Q&A

Hello, and welcome to our third annual Q &A video. This time every year we have our annual meeting at Moores Corner Church, so that's the end of October every year. So we've done these Q &As the past two years.

We're going to do it again, so there's no upload this week for our Wednesday evening Bible study. Hopefully next week, Lord willing, we'll pick up our study of 1 Samuel. But right now we're going to do this Q &A, so let's get right into the questions.

They were submitted by both church members and YouTube viewers. The first question that I'm going to be answering is from Brian. He runs the YouTube channel Faith on Fire. His channel seems to be growing, and we've interacted a little bit.

It's always been cordial, I think, and I'd like to keep it that way, but I do think that we see some things differently, which is okay. I think we disagree on the spiritual gifts, and that's what he's asking about.

He basically is saying, what do you think about the following Bible passages, and he has a whole list here, 1 Corinthians 1, 7 and 8, 1 Corinthians 13, 8 through 13, Acts 2, 16 through 20, Romans 11, 29, Mark 16, 17 through 20.

Whether the Miraculous Gifts Continue Today

So basically, what are we talking about? Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit for today? So this is tongues, prophecy, healing. Basically, I'll start out by saying this, Romans 11, 29, I do not believe is referring to the gifts, but some of these statements about desire the best gifts, Paul is saying seek spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.

He says, do not forbid tongues. Joel, his prophecy in Acts 2 about your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Well, here's the thing. Here's what we would agree with.

When those books were written, Acts, 1 Corinthians, Mark, Romans, right? God was giving direct revelation. Prophecies were being given. The apostles spoke with other tongues. We all agree with that. The miraculous gifts of the Spirit were operational.

So to find verses that talk about this, that's to be expected because all of this was happening in the early church. So that's what we agree on. What we disagree about, I think, is whether or not these things are happening right now.

So there's basically two positions. Let's define our terms. Brian, I believe is a continuationist. He believes that these gifts continued right up until today. They're still happening. I fall more on the other side.

It's known as cessationism, that the spiritual gifts, not all of them, but the miraculous gifts, they have ceased, right? It's built into the word, continuationist, cessationist. The gifts continue or they cease.

Okay. I'll address some of those verses specifically in a moment. But first we have to understand what is the purpose of miracles. So the sign gifts, another word for sign is miracles. Tongue speaking in a language you didn't know.

If I started speaking to you right now in Arabic, I mean, that would be a miracle because I don't know it. Right? So what's the purpose of these sign gifts? What's the purpose of miracles in the Bible?

It's to authenticate the miracle worker. So it's not even that I don't believe miracles are happening. I just don't believe that any specific men, primarily apostles and prophets, have been given this gift.

I don't believe there are prophets and apostles today. And really, if you look at it, there's only been three periods of history where miracles were common. That's during the ministries of Moses and Joshua, the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, and the ministry of Jesus and his apostles.

So the miracles were for the purpose of authenticating the miracle workers because at that time scripture was being written. You have the Old Testament law and the prophets, in the New Testament you have the writings of the apostles.

So miracles were happening because scripture was being written. Scripture is not being written today. There's no need for miracles. That's basically the argument. Now I'm not saying, again, I'm not saying that miracles don't happen.

A cessationist, contrary to popular belief, we do believe in miracles. We just don't believe, again, in miracle workers. Benny Hinn is a con man. Kenneth Copeland, these people are frauds. They're con artists.

Nobody is getting healed through crusades. People go to them with the hope of being healed and they're told, hey, you need to give money. And if you give enough money, you'll get a miracle. But the only thing they get is they're taken advantage of.

So does God heal people through answered prayer? I'm sure that probably happens. I think it's very rare, but just like the miracles you read about in the Bible, they were rare too. 99 .9 of people throughout history never saw the Red Sea parted or anyone raised from the dead.

Sometimes you get a warped view of this by reading the book of Acts because it's one miracle after another, after another, after another. Well, yeah, but years are going by and most people don't actually see that.

So this is a question of whether or not miracles are being done today down at the local Pentecostal or Charismatic church. I think that's really what this boils down to. Are they really speaking in tongues?

Bethel Church in Redding, California, their prophet, Chris Vallotton, is he really giving prophecies? These people, the Charismatics, God spoke to me and he told me this and he told me, is God really speaking to them?

This is really what is at stake and I'm not convinced that's the case. I think there are a lot of counterfeit gifts. Acts chapter 2, if you read verses 4 through 8, you will see very clearly tongues was a knowable human language.

