KHCB Broadcast – Pastor’s Q & A – September 21, 2023

KHCB – 09-14-2023 – Full Program Transcript

 Announcer: [00:00:12] Good evening. We welcome you to our Weekly Question and Answers Program, a program where you can call us with your questions about the Bible, a scripture or the Christian way of life. And our guests will answer that question for you live on the air. Tonight’s guest is Dr. Andy Woods. Dr. Andy Woods is Senior Pastor at the Sugar Land Bible Church. The church website is SLBC.org. Dr. Woods is also president of the Chafer Theological Seminary.  He has authored and contributed to many Christian books and theological journals and speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. He is joined by Dr. Jim McGowen, Associate Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church.  The church is located at 401 Matlage Way.  Again, the church’s website is SLBC.org.  You can also find them on Pastor’s Point of View on YouTube and Rumble. You can find many of his articles in conference seminars at his website Andy Woods Ministries.org. He’d also like to announce the 2024 Prophecy Conference coming up February 23rd and 24th in 2024. As the Lord Tarries, the featured speakers will be Olivier Melnick with Chosen People Ministries. You can listen to an interview with him by going to our website or on the app by going on demand. The Search Tool and search for  First Person. Also, there will be Russ Miller and Dr. David Reagan with Lamb and Lion Ministries and of course, our pastor, Dr. Andy Woods with Sugarland Bible Church. There will be a full day of teaching by the featured speakers with a Question and Answers program to close out the conference.

Announcer: [00:02:33] Also, there will be a special guest speaker on October the 8th at the 9:45 and 11 a.m. services. There will be two different presentations by Mr. Curtis Bowers. He is an American politician, former educator, restaurateur and filmmaker who served as a state representative in the Idaho legislature. Curtis now speaks extensively on the Left’s long war against God and the intentional promotion of sociology. Curtis now speaks extensively on the left’s long war against God and the intentional promotion of socialist ideology in education, media and churches. The Bowers family sings at events across the country and recently released documentaries Agenda Sequel. Agenda, two masters of deceit. Again, he’ll be speaking in October the 8th, 2023, at 9:45 and 11 a.m. at Sugar Land Bible Church. For Question and Answers program, if you’re calling from inside the Houston listening area, you can dial 832-922-4444. That’s 832-922-4444. If you’re calling from around the KHCB network outside of Dallas Houston listening area, you can dial 877-999-5422. That’s 877-999-5422. Or if you’d rather email your question to us, you can send that to questions. That’s plural with an S – Questions@KHCB.org and it will appear on our computer screen here in the studio, and we’ll forward it to our guests. We ask that you not mention any denominations or personal names, because our aim tonight is to answer questions relating to the Bible. And now to get us started. Here’s Dr. Jim McGowan.

Pastor Jim: [00:05:09] Well, welcome once again, friends. Thank you so much for tuning into the problem this evening. And let me just start out by saying we have some wonderful news for you, and that is that God wants to do something marvelous just for you this evening. And we will, of course, be going for answers to God’s Holy Word, the Bible, which is the only inspired, authoritative revelation of everlasting truth and the one and only divine source for all things pertaining to godly living. So we’re excited, as we said, and we hope that you’re excited too, because God loves you so very much that he’s going to provide answers just for you this evening. And we want to be sure to praise and thank him for those answers, don’t we? We’re going to be going to the phones here in just a moment. But before we do, let me remind you of our three on air guidelines. Very important, if you would, please remember to turn the volume down before we bring you on the air that prevents feedback. And this just makes hearing you and you hearing us much easier. Secondly, please keep your on air time to one question only. And the third guideline is please remember to hang up to listen to the answer. That’s very important because that frees up a line for our next caller. So we do appreciate your cooperation in that. And we’re so excited, again, as I said, to kick off the program. And I see we have a caller waiting, so let’s go right to the phones. Thank you so much for calling the program this evening. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods?

Caller: [00:06:37] Greetings in the Book of Acts, the Ethiopian Eunuch. How is that scripture being taught to us?  He reads and he believes and that the spirit baptism, that he believes the believer’s baptism. Or is that the belief that he wants to be baptized in water later on? And is that based on John’s baptism? Just what is that passage teaching us there?

Pastor Jim: [00:06:59] Okay. Thank you for that. That’s just a great question. Thank you. That’s a good, good way to start the program. Thanks for calling, Pastor.

Pastor Andy: [00:07:05] Okay. Well, I guess he didn’t give the exact verse in Acts 8, but I’m looking at Acts 8:35. It says “Philip opened his mouth and beginning from Scripture, he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, water. What prevents me from being baptized?” And I’m reading here out of the new American Standard Bible, it says in verse 37, “And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water. Philip, as well as the eunuch and baptized him”. Verse 39, “when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way, rejoicing”. So I would just take this as the Gospel was shared with the Ethiopian Eunuch. Isaiah 53, backing up to verses 32 and 33 is instrumental, you know, showing him that Isaiah 53 ultimately points towards Jesus Christ and that was used as a pretext to share the gospel.

