Matt Slick Live: January 9, 2025

The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network.

It's Matt Slick Live.

Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry found online at karm .org.

When you have questions about Bible doctrines turn to Matt Slick Live for answers.

Taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276.

Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome to the show.

It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live.

And if you want to give me a call, as usual, the number

is 877 -207 -2276.

You can also give me an email on this lovely, let's see, January 9th, 2025.

You can email me at info at karm .org.

C -A -R -M dot O -R -G.

We have nobody waiting right now.

And so if you want to call me, you can.

We often have people call towards the end of the show and run out of time.

I wish that wasn't the case, but that's just how it is.

And I've been getting emails a little bit more frequently from listeners who don't call in or

whatever, and that's fine.

They say they listen driving home from work or running errands and that they learn a lot.

And I'm grateful for that.

I'm grateful when they tell me they've learned a lot.

They value the show.

So just thanks for emailing me and letting me know about stuff like that.

I appreciate that.

All right.

So let's see, what is the short URL?

Isn't that 2025 Jordan?

Let's see, 2025 Jordan.

That's the easy one to remember.

So in November, we are going to be doing a Bible tour to the country of

Jordan, which is next to Israel.

And I've been to Turkey twice and felt perfectly comfortable there.

No big deal.

I'd go again.

And I've never been to Jordan, but they say it's just like it's like Turkey.

You feel the same way, the same level of comfort and stuff like that.

So we're going to be doing a 12 day apologetics Bible study tour.

Jill Kramer is going to be on that tour.

Jill Kramer is an exceptional archaeologist who knows

biblical stuff.

And the stuff you get from him, you will not be able to remember at all.

He is fantastic.

He's quite good.

I remember once we were at Jericho.

And the second time I was with him at Jericho.

So was it Jericho, I don't know, seven, eight years ago, then Jericho about a year or so ago.

And when we were there the first time, I remember this.

There was this big pit and you could see he's pointing out the layers, the fire burns and pots

and things like this.

And he explained about a controversy going on in archaeological circles and things like that.

And this is a very important pit.

It's like 10 feet deep.

I don't know that range.

And so the last time he went, that pit was filled in.

And I think he said, I hope I'm not remembering it incorrectly.

I think it was Italian archaeologists had it buried.

I don't know if it was from Italy, but they had it buried.

And he said because it didn't fit their model of the

ages of certain events.

So they buried the evidence.

And so you hear stuff like that, you know, and he's pointing out, this right here, this right here.

And he'll take us beyond some of the well -trodden paths

that tourists go on.

So we've been to places that the regular

tourists just don't go because he knows when, where and what.

And it's really interesting.

So he knows stuff.

We're going to be going with him next, in November.

So if you're interested in checking it out, it's easy to do.

Just go to 2025jordan .com.

That's all.

Just 2025jordan .com and all the information you need is right there.

It's filling up.

It's filling up.

And you can get on a waiting list if someone bails for whatever reason.

That does happen almost every time.

And then people go.

So we just had two new sign -ups on the East Coast, I was told yesterday.

That's good.

I don't know who you guys are out there.

Listen on the radio, whatever it is.

But hey, hope to see you on that trip, unless something happens.

You know, I mean, there's always a last -minute chance that somebody can't make it, you know.

Normally speaking, everything should be fine.

We're going to be going.

And, you know, my wife's health holds and things like that.

Twelve days in Jordan.

We're going to Petra.

And I'm looking forward to seeing Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sodom and Gomorrah.

I want to go see the Sodom and Gomorrah.

And I love when I'm on the radio and talking to people in different chat rooms.

We'll talk about Corinth.

I've been there, you know.

Thessalonica.

I've been there, you know.

I want to be able to say Petra.

I've been there.

I want to be able to say Sodom and Gomorrah.

I've been there.

I've been to Ai.

I've been to the Jordan River, you know.

And I think Eric ought to call me up if he's listening and say how many places I've been to because he'd remember which ones

I've been to better than I do.

He's gone on so many of these trips, he knows where we've been.

And we've been to so many good places.

All the Seven Churches of Revelation in Pamukkule, the ponds in Turkey.

We've been to the burial place of John, the burial place of Philip, the jail cell at

Philippi that most probably Paul was in.

You can't prove it.

But if he wasn't in that particular jail cell, he was in one very, very, very close, within 50 feet or something like that.

But that's the one that's standing.