People could understand them. It's not the gibberish that you hear today. Acts 2, 7 and 8 says, look, are not all these who speak Galileans and how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born?

So the Greek word Glossa, which is translated tongue, it means either the literal tongue in your mouth or a foreign dialect. It does not refer to gibberish because gibberish is not a language. Prophecy can either refer to foretelling or forth telling or direct revelation.

If you're going to say direct revelation is being given today, why wouldn't you add that onto the Bible? Are people predicting the future today? I don't see it. I don't see it. Are people preaching today?

If you mean prophecy as in preaching, yes, people have the gift of preaching. But just to make my position clear, the Holy Spirit is still at work. Miracles may still in fact be occurring, but they'd be very rare.

Really what it boils down to is I do not believe in apostles and prophets and those verses in the New Testament that he references, they were for that time. Specific people were given certain gifts for a particular time period.

I believe generally speaking, those things have ceased. Partially why I believe that is not just experience, but also the apostle Paul says they will cease. First Corinthians 13, Paul literally says tongues will cease.

Prophecies will fail. Tongues will cease. When did they cease? Well, Paul says it will cease when the perfect comes. What's the perfect? I believe the perfect is the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ.

So once the canon of scripture was completed, the apostle John finished revelation. By then all of the gifts, the sign gifts, the miraculous gifts had basically petered out you could say. Mark 16, Jesus tells his disciples, these signs will follow those who believe.

In my name they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them and they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

See that's proof. Well, here's the thing. All of that happened. I totally believe that. But you read that stuff happening in the book of Acts. Again, just because Peter and Paul could do it doesn't mean that I can do it.

Just because it happened back then doesn't mean it's happening now. Nobody's parting the Red Sea today. Jesus isn't coming back again to die on the cross again. These things were a for a specific time period for a specific purpose.

So until more scripture is going to be written, I do not believe, well, I don't think that's going to happen, but I do not believe the miraculous gifts of the spirit are for today. They might resume during the tribulation, but as of now, I don't think what the Pentecostals and Charismatics are doing.

With all due respect, I do not believe that those are the legitimate gifts of the spirit. If you think I'm wrong, link in the comment section, link me to a video that shows true prophecy and true tongues and a true miracle, true healing, and we'll test it.

How's that sound? Okay. Next question. We believe that you have mentioned before in discussing that Jesus does not look like the long haired hippie Jesus that society paints him as today. And I have said that, that's true.

And that you have your own personal ideas of what Jesus looked like. You have also shared that God was intentional with describing David versus not describing Jesus. Please elaborate on this topic and how should we view Jesus in our mind while reading and discussing scripture in an effort to cognitively replace society's portrayal of Christ?

How to Think About Jesus Without Letting Culture Shape Him

Okay, that's a great question. So here's the thing. I try not to picture Jesus at all. It's really hard because we've all seen the pictures and the portrayal, so it's hard not to do, but we just need to settle it in our minds that what Jesus looked like.

Number one, we don't know. Number two, it doesn't really matter. If God wanted us to know, he would tell us now when people speak of Christ or portray him in such a way that I know is not accurate, that is what I'm reacting to.

So when people say that Jesus had long hair based on first Corinthians 11, I know that's not true. When people say he's black or scoff at the idea that Jesus may have had a lighter complexion with his skin.

Okay, listen. David was ruddy, okay? That's just what it says and most Jews, all the Jews I've ever met are white. So I'm just saying that it seems like there's a hidden agenda and that's more of what I'm reacting to.

And I'm just pointing to what the scripture says. But here's the stuff that irritates me because I know what's behind a lot of this. What bothers me, I don't really care about his skin color, I don't think we should care about that.

I mean, that's vain, it's vain jangling, what the King James says, it's carnal, these arguments I suppose. But when people try to twist the character of Christ or they say he's just all love all the time or that he was hanging out with drunkards and prostitutes on Friday night, that's the type of stuff that irritates me because I know what's behind it.

There's an agenda and they're trying to make Jesus into this licentious figure. He's just cool with whatever you want to do. That's obviously false. So that's what I take issue with. Jesus is not one dimensional.

He displayed all the same emotions that we do. Jesus does not fit into anyone's box. So when I sense that someone is trying to use Jesus in order to twist his character, twist the truth of scripture to support their own agenda, that's what I don't like.