Pastor Andy: [00:08:30] Philip, the deacon, one of the early deacons in Christianity, used that passage of scripture to lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ. And I think it was at that point, if we can bring Paul’s theology into it, 1st Corinthians 12, verse 13, that the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is a one time event. And then the Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be water baptized. Water baptism is an outward symbol of an inward reality. You notice that baptism can take place anywhere. You just need water, just need some water. And we believe it’s by full immersion. And that’s what happened here. And as he was water baptized, it didn’t save him. It’s just an outward symbol of what’s happening on the inside. So the water baptism symbolizes the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which had already transpired in the life of the Ethiopian eunuch at the point of faith alone in Christ alone. Amen. So notice there’s an order here. First you believe, then. Then you’re baptized. The Book of Acts will never reverse that order. So hopefully that helps.

Pastor Jim: [00:09:42]  Excellent. Thanks again for that question. We do appreciate it. Hey, I have an email question here, Pastor. We could look at if we would like to here. This says was Judas Iscariot. Not saved because he betrayed. Betrayed Jesus or because he didn’t believe Jesus was the Christ. I mean, we’ve all betrayed. That is, we’ve all betrayed or sinned against Jesus at some point in time, even as believers. So how would you respond to that?

Pastor Andy: [00:10:09] Yeah, I mean, ultimately, the problem with Judas is he never trusted in Christ. That’s the issue. When you look at John 6:64, Jesus says, But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe and who it was that would betray him. So the betrayer in this context doesn’t believe and we know who he’s talking about because John 6 verse 71, just a few verses later says now he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. So he put that those verses together. And Judas never trusted in Christ. He never received God’s free offer of salvation. And there’s some other evidence why we believe that Judas never was a believer. John, 13:27, says Satan entered him.  You know, when you believe you receive the Holy Spirit and I don’t think God and Satan can be roommates.  And so, you know, when it says Satan entered somebody, that’s evidence that he was an unbeliever. Judas, also in John 17, verse 12 is called the Son of Perdition. And that’s the name used of only one other character in the Bible, the Antichrist.

Pastor Andy: [00:11:38] And you’ll find that name used of the Antichrist in second Thessalonians Chapter 2, verse 3, the Antichrist, obviously being an unbeliever. And then Matthew 26, verse 24, Jesus says it would be better for him Judas, if he had never been born. Now, that’s a very strange description of a believer. Yeah, it must be an unbeliever. And then when Judas, his life finally ended tragically through suicide in Acts chapter 1, verse 25, it says there that he went to his own place. And that’s a strange description of the believer’s death. You know, Paul would later write “Absent from the Body is to be present with the Lord” from Philippians 1:21 through 23. For me to live as Christ to die is gain. I’d rather depart and be with Christ, which is much better for, you know, the description there of Judas. To say he went to his own place seems to be describing an unbeliever. But the ultimate reason we think Judas was an unbeliever is because of John 6, verse 64, followed by verses 70 and 71.

Pastor Jim: [00:12:49] All right, great. Thank you so much, Pastor. Let me pause just for a moment and give out those phone numbers. Again, we do have a number of free lines. So if you’re interested in calling in and giving us your question, you can call the local number is 832-922-4444. And if you’re outside the local Houston area, you can call toll free at 877-999-5422. And again, as we said at the beginning of the program, if you’d prefer to email your question, you can do that also at questions with an S – Questions@KHCB.org. So while we’re waiting for the phones to light back up, Pastor, let’s go ahead and take another question quickly from our email. This question is from Matthew Chapter 12:24 through 31 the individual says, Please discuss Jesus’s statement concerning the sin, which will not be forgiven. And then they have. Experts today claim that we need not fear committing this sin, but the Pharisees cannot be forgiven. Maybe what I need is a better understanding of blasphemy. What it means.

Pastor Andy: [00:13:53] Yeah. I mean, this is that really strong passage where it talks there about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit versus Matthew 12:31 “Therefore, I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven among men, but blasphemy against the spirit shall not be forgiven”. Verse 32, “whoever speaks a word against the son of man shall be forgiven. But whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven of him in this age or in the age to come”. And really, the way to understand this is to put it in its proper context like most things.  Matthew is laying out what we would call the offer of the kingdom. The nation of Israel, based on the Mosaic covenant, had an obligation to enthrone the king of God’s own choosing. And they had certainly had that offer when Jesus showed up in the 1st century. He was the fulfillment of the, you know, the Davidic Covenant. Et cetera. And that’s what’s meant by the expression preached by John the Baptist. Matthew 3, verse 2. Jesus himself, Matthew 4, verse 17. And then the 12 when they were sent out to Minister. Matthew 10 verses 5 through 7. “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. In other words, if they enthrone the king nationally on his terms, then the Millennial Kingdom, you know, would have hypothetically started. But they didn’t do that. They rejected him. The turning point is Matthew 12:24 it says. “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this man casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons”.

Pastor Andy: [00:15:42] So, they attributed the religious leaders did Christ’s miracles to Satan. And the moment they did that, the offer was taken off the table. And God is not that an individual Jew couldn’t be saved, but the Kingdom wasn’t going to come, you know, to 1st century Israel. And so when you go over to Matthew 21:43, Jesus is pretty clear. He says. “Therefore, I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation”, an ethnos, future Israel, in other words, producing the fruit thereof. And then verse 46 says, “When they sought to seize him, they feared him”. Actually, verse 45 was what I was looking for when the Pharisees, when the priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. So, what Jesus is saying there is it’s over for first century Israel. The kingdom is not going to come to you. And what follows in Matthew 13 is an outline of the interim age while the kingdom is absent. It’s developed in eight parables. Matthew 13, 16 and 17, it says. But blessed are your eyes, because they see and your eyes because they see your ears. Because they hear. For truly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. In other words, as the kingdom is now absent because first century Israel turned down the offer of the kingdom, we have this long interim age that’s never been disclosed before, and the spiritual climate of that age is outlined in the form of eight parables.

Pastor Andy: [00:17:34] So, all of that to say that’s the framework you have to follow to understand the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  I mean, this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is given in a context exactly of the offer, rejection, withdrawal of the offer of the kingdom and the eventual re-extension of that offer to a future generation of Israel in the tribulation period. So that’s how I’m understanding blasphemy of the Spirit. It’s something national that first century Israel did that forfeited their ability to receive the long awaited Millennial Kingdom. And it’s interesting, Brother Jim, when you look at the epistles which govern us in the church age, in this interim age, there is no warning to us about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  We’re told to not grieve the spirit. Ephesians 4:30, we’re told, to not quench the spirit. 1st Thessalonians 5, verse 19. But there’s no warning about blaspheming the spirit. So I think that was a one-time thing committed by the nation of Israel that had national implications. And I get that by putting the Matthew 12 Blasphemy of the Spirit in the context of the larger argument of the Book of Matthew. And that’s what most people are not doing when they analyze this. They’re just kind of pontificating about what they think it means.

Pastor Jim: [00:18:58] So, context is so very, very important, isn’t it? Well, a great question and wonderful answer. And I see we have some people waiting on the phones. So let’s go right to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:19:10] Yes. Can you hear me?

Pastor Jim: [00:19:11] We can hear you.

Caller: [00:19:12] Yeah. Hebrews 4:10. “For he who has entered into his rest, he also has rested from his works, as God did from his own work”. In my Bible, it just says own. But it means God rested from his works. We need to enter into God’s rest and we need to rest with God and stop working. I mean, that’s what I’m assuming that’s what that verse means. Kind of a related to that, I’m assuming that James, the Book of James was written before Hebrews. And if that’s not true, then this morning I’m going to say it doesn’t make any sense. If James had known about this verse to stop working and to enter into the rest of God, as God entered into his own rest, do you think James would have been a little bit less prone to boast about how he is going to show everybody how his works prove he’s a good Christian? So that’s, those are the thoughts about it. You take it, take whatever you want to, or throw it all in the trash. But that’s where I’m coming from. Hebrews 4:10. Thank you.

Pastor Jim: [00:20:41] All right. Thank you so much for that call. Pastor, how would we look at this particular issue?

Pastor Andy: [00:20:46] Well, I do agree with him. The book of James was written early, probably, I would say, you know, AD 4445, the Book of Hebrews would probably be written just before the events of Ad 70, probably about ad 68 – somewhere in there. So there is about a two decade difference, you know, between the little epistle of James, James and Hebrews. But I don’t see them as contradictory, even though that’s true, because they’re really answering different questions.  James is really answering the issue of the usefulness of our faith that exists. In other words, is your faith useful? Not whether it exists or not, but is it useful? You know, faith without works is dead. And how do you determine if your faith is useful? Of course, there he quotes Abraham. You know, he had faith in Genesis 15, verse 6. Abraham believed, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. But his faith didn’t become productive to the point where, you know, God could actually use Abraham until 22 years later in Genesis 22, where he was willing to sacrifice Isaac when God told him to do it. So that’s the kind of thing James is dealing with. Hebrews is a different issue entirely. I mean, you’re dealing with Hebrew Christians who are thinking about lapsing back into Judaism to escape persecution. And the author of the Book of Hebrews says, don’t do that if you’re discouraged because of persecution, enter into the rest of God.

Pastor Andy: [00:22:32] And so the big question there is, well, what is the rest of God? You know, just like God works six days and rested on the seventh and he’s still resting from his work in creation. It says in Hebrews four that a rest is now available for God’s people. I think that rest if you drop down to verse 16 or actually verse 15, “for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need”. In other words, that’s the rest that’s available to us. You draw from the high priestly ministry of Jesus, who’s now at the right hand of the Father that wants to minister to us in the midst of persecution. And when we draw from his strength, we don’t have to apostatize from the full revelation of Christ and go back to a revelation that came from God earlier that is not better. It’s not a bad revelation, but what we have in the full revelation of Christ that is better. And so I don’t have to yield to that. And apostatize because of persecution. I can go into God’s throne and receive help in time of need. That’s what I what I think the rest is. So Hebrews and James are not contradicting each other. They’re just dealing with different issues.

Pastor Jim: [00:24:10] And once again, it’s so very important to make sure that we have the context of the passages that we’re comparing. So again, thank you so much for that. Great question. And let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:24:25] Yes, Hi. This is kind of a strange one, I think, but a couple of people we know who are born again believers have revealed to my wife that they are convinced in flat earth theory. And they say that the Bible supports the flat earth theory. My wife and I are left just scratching our heads to think anyone believes in this. And we’re just wondering if the pastor has any scripture to support the truth of that. The Earth is a sphere and that’s kind of where we’re at. If he knows of any scripture that supports the truth, that the Earth is really a sphere and not flat. I’d like to say happy birthday to Pastor Andy also.

Pastor Andy: [00:25:28] All right.

Pastor Jim: [00:25:29] Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you so much for that call. Well, Pastor, it’s as strange as it may seem, there is still a segment of society that believes that the Earth is flat. And so do we have anything in the Bible that would explain that situation?

Pastor Andy: [00:25:47] Well, you know, when I first heard about all this flat earth stuff, I thought it was like a joke. I thought people were pulling a gag. And that’s what I’m trying to say. And I was shocked to discover that there’s a whole spectrum of people. I mean, they have conferences, journal articles trying to argue that the earth is flat, you know, kind of like a pancake, I guess. And they try to argue from the Bible. You know, they might use a passage like this, revelation chapter 7 and verse 1. It says, “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth”. So therefore the earth must be flat, right? Well, that’s a figure of speech. That’s what you call phenomenological language. It’s kind of viewing the Earth from man’s perspective, and it looks flat from where I’m sitting, but that’s not necessarily what it looks it looks like from God’s perspective. And so there are a few scriptures. I think there’s one in Isaiah 40, if I remember right, where it talks about the circle of the earth. I want to say verse 22, but I’m looking at it. It doesn’t say exactly what I thought it said, but just Google consult Rabbi Google, you know the circle of the earth and you’ll find it there in Isaiah. I think there’s another reference to it in the Book of Job. So those would be scriptures that I would go to.

Pastor Andy: [00:27:24] You know, it’s kind of interesting that when you stand, sit on the beach, for example, and you see – I grew up sailing, my family owned a sailboat. So it’s when you’re looking at boats coming from far away, it’s kind of interesting that the mast appears first and then the rest of the boat appears second. Well, maybe that’s because the earth is spherical. And does anybody have a picture? I mean, if the earth is flat and you can. Can someone give me a picture of the edges of the earth? I mean, I don’t think that picture has ever been produced. Maybe that would convert me. But we sure have an awful lot of pictures, you know, from outer space indicating that the earth is a sphere. And so I think at the end of the day, common sense science never contradicts the Bible. You know, true science is the Bible’s best friend. And so, you know, this idea of, you know, the four corners of the Earth, that’s basically what that is. That’s what we would call connotative language. That’s a figure of speech, many figures of speech in the Bible. And you shouldn’t convert that to Denotative language, which is basically plain language. The Bible contains both, but be careful about taking figures of speech and making them read as if they’re actually, you know, plain denotative statements. But you have some verses for us.

Pastor Jim: [00:28:50] Well, I did find the Isaiah verses Isaiah chapter 40, verse 20 to 22, and it says, “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth”. So there’s one passage that you could go to for sure.

Pastor Andy: [00:29:02] And I want to say there’s another one in Job, but I just can’t think.

Pastor Jim: [00:29:06] Job 26:10 talks about “He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters”.

Pastor Andy: [00:29:12] Yeah, circle surface. So those would be scriptures I would go to. But you know, the Bible, it never contradicts science, but it’s really not set up in its totality to answer that kind of a question. But what the Bible says will always agree with true science at the end of the day. So, you know, I’ve got a guy that is a brother, but he sent me the book that he wrote, and it spans about 200 pages where he’s trying to argue that the earth is flat. And I look at all of the effort he put into that, all of the footnotes. And I think to myself, you know what, what better things he could accomplish if he just channeled his energy into a more productive pursuit than something like this. So I just don’t have a lot of patience for people that are trying to tell me the earth is flat and they’re trying to tell me that the pictures from space is they’re all doctored and they kind of kind of hoodwink you into a – it’s a giant conspiracy theory. And I just think there’s better things we can do with our time than challenge the universally accepted principles of science.

Pastor Jim: [00:30:31] Yeah, I agree. Well, with that. On that note, it’s time for a station break. So we’re going to pause here for a few seconds. We’ll be back with you shortly. We do ask you to stick around with us. We’re going to be coming back with our prayer for the nation. So see you in just a moment.

Announcer: [00:30:49] With a dedicated emphasis on the exclusive teaching of God’s Word. The keeping him close by network brings you continuous programing on KHCB-FM  Houston at 105.7 FM throughout the day. You can also hear it in Lockhart, San Marcos, Austin, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Natchitoches, Louisiana. Keeping him close by.

Pastor Jim: [00:31:49] Well, welcome back to KHCB’s Question and Answer program. And we always like to stop at the top of the hour to pray for the nation. So we encourage you if you’re in a safe place and can do so that you just join us right now as we go to the throne of grace. Abba Father, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care because you are the foundation upon which this nation was established. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So we ask you to reclaim America for your glory by moving upon and touching the hearts of our nation’s leaders such that their spirit might be opened to the great value you place on Biblical truth and the responsibilities that accompany our freedoms. We also know from your word that good leaders come from you. And since our nation is in desperate need of good leaders, we come asking you to give us leaders with discerning hearts and wise minds. Leaders who will guide this Christian nation in righteousness, honor your Holy name and reject the culture of death all around us. And since good leaders must come from among the general population, we also ask you to purify and turn the hearts of the citizens of America away from the many idols that they’ve created and help them to see and walk in the way that honors your Holy name, Abba Father, we also come acknowledging our national and individual sins and asking you to change our hearts and minds. Please return our nation to its former glory and make us once again a light to the nations and protect America from all the evil plans of Satan, the threats from within our nation and those from outside our borders.

Pastor Jim: [00:33:56] We also pray for our economy, and especially for those who have lost employment. Please provide financial opportunities so that Americans, our American citizens can thrive financially and prosper. Many this evening, we know, are in need of all manner of healing. And so we also pray that you would restore them to full strength and health in your way and in your timing and grant them grace in the midst of their struggles. And finally, help us loving Father to humble our hearts so that we will be a nation filled with gratitude and thankfulness and help us also not to be lukewarm and apathetic in our lifestyle and personal testimony, but rather to stand courageously and confidently for truth as found in your most Holy and precious Word. Please pour out your spirit on our nation and help each of us discern good from evil, not through the eyes of man, but with spiritual eyes of truth and strengthen us in our daily lives so that we might glorify you in all that we do, and help your children to remember that the successful pursuit of true happiness is rooted in knowing you, seeking your face and doing your will. In Jesus name, Maranatha and Amen. Thank you so much for pausing with us for prayer. And let’s just go right back to the phones. I see we have some folks waiting. So thank you for staying with us. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods this evening? Hello. Yeah, go for it.

Caller: [00:35:44] How are you doing?

Pastor Jim: [00:35:45] Wonderful.

Caller: [00:35:47] Yes, sir. I don’t have the scripture,  but I can quote the scripture. Uh, you know what Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am”? And Peter told him that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God, something like that. And he told him that, you know, you know, that flesh and blood didn’t reveal that to him or something.

Pastor Jim: [00:36:14] Yeah.

Caller: [00:36:16] And anyway, further down in the scripture, he told him later on that, you know, get thee behind me, Satan, you know.

Pastor Jim: [00:36:24] He sure did.

Caller: [00:36:25] And do Satan, when he acted like Satan or he was acting like God. How did the spirit enter him or what?

Pastor Jim: [00:36:38] That’s a great question. I’m so glad you called in and asked that question. And if you’ll hang up and listen to the answer, I think you’ll be pleased because I know Dr. Woods has the answer for you here. Just a moment. Pastor, what would we how would we respond to this precious brother’s question here?

Pastor Andy: [00:36:53] Yeah. Well, that that whole exchange took place up north in the land of Israel, a place called Caesarea Philippi. And you’ll read about it in Matthew 16 verses 13 through 23. And it’s true. Who do men say that I am? Peter gave the right answer.  And actually, Jesus says on that answer, I’m going to build my church. And I would think, you know, that that may have gotten to Peter’s head a little bit. I mean, if the Lord had said something like that to me that this has been revealed to you from heaven, and I’m going to build my church on this statement and I’m going to give you the keys of the kingdom and all of these things. You would have kind of a high opinion of yourself. And so the book of Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 26 and 27, it teaches “Do not let the sun go down on your anger lest you give the devil a foothold”. In other words, when we cater to the flesh, we open the door for Satan to use us.  Satan can’t possess us because our body is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But he can certainly influence us for the negative. And I think Peter got fleshly here. I think he was lifted up for pride – with pride.

Pastor Andy: [00:38:13] And so when Jesus made his next statement about, you know, I’ve got to go to the cross and die to fulfill my mission. It says in Matthew 16, verse 22. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God, you know, could you imagine rebuking God? God forbid it, Lord. Well, if he’s God and Lord, you can’t rebuke him. But Peter thought he could because after all, he was given the keys to the kingdom. This will never happen to you. In other words, he was trying to talk Jesus out of his mission. And it’s at that point Jesus discerned the spirit in which Peter spoke, that Peter, because he catered to the flesh, was actually giving Satan an inroad to promote his agenda over the Son of God. And that’s why Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan”. So that’s a very important account there that took place, you know, because we can be like that. We can cater to the flesh and Satan can’t possess us, but he can certainly influence us. And I don’t want to be influenced by Satan. I want to be only influenced by God. So I need to, you know, say no to pride and bitterness and, you know, all the other things that my sin nature wants to do.

Pastor Jim: [00:39:32] Amen. And it’s not always easy, but we have the power within us to do it, don’t we?  All right. Thank you again so much. Great question. Let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting patiently. We do appreciate it. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:39:47] Hey, Dr. Andy Woods and Jim McGowan. How are you? How are y’all doing today?

Pastor Jim: [00:39:51] Wonderful.

Caller: [00:39:53] Okay, I got one question and then I’m gonna hang up. Is that okay?

Pastor Jim: [00:39:56] Great. Go for it.

Caller: [00:39:57] All right, listen. Revelation 9, it says on verses. I think it’s verse 13. I think it’s called the sixth trumpet. I think the angels. Is that. Is that what the the Euphrates River? When he said that it was going to be 2 million people. But I couldn’t I couldn’t I couldn’t respond for quite sure. But is that is that is that the sixth trumpet war, like the one-third population that’s going to be destroyed? So I want to hang up and let you respond to that.

Pastor Jim: [00:40:27] All right. Oh, thank you, brother, so much for great call. And thank you for that question, Pastor.

Pastor Andy: [00:40:31] Yeah, I mean, that’s the famous or infamous passage of an army of 200 million that is going to they’re on horseback, so they look human to me. They’re not coming out of the abyss like the other the prior judgment, the fifth trumpet. This is trumpet judgment number six. So they’re summoned and they’re coming from the east. I think Revelation 9 is the beginning of the process and the end of the process is Revelation 16. Now we’re in the Sixth Bowl judgment, and they’re when you go down to about verses 12 through 16, what you’ll see is that the Euphrates River, which is really a geographical marker separating the Far East from the Middle East, is supernaturally dried up to expedite the path of this army as they’re moving, being satanically summoned into northern Israel for the final battle known as the Battle of Armageddon. And as they’re making this trajectory, they destroy one-third of the Earth’s population. And keep in mind, a quarter of the world’s population was already destroyed in Revelation 6. So if a third is destroyed, that’s going to take the population of the earth down 50%. That’s amazing in between those two judgments. So that’s my understanding of this this army and the Euphrates. It’s a massive human army, you know, coming from the Far East. Dr. John Walvoord, in his revelation commentary, argued that India, Japan and potentially China could very well end up being the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Pastor Jim: [00:42:21] Yeah, Amen. All right. What a great question. All right. Let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:42:29] Hello? Can you hear me?

Pastor Jim: [00:42:30] We can hear you.

Caller: [00:42:32] Yes, I have a question. My question is what did the word trinity come from? The word trinity. What did it come from?

Pastor Jim: [00:42:44] All right. What an excellent question. Thank you for calling the program. Let’s see if we can give you an answer for that brother. Pastor Trinity, where did that concept come from?

Pastor Andy: [00:42:54] Well, you’re not going to find the word Trinity in the Bible, just like you don’t find the word rapture in the Bible. You don’t find the word millennium in the Bible. I mean, where do these expressions come from? Basically, every discipline has expressions used to summarize. You know, medicine has this, car mechanics have it? Um, or else we’d be all be talking in what are called circumlocutions, which would which are roundabout ways of saying something. You can’t, you know, re-explain a concept every time you use it. So we’ve come up with words to explain the concept. And so that’s where the word trinity comes from. It comes from the church fathers trying to explain what they see in the Bible, which is the triunity of God, that there’s one God, but yet that God has expressed himself in three separate personages. God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, each personage sharing in the essence of deity, but at the same time unique in their personality. So the son is unique in his son even though the Son shares the same essence of deity with the father. Now you can say all of that that I just said every time the issue comes up, or you can just summarize it through the word trinity, and that’s where the word Trinity comes from.

Pastor Jim: [00:44:23] So, the idea behind that is, is you want to define the term perhaps initially, but once you’re certain someone understands the definition, you can now use the short form Trinity to explain what you’re saying.

Pastor Andy: [00:44:36] Yeah, or else our conversations are going to get very long.

Pastor Jim: [00:44:40] They would get very long winded, wouldn’t they? We hope that was helpful to you, brother. Thank you so much. And let’s see, let’s go back to the phones or actually, let’s do this. Let’s take a quickly take an email question. So this is one we’ve had before. Pastor is speaking in tongues evidence of having the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Andy: [00:44:58] All right. Is speaking in tongues evidence of having the Holy Spirit. I would say the answer to that is no, because the apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 12, verses 29 and 30 says are all are not apostles, are they? Question mark. It’s kind of a question that expects a negative answer. All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they?  All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings do they?  All do not speak with tongues, do they? Question mark. All do not interpret tongues, do they? Question mark. So it’s the idea that there are different gifts within the body of Christ. Not everybody is a teacher any more than everybody speaks with tongues any more than any. Everybody is an apostle. It’s like having a body, you know, with like three left foot, feet. I mean, you don’t need that. You just need one left foot. And so that’s how God has set up the body of Christ. So I do not believe speaking in tongues is some sort of evidence of the Holy Spirit in you, because some movements within Christianity teach, you know, unless you speak in tongues, you’re not a Christian or you’re not filled with the spirit or you’ve never been baptized by the Spirit. Some would say you can’t even be in leadership unless you speak in tongues. It flies directly in the face of 1st Corinthians 12:29 and 30. Now, if you want to know what if you’re being controlled by the spirit or not, it’s this. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things. There is no law that’s a far better barometer about the spirit’s control than these characteristic, character traits than speaking in tongues.

Pastor Jim: [00:46:59] Amen, brother. All right. Thank you so much for that great answer, Pastor. And now let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:47:09] Yeah. Yeah. Hey, guys. Dr. McGowan. Dr. Woods. Um, is it okay if I maybe just help the guy that called about the flat earth stuff? And I have a question. I have a question, too. Okay. Um, I know, I know I’m not supposed to do this, but there’s a there’s a really good believer in Christ. His name is Dr. Jason Lisle. And he has many. He’s an astrophysicist and he and he does geology, astrophysics. And he talks about the flood. And one of the things he says is that since the mountains were covered with water to, what, 18, 20,000ft, all the water would run off the sides. So anyway, that’s kind of just one thing. But and also, he says that if you there’s certain there’s certain times where the sun is reflecting off the moon at night where you can actually see the sphere of the moon. So and anyway, so that’s my. And I just have a kind of a weird question about the red heifers. Like, where are they coming from? Are they organic or kind of like, is it Satan kind of providing them or is it in God’s plan that they’re just here or kind of like my question there. So thank you, guys.

Pastor Jim: [00:48:39] All right. Thank you so much for the additional information. And the question, Pastor, what about this issue of the red heifer?

Pastor Andy: [00:48:46] Yeah, real quick on the flat Earth answers in Genesis.

Caller: [00:48:52] Yes. Yes.

Pastor Andy: [00:48:53] Yeah. Ken Ham’s organization has a lot of position papers and things. You know, refuting the flat earth idea.

Caller: [00:49:02] Worked for him and Dr. Ham for quite a while, so. Yeah.

Pastor Andy: [00:49:07] Yeah. Jason Lyle Um, as far as the red heifer is concerned, that whole concept comes from Numbers 19, where the ashes of a genetically pure red heifer were necessary to consecrate dedicate the tabernacle, and then later on in time, the temple. And so the red heifer idea, the fact that Israel is trying to breed red heifers, the fact that they’re importing red heifers from Rockwall, Texas. And they’re studying them very carefully to make sure there’s no stray hairs. What they’re going to do with those is they’re going to take the ashes of them and use them to rededicate temple number three. That’s the significance of the red heifer. And that shows us that they’re getting ready to, at least in their minds, build temple number three. And we’ve always found that to be prophetically significant because according to Daniel, chapter 9, verse 27, midway through the tribulation period, the Antichrist is going to desecrate Temple Number three. The fact that they’re breeding the red heifer to dedicate the third temple indicates that the third temple is near. And if the third temple is near. Daniel, chapter 9, verse 27, is near, meaning that the tribulation period is near. And if that’s near, the rapture must be even nearer. That’s the significance of the whole thing.

Pastor Jim: [00:50:35] Yeah, I think we kind of have to extrapolate the fact that since prophecy does talk about a third and a fourth temple, there has to be also the understanding that in order to dedicate that temple, there has already been given instructions for that, as you mentioned. So even though it may not specifically say anything about that, the there has to be a red heifer has to resurface somehow, some way. And lo and behold, here we have it.

Pastor Andy: [00:51:02] And we’re not saying, yay, let’s let the Jews rebuild the temple and let’s have a red heifer. And Christianity, we’re not promoting that. We’re just observing what unbelieving Israel does in God’s prophetic timetable. Yeah, because they are an unbelief functioning without the light of the New Testament and they’re behaving the way they’re behaving on these issues because we believe the tribulation period is very near.

Pastor Jim: [00:51:29] Amen. And it’s exciting, isn’t it, to see? I mean, the fact that we’re talking about I think we just sent five red heifers from Texas over to Israel. So. Wow. The prophetic events are happening quickly. All right. Let’s see here. I do have a question that we would like to address. This individual wrote in and says, How do you share the gospel with a five year old?

Pastor Andy: [00:51:56] Okay. Well, how do you share the gospel with a five year old? What did Jesus say in Matthew 18? You know, the disciples were trying to keep the little children away from Christ. He says, you know, suffer not the little children to come unto me, for the Kingdom of Heaven is made up such as these. So we believe that the gospel is simple enough for a child to understand. You know, it’s deep enough for a theologian to drown in, but it’s simple enough for a child to understand. And, you know, when you share the gospel, you’re just focusing on really, I would say, five things. The first is that we are sinners before a holy God. Yes, you could use Romans 3:23 with a child. You know, you might, you know, argue from conscience. Have you ever done anything wrong? You ever disobeyed your parents. You’re violating God’s law. And then Romans 6:23 talks about the wages of sin is death. You know, if you don’t want to do the time, don’t do the crime. So sin brings a penalty. Yet the good news in the whole thing is Romans five around verses eight and nine really verse 8 that God demonstrates his love towards us – that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So Jesus did something to remedy our sin problem. And then from there you could go to Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 where it tells us what we have to do, which is one thing.  Which is to trust or believe, which is another way of receiving this pardon. So there’s a pardon with your name on it. And you can receive it right now by faith alone. And you might want to explain what faith is. It’s trust. You’re trusting in what the Savior did for you. And from there, you tell the child that, you know, 1st John, chapter 5, I believe it is that we can know that we have eternal life from the point of placing our faith in Christ. So I think those five points are good for anybody, but they’re certainly simple enough for a child to understand.

Pastor Jim: [00:54:16] Amen. Amen. And, you know, as a parent, it’s incumbent upon us as parents to, you know, try to be sensitive to the fact that our children are prepared to hear the message. They may have to hear it multiple times. And that’s okay, because the timing of the Holy Spirit is what is really what matters in the life of a child, but live out the example and constantly talk about Jesus and talk about salvation and trust God, the Holy Spirit to do his work in that child’s life. And you’d be surprised what God can do. So praise the Lord for that. We hope that was helpful to you. All right. And let’s go back to the telephone, if we could. And thank you so much for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening? Hello? Caller, are you there? All right. I think you’re there now. Hello?

Caller: [00:55:11] Yes. Oh, is this me?

Pastor Jim: [00:55:12] It’s you.

Caller: [00:55:14] Okay, Well, man, that was a quick connect. My question is coming from Hebrews 6, and it looks like it might be the last verse of 6. It says “where the forerunner Jesus is entered for us having become forever a high priest according to the Order of Melchizedek”. My question is he evidently he’s a forerunner, and if he’s a forerunner, there are people that are supposed to be running behind him to get to the same place he is – that he is. And this particular section says that is our hope. Our hope is we are going to run right into the presence of God every day. Um, anyway, is this is this matter of forerunner and referring to Jesus? Is that where we get the idea? I ran a good race. I fought a good fight. I finished the course. Is that where the the running a good race came from? Thank you.

Pastor Jim: [00:56:32] All right. Thanks for that call. Appreciate it. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:56:35] Yeah, I’m here looking at my Ryrie study Bible. It says forerunner. A word used of a scout reconnaissance or of a herald announcing the coming of a king. Both concepts imply that others are to follow. So I would just understand the forerunner as we are sons of God also. We’re not obviously deity, but we’re, you know, he came into the world to for the purpose of creating many sons. And so in that sense, we follow in his destiny. His destiny was to suffer on earth, but then to enter glory. And we follow that same pattern.

Pastor Jim: [00:57:24] Amen. Amen. All right. Thank you for that. Let’s see. I think we have another caller waiting, so let’s go right back to the phones. Thank you so much for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:57:36] Hello. Hi.

Pastor Jim: [00:57:37] Go for it.

Caller: [00:57:38] Oh, thank you so much for taking my call. My question is, in the past, in the how did God, how did the people of God communicate without microphone or a megaphone? Like, you know, when they gathered, like, how did they get the message across to so many people?

Pastor Jim: [00:58:01] That’s a great question. Thank you so much.

Caller: [00:58:04] Listen, thank you. All right.

Pastor Jim: [00:58:06] God bless you, Pastor. You know, back in back in Jesus’s day, they didn’t have access to, you know, electronic devices to amplify sound. Do we have any examples of how perhaps Jesus and others could have used the terrain to help in that regard?

Pastor Andy: [00:58:23] Well, you know, I’ve been to Israel. I’ve been to a lot of these Greco-Roