Inerrancy is Absolutely Necessary (Video) — Shane Idleman

With this, and we want to give people a solid foundation, especially if a lot of new faces are coming to West Side Christian Fellowship, what do we believe and why do we believe it? The essentials of the Christian faith.

And we believe this is so important because many people don't know. They'll say God, or I believe in God, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but what is a true Christian? What are the marks of genuine saving faith?

The Essentials of Genuine Saving Faith

What is a true church today? What does it look like? And so the number one point, the first point, I guess I shouldn't say number one, but they're all built on a solid foundation of God's word, is this one.

The Inerrancy and Authority of Scripture

The inerrancy, the inerrancy of God's word is absolutely a necessity. I went back and forth on the title, but I think you have, inerrancy is absolutely necessary. Inerrancy, what does that mean? You're actually seeing it play out in America.

The inerrancy, the accuracy, the authority of God's word. Is it our final authority? Is it without error? Is it the standard or is it something to be contemplated, something to be considered? And we believe one of the foundations of this church is it is without error, the inerrancy of God's word, the authority of God's word.

Actually, this is why, just a quick history lesson, how many of you have heard of the Reformation? And what came out of that was something called Protestantism, Protestants, you know, they have Protestants, they say Roman Catholics, different things.

We really don't get caught up on Protestants because we believe that all of us came from the early church 2 ,000 years ago. There wasn't, you know, different breakups and different things, but for the sake of this argument, Protestant comes from the word protest.

And so they protested, and more specifically, Martin Luther, at a church in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517, nailed the 95 thesis to the church doors, challenging the papacy on the authority of God's word.

Not you, Pope, but the authority of God's word, and it brought back sola scriptura, scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone, through grace alone, through the glory of God alone. And that's why they would bring the church, any time there's a reformation, it's bringing the church back to the authority of God's word.

And even today, you could call it a reformation or a revival that is needed to come, what, what? Back to God's word as a final authority in all matters of truth. Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

So that's what inerrancy is. It's scripture in the original manuscripts. There's nothing in them that is in error. You can look at scientifically, of course, and historically, prophetically, archeologically.

You know, it stands the test of time. For example, the Book of Mormon, for example, is there are places that are written in the Book of Mormon. You can't find any of these places. You can't find the tools they use.

You can't find the cities, the kingdoms, the coins, nothing. It's like a fable. We, you guys said it, not me. So, but the Bible, you can see where King David walked. You can see the coins. You can see it's, it doesn't, it's without fault.

Now, with that said, I believe, and the church believes, it's without error on God's end. It's inerrant. However, God uses imperfect vessels to translate his perfect word. So, you'll see something in theology called textual variations, or where the word was translated a little bit differently here than it is there, or this king was spelled differently.

I believe it's 90 of all variances in the text are because of spelling. The copyists would spell it a little bit differently, and I actually don't have a problem with that, because if not, then we'd have a perfect Bible that everyone would worship, in the sense that every word, every jot, every tittle, and it becomes this thing to idolize, and it's almost something that would not happen through the writings of men.

So, God used imperfect people to deliver a perfect message. So, yes, there are some things in it. For example, the new King James versus the NIV. The reason is because translators translated certain words differently.

We don't have words in Greek sometimes. They'll use seven words for love, and agape love, or phileo love, and different kinds of things, and so the translators are given a little bit of latitude there, and there's also different tenses.

For example, in John 10, six, it says they did not understand. Some manuscripts have they were not understanding, and if you read Greek or Hebrew, and the way they write is a little bit different, and so translators have an enormous job of trying to translate it.

So, that is our stance. It's a perfect communicator. God lets imperfect people read his word. It's important to tell even young adults that, because when they go to college, people say, oh, look, this is a little bit different.

In this Bible, it can't be trusted. Yes, it can. The message of the gospel, the message of redemption, the message of God's truth is inerrant. It's inspired. Nothing changes, but in the translation of that is where there are some minor differences, and I will just tell you up front that there are no differences dealing with essentials.

In other words, they all agree on the essentials of the faith, and that is what is important. If you are curious about, I'm trying to find the title. If you are curious about how we got our Bible, what translation is best, you can actually put that on our website in the search bar, how we got our Bible, or what translation is best, and I went over for a whole hour on where the different translations came from.

Some came from the majority text. They call it the Antioch text or the Alexandrian text, so manuscripts, like 6 ,000 manuscripts have been found, and the majority of the manuscripts say the same thing, so that's called the majority text, but then they have another school of manuscripts who are actually older, and I believe that's where the NIV would come from, and so there's different variances but they all say the same thing, and we do have to be careful, though, when you look at translations, right, because some translations are not translations.

They are commentaries, and they call that a thought-for-thought version of the Bible, like the New Living Translation would be a thought-for-thought or the Message Bible. It's what these people think.

They're trying to translate the thought-for-thought. Now, that's okay for reading, but you want a good study Bible that what they do is it's called formal equivalence. This side's called dynamic equivalence.

Don't worry, those are big words. You don't need them. This side is called formal equivalence, meaning it's word-for-word-for-word what the translators meant to say. For example, the New American Standard Bible is really good.

New King James is good. King James is great if you can understand a lot of that language, but it does beg the question regarding the Bible, the inerrancy of Scripture. How would God communicate to us?

I thought about this a lot. I mean, how would God communicate to us? Because so many people discard the Bible. Like, okay, well, he would give you a vision maybe, maybe a dream, maybe some writing up in the sky that would blow away eventually, or maybe a letter would appear in your mailbox.

I mean, how would he speak through the Holy Spirit to you? That happens for sure. But I think even because writing books now, I see why this is so important, is we have to have something that we can reference, a frame of reference.

Here is my standard, here is my word passed down for generations and generations saying the same thing, affecting the same people the same way. This is our guide. This is our reference. What house, what builder would build a house without a set of plans?

Can you imagine if the concrete guy showed up? Hey, I'm here to do the foundation. Where do you want it? I don't care, just put it anywhere. Well, and then the plumber shows up. You forgot to put the, where am I supposed to put the plumbing?

Wherever you want. What would the house look like? You want to live there? Why, so there's a blueprint. There's a standard. The same thing with the Bible. I believe that's why it has to be a written word.

The number one way we communicate, and it's a standard by which everyone can go off, like a Google document that is shared to all. And you can all see it. We have to go back to that. So remember, people say, how do we know if this is true?

Here's our standard. How do we know if this is true? Here's our standard. And when people get away from that standard, that's where that term liberal theology comes in. They get a little too liberal in their theology, and they start to, well, that was for back then.

The Spirit is doing a new thing now. Run for cover. Run, run, leave that place. Leave that place. I know I've referenced this a lot, but I like to do it because it gives people a good point, or a good way to see this, actually.

If you go on YouTube and just put in my name, Shane Eidelman, on Fox News, there's an hour interview we did in New York. Morgan was sitting there, and we talked about gay marriage, and homosexuality, and those types of things.

Scripture Against Selective Morality

And the pastor actually said that that was back then. God is doing a new, the Spirit is doing a new thing now. So what was a sin now is okay. But see, that's where the culture's going. What's wrong for you might not be wrong for me.

That was the culture of Jesus' day. Shane, now God just wants us to, well, where does that end? Does anything in the Bible apply? That's why they call it a slippery slope of liberalism. And many colleges are getting liberal, and well, I don't know if the miracles applied.

I don't know if there's a literal hell. See, you gotta just let it say what it says, and let it be lived out. Don't go and change things and alter things. Now, if you don't know, that's okay. Ask questions.

God says ask questions. I will show you the answer to those questions. And I also believe that this is why all of Scripture must be taught. Amen? Not some. What do they call that, cherry picking? I'm gonna pick, or a smorgasbord?

I'm gonna go through, I like these meatballs. I don't like salad. I don't like hummus. I don't like broccoli. I don't like bell peppers. Where's the good stuff? Oh, there's the cake. There's the lasagna.

And you go through. The Bible's not a smorgasbord. You can't pick and choose what you want. And I believe that's why all of it must be taught, because if God is true and trustworthy, then so is his word.

And anytime we try to limit things, because, ah, that's gonna rub in the wrong way. Good, sometimes some wood needs some sandpaper, amen? If I'm touching this, and there's a lot of splinters, I'm gonna get some sandpaper, and I'm gonna sand it down so it's smooth to the touch.

Sometimes our hearts need that little conviction in that sandpaper. God knew what he was doing more than we knew what we're doing. Woe be to the pastor who says, well, here's what I think I'm gonna talk about.

I'm gonna avoid these things. When you're avoiding the things that Jesus died for, you're not gonna mention sin and hell when he did. That's what put him on the cross. And that's why we have to preach all of God's word.

It has something to say about the sanctity of marriage. And so saying those things, you don't have to be called a homophobe to say, you know what, God's word says it's wrong. And so is fornication, by the way.

So is adultery. So is all kinds of sexual sin outside of marriage. That's our standard. I don't care what the Supreme Court says. You can change laws, but you can't change God's mind. Changing those laws will not change his truth.

It's an open defiance to God. And there's also a dangerous view. I've heard this locally, actually. Pastors or leaders or Christians will say, I believe scripture is true in its message of faith, but I don't think it's true in all these other areas, shame of condemnation.

Oh, oh. So they say, well, it's message of faith. And hope is true. No, no, you can't have a partial gospel. Where does that stop? Well, you believe the miracles are true? Well, some of them. Oh, okay.

Well, you believe, what? I couldn't even, can you imagine living like that? Then it's up to personal interpretation, personal opinion. And God's word never allows us to go there. And so it does beg the question, I think all churches right now should be asking this question, does the world love the way you do church?

Do they appreciate that your church never challenges? Do they appreciate the fact that you never call things into question? If the world loves the way we do church, you might wanna read Jesus's words.

He said that true disciples will be hated. True followers will be hated. True Bible-believing, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-filled churches, the world will either repent and be converted or they will condemn you, they will hate you.

Because the same sun that melts the wax also hardens the clay. So if the world, if Nancy Pelosi and the governor, everybody just, man, I just love Shane's messages. Right, I mean, just let's be honest.

That would not be a good thing. Unless God's working in their heart and they're ready to repent and believe. Then they love it or they hate it. They hate it if they're convicted and their pride is being challenged, but they love it if God is working in their hearts.

Dangerous view to say that it's only partially true. And what I've noticed in those pastors or Christian leaders or churches or Christians that believe that, they're actually miserable. They're very prideful.

They actually attack Christians and they're on the side of Hollywood and the media and they're on the wrong side of the fence because they're allowing God's word to be changed and altered. Jeremiah 5 .25, God told the people, just like today, your sins have been changed.

Your sins have withheld good from you. Your sins have withheld good from you. Your iniquities have separated God from you. And so what is the answer when that's happening? When God says, the people's sins have reached to heaven.

I'm withdrawing my blessings on the land. What is the solution? Well, according to these false prophets, Jeremiah said, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in Israel. Think about this.

God is saying, an astonishing, something that is incredible. I can't believe this is happening. Not only astonishing, it's a horrible thing. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love to have it so, but what will you do in the end?

In other words, he's saying, my prophets are prophesying falsely. They're telling the people, peace, peace. Don't worry about God's judgment is not falling. God loves our sin. He's a winking, he's a doting grandfather up in heaven or he's a cosmic ball of love.

He just loves us, folks. We're doing nothing wrong. You're prophesying falsely and the priests or the leaders are not calling out sin and my people love to hear it so, having tickling ears, looking for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.

Have you ever thought that false prophets might be a judgment on those seeking out false prophets? God gives them what they want. They're looking for people that will tickle their ears and I just read, many of you probably have too, Barna, you know Barna Research Group.

They just came out with a new statistic that 20 to 30 of all churches in America are not gonna reopen, but I find it quite ironic that the ones that are staying open are the ones holding to God's truth.

You look at, look what John MacArthur's going through. Look what John MacArthur's going through. Look what Rob McCoy and look at the church, the Baptist Church in Santa Clara. Look at Jack Hibbs. Look at what God's doing with West Side.

Look, the churches that are holding to the truth of God's word, the inerrancy, being filled with the spirit, seeking worship and prayer, those who are on fire for God, you cannot close down a work of God and that's what you're seeing.

You're seeing those churches stay open where the word is elevated and you're seeing churches begin to close or not do anything when they're not elevating God's word, when they're running to, worried about fear and when they're supporting anti-God movements around our country that are causing these chaos and these riotings and some of these churches are behind that and we can't open.

There's COVID out there, Shane, don't you know? Hey, you haven't seen the shenanigans the last six months? 15 days to flatten the curve has turned into six months and doctors are divided. The medical field is divided.

Numbers are skewed. They're altered. There's fear. We're trying to, you can see this is a clear agenda now and somebody has to come out from that and say we still love people, we wanna be cautious but at the end of the day, we're seeing that shenanigans are taking place and God's word is trying to be suppressed.

