrection, justification by faith.

I won't compromise on those. And if you disagree with those positions, you're just flat out wrong. That's it. And I'll die in those hills on who Jesus is and the Trinity and things like that. I will. I'll die in those hills.

And so aside from that, that's it. So I'm just saying that you may not like everything I have to say, and that's fine. That's fine. But at least you'll know you're getting a man who is trying to be a man of integrity before Jesus and not going to compromise but will speak the truth of the best of his ability of what the Word of God says.

Now, why am I saying this? Because of some conversations recently, and that's fine. Good stuff. Good conversations. And also, just to encourage you, that we do need your support. If you want me to stay on the air, please consider donating.

And just so happens that the month of December is a matching funds drive. So if you're to donate $20, it becomes $40. And what we're asking is people to consider supporting us at $5 or $10 a month. And that's what we want to do.

So it's not much. I mean, people, they'll go out to get a cup of coffee, and they'll spend more than that sometimes. And yet they can't afford $5 or $10 a month for a ministry, for someone who's been doing this since 1980, has a Master's of Divinity, has been involved in death threats and attacks on the family, has written 4 ,000 articles, spent thousands and thousands of hours of studying and 20 years of radio, written several books, and you can just get it.

Here it is.

I hope it's worth $5 a month. And the reason I'm saying this and focusing on this a little bit more is because I do want you to consider supporting us. It isn't much. But if you want to, please just go to karm .org forward slash donate, c-a-r-m dot o-r-g forward slash donate.

And that's what you're going to do. Okay, so Laura says, 4 ,000 articles? I don't think so. Okay, Laura, how many do you think I've written? And Laura might know because she has backdoor access to the Karm site.

She helps a great deal. Laura's awesome.

She really is.

She's a great woman and really helps out a lot. Oh, she thinks 6 ,000 or more.

Well, I don't know.

I go into the search and articles in the dashboard, Laura, and it only has, I think, wait a second, I did that a little bit ago.

Let's see.

All is 4 ,788. Mine, that's what it says, is 4 ,122. That's what that thing is in the dashboard under posts. You can go check it out, all the articles with my name on them, 4 ,122. But I deleted the dictionaries too.

That's true.

That is true.

We're doing SEO modification and I deleted 600 entries because they're super small and they take too much work to fix to get them to be stuff. And people don't use them all that much. So I would say, you know, I probably put up 4 ,500 to 5 ,000 articles.

That's what I would say. But we have about 4 ,100, 4 ,122 under my name on the site right now. That's me, the author. So that's how many I've written at least in 29 years. And, oh, man, sometimes what I do is I have people remote into my computer.

I'll show them things. I'm teaching them something on the computer because I teach how to get the computer to do this or that because I used to teach computers. And I'll say, oh, by the way, here, check this out.

This is my folder I have on my computer on the CARM files. And I'll show them the stuff that I've written that's not even released yet. And there's another 2 ,000 articles.

No joke.

I just haven't polished them and done stuff. So, you know, a lot of them are half done. I've got to get rid of them. But I've got so much to do. I've got so much to do. I'm kind of whining, aren't I? Was I whining?

I hope it's not whining. I don't want to whine. I don't want to be a whiner or a whanny, you know, a diaper-indian whanny. So, anyway, we're just doing stuff. And I'm just letting you guys know that we could use that music.

I mean, music.

I had to read the note from the producer. I guess I didn't hear it when it came on. I guess because I got messed up on our time. And that does happen.

All right.

Enough ramblation. Let's get to Sarah from Raleigh, North Carolina. Sarah, welcome you on the air.

Hi, Matt. Thanks for all you do. You've talked before about what Bible version you recommend. I just don't remember which one it was. So I was wondering if you could go over that.

Bible Translation Recommendations

Sure.

What I recommend for you is the right one. And what is the right one? The right one is one that meets your needs. And your needs should be biblical fidelity. You want a translation that gets to the original as much as possible.

And conveys the ideas. Now, those Bibles, the NASB does that. NASB 95, NASB 2020. New American Standard Bible. The ESV does that, too. And the NIV, not as much. So let me explain something. Let's just say zero to ten.

Zero is about zero. Let's do this. Let's do it this way. Ten is, let's do ten as the most literal translation you can get. And number one is a real broad paraphrase of what was going on. So that ten is literal and one is really loosely stated.

A paraphrase. So instead of saying walk a narrow path, it might say walk the way that is what God wants you to do. Instead of walk a narrow path. So that would be a really loose translation. So there are paraphrases.

The Phillips translation might be a four or a five or a six. It's a paraphrase. But it's pretty good. Then we have the ESV, which I would say is an eight or a nine. And the NASB, I'd say is a nine or a ten as far as literalness goes.

The NIV would give a seven or an eight. That kind of a thing. King James, that's a tough one. I'd say it's probably a seven, eight or a nine in that range. But it has some problems with some antiquated phraseology and some not as old manuscripts which are more accurate.

But it's a good translation. So I recommend that people want to have Bibles get three of them. The NASB, either 95 or 2020. And the ESV and maybe the King James. And the reason those three, and the NIV too.

But with the King James, when you compare verses, you'll see differences a lot of times. And that might cause you to study, which is good. Now the ESV, I don't use the ESV. If someone gave me an ESV or an NASB, I'm going to put the ESV down.

And I'm just going to use the NASB. And the reason is because of Romans 5 .18, which to me is one of the most critical verses in the Bible. And I believe that the NASB is the only one that gets it right.

Really right. The Legacy Bible does too because it's the NASB variation. And it's a critical thing on theology. And I think they made a mistake in the ESV and the NIV and stuff like that. So other than that, but I'm kind of narrow about stuff like that.

A little uppity, you know. So just tell me what you need.

All right?

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Okay. Well, there you go.

All right. Thanks.

Thank you. Have a good night.

Okay.

All right.

So Laura says, I've written 4 ,630 articles are published under my name. 4 ,630.

Yay!

I've got issues. Hey, folks. We'll be right back after these messages. Why don't you give me a call? 877 -207 -2276.

We'll be right back.

It's Matt Slick Live!

All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, we have wide open lines. 877 -207 -2276. So I did a little calculations for 29 years, because Karm is 29 years old. That means I've been writing 160 articles a year, 160 a year, which is roughly two and a half, every two and a half days, writing an article.

That's also doing radio and annoying my wife, because look, let me tell you, the latter takes a lot of time to really perfect it. So I don't know what led me to this. I was looking at something during the break, and I don't know, honestly, I just found this thing on Reddit.

What's your opinion on Karm's cut and paste material? So I was reading some stuff, and they said, at first glance, it looks interesting. And then someone wrote, there are a few fundamental points where you feel they're just totally.

Incorrect. Are there?

And then people are answering questions. And one wrote, Karm is not a good resource. In their section on the Second Vatican Council, they literally fabricate quotes from conciliar documents that have false quotes describing Mary as God.

They even provide a section in the document, which if you check yourself, you'll see their version is wrong. Actually, what's interesting is that a lot of times, the sources we quote, they will actually change their stuff after a few years.

We've noticed that. They will change what they do. So we always try to accurately represent the opposing view. I need to go through and find what they say. So I go to Vatican, I go to the various websites that will have stuff on Catholicism, and I read through, and I go, here's a quote.

What's it saying in the context? And here we go. And I try to put it in. It doesn't mean every time I do it, I'm going to be right, because I'm human, but it's never intentional. Nothing's fabricated like that person said.

And that's another thing. As I've met people online who said things like that, and they'll say, you just fabricate.

Quotes.

I'll say, give me an example. Well, I can't do it right now. Well, okay, I get it.

Can you hear?