And a lot of people think that's the one that he was in.

So we've been to Philippi.

We've been to Ephesus.

We've been to Pompeii.

We've been to the Vatican.

It's just, it's awesome.

It's awesome to be able to see all these things and go there.

We've been over the bridge that separates Asia from Europe.

We went to, what else have we done?

Oh man, and the museums.

Oh man, the museums that they've got.

A lot of people don't like museums that much.

But wow, the stuff you see in these things, just incredible.

I remember, I think it was, I don't know which trip we were on, one of the first ones, and

it was just incredible, the statues and the

carvings that were uncovered.

They are stunningly good.

Stunningly good.

Now, I don't want anybody to think, just out of this, I don't want you to think that we're spending carm money for me to be able to go.

We don't do that.

We have an arrangement that if a certain number of people go, I can go for free.

And that's how I'm able to do it.

So we're trying to be very wise with the monies that the Lord provides for us to further His kingdom.

So there you go.

You know, just stuff like that.

Go check it out, 2025 Jordan.

I just felt like just talking about it.

It wasn't a plan to talk about it, just thought I would.

All right.

So there's somebody in Clubhouse who's listening, there's Oneness.

If they have a question, they want to type in there in the Clubhouse chat.

I can address it on air.

Or if you guys want, you can email me, info at carm .org.

Info at C -A -R -M dot O -R -G.

And you can put the subject line, Radio Comment, Radio Question, and get to that.

And do that.

So there you go.

And if you're a newbie, my real name really is, last name is Slick.

It's my real name.

So I've met Slick Live.

It works really nicely.

It's a nice, it works out as a nice radio name.

I was told back in the day when the show, when I first started it, it was Faith and Reason.

That's what we called it, Faith and Reason Radio.

And then we had to abandon that name because someone else had it earlier.

And it was a really nice conversation we had.

If you have mail, just ask if we do, just do a different name because it's causing confusion.

And okay, that's fine.

Not a big deal.

And so I asked what we could call the show.

And they said Matt Slick Live.

They said it's a great name.

I didn't like the idea because it sounded narcissistic.

But we couldn't come up with anything better.

And it does sound cool.

So even if I do say so about my own name, but there you go.

Like I said, 877 -207 -2276.

Let's see.

In Clubhouse, if you could be more attentive to the certain book of the Bible,

which one would you like to study more and what are your goals for that?

Romans is my favorite book of the Bible.

It's just incredibly deep, theologically sound.

It lays out the Gospel.

It does a great deal.

It talks about the sovereignty of God.

Justification by faith.

It's a backbone of theology, of Christian theology.

And I wish more churches would focus on it.

A short version of Romans is basically Galatians.

There's some extra issues in there.

Talk about Judaizers and circumcision and covenant theology and stuff like that,

which I like.

But Romans is just a brilliant book.

Romans is absolutely brilliant.

A lot of people just...

I remember this when I was younger.

I was first getting into serious Bible study.

I studied the Bible for hours and just studied, took notes.

And before the Internet came out, I was doing that and just having lots of notebooks and stuff like that.

I was intrigued.

And I remember very clearly several times where my faith was weakened

by reading Paul the Apostle.

I remember that.

And I would...

I'd read his stuff.

I didn't like what was being said.

I didn't understand what was being said.

It didn't make any sense.

And I said, OK, I'm missing something.

So I kept studying.

And what I was missing was biblical theology.

I'd been taught a lot of theology from churches that I attended that wasn't very sound biblically.

And as I was remembering what they were saying in some areas and reading what Paul was saying in

Romans, for example, in Galatians and Ephesians, I'd find some differences occasionally.

Just minor things.

Nothing major.

Just minor stuff.

Those minors for me were important because I believed that the Word of God was consistent in

totality.

And so it caused me to seriously question a

lot of things and I ended up studying.

And then what happened was I started learning the theology that Paul was

teaching.

And I found that it was consistent with Peter and John and Matthew and Luke and the

words of Christ.

Like, oh!

So my theology had to change in order for me to then understand what was

going on.

So, you know, if you're reading the Bible and it doesn't make sense to you,.

Maybe your theology is insufficient.

And when I mean insufficient, it doesn't mean it's wrong.

It just might mean that you need to learn more and add on to what you already do know.

And that's a good thing to do is study like that.

All right.

I've got a starred question in chat.

I like doing this, too, is if people want to in Clubhouse and or

Rumble and or Facebook and X

and where's the other one there?

What is that?

Rumble.

That's right.

I already got that one.

You can just type out questions.

And I'll just scan my four monitors because I have different feeds for different things, different monitors.

And I can go through and just answer some questions.

I think it'd be kind of fun to do that.

You can also call me, too.

877 -207 -2276.

All right.

So one of the questions here that starred is why is the Eastern Orthodox Church

not genuinely Christian?

So, you know, I've been known to pick fights with some

pretty big groups.

And that's fine with me.

I don't care.

So the Eastern Orthodox Church, along with the Roman Catholic Church, neither one is Christian.

The doctrines that they hold to the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his physical resurrection.

But what they do is they deny the gospel.

Both of them do.

And I'll get into the Eastern Orthodox here more specifically.

But the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox add works to salvation.

They deny justification by faith alone in Christ alone.

For that simple reason, they're not Christian.

See, a lot of people don't know that Christianity

has a set of essential doctrines that if you were to

purposely, willingly violate them, then you are outside the camp of Christ.

So, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15, 14, Paul says, if Christ be not

raised, our faith is in vain.

He's saying the resurrection of Christ is essential.

Without that resurrection, you can't trust anything.

Our faith is useless.

So there are things like that in the Bible that it says are essential.

But come back to the bread, what I'll do is I'll read something out of the Bible about the essential nature of justification by faith.

And then I'll read to you what the Eastern Orthodox Church says.

Okay?

You tell me if they're the same.

We'll be right back after these messages.

Please stay tuned.

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

Here's Matt Slick.

All right, everybody.

Welcome back to the show.

So there you go.

We're getting some ideas out during the break because people are starting to ask questions and I can't keep track of all of them.

And so maybe we could have a common document or something we can... the people who work with me can put them in and bring ideas

around.

So let me go to Galatians 5.

And I want to read something.

Actually, I'm going to read a couple of things.

I'll go to Galatians 5 before we get to that, actually.

I'm going to teach on justification a little bit and explain why the Eastern Orthodox Church is apostate and a false church.

If you go to Romans 3 .28, it says,.

We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Justified by faith.

What is justification?

Let's take a look.

In Romans 4, 3 through 5, it says,.

For what does the Scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

So believing in God was credited as righteousness.

Credited here, kind of a legal term.

And it says in verse 5,.

But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the

ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

So justification is the crediting of righteousness.

Okay?

Now that's where it is.

Right there from the Scripture.

Alright?

Now, if you go to Romans 3 .9, not Romans 3 .9, but Philippians 3 .9, it says,

May be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in

Christ.

So we have a righteousness that's not our own.

It's a righteousness that is from faith in Christ, what he did.

Okay?

Alright?

So, now, what we're going to do now is go to Galatians chapter 5.

I'm going to read something here.

This is important.

Put a little context in here.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free.

Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no

benefit to you.

And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he's under obligation to keep the whole law.

You've been severed.

Notice the pun.

Circumcision.

You've been severed from Christ.

You who are seeking to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace.

That doesn't mean they're not saved.

We'll talk about that another time.

But it says, by doing this one thing, circumcision,.

He says,.

Now you're seeking to be justified by the law.

This one thing.

Now, some people will say, well, it has to be circumcision that you're talking about and nothing else.

Well, that's not the point.

The Judaizers wanted the Christians to get circumcised and comply with the law.

And this is bad news.

Now, in Galatians 3 .10, it says, for as many as are the

works of the law are under a curse.

For it is written, curses everyone who does not abide by all things written

in the book of the law to perform them.

So you've got to perform all of it.

Okay?

And so when you get to Galatians 5, and Paul says, well, you are seeking to be justified by the law

because you want to be circumcised.

He's earlier said, you've got to do all of it.

If you want to be in the law, you've got to do all of it.

So circumcision represents one of the aspects of the law.

If you can do one thing, you've got to keep them all.

And so anybody who adds any ceremony or work to

Christ's work, then you're not saved.

Okay?

Then it's a false gospel.

That's what's going on.

All right?

So that's what's going on.

So let me continue a little bit.

So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to let's see, put this note in here.

Right here.

Here we go.

Whoops.

I've got a couple things I'm going to do.

A little admin stuff.

I do the prep.

Some of the people who help me out.

And they do a great job.

They do a great job.

All right.

So now what I've shown you is that the Bible teaches justification

is by faith alone and not by faith and any works that we do.

So now what I'm going to do is go to my notes on Eastern Orthodox and I'm going to type in

my search term justification.

My notes are 148 pages, incidentally.

And so what it says, these are from Eastern Orthodox

sources, that it says, this is from a site called goarch .org.

It's an Eastern Orthodox site.

According to St. Paul, not only loving deeds, but also the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist are decisive to

salvation.

So they're just violating the law,.

The work of God.

In these many ways, according to Christ, Orthodox Christians throughout their lives receive

salvation and renewal through faith, works, and the sacraments of the church.

When does the event of salvation truly take hold?

At baptism.

God will render to every person, according to his works, to those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory, honor, etc.

That's Romans 2, 6 -8.

They'll quote that, and they don't understand what the context is, but that's another thing.

And so what they're saying is that justification is a process.

It's the impartation of righteousness.

It begins at conversion through the mercy of God.

It continues throughout the life of the Christian as one is conformed in righteousness to the image

and likeness of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, it's a long process of your entire life.

You've got to do a bunch of stuff.

So this right there is why the East Orthodox Church is not true, because it preaches a false gospel.

It's just that simple.

Let's get on with Pastor Brett from Buffalo, New York.

Welcome.

You're on the air.

Hey, Matt.

How are you, brother?

Hanging in there, man.

All right.

I haven't heard from you in a while,.

But that's my fault.

Yeah, I see you.

I watch your program all the time, and I'm always listening.

Just been going through a lot.

I haven't been able to get involved much.

Yeah, so I'm interested.

I really have a strong interest in this topic because I deal with orthodoxy a lot on

my channel, and a lot of people have questions about orthodoxy.

I had a fellow who won a Bible giveaway from our channel, and he won

a King James Version Canterbury with

all the catechisms and everything, the Eastern Orthodox views, what do you

call it, the August Confessions of the Faith, all the confessions it had in the back.

And so he wanted to become confessional, and I tried to discourage him from becoming

confessional only because most of it is based in Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy.

But my question to you, then, is this.

Knowing the outcome of a well -known Christian apologist,

defender of the faith, so on and so forth, became a Greek Orthodox, had to be

chrismated, take on a patron

saint's name, and the whole family had to do it.

And it's a well -known situation.

I don't mention his name because I don't want to disrespect your channel.

And your views.

But at any rate, he became Greek Orthodox.

So my question to you, then, is this.

We don't have the right to judge anyone's soul, but we do have to be discerning, yes?

In order for us to accurately minister the Gospel to people.

So what would you say about someone like that?

Do you think that they've fallen from the faith, or your explanation of

falling from grace might help?

Okay, we've got a break, so we'll talk about that.

Are they falling from grace, so to speak, or left Orthodoxy if they become an Eastern Orthodox?

We'll get to that right after the break, folks.

Please stay tuned.

We'll be right back after these messages.

It's Matt Slick Live!

Taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276.

Here's Matt Slick.

All right, welcome back to the show.

If you want to give me a call, the number is 877 -207 -2276.

And let's get back on the air.

So, you still there?

Yeah, I'm still here, Matt.

All right.

So, if someone says they're a Christian, or they're believing in the truth, and then they

adopt Eastern Orthodox theology, I would ask that person at that point, do you

understand what is teaching about salvation, about justification?

And if they do understand it, then I would say that they are outside the camp of Christ.

I'd say, I'm sorry, I can't call you any better than Christ.

It's not that they have lost their salvation.

It's not possible.

But it's a manifestation that they were never saved because they're not believing in the truth anyway.

Okay.

I agree.

I agree 100%.

I was actually thinking about, and I've listened to several times Pastor John MacArthur's

message on 2 Corinthians 6, 14 through 18, being unequally

yoked together, you know.

And I just strongly believe that.

I believe that orthodoxy is rooted in the Roman Catholic Church.

And it's like the Roman Catholicism never got their, they kind of stuck their foot in the door

when the Reformation began.

You know, Martin Luther begins the Reformation, and then the Roman Catholics saw their power and their

authority slipping away.

It was stick your foot in the door real quick, man.

We can't let them go that easy.

And they've been hanging on ever since.

And now the ecumenical movement is pushing to reunite,

rekindle that power again.

So, I mean, you know, I'm just constantly aware of that.

And your thoughts on that?

I mean, you know, what do you think?

Do you think that Roman Catholicism is involved with orthodoxy?

Is orthodoxy an offshoot, an example of Roman Catholicism's

effect on the Church?

Yeah, it's bad.

There's, they're trying to, RC is trying to court the EO and get

a union.

They call them brothers in Christ.

Though they've anathematized each other through the centuries.

But both teach a false gospel, have a false priesthood, and a false Mary.

Right.

Yeah. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Good stuff, man.

That's, yeah, good stuff, brother.

Appreciate you.

Yep.

Amen.

And all that you do, prayers for your dear wife, man.

I hope, man, just God bless you, brother.

Prayers for you, man.

I'm praying for you, brother.

My wife passed away on May 17th, 2024.

And so, I've been dealing with that, man.

It's been rough.

So, yeah.

So, just continue.

Prayers for you.

And you can pray for me, brother.

I'm blessed.

I know where she is.

And I'm thankful that she knew Jesus.

I love the Lord.

She came out of Catholicism, too.

My wife's testimony is powerful.

She got baptized on our wedding day 20 years ago.

And, yeah, she was baptized on our wedding day.

And just awesome, awesome testimony.

I'm thankful for the Lord's privilege, allowing me to be a part of something so beautiful.

Yeah.

Well, good.

Sorry for getting lost.

Me?

Wow, not me.

A slug like me, thank you, Jesus, for your grace and mercy.

Man, I love you, brother.

Keep up the work and keep up the good fight, man.

I love you. Praying for you.

Well, thanks.

And everything that you do.

Well, I appreciate it because we certainly need those prayers.

We really do.

So, thank you.

Thank you.

God bless you, brother.

Have a great evening.

You, too.

God bless.

All right.

So, there's been a resurgence of the Greek Orthodox Church.

People are growing, excuse me, not growing, people are joining it.

It's getting more and more members.

This is, to me, a sign of apostasy that the Bible prophesies of.

The last days, you know, people fall away from the truth, listening to doctrines of demons and things like that.

And, yeah, I do call the doctrines of the RC and the Eastern Orthodox demonic because they teach a

false gospel.

Like I said, have a false priesthood and have a false Mary.

Now, these are pretty strong statements, but I'll say them.

I have no problem saying them.

I sleep fine at night after having said them.

I don't feel guilty.

I'm just informing.

The gospel is what it is, and we're justified by faith alone, not by faith in ceremonies, not by faith in baptism, not by

faith in sacraments, not by faith in how good you are and you keep the commandments and you do good things over a period of time and

hopefully get justified at the end of your life.

None of that false doctrine.

That's just false.

It's demonic.

And so that's the false gospel that both the RC and the EO teach.

They also have a false priesthood in that they are sacerdotal.

What that means is they both teach that their priest has certain authority given by

the power of the apostles, Jesus the apostles, handed down through the centuries in their particular church, and they can

forgive sins, loosen, bind, things like that.

They have the authority to do that.

Of course, it's not verifiable.

It's just to say these things.

And then they add works.

Now, when I was at Thessalonica, that was inside of an Eastern Orthodox

church just a couple of months ago, I still remember it, the pomp, the majesty, the

statues, the icons, the gold, the silver, the people lighting candles, praying to the

saints, and just stuff like this.

I couldn't understand what was being said because it was in Greek, modern Greek, but I took film and

took pictures and then left, trying to be polite as I could.

But it was pretty obvious to me that they have a religion, not a relationship with the true living God, and that the devil has worked

very well in the Eastern Orthodox church to get people to believe in a false gospel through their false priesthood.

So the false priesthood is what the people buy into.

Their priests have the authority to dispense grace, to forgive sins, to loose the bind,

and all things like that.

So therefore, you have to listen to the priest.

The priest is the one who has the special authority, the special training, the special knowledge, and the special place in their church.

So you have to submit what the priest says.

But the New Testament priesthood just isn't that.

It's the priesthood of all believers, and there's the priesthood of Christ, and then there's false priesthood, and then

there's the priesthood of the Gospels, the priests and the scribes and Pharisees and things like that.

So there's no New Testament priesthood where you have to offer sacrifices, burn candles or sacrifices of prayer

to saints and things like this in order to curry their favor to hopefully move the hand of God.

This is just blasphemy, and it's what the Catholic church teaches.

It's what the Eastern Orthodox church teaches.

These blasphemous things are through their false priesthood.

They put people back under the law, and then they change grace into a system of requirements, legal

requirements that they're obligated to follow.

This is the blasphemous nature of the R .C. and the E .O., Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.

So when I say this to people in chat rooms, I'm calm when I say it.

I don't come out all the time and say just what I just said, but if they ask me, I'll say, no, no, they're not Christian.

And then the E .O., people will jump in, and they try to defend it, and they'll call me names sometimes.

Most of them don't.

Most of them are pretty polite.

We have these discussions, and I try and teach them.

And then what will happen is we're not justified by the law, and they'll say, that means the Mosaic

requirements.

We don't believe that.

And they play games with the words, and they try and get the scriptures to say what they want.

They want to be able to say we're not justified by law, but we're justified by law.

They want to do that.

They want to say, well, the law over there means this, but our law means this.

And so they're different.

And when I say to the one who does not work but believes, well, that just works with the law.

Well, which works, then?

The Mosaic law.

Well, which ones are those?

Oh, it's the dietary laws.

And they just add all this stuff.

They just start saying all these things.

The text doesn't determine these things.

They just start saying that's what it really means.

Well, how do you know?

Because our church says so.

And it just goes downhill.

And then they're sputtering because they don't have good fuel, and they're not able to really

coherently defend their position.

So what I find interesting personally is the cult mind.

And to me, the cult mind is exemplified

by the action of justifying irrationality and trying

to make the Scriptures fit what they want.

When you just read the Scriptures, you know, the one who does not work but believes, his faith reckoned as righteousness.

There you go.

You have works, you have faith.

Works is removed, faith alone.

And they say, no, you're just misreading it.

Well, okay, what does it say?

It means the works of the Mosaic Law.

Really?

Then why is it not the same Mosaic Law works?

Why is it Paul doesn't do that?

Why does Paul not differentiate?

He just says works of the law, all the law, and everything in it.

And part of the law is love God and love your neighbor.

And you have to do that in order to be a Christian, to become a Christian.

You've got to love God first.

Yes, you've got to love him.

Then you've got to repent.

You have to repent in order to keep yourself saved.

So I say repentance is keeping yourself right with God.

That's right.

I've had many of them say, oh, yeah, you repent.

And if you repent of your sins, then you can keep yourself right with God.

I say, well, repentance is compliance with the law, isn't it?

Because if you're lying and the Bible says don't lie and you repent, you're stopping lying.

Is that what saves you?

So you're compliant to the law?

You're not justified by faith anymore, are you?

And try to show this to them.

And the cult mind kicks in, and then irrationality just rears its ugly head.

Multi -horned ugly head fangs and bad breath and everything.

And so this is what they'll often do.

And what I've gotten into doing more and more is just simply preach the gospel to them.

The gospel that you trust in Christ.

You believe in what Jesus says, not what you say.

What does he say?

What does the Bible say?

We're saved by faith, not by faith in what you do.

It is so simple, and yet they reject it.

Why?

False church, false gospel, false priesthood.

And so it just goes down from there.

We'll be right back after these messages.

Please stay tuned.

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

Here's Matt Slick.

All right, and welcome back to the show.

Since we're talking about Eastern Orthodoxy, I think we'll continue to do that and get into some of the things

that are interesting.

One of them, let's see if I have it here.

Toll houses.

Let's see if I have it.

Do I have it?

No, I don't have it in my notes.

I should put that in there to transfer it.

Toll houses.

Let's see.

Eastern Orthodox and on Karm.

I've got some quotes about the toll houses in the afterlife.

All right?

Check this out.

This is Eastern Orthodox stuff.

The subject of the toll houses is not specifically a topic of Orthodox Christian theology.

It's not a dogma of the church in the precise sense.

Toll houses' existence cannot be established, they say.

Actually, no one can dogmatically establish the existence of toll houses precisely in

accordance with the form described in the Dream of Gregory, blah, blah, blah.

All right.

So, yet, these things are taught in Orthodox tradition.

And so, the toll houses...

Let's see.

Let's see.

I'm going to do it this way.

It's an afterlife experience where you will then become

examined and have to pass through these toll houses in order to move into heaven.

So, this is the kind of stuff that it's teaching, which is just bunk.

So, check this out.

The teaching of aerial toll houses regards the soul's journey after its departure from the body and is related to the

particular judgment.

In its most general form, it refers to the idea that after death, the demons attempt to find

a basis for taking the souls to Hades, while the angels and the prayers of the living

defend the soul, if it can be defended.

This is just stupid.

Our defense is in the blood of Christ and our faith in Christ, not angels

and prayers of the living.

In the afterlife...

Oh, jeez.

It's just cold stuff.

It goes on.

Whether the soul is finally seized by the demons or taken to heaven depends on the state of the soul

at death.

In either case, the soul then experiences a foretaste of what it can expect after the final judgment.

So, you don't know if they're going to make it, according to toll house theory.

I wonder if there's a cookie section, toll house cookies.

Here's another one.

The toll houses are the experience of the Christian soul immediately after death, as these experiences are described by the

fathers of the church and Christian ascetics.

The subject of the toll houses is not specifically a topic of Orthodox Christian theology.

It's not a dogma.

And yet, they often talk about it.

So some believe it and some don't, and things like that.

It's just whacked.

You know, I really have a disdain for false doctrines.

Not for the people, but for the false doctrines that bring people into bondage.

They don't know the simplicity of the gospel.

It's so easy.

The gospel is so easy.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

By faith.

By faith.

Not by your ceremonies.

Not by your baptism.

Not by your subjection to the only true church with the apostolic authority.

Blah, blah, blah.

And all its traditions.

It's just ridiculous to me.

It really is.

I wish they would just believe the Bible.

But they don't.

Now, as Orthodox Christians, they don't believe in predestination, even though the Bible teaches it.

Okay?

And let's see.

Let's see.

Let's see.

They believe in the Apocrypha.

And they have slightly different books than the Catholics.

And you know what's interesting is that so many of the East Orthodox and Catholics,

they refer to the Church Fathers and sacred tradition.

You've got to say it like that.

It's like you're going to be in a hallway or a big church with echoing sound effects.

We say sacred tradition.

And sacred tradition is supposed to be equal to Scripture.

And so they have this.

And that comes in a discussion with someone recently, an East Orthodox guy.

And I said, okay, so let me ask you.

Sacred tradition, right?

Is it equal to Scripture?

That's right, it is.

Okay.

So do you have a list of the statements that come from the Apostles and or Jesus?

Because that's what your tradition would be.

Or is it by word of mouth?

And he couldn't answer the question.

He didn't know.

And he admitted he didn't know.

And okay, that's fair.

But I've always had these questions, you know?

I mean, I talk to the EO and RC, and I'll say,

so your church has tradition?

Yeah.

Passed down from the Apostles?

Yeah.

Okay.

And how do you know it's passed down from the Apostles?

How do you know?

Because the church says so.

That, to me, is not convincing.

To them, it is.

Why?

Because they give themselves over to a church.

If you give yourself over to something, you're going to believe it.

And whatever it says.

So they just believe in what the church tells them.

Because it's a true church.

How do you know?

Because it is.

How do you know?

Because it says so.

What?

It says it's a true church?

Yeah.

It has apostolic authority.

It does?

How do you know?

Well, the Bible says so.

Show me.

And they can't do it.

They can't show me in the Bible where apostolic authority is given.

They say they can.

I know there's EO and RC right now saying, yes, we can.

Well, then call me up and do it.

And every single time I've looked at the verses that they've given me, I say, let's look at it.

It doesn't support your position.

They have to read into the text a great deal.

You know, like the laying on of hands.

Well, that means you have apostolic authority.

It does?

Where does it say you have apostolic authority by the laying on of hands?

You know, you ordain someone to the ministry.

Does it mean you have apostolic authority passed down?

Is that what it means?

And if you say it does mean that, can they forgive sins?

Can they raise the dead?

Can they, in their special authority, do the same things the apostles did?

Can they?

No.

So we have problems here.

So there's all kinds of stuff like this.

And in orthodoxy, for example, women can become deacons.

But the Bible says deacons are to be men of dignity and married to one woman.

So biblically speaking, they can't.

Women cannot be priests in Eastern Orthodoxy.

That makes sense.

Let's see.

In the 40th day, new mothers must appear in the church.

Oh, this is interesting stuff.

On the 40th day after giving birth, the orthodox mother and her child must attend church so that

the mother may be ceremoniously welcomed in her new role and the child may be

formally received as a candidate for baptism in the church.

