Matt Slick Live: January 2, 2025

Show Introduction and New Year Reflections

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.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the show.

It's me, Matt Slick, in your list of Matt Slick Live.

Wow.

Hey, how about that? It is 2025. This is the first show of the year, 2025. I hope you're all listening. I had a good holidays. I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year's and all of that. I hope it went well.

Mine was kind of just whatever. It was low-key, and I enjoyed that, so it was nice. I hope that we have a great year. I hope things work out well and that the kingdom of God expands. The Lord Jesus Christ is glorified, and the people of God would then learn more about him and become even more entrenched in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

Jesus.

That's what I'm hoping, so good stuff. All right, so here's a little bit of congratulations. Today, January 2nd, is the 20-year anniversary of me doing radio five days a week. I did two years of radio one day a week, and then was off for a few years, and then moved up here to Idaho, and 20 years ago today is when I started doing radio, so I've been doing radio a total of 22 years, and today is the anniversary.

How about that? 20 years ago today, I started here doing radio five days a week, so praise God for that. If you have any comments about that, you want to call and say, hey, congratulations, happy anniversary, then that's fine, too.

To do that, the number is 877 -207 -2276. You can also email me if you want. You can email me a comment or a question. Just go to their email and send it to, let's see, info at carm .org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G, info at carm .org, and put in the subject line, radio comment, radio question, and then we can get to them.

It's usually kind of a tough start, beginning of the year, end of the year, because it's holidays and stuff like that, and people are kind of accustomed to not, you know, in their same routine. Excuse me, I may not have a lot of calls today, I don't know, but there you go.

Now, also, I can officially let it be known that we're doing a trip to Jordan in November of this year. Going to Jordan, I'll get more information out about it. It's a 12-day trip. We just did, a few months ago, a couple months ago, we did a 19-day trip.

We went to Turkey and Greece and Italy, and now we're going to go to Jordan. I had all my notes. I talked to Eric Johnson, who was filling me in on it, I took some notes, and let's just say I lost my notes when I rebooted my computer.

I forgot to save that bit of information.

No big deal.

But I'll get more information about it, and where you can check it out if that sounds like something that would be interesting. And some of the things we're going to be seeing over there is Petra, and if you look it up, just Petra.

It's amazing. And, also, we're going to be going to the place of Sodom and Gomorrah and some other.

Places.

Now, I want to let you know that this will not be a trip for the week. This is a trip that, for example, the day of Petra, we'll be walking probably 12 miles. So that's a lot of walking, and it's a lot of time, and so you have to be in shape for.

That.

And what I do when I go on these trips is I walk for a couple of months. I start off one mile a day, then two, then, you know, work it up, and I was doing five, seven miles a day. Not a problem. So when we went to the footsteps of Paul, you know, we do our walking, but we had bus stops and things like that.

And it worked out fine. So just letting you know about that. And one other thing about it, what was it? Oh, yeah. And it'd be a few times we had to go to the restroom outside. So we did that once before on another trip.

I remember that. We went to a big area, and I think it was Ai, and there were no facilities there. So what happened was there was a big outcropping of rocks. The ladies went on one side, and the guys went on the other.

That's how it was that time, and nobody complained. It's just part of what it was. That'll happen a couple, three times.

Not a big deal.

Especially for the guys. They're like, yeah, whatever. But the ladies, a little bit more problematic. So those are the negatives on that. Now do you feel safe going there?

Yeah, yeah.

I talked to Eric about that. He said it's just like being in Turkey, the same level of just whatever. It's just like Turkey.

It's not a big deal.

So I've been to Turkey twice, and Israel twice, I think. I've been to Greece and Italy now once, and really enjoy those tours. It's really nice, because when I'm talking about stuff, I can say, hey, I've been there.

I've been to Thessalonica. I've been to Corinth. I've been to Pompeii. I've been to the Vatican. I've been to the Sistine Chapel. I've been to the Seven Churches of Revelation. It's just stuff. It's really cool to be able to say.

All right. So isn't that neat?

All right.

Now, wait a minute. Someone had a birthday today, was it? I don't know. We can put it in the clubhouse. I thought someone said they had a birthday or something. If you do, let me know. And like I said, today's a 20-year anniversary of me doing radio five days a week, and praise God for that.

Now, I just want to let you know that one of the things we want to do is expand the show, and I talked to the people in charge about that. And so we're going to look into that a little bit. And if you like the show and you want it to continue and you want it to be on more radio stations, would you please consider supporting us?

Just go to karm .org forward slash donate and whatever you put in there. If you want it specifically for radio, just send an email, hey, I'm so-and-so sent a donation for this month, and that's for radio.

And it helps us to determine what's going on there. And the matching funds drive went really well. I want to say thanks to all of you who contributed. It's pretty good. It was good. It was enough to help us out for two months operating costs, which is good.

That's if nothing's coming in. And so it really helps us to be able to keep our head above water. Really appreciate all of you for that. See, all that good stuff, you see? All that good stuff. All right, let's just jump on with Herb from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Herb, welcome. You're on the air.

Fatima, Guadalupe, and the Claims of Marian Apparitions

Hey, Matt, congratulations on your 20 years and happy new year to you and your family.

Hey, thanks a lot.

I got a quick update. Thank you so much, buddy. I just want to tell you, Tuesday I sent you an email to karm .org, I hope you get it, about that unsolved mystery story about it was three children back in 1914 or 17, I believe it was, sometime in that period, that saw an image of Mary.

It's a pretty amazing story. I don't know if you've heard of that, but that's what I remember much younger of seeing that on TV.

Yeah, I know a lot about it. There was something there. It's been highly investigated. Something occurred. There were people seeing things, and it's been filmed. Also, the observers, not everybody could see everything, but there were observers who were watching people in the crowd.

They were all looking up into the sky, tracking. Their eyes were all tracking the same object up in the sky. It's Fatima. It's an official apparition. The Catholic Church says of Mary, and it's supposed to be really Mary.

If I read you the quotes of what that apparition said, it's obviously a demonic manifestation. It's a demon. The Catholic Church can't tell the difference.

That's what I've heard.

Yeah, it's demonic. In fact, I'll read some of the quotes. Here, I'll get my file open and go to it, but yeah, it's a demon.

Yeah.

Well, buddy, I've got to get back to work, but I just wanted to update you on that, but I figured there was probably something more to it than it seemed to be, such as demonic. That's what I was trying to describe.

I now remember something like that many years ago, watching that show, and I just wanted to let you know about that. I hope you have 20 more years of good times on the radio and 20 more years of life and maybe more than that.

Well, by God's grace, you know, I'm blessed. I'm 68, and people never guess my age, and they just think I'm 10, 15 years younger, and I can walk quickly, and I'm in good shape, so I'm very blessed.

Well, I'll tell you a funny short story that happened to me. When I was 40, I'm 68 too, like you are. I was 50 the other day, and I was dreaming, but when I turned 40, I went to a little restaurant. I won't say it on the air, but it's a country-type restaurant, and they have a senior discount, and I'm 40 years old, and I walk in, very nice lady, she says, okay, with the senior discount, it'll be whatever.

I said, why did you give me the senior discount? I looked at her, and she said, well, kind of. I said, well, forget it. I'm not eating with you today. I'll go somewhere else. No, I'm kidding. I stayed.

I couldn't believe it. At 40 years old, she said, I look 60, so wow, I'm aging fast, so I didn't know I was going that fast.

It was bad lighting. That neon light can make you look bad, so you know, you never know.

Well, I look in the mirror every day, and I seem to have more wrinkles and less hair, so I don't look in the mirror no more.

I look in the mirror because it wakes me up. It startles me. Oh, that's right, and that gets me going, so that helps.

I understand. Well, look, have a great week, great year, and I'm always praying for you and listening to you every single day I can. Thanks for your help.

God bless.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Thank you, too.

All right. Well, good stuff. You know, since you brought up the issue of the Fatima thing, what I'm going to do is read some of the apparitions' comments. I'm going to read six of them, three from Guadalupe in 1531, and then I'll go to the three in 1917 from Fatima, and I want you to see the progression of the demonic manifestations.

There.

Then what I'll do, because there's a text that someone wants me to get to on dealing with John 20 -23, which is easy to do, and I'll explain that. So I'm going to say something here. There's a lot—how would I say this?

The Roman Catholic Church is not a Christian church, okay? And it's an apostate false church, just like the East Orthodox. Now, when I say that—and I'm going to say this because I'm going to get into it a little bit because he brought it up.

We've got nobody waiting. When I say that, it's not me just being mad or being narrow-minded or closed-minded. How dare I say something like that about the Catholic Church?

Or whatever.

The issue here is purely theological. I'm not the only one who holds this position. There are literally thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of Protestants who understand, yeah, the Roman Catholic Church is false, as well as the East Orthodox.

Now, both of them are on the rise. People are turning to them. The East Orthodox Church is a false church also. It teaches a false gospel, a false priesthood, and a false Mary. And so they promote works of righteousness.

Both groups do, even though they say they don't. And the adherents will do whatever they can to weasel and word twist to make it sound like they're biblical when they're really not. And so I've had thousands of conversations with them, thousands of hours over decades, you know, doing this.

So like I said, I was never a Catholic. I was never an East Orthodox. You know, it's nothing about who I was wronged by somebody. It's not like that. This is a purely theological issue. So maybe I'll get into it a little bit today.

I don't know. But this is a serious thing. I'm going to say it again. The Roman Catholic Church is not Christian. If you believe official Roman Catholic theology and you die in it, you're going to hell.

And if you believe official Eastern Orthodox theology and you die in it, you're going to go to hell. The reason is because both of them preach a false gospel. They both teach that you have to be baptized in order to be saved, with variations in that.

But they teach that and that you have to keep commandments in order to be saved and that in Eastern Orthodoxy that you gradually become godlike, not in their nature, but it's called theosis, that you achieve justification through your works, your faithfulness throughout your entire life.

It's just a false doctrines from the devil. And the same thing, similar thing goes to with Roman Catholicism that teaches that grace is an infused kind of a thing into your soul through the sacraments.

And if you sin, you lose grace. And if you go to the church, you get grace back in your soul. As long as you maintain that grace and, you know, that's how you stay saved. And things like this. It's all demonic.

It's all false doctrine. And I have no problem saying it. I have no problem at all whatsoever saying that. Because it's true. Now, there is the break. So what I'm going to do is, because he brought up the Fatima thing, 1914.

1917, 18, excuse me. I'm going to read some quotes, and we'll get to that. And then I'll get to John 20, 23. And we'll just talk. If you have questions or comments, give me a call, 877 -207 -2276. We'll be right back.

The Witch of Endor and Whether Saul Saw Samuel

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

Everybody, welcome back to the show. It's 20 after. If you want to give me a call, it's easy. 877 -207 -2276. Let's look at Dave real fast before we do the Catholic thing. Dave, welcome. You're on the air.

Yes. Congratulations on your 22 years. I really appreciate your program.

Praise God. Thanks.

My question is, in 1 Samuel 28, Samuel has died and Saul don't know what to do. And he goes and finds a woman, a witch or whoever, that can tell the future.

Witch of Endor, yes.

And asks to bring Samuel back. Did she really bring Samuel back? Because from reading this thing, it sounds like it's just like Samuel talking to her, arguing about why are you doing this? Was that really Samuel or was this an evil spirit?

I believe it was Samuel. It's in 1 Samuel 28. And Samuel rebukes him. He says, if the Lord's not doing this, then why are you doing this? So he's giving glory to God and he's going back and speaking of the things of God and pointing them to God.