So I'll just end that question by saying, make sure you get your beliefs about Jesus. Not from me, certainly not from Hollywood or TV, get your beliefs about Jesus from the Bible. Amen. Okay. The next question, what makes someone a heretic?

What Makes Someone a Heretic

This is a serious subject, but certain things are coming to mind right now. But what makes someone a heretic? It seems that most, if not all pastors and denominations disagree on something. So this is part of the question.

So when does a disagreement rise to the level of false teaching and when does it reach the level of heresy? Okay. So heresy is an error that is so serious, it cuts off someone from salvation. Like a heretic is not saved.

There might be some people who have some wrong beliefs, but a heretic is definitely not saved. It's very serious. There may be people who unfortunately, you know, throw around the term heresy. They use it very loosely.

Anything they disagree with is heresy. That's the wrong way to use it. Because when a pastor or a mature Christian uses the word heresy, or they say something is heretical, a certain belief or teaching is heretical, usually that is something that is so serious, it's undercutting the person and work of Christ.

It's a denial or again, it undercuts the gospel. So some sort of false teaching that is so serious, it does violence to the person or nature of God, denies one of the essential doctrines of the faith.

That's heresy. A few examples, if somebody denied the virgin birth, that would be heresy. I don't have time to get into it all, but the virgin birth is necessary. In order for Jesus to be the son of God, he had to be born of a virgin.

Otherwise he would be the son of Joseph or someone else. So if somebody denied the virgin birth, that is to do violence to Christ's deity, that is heresy. Anyone who does not believe, now there might be some people who have just gotten saved and they're not even aware of the virgin birth.

That's one thing. They're going to quickly find out, I'm sure. But if somebody rejected or denied the virgin birth, especially if they're teaching it, they're heretic and they're not saved. There was an early heresy that denied the humanity of Christ.

There are people who deny that he rose bodily from the dead. There are people who say the death of Jesus on the cross was pointless or unnecessary. They say that the God of the Old Testament is evil. He's like a villain.

I mean, this is just blasphemy. It's heresy. They're denying the word of God and it's very, very serious. A person like that cannot be allowed in the local church. They are to be excommunicated. And if you have watched this channel, followed my videos at all, you've heard me talk about this before.

Unfortunately, well, people are really, this is going on locally and people are totally botching the issue. It's sad. It's just a sad situation. But if a person believes heresy, the word heresy or heretic, it refers to basically one who causes division and they're causing division by teaching things that are false about Christ and his person and work.

Titus 3 .10 in the King James Version says, a man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject. So a heretic, you are to have nothing to do with them. And that's just the way it is. Okay.

So that's the question on heresy. Next, is there anything in the Bible about how a man or a woman should become husband and wife? Context would be the current society as well as churches having their own customs when it comes to weddings.

But are there any scriptural guidelines or examples for how a man and a woman become husband and wife in the eyes of God? By extension, how can Christians truly honor these roles of husband and wife? Okay.

Good questions. Kind of two in one. You snuck in an extra one there. First of all, what does the Bible say about this? There's no one verse necessarily. We're going to read from Genesis in a moment. But you know, what do you have to do?

You know, at what point do you become officially husband and wife? Well, what makes a marriage valid in the eyes of God today in our society is the legal document, right? In our nation right now, what makes someone married officially is the document, the marriage license.

You have to apply for it. After the ceremony is held, the document is submitted and that's the law of the land. Therefore, that's what makes a person married. Obviously, Adam and Eve didn't go through that process in the Garden of Eden, but they were married before God.

So here's how I would address it. I think you have to recognize that over time, things have evolved in the Bible. Times change. Civilization changes. But some principles from God's Word, they never change.

So I think we should, generally speaking, uphold the status quo that marriage is between, you know, some of the basics, one man, one woman for life. Because of man's hardness of heart, certain provisions were made in the Law of Moses concerning divorce.

So over time, adjustments, you could say, had to be made and the Lord sanctioned that. The Jewish people, as well as Christians for the past 2 ,000 years, have had some sort of wedding ceremony. I think that's required at this point.

It needs to be witnessed by at least two or three people. The marriage then needs to be consummated. And all of that, I think, is biblical. I would add, I think at least for Christians in this country, you should go through the legal process, but that might not be necessary in every situation.

And again, you know, back in ancient times, you know, you didn't have a town hall with a marriage license and all the rest. So is the marriage license really what God recognizes as what makes it official?

I think it's the vow before God, but I think we should uphold the laws of the land. I think it's safe to do that. Genesis 2 .24 says, Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Jesus said in Matthew 19, 4 -9, Have you not read that he who made them male, or made them in the beginning? He made them male and female, and he said, For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

There is more that could be said, obviously, but for the sake of time, you know, we can only address so much. But just to then look at the next question, how can Christians truly honor these roles of husband and wife?

I think that's where you get to passages like Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3. Ephesians 5 .22 says, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Verse 23, For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is Savior of the body.

Verse 25 says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. So marriage, the way it's described, that relationship really should reflect the relationship that Christ has with his church.

Christ loves his church. He is willing to lay down his life for his church, and he did. And that's what a man is to do, love his wife and be willing to lay down his life. The word love in Greek, agape, is a self-sacrificing love.

That's what it's called for here. There is an emphasis on husbands showing love and an emphasis on wives showing respect. Also marriage is for procreation, so that's part of God's plan as well for couples to get married and have children, although that may not always be possible, but generally speaking that is part of God's plan.

And again, much more could be said, but I want this Q &A video to be more like a half hour than an hour and a half. So on to the next question, but these are good questions so far. So here's another one.

This came in from an online viewer. They asked the question, what are your thoughts on certain sects of Christianity that believe demons can be attached to books like Harry Potter or music like Marilyn Manson?

And at what point do these people fear the occult so badly, which rightfully so, but they inherently almost practice the occult themselves? And then he mentioned soul ties, anointing your home with oil with the purpose of keeping demons out, etc.

Demonic Oppression, Possession, and Christian Liberty

So basically the question is, what about these sects of Christianity who say this and what about people who are on the other side? And I'm not sure what sect of Christianity does this. I'm assuming it's among charismatics because I am familiar with a growing trend among charismatics to practice exorcism and to really get involved.

They're not getting involved in the occult, but they're like casting out demons and really addressing the occult head on, which seems like it might be a good thing, but some of the leaders of this movement, again, I'm not sure if this is what the viewer is referring to, but men like Greg Locke, Isaiah Salvador, I think that's how you say his name.

People like that. I don't know that I agree with that doctrine. We're saying that demons are attached to books or music. I'm not convinced of that. Now, whether or not a person should listen to music like Marilyn Manson, obviously you shouldn't listen to that stuff.

Can that open people up to demonic affliction or even possession? Maybe, but there's so much that we don't know about this subject. So I'm just reluctant to say if I'm not sure. I would recommend that you listen to a study that I did.

There's a video on my channel, Pastor Michael Grant, it's titled, Demonic Oppression Versus Demonic Possession. So check out that video, I address that more. But I think both sides here, it's a little sketchy.

Obviously Harry Potter books, listen, some Christians, like Mike Winger did a video where he thought reading Harry Potter, this is a Christian liberty issue. Others like John MacArthur are like, no, stay away from it.

You're going to get Christians who disagree with that. But whether or not demons are attached to books, I mean, I'm not sure where that's coming from. I don't know how you would prove that. Or using anointing oil to protect your home from demons.

This just seems strange to me, so I'm not so sure I would agree with either side. So it all seems a little odd. So I would need more information. All right, next question. This was also submitted by someone on YouTube.

They ask, why shouldn't women be pastors? Okay, always love a softball question. This one's easy because the Bible says so. I'm not going to spend much time on this. I felt like I've addressed this enough in other videos, but there's no debate on this.

Why the Bible Does Not Permit Women Pastors

The Bible from front to back teaches male headship. People might not like that, but that's what the Bible teaches. And the books that directly speak to how the church is to be run, this is the pastoral epistles.

We'll just focus on 1 Timothy. You could also look at Titus 1, but 1 Timothy 2 .12, Paul clearly states that women are not to teach nor to exercise authority over a man. And that's in the context of pastors, right?

Pastoral epistle. And why did Paul say that? Oh, well, that was just cultural, you know. No, Paul has nothing to do with the culture. Paul rather appeals to the created order that Adam was formed first and then Eve.

I would just point out, and I don't want to belabor the point, but in the Old Testament, all the priests were men. In the New Testament, all the apostles were men. For 1 ,900 years of church history, whether it's Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Protestant, all pastors and bishops were men.

Women were not ordained until the 20th century. And really, it didn't even become common until the 1970s. So this is a slam dunk. It's a no-brainer. If anyone says the Bible teaches female pastors, they're just flat out wrong.