Well, I'll be on for another hour while I'm talking in the chat room. Can you do some research and find one? And they never do. What I've noticed a lot of times is that people just knee-jerk react against the things that I say against the website.

And this one person threw karma under the bus as well as gut questions, saying, oh, they're just ear-tickling things. People have really interesting insights, let's just say, to what we do. They will tell us and others what we do and what our motives are.

I didn't know that our motives were such and such. So they will do that. It's like this guy says, those sites tickle the ears of those who believe as they do, not according to God's word. And that's a person who says that.

Well, people are entitled to their opinions. That's okay. But I have noticed this over the years as I've met individuals who are very critical. I'll just ask, what church do you go to? And invariably, it's one of the churches I criticize, like Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.

And man, it's horrible. In fact, that reminds me, last night I was talking in a transsexual room. I was going in there to listen to their arguments in a chat room. And I just asked them, and they know my name, I'm known on the whatever.

I go in there and said, Matt Slick, this and that. So I started asking questions. And man, I didn't accuse, I just said, what about this? And they would interrupt, try and dominate. You couldn't ask anything.

People get so sensitive about the idols in their own hearts. And they get very, very defensive, and they also get very accusatory a lot of times. That is just how it works sometimes. Let's get to Ty from Ohio.

Hey, Ty, welcome. You're on the air, man.

Seventh-day Adventism, Baptism, and Sabbath Teaching

Hey, how's it going?

Oh, it's going. Just kind of rambling a little bit. What do you got, buddy?

Good to get.

So you just talked about baptism, sprinkling and everything was good, too. I'm new to the faith. I'm just starting to read my Bible. I'm actually a Seventh-day Adventist. I believe a lot of the stuff they believe.

I think a lot of the stuff they do is correct. Still trying to work some things out. But baptism, as far as I understand, the only one in the Bible is full immersion.

That's what people say. Okay. Now, we need to talk about SDA. But let's do the baptism thing first, okay? So the reason I hold to Jesus being sprinkled is because of Matthew 3 .15, where Jesus is getting baptized, and he says this to John the Baptist.

He says, Then he permitted him. So he says, for us. Notice he's talking about himself and John the Baptist to fulfill all righteousness. This means the Old Testament. Are you with me so far?

Yep.

I'm tracking.

Okay. So I learned this from someone else, and then I went through and studied it and expanded on it and verified. So what was it that Jesus had to fulfill in the Old Testament? I don't know if you've been to my website, CARM .org.

Have you been there at all?

I've poked around a little bit.

Okay.

All right.

Well, there's an article I've written called, Why Was Jesus Baptized? And you can look it up. And what I'm going to tell you is just written out there so you can verify everything. So long story short, Jesus had to fulfill the law, and that's what he came to do, fulfill.

The law.

In Matthew 5 .17, he's made under the law, Galatians 4 .4. So what was it he had to do? Well, the chapters you find in the Old Testament related to the issue of baptism are important because we also know, according to Hebrews 6 .20 and 7 .25, that Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

So we know that's the case. It turns out when you go to the Old Testament chapters of Leviticus 8, Numbers 4, and Exodus 29, that in those three chapters, you find some of the requirements of what a priest needed to do, a man needed to do to enter into the priesthood.

And Jesus is a high priest. So in those chapters, you find you had to have a verbal blessing. This is my beloved Son, whom I'm well pleased, anointed with oil. Well, that represents the Holy Spirit, and I show the verses for that.

He had to be 30 years of age, and Jesus was 30. And in Numbers 8 .7, he had to be sprinkled. That's what it says. The man who enters into that priesthood work is to be sprinkled.

Is that the Greek?

No, it's Hebrew in the Old Testament.

Hebrew? Okay. Yeah.

Hebrew's in the Old Testament. Greek is in the New. So I have this fantastic Bible program called Logos, and I've been using it for decades. And I know it really well, and I can do searches. And so I searched the Old Testament for every occurrence of the word water.