Church Authority and Public Opposition

Don't sing in church. And I had to look this up. The happy birthday song spreads COVID and they are serious because I guess when you pronounce certain things and are they aware that the only real mask that's gonna stop that type of microscopic virus is what, the N95 mask?

These things just put a cloth on and we're good. Well, who touches hundreds of door handles at Costco and the ATM machine and the waitress just handled hundreds of items from Patriot? This is madness.

It is madness in control so it's okay for the church to step out and say we love people, we want people to be safe but we also don't wanna be fooled and God will speak to his people about what they should do.

I wanna share something that was given to me in 2009. I think, Linda, you'll probably be okay with this, I hope. If not, tell me later. But tell me for the second service. But Linda emailed me in 2019 and at first I was like, oh, right?

I just, whatever, thank you. I mean, I'll just check. And she got up, it was early in the morning, I think, and I gotta talk to you, God put this on my heart. She said, there will be a fall of unrighteous churches here among you but Westside will gain those who are thirsty for righteousness and my principles and who will build a solid foundation in the word which pleases me, says the Lord.

Stay the course and nothing can be undone. But what, except, that was a year ago, that was a year ago, except the monarchy. Yep. Unrighteous churches are gonna fall in the AV and close out. Come on, what is this?

And then I remembered this. And that's exactly what's happening. Why? Because they're not holding, they're not elevating God's word. They're not being broken and humble before him. You've got arrogant pastors coming to the pulpit more concerned about their opinion than what the Holy Bible says.

And that will never, a church can never survive that. And then that's why you see them in fear, closing up, never to open again possibly because we're so, we have to submit to the government. No, at some point, you've gotta submit to God when that government now is telling you to go against the founding document of the Constitution.

That's a governing authority. So when the government is actually usurping that authority, we sit under a higher authority, that being God, and then the United States is governed by the Constitution. That, this is just history, folks.

This is, now, if you see a huge pandemic, the black plague, and you've gotta take measures. But when the CDC just came out recently and said only 10 ,000 deaths in the whole United States are attributed to COVID alone, that's .00035.

And you're doing all of this because of fear and agendas that are out there. I know that's gonna ruffle feathers. I know that's gonna get emails, but I don't care. We are called to speak the truth. Now, I don't, sorry for all these rabbit trails, but I think they're important.

Some doctors that know immunology, immunologists, they made some interesting cases. They would say that last year, if someone died of Alzheimer's or heart disease or diabetes or you name it, even if they had the flu, they don't list it as the flu.

They list it as they died of these. But now, if a person dies of anything, but they had COVID, now it's ruled as COVID often. That's called dishonesty. That's called manipulation. And that's just facts.

Don't get, well, Shane, you don't know anything. Doctors do, that's what they're saying, that they're being mislabeled because there's huge payouts, there's huge agenda going on. The enemy of our souls is working this society.

As soon as he said, you can't sing in church, I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. It's just unbelievable. And I believe that churches who are holding to the truth of God's word are going to see, maybe not, maybe they have to go underground.

Maybe they will have to close sometimes as far as a building. I don't know what the future holds, but if you put the wrong person in office, you will see the church being silenced very quickly. Do you know why our governor decided to open churches, decided to, because he had a real mean letter from the Department of Justice saying, you better, you're going to court.

See, they were pushing hard to keep it closed. If nobody pressured them, they would just keep closing. Actually, in San Francisco right now, you're allowed to have one person in church. And then the flu season gets here.

Here we go again. You see, there's a massive amount of demonic opposition to this. And if you have the wrong person where the Department of Justice is on the governor's side, then churches will be closed down.

You think someone like me is going to be allowed to have a voice? Look, that's nice. No, lock it up, close it down. This is huge. That's why I don't like when people say, stop being political. There is so much on the line.

You have no idea what's on the line. Silencing the voice of God's truth, providing just hell for our children, our grandchildren, mocking God, allowing perversion to be legal. It's just incredible. And I think people need to wake up if you're led by the right spirit, you will be.

But be careful, there's arrogance. I said this, I was going to say this. Arrogance doesn't teach people the whole counsel of God because their opinions are more important. But also, arrogance can happen when we worship the word.

We worship the word. Have you ever seen those people? It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Word. And it's like, that's where that Bible thumper term comes from, I think so. I've been called that a few times, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

The Bible-thumping, rigid word, go get them, Shane. There's no brokenness and humility in your heart. So be careful on this as well. But again, for more on how we got our Bible, I'll just have you go to that message.