In any verse they try to quote, you can just bank on the fact they're going to be twisting verses out of context. All right, how's that for an answer? Leave your angry comments below. The next question, how can a Bible-believing Christian today best manage their money?

And what should financial goals be, especially in reference to Matthew 19, 16 through 22? And what should their career goals be? Okay, so let's read this passage, Matthew 19, 16 through 22. This is the story of the rich young ruler.

Here's what it says. Now, behold, one came and said to him, Jesus, obviously, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good?

No one is good, but one, and that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And he said to Jesus, which ones? So Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, it goes through the commandments.

And the young man said to Jesus, all these things I've kept from my youth, what do I still lack? I mean, can you imagine this guy? Oh, I've kept all of the commandments my whole life. I imagine Jesus is thinking like, yeah, right.

I like, Jesus knows better, obviously, right? Verse 21, Jesus said to him, okay, if you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. So here's what's going on here. Jesus is not saying that in order to be saved, you need to give away all your money.

Maybe that's what it sounds like, but that's not really the situation. Now, maybe for him, because here's what Jesus knows. Jesus realizes that this rich young ruler, his God is his money. That's his idol.

His great wealth is what stands between him and eternal life because he's not really interested in following Christ or serving God. He cares about his money. So this is the thing about wealthy people.

They're often proud. They think, what do I need God for? So Jesus is addressing that issue. The man refers to Christ as good teacher, but he doesn't know that Jesus is the Christ for all he knows, Jesus is just some great rabbi.

So Jesus knows immediately that the man doesn't really understand the depravity of the human condition because he thinks other men are good. And of course, God's going to accept good people. So Jesus has to teach this man a lesson.

He goes to the law of God to show him his need for a savior. Now, it doesn't really work out. You know, the man made his choice. He's going to, he's more interested in money than God. But Jesus, again, the man does not realize that he's talking to God incarnate.

So Jesus is trying to show the rich young ruler the bad news before he gets to the good news. And the bad news is that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. So everyone is a sinner separated from God without God's grace.

They cannot be saved. But this man, like many Jews, thought that he could work his way to heaven. If I just do this, if I just do that, I will have everlasting life. So Jesus decides, hey, let's look at the commandments.

And the man responds, oh, I've kept all of those my whole life. The man does not view himself as a sinner. So Jesus, let's start over with commandment number one. Okay. You say you've kept the commandments.

The first one is you shall have no other gods before me. And Christ knows perfectly well, his God is his money and he will not put God first. So he hasn't even kept the first commandment, nevermind the other nine.

And when he's asked about this, when he's confronted with the fact that his money is his God, that he has not kept the first commandment, he walks away from Christ. That's what's happening. So long story short, maybe it's not that short, but Jesus is not saying that you have to give away all your money or take a vow of poverty in order to be a good Christian.

That's not what he's saying. So back to the question, how can a Bible-believing Christian today best manage their money? Well, I would say live within your means. You know, don't rack up credit card debt, you know, don't gamble.

You know, don't waste your money on stuff like that. What should financial goals be? What should career goals be? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 31, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. That doesn't mean that every person has to be a missionary, a Bible teacher, or, you know, something like that.

Paul also tells the Corinthians in regards to money, he says that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, but there's no set command for every person. Historically, it's true Christians have tithed, right? So they set aside 10 of their income to give to the Lord and to his work.

So that's kind of a general principle, set aside 10 to give away. A lot of churches don't teach that anymore, but it's been a longstanding practice. It was clearly part of the Mosaic law in Israel, but you have to look to the general principles found in the Bible.

Here's what you don't want to do because with money, you know, there's all sorts of people who have all sorts of opinions. Don't let anyone pressure you into thinking that there's one, you know, cookie, cookie cutter answer for, for everyone.

That's not the way it is. Psalm 37 verse four says, delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. So I believe Christians should pray for guidance. And as you follow Christ and seek his will, I believe that through convictions and circumstances, God will show you what to do.

He will lead you. He will direct your paths, right? So, and if you're not saying, well, I'm doing that and I'm not really seeing it, well, just make the right decisions day by day and wait on the Lord.

He will reveal his plan for you and your life. And again, he does that through conviction and through circumstances and always learn and follow these biblical principles. And I'm just going to close with this verse.

So thanks for watching. Again, closing with this Proverbs three, five, and six, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.