Every one of them. And the word sprinkle. And I looked for the word baptized in Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew. I could not find any place in the Old Testament where a man who enters into the priesthood, anything like that, could not find any place where he's immersed in water.

Could not find it. He had to be sprinkled. So because I just hold the Scripture, I say, well, and I believe Jesus was sprinkled. And I've not seen anybody refute it. And it's not like, you know, a stupid challenge.

It's just like I've not heard anybody find me a verse where it contradicts that. And so that's why I'm forced to believe that. Now, hold on, buddy, because we've got to, we've got to break. Can you hold on during the break?

All right.

Can you do that?

Yeah. Yep.

Go ahead.

All right.

Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned.

We'll be right back.

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

All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show. So as we reactivate Ty, I'll get back on with him and just reminding you that this is a matching funds drive month. So if you want to help us out, that would be great.

Just go to CARM .org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G forward slash donate. And if you do five dollars a month, the total for the year is what is counted, not just that five. So if you five times 12, that's 60.

That 60 is what does it for the whole year.

All right.

Ty, are you still there?

Yep. Still here.

All right.

So, I mean, there's that. And if you want to make a comment on that, but the articles there with the documentation and that's why I hold to it. And I can show you some other stuff if you're interested about baptism.

If you're interested.

Yeah, I'll check it out. I'm all about gathering information right now.

OK.

So I need to tell you something about the Seventh-day Adventist Church, though. And I'm trying to be very polite and very, very careful here. But the Seventh-day Adventist Church is considered by many people to be a non-Christian cult.

And the reason is, is because it seems to add works to salvation and what's called the investigative judgment, which is the idea that God investigates your works to see how far you have been on that day and that your salvation is dependent upon this.

This is a very serious issue. Now, on the good side...

So what I've gathered...

Go ahead.

Oh, sorry.

Go ahead.

No, no.

Go ahead. It's all right.

Go ahead.

So what I've gathered so far is that it's not salvation by works, but faith without works is dead.

Right.

That is, I believe, in Romans or it's in there somewhere, right?

Yeah.

James, James 2, 24, talks about that. So this is what's really important doctrinally. There are groups who can use the similar phrases, but they don't mean it, mean the same thing. And so, for example, in the Roman Catholic Church, they'll say that you're saved by grace through faith alone in God.

And works have to be part of what you do to show your faith, but the works don't save.

You.

And that's what they'll say, and that sounds good. But what actually is going on, for example, in paragraph 26, the Catholic Catechism, it says that you attain salvation through faith, baptism, and the observance of the commandments.

But they'll say when you observe the commandments, it's God's working in you. And so it's not really you doing it, it's God doing it. And so therefore, it's by grace because he's the one making you do the works.

You do the works. The works are necessary to be saved, to get saved, and to keep yourself saved. But it's really God who's doing it. So what they do is they deny, for example, Romans 4, 5, that says they're the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly.

His faith is credited as righteousness. So just using the Catholics as an example, the Catholic doctrine sounds good, but when you take it apart, you realize, no, you're teaching a false doctrine. Now, if you're new in the faith, you don't know what to look for yet exactly.

That's okay. I mean, that's fine. But they teach that you, SDA teaches you the proper day of worship is Saturday. Some SDA teach that if you worship on Sunday, that's the mark of the beast. Is this what you're learning?

Just curious.

Not that a Sunday worship is the mark of a beast, but that a law, they do believe that a law will come forward in the future. That may be the mark of a beast if it's a Sunday worship law.

So let me show you something in scripture. You believe the word of God, right? The word of God is true. Now, check this out. This is good for you. Good for you. This is what Romans 14 says. This is Paul, the apostle.

I'm going to read the beginning of the chapter where you go to the verse five. Now accept the one who's weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.

The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

Verse four.

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand, and for the Lord is able to make him stand. Verse five. One person regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike.

Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord. Now, if we're supposed to keep the Sabbath on Saturday, why is it that Paul says one person regards one day above another.

Another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. You see, the SD, when I asked this.

That would be free will.

Yes, that's free will.

That would be free will, but in those passages, they're also talking about Sabbath and Sabbath, which are the Jewish holy days and the feasts of, you know, the 65 feasts or whatever they have a year. So, to my understanding, they're saying those verses read.

As in, you know, if this new Christian wants to still hold Passover, you know, let him. That's what he wants to do. And he feels like that's right in his heart. Let him do that because he's still worshiping God in that manner.

That's not what the verse says. That's not what it says. It says one person regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. You must be convinced in your own mind. Here's the question.

I ask SDA. I asked him this. Are we obligated? We should do worship on Saturday. They say, yes. Why does Paul say you have to be convinced in your own mind about what day to worship God on? If we're supposed to worship on Saturday, why doesn't he say so right here?

Why does he speak to the contrary? And they can't answer it.

It's a question.

I'll check it out. But I understand those verses to be the holidays, not the because the Sabbath has many different.

Meanings.

Right.

It's not just the Holy Spirit.

Yes.

But that's where that is. The Greek to English translation.

Now, I need to tell you something else, OK? You tell something else. When when people get they get converted and then they get into a group and then what happens is psychologically, they are they are very convinced the group is right and the group is right.

The group is right. Now, this is something we have to be careful of. Now, I'm not going to say this right now. I've been doing this radio for 20 years, been doing radio for a long time, and I'll say.

It again.

I will debate any SDA official on this. These topics of Saturday worship from Scripture, I offer a formal challenge right now to the best representative on the Seventh-day Adventist theology. Let's do a formal debate.

Now, I've offered I'm serious. I just now did it. I've been doing this among other challenges for 20 years. I've not had a single SDA take me up on it, a single official. In fact, that I don't mean disrespectful, but for the bald guy, the slender guy, I don't be still around.

SDA representative, you know, does a lot of these amazing facts and things.

Like that.

Well, I met him at a religious broadcasting network, and I challenged him politely, respectfully to debate these issues. He didn't want to do it. Now, here's the thing. Why is it that they don't want to debate?

Why is it they don't want to have their views cross-examined publicly? Why is it? Because the Bible says, give an answer to everyone who would ask you, 1 Peter 3 .15. And with generosity and with respect, we're going to do that.

And I'm formally offering this debate challenge right now. But I don't expect anybody to take me up on it. Not just some guy, you know, but an SDA pastor, for example. And you know, and treat him respectfully.

But I can ask him that. And I do that. And for example, here's something else to think about. This is what Paul the Apostle says in Colossians 2 .16. Therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink on respect to a festival, which is yearly, a new moon, which is monthly, or a Sabbath day, which is weekly.

Things are a mere shadow. No one's to judge you regarding these. Now, here's a question. In the SDA church, are they teaching that you will be judged by those things? That's just a question you have to ask them.

When the scripture says don't do it, are they doing it? That's just a question. But here's something else that the SDA teach. And I can show, and if you don't mind staying on, I'll show you problems, humongous problems.

I'll show you even worse problems. Now, they teach, L .G. White in The Great Controversy, page 422 and 485, our sins will ultimately be placed on Satan. That's a very dangerous, bad doctrine. Jesus bore our sin in his body on the cross, 1 Peter 2 .24, and Colossians 2 .14 says he canceled the sin debt at the cross.

Yet L .G. White says to be placed on Satan, that's not in scripture, and that's what she.

Taught.

That essentially is a denial of sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ.

This is a serious sin.

I'm definitely going to call back. I do have a Bible study I need to get into right now. So, I listen to you a couple times a week, so I will be calling back in the future.

Thanks for answering the questions. I would be glad to call in on the phone, speaker phone, and talk to them any time you want. Just email me.

Alright, sounds like a plan.