Jesus’ Use of the Old Testament

But I want to talk about some things about inerrancy of scripture. I don't know if you've thought about them before, but do you know who quoted the Old Testament quite often? Jesus. Jesus. So are we saying that the Bible's not really from God, but Jesus quoted it as the final authority?

And then you can tell, it is written. It is written. Well, did the prophet say of you, it is written? It is written. And Jesus referenced the Old Testament as the authority, as the inspired, inerrant word of God.

And it's funny, because that's why I believe that when they went to arrest him, they said, why didn't you arrest him? They said, no one ever spoke like this man with such authority. Referencing the Old Testament, speaking as if this is God's word, speaking as if this is real and true, and it is.

And I alluded to this earlier, the consistency and reliability from scripture is, it's not even, it's unmatched. I won't go into a lot of detail, because I'm sure a lot of you know, but the Bible was written over 1 ,500 years.

Did you know that? The New Testament's pretty short, but the Old Testament's written over 1 ,500 years, 40 different authors, three different continents, kings, princes, paupers, prophets, sheepherders.

I mean, and they all said the same thing, that the consistency there. Again, scientific, I told the atheist when I debated him at the college, and I still tell atheists this, can you show me one place in the Bible where they really missed science?

I mean, they just, oh boy, they blew it. Back when Egypt was, back in Egypt, they were telling people to mix cow dung with whiskers from a cat to put on a sore. That was the general thought back then.

Or bloodletting, remember early in American history where they would just let your blood drain, get all that blood out? The Bible, even circumcision on a certain day of the week is best because of the coagulation of the blood.

Even doctors are finding that. One of the ways they ended the plague, I believe in England, was a man was reading and said, wash your hands. And the physicians wouldn't go from operating on a dead person to delivering a baby.

They would wash their hands. They're transmitting these, there's so much in there scientifically that is completely accurate. That confirms the reliability of God's word. They've never missed it. And people say, ah, but Shane, what about pork?

And what about shellfish? Come on. Well, did you know that's very bad food to eat? Very toxic. I'm sorry, I'm gonna just upset some people right now, but I'm sorry. Shrimp and lobster are like feeding off the cesspool of the ocean.

They're there to clean. And pig and pork is very dirty meat. And God says those are unclean things, knowing how it affects the body. It's amazing all the things that happen. Talking about the universe and the stars and the solar system.

And it's just mind boggling. So we see the consistency and reliability of scripture. We see that Jesus quoted it. And we see, oh, the best one, the changed life. Amen. How many of you have experienced the changed life by the power and the reading of God's word?

The Living Word and the Changed Life

I remember when I came back to the Lord. I remember when I came back to the Lord, I'm like 29, I'm reading this like, where was all this? I don't remember this when I was a kid. Where was all this? And that scripture just leaped out of the pages and said, what will profit you, young man, to gain the whole world but lose your soul?

And I began to cry out to God and say, oh, God, I was in the process of losing my soul. And the word came alive and it began to transform your heart and you begin to be filled with the spirit of God. And say, I like Paul.

What Paul's saying here, the spirit of the living God is within me and the Bible becomes alive and it changes your heart and your life. What other book can say that you will never talk to a Mormon or a Jehovah Witness or any, that said this, it's confirmed, it just came alive, it changed my life.

No, it's just, oh, it's good, we follow this, but nothing, nothing that changes your life. I did have somebody once say, but Shane, but I prayed it and I received a burning in my bosom. I said, be careful, the devil won't give you a burning in your bosom.

That doesn't mean anything. I'm not just picking on people, I'm trying to be honest. I'm not actually not picking. I'm telling you, this is serious. This is a matter of life and death, heaven and hell.

No other book speaks like God's word. Why, because it is living, it is powerful, it is active, like any double-edged sword, it pierces your heart, it convicts and it begins to help you go in the right direction.

You begin to understand God's will. Have you ever opened things and the scripture just speaks to you and you get clear direction for your life or you wait on God? Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

It's living and it confirms the heart of God. You also get to see the heart of God and that's why you can't separate the old from the new. Some people say, well, we live under the new covenant now, Shane, that was good.

No, there's no real change. The Bible is the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament. What they're saying now is we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by trying to follow a whole bunch of rules and things and the blood of bulls and goats temporarily covering our sin.