And says, you're going to be with me here pretty soon. It means he's going to die. So I have no problem with it actually being Samuel. Because people do live after they're dead. They continue to exist in a conscious state.

We know it from Moses and Elijah in Matthew 17 with the transfiguration of Jesus. We have this here. So I have no problem with that. Now, there are those who would disagree and say it's not true. But that's their opinion.

I believe it was actually Samuel.

Okay.

The witch of Endor was surprised and shocked.

Go ahead.

Yeah. When Samuel said, you're going to be with me. Well, where was Samuel at this time?

Dead.

Was he in the afterlife?

He was present with God. Was he present with God when he said this?

Well, that's in the New Testament. You quoted 2 Corinthians 5 .8. Or 1 Corinthians 5 .8, I think it is. And so that's a different context. It says, you'll be with me.

He said.

Okay.

So there's some theology about what happened before the crucifixion and where they were versus what happened after the crucifixion and where they were. But in that context, it looks like Samuel was in the abode of the dead, Hades most probably.

It should be Abraham's bosom most probably. And that's where he was. And he was brought back. The witch of Endor there was shocked because this is really him. And this is revelatory because she's familiar with the demonic manifestations with the familiar spirits who had come forth to imitate things.

And this was really him.

And she.

Okay, I'm in trouble now. So I believe it really was Samuel.

Okay.

Yeah. What concerns you or what. I'm a little bit confused, which when he said he'd bring it, he's going to be with him.

Yeah, he's going to die.

Stay.

He would.

Yeah, he did.

He died.

And he would. It was over. And so he was going to be with him. Well, I figured, well, Samuel is the same man. Saul, I don't think so. I don't.

Whether you're.

Well, that's another discussion. That's another discussion. But he said he'd be with me.

So Saul blew it. But people can.

He blew it.

Let's just say that. And it looks like he was going to go. It would be saved anyway, even though Saul made a lot. I mean, yeah, he's made a lot of mistakes, a lot of goose. But he did say he could be with me.

And he did not Hades, but Abraham's bosom per Luke 16, 19 to 31. That's what I believe.

Okay.

Yeah. So in your opinion, you think that Saul was saved?

Yes, I think so.

Yeah. Okay.

All right.

That's interesting. It's very interesting.

Yeah.

I appreciate your comments on that.

Sure.

All right. I guess that's all I have for now.

All right, buddy.

I appreciate it a lot.

All right.

You take care.

Okay. Bye. Okay.

All right. So now what I'm going to do is get to the apparition stuff about Mary, the previous caller. Like I said, I do that every now and then, go through and try and show people what Catholicism teaches and how seriously bad it is.

So you have to understand these things really are bad and they are demonic. And so what I'm going to do is read to you six quotes, three from Guadalupe in 1531 and three from Fatima in 1917. Both of these are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as being officially Mary.

They're saying, yes, it really was Mary. It was really her. These are really her words. And what gets me is so many people are willing to just throw down logic, throw down scripture, throw down anything, trample it underfoot because it tickles their ears and tickles their hearts because an apparition of a woman, a demonic manifestation, what it is, a demonic, a manifestation of, so to speak, Mary.

And then they just believe whatever this says. And the stupidity of this whole kind of a thing is just, to me, is just tremendously embarrassing to any individual. How do you know that these apparitions are true?

Because the Catholic Church says so. Well, you believe the Catholic Church is true.

Why?

Because it says it's true. How do you know? We get into all these things. And the issue here is, what does the scriptures say? Now, what the Catholics will do then in the EO, well, how do you know that the scriptures.

Are true?

We are the ones who gave you the scriptures. We have the authority. They always point to the church. They don't bear witness of Christ. It's always about their church. And it goes on and on. But nevertheless, what I'm going to do now is read three apparitions from 1531.

Remember, this is what the Catholic Church says is officially Mary. Then we'll get to the 1917 Fatima stuff. This is the first one. It says, no, no for sure, my dearest littlest and youngest son, that I am the perfect and ever virgin Holy Mary.