That's interesting stuff.

You know, I know.

I have issues.

I love this kind of stuff.

I believe it's because God has put it upon my heart to study these things and I find them to be very

interesting.

I do.

Let's go to some quotes from this orthodox stuff.

Let's see.

It says unbelievers can do good.

Look at this.

It says here.

It says, yet we do not teach that God's grace is entirely lacking nor that mankind lacks freedom to do

good, as the Augustinian theory of the West teaches.

But the Bible says no man does good.

No one seeks for God, Romans 3, 10, 11, and 12.

The heart's desperately wicked, deceitful, Jeremiah 17, 9.

But no, no, they can be good.

And so check this out.

God gave Adam free will, the power to choose between good and evil.

Now, that's humanist philosophy, okay, because humanist philosophy uses man as a standard.

God gave Adam free will, the power to choose between good and evil.

Well, does God have that free will in that sense?

Can he choose between good and evil?

Well, technically, yeah.

He would never do anything evil.

But what they're talking about is that you can do either good or evil.

But God can't do good or evil.

He can only do good.

And stuff like that.

It says orthodox maintain that humans after the fall still possess free will and still capable of

good actions.

Yeah.

That's out of the book of Second Hysterectomy.

Okay.

Let's see.

But they say good works do not produce salvation.

That's what they say.

And yet they work contradictory to that.

Let's see.

Let's get some other ones here.

Let me get some more quotes.

I like doing this kind of stuff.

Let's see.

Ooh.

How about this?

Icons, inspiration, intercession.

Icons are an icon is not simply a religious picture designed to arouse

appropriate emotions of the beholder.

It is one of the ways whereby God is revealed to us through icons.

The orthodox Christian receives a vision of the spiritual world.

I love that kind of stuff.

Because to me, it's ridiculous.

So I go to an eel priest.

And he gives you an icon.

It's kind of a picture of a saint.

Okay.

A drawing.

And they have special kinds that are done.

And so he says, by receiving this, you'll have a vision of the spiritual world.

And I'd be looking at him like, really?

So I'm looking at this object.

That's so, through icons.

The only orthodox.

I'd never be orthodox.

No way.

It receives a vision of the spiritual world.

Interesting.

Hmm.

I could say a lot of things about that.

Let's see.

The highest authority of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the ecumenical council.

Not the scriptures.

Not God's word.

No, no, no.

The highest authority in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the ecumenical council.

Involving the whole church with the bishops.

The church define a matter of faith in an ecumenical council.

A requisite for its recognition is the acceptance, consent of the whole church.

Only then can it be considered infallible.

Or inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Who resides in the whole church.

Consisting of the clergy and lady to guide it to all truth.

Wow.

The highest authority is not God's word, but itself.

The church.

See, this is the kind of stuff I've been telling people.

It's ridiculous.

You know?

I'm reminded of the word imagination that Spongebob would say.

When we were kids, we'd watch Spongebob.

And he'd say, all you need is imagination.

And that's what I see here.

It's imagination.

And to say the highest authority of the Eastern Church is the ecumenical council.

That's your imagination.

It's certainly not biblical.

All right.

Let's see.

Justification by baptism.

Let me go to another set here.

The icons.

The highest authority thing.

Man, it is so bad.

And what does it say about the Orthodox?

I did these years ago.

So I haven't even gone over a lot of these.

Let's see what Orthodox Church says about itself.

The foundation of Orthodox theology rests firmly on the tradition of the church fathers.

Oh, man.

It's not on Scripture. They're saying it.

Oh, man. This is so bad.

Oh, man.

What a bunch of unnamed personifies.

Man.

You know, it just irks me.

I get irked by bad theology.

The ultimate authority is the church council.

Our foundation is tradition.

You'd think it would be God's word that he gave to us.

The word of God through the apostles and prophets who were appointed by God himself.

Nope.

That's not good enough.

It's the church tradition.

The church councils.

That's how come we know we're true.

Because our traditions and our councils say we are.

You know, that's why I'm going to look into one ear, out the other ear, and see the light coming through.

And then say, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Bad thinking.

Bad, bad.

Bad Orthodox Church.

Bad.

All right.

There you go.

There's the music.

I've got to get going.

And I hope that was entertaining and so informative as well.

Amen.

The Lord bless you by his grace.

Back on there tomorrow.

And we'll talk to you then.

Have a good evening.

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