We live now in the finished work of Jesus Christ and the thing I like the best about New Testament is you can be filled mightily with the Holy Spirit of God. The same spirit that rose Christ from the dead can live inside of a believer who's fully surrendered their life.

That's why they get a little excited during worship. That's why they might clap a little bit. That's why they might get excited when who the son sets free is free indeed and they experience God. That's one of the beasts I have with those who believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for us today because when I experience the power of the Holy Spirit and I read what Paul said, I'm like, I experienced that too.

I can relate the experience. There's nothing wrong with experiencing God. Now, don't interpret the Bible based on your experience. Interpret your experience based on the Bible. Make sure your experience is backed by the Bible and if there's things in there that people sometimes and some churches are just weird and bizarre, you gotta be careful.

Like I was at one place and I see angel feathers falling down and gold dust. I'm like, be careful. That's all I'm saying, be careful. I don't care how high you jump. I wanna see how straight you walk when you come down.

I wanna see the fruit of your confession of faith because that's really when the Holy Spirit's moving in someone is they live by the word of God. They're quick. I'm not saying you can't see angels. I'm not saying you don't have visions and dreams.

I'm open to all that because it's all in the Bible but be very careful as well because Paul said, even if an angel comes to you and preaches to you some other gospel, let him be, in the Greek, it's anathema.

Let him be accursed and isn't it funny that most religions, I can name three right now again but I don't wanna seem like I'm beating up on religion. They say that they were, an angel came to them, an angel came to them, an angel came to them.

Be careful but I can't ignore this part either. When it comes to the word of God, faith does play a role. You, somebody said, you Christians, you just, oh, just believe it like that, it's so stupid. No, we don't check our brains at the door.

We consider everything I just said but yes, at some point, faith has to play a role. You took a little bit of faith to get you here and go over that hill. Takes a lot of faith of mine to get me in an airplane.

I'll tell you what, that, I'm like, that's 30 ,000 feet. That is just remarkable. Lord, just, I hope, you know, it's just, there's a certain amount of faith. So yes, there is a certain amount of faith that says, God, I trust in you, I believe in you, I believe this is your character, your nature, I believe you gave us this word.

Lord, I take it for all that it's worth. I give you all of my heart, I put my faith and trust in you and in your word. Watch what happens. There's a boldness there because now you're anchored in God's word.

Billy Graham, Liberal Theology, and Confidence in Scripture

Many of you have heard of Billy Graham, correct? But I bet you haven't heard of Chuck Templeton. Charles Templeton was actually a better preacher than Billy Graham. They said he's going to be the next Campus Crusade, whatever that was called.

Campus Crusades for Christ? Okay, the Cs always get me. And I'm reading his biography right now, Billy Graham's is incredible. But Chuck Templeton was more gifted, more powerful speaker, but then he got caught up in liberal theology.

You know, Billy, I don't know if we can trust everything in the Bible. And he was bringing up some good points. And Billy was confused. And he went to an old tree stump, cut down right up by Lake Arrowhead, I think.

Back when you could still see the beach, the ocean from up there. And he laid down his Bible on the tree stump, and he said, God, I'm so confused. Don't take me word for word, but I'm so confused. A lot of good points.

But from this day forward, I am taking this to be your word. I am preaching your word. This is the truth on which I will stand. And from that day forward, he never looked back. And Chuck Templeton died a very, very sad man before Billy Graham.

I think there was one interview, I don't recall. I would love to find it where the interview asked him, and he began to tear up, and he said he would love to get that joy he once had. All over the inerrancy of, because when you begin to question, now it's okay to, I mean, Lord, I don't understand the concept of hell fully, help me here, you know?

But it's not being questioned him to drift from it, and become bitter, and resentment, and an excuse to sin. It's a question, sincerely asking, God, please show me. I'll tell you one big question that I don't understand, and I always bow my head, I pray, and I say, Lord, I don't understand, but you do, and I'm gonna trust in you in this, is when he would order the slaughter of villages when Israel went into the land.

I always have a hard time with that, I just do. But God knows it. I don't question him. I think because he knew that even those people left, that sin was so, that those, if we had time to go through how the Moabites would worship, or the Amorites, or the Assyrians, it was perverted, cruel worship.

They would actually put their children on the hot, searing arms of Molech, these statues, and burn their children to death, sacrificing. So it's almost like God said the sins of the parents will be passed down to the children, and wipe out that entire sin, wipe out that entire negative demonic influence, and let's rebuild.