So the apparition says it's Mary. How do you know that? It's one of the questions I would ask. Well, how do you know? How do you know this apparition really is Mary?

How do you know? Just because it says so?

You know, I got to tell you, you know, my mom and dad, you know, we moved a lot. My dad was in the service. My mom had a really high IQ. My dad had a high IQ also. One of the things they taught me was just don't follow the crowd.

Don't follow the crowd. Don't just believe something because someone says it. It's one of the things they taught me. From day one, you check things out, you examine stuff. Don't follow the crowd. If, you know, if everybody's doing drugs, does that mean you should?

Of course not.

You know, they taught me to think.

All right.

So if I was sitting there and some apparition comes up and everybody, oh, it's an apparition.

It's for Mary.

How do you know? Don't ask questions like that.

Why shouldn't I?

This is important stuff. So anyway, here's number two. I am truly your merciful mother, yours and all the people who live united in this land and of all the other people of different ancestries, my lovers who love me.

This is what the apparition says. My lovers who love me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. I will hear their weeping, their complaints, and heal all their sorrows, hardships, and sufferings. So now the apparition says that you've got to love her.

Love the apparition. You know, the apparition will hear their weeping and complaints and will heal all their sorrows, hardships, and sufferings. The apparition says it will. And that the people of different ancestries, my lovers who love me, those who seek me, those who trust in me.

Would you ever hear a disciple of Jesus say something like that? Would you ever hear one of the apostles, yes, you have to understand, you have to love me, seek me, and trust in me. You say that, it's a heretic.

That's not what an apostle would teach. But the church has no problem saying it's Mary what she teaches. So we'll get to number three after the break. We'll be right back. Please stay tuned for more.

The Apparitions of Guadalupe and Fatima as Demonic Counterfeits

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

Alright everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, 877 -207 -2276. Let me finish with the quotes. Then we've got a call about the Trinity. And then we'll get to John 20 -23. We've got some good stuff going on here.

So the third quote from this apparition in 1531, which the Catholic Church says is officially Mary, says, Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy?

Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more? So the apparition is now saying, you don't need anything more than the apparition. That the apparition will protect you.

And is a source of your joy. This is demonic. Because that which is truly from God will bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's just how it works. This is not doing that. Now, I'm going to jump ahead to 1917.

Fatima, Portugal. And let's check this out. It says here, this is on May 13, 1917. Are you willing to offer yourself to God to bear all the sufferings he wants to send you as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and for the conversion of sinners?

So the apparition is talking to these three children. And says, are you willing to offer yourselves to bear the sufferings that God's going to send you as an act of reparation by the sins of which he's offended?

This is demonic. It's from the pit. It's from the demons. The reason is because Jesus is the one on the cross who repaired the sin that he took care of the sin that at the cross, Colossians 2 .14. That's what he did.

We do not atone for our sins. We don't make sins right before God by our sacrifices. Jesus did that. And we look to Christ. This is why this is obviously a demon speaking, because it's undermining the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and saying that they can, by their own sacrifices, their own sufferings, atone for, make atonement, repair, make reparation for the sins by which God is offended.

This is just filth.

Okay?

Number two. I will take Jacinta and Francisco shortly, but you will stay here for some time to come. Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world.

I promise salvation to whoever embraces it. So the apparition is now promising salvation to everyone who has devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Now, demons, what they want to do is they're going to move away from Christ.

They're going to point to themselves. They're going to want you to seek them. And then ultimately what they want is sacrifices offered to them. Sacrifices is something that demons in the demonic systems in the Old Testament, the different kinds of sacrifices, they were to demons.

And even in the pagan theologies of Greece and stuff like that, there were sacrifices to the false gods, these demonic beings. Sacrifices were something that would come after a devotion to them and a trust in them and their ability to save you.

The reason I'm saying that is check out the third, the third apparitions statement. This is July 13th, 1917 at Fatima. Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say often to Jesus, especially whenever you make a sacrifice, make a sacrifice.

Okay?

Oh, Jesus, it is for the love of thee for the conversion of sinners and in reparation. It's also the sacrifice is also in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Now you make sacrifices to fix the problems you did when you sin against the American Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Folks. Demons. This is demon theology. This is what this is. It's not God. The reason we know is because that's not what the scriptures teach. The scriptures teach to the contrary. So this is really interesting stuff.

Now, if the Roman Catholic Church says all of these apparitions and all these statements are true. Well, then you can't trust the Catholic Church. It's one of the proofs of its apostasy. It can't even tell the difference between a demonic manifestation and the Bible teaching.

And why?

Here's the reason. I'm going to go to a verse. I'm going to read to you. This is this is very important. This is John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

So.

Jesus has my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. All right. So we're not supposed to follow the voice of another shepherd. Now, the Catholic Church claims to be the shepherd. It wants to tell you what you need to believe and how to go to God.

And you go through it and through Mary and through the sacraments and all the stuff. And because I hear the voice of Christ, I do not listen to the false shepherd of the Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church.

T. D. Jakes, the Trinity, and the Need for Precise Questions

Let's get to Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air.

Good evening, Leslie. My question is, have you seen the video when Mark Driscoll was interviewing Dr. TJ about the Trinity? And a lot of I hear a lot of preachers accuse him being a moralist. But I was watching the video and he said he's he believes in the Trinity, you know, to the greatest persons.

And a lot of people are falsely accused. He has a good heart because he wanted to unite the get together. He works with the Trinity people and the United Pentecostal Church. So he believes he's Pauline.

So he has good intentions to do.

What's your question? What's your question? What's your question?

My question is, why do people falsely accuse him?

Who?

Who?

People on the Internet.

No, no, no, no, no.

Accuse. Who?

You mentioned two people, Driscoll and TJ. So TJ, why do people accuse him? Yeah, because he's he's a denier of the Trinity. He's a modalist.

He is.

OK.

And when I saw that video and I was upset by it because I've met Mark Driscoll and he uses karma. He knows of karma and stuff like that. And I was bothered by the lack of specificity from, let's just say, the questions that needed to be asked about two TJs.

So, you know, do you believe that God is three persons? Yes. OK, well, move on. You don't ask a question like that. You say, do you deny that God is one person in any way, shape or form, just one person?

If he says, yes, I deny it. OK, let's further clarify. This is so important. You have to ask several questions. Do you deny that the one person becomes it takes different modes or appearances? If he says, yeah, I deny that.

Do you affirm that God exists eternally as three distinct, simultaneous, co-eternal persons?

Yes.

So in the affirmation of the three persons, you're also denying that God is one person. Is that correct? You go back and forth different ways like this so that it's all recorded and very specific questions have to be asked.

And he didn't do this with him. And so I thought there was riddle room in that. It's unclear. Now, if I were to interview T .D. Jakes, let me tell you, it'd be it'd be different. I would get a lot of questions.

I would want to ask very specific questions and find out. I know how to hold people's feet to the floor.

I think. OK, I know you saw it, but he said that when he asked him, he said he believed he believed in a ladder, a ladder one in the three distinct person. He believed in Pauline. So he said that. But like you said, he either we as human beings, we can never know God.

Like Chris was saying, it's like, you know, he's he's mysterious in one way, Mr. Mystery. But at the same time, he's knowable. So so but still, he didn't completely deny the Trinity. I think I watched the video.

He said they still believe in the latter.

Yeah, you see. But yeah, and I would just do you know, I haven't looked at it for a while, but I remember being quite dissatisfied with that that series of questions. And I do not believe in food. I understand later and stuff that he still affirms he did.

I still deny the Trinity. You have to be specific when you do questions like this. You have to affirm and deny. You ask questions of affirmation. You ask questions of denial. Do you affirm this? Do you deny this?

You have to be specific. I wish these guys would have me on, you know, and say, OK, we want you to grill somebody on doctrine.

Great.

Let me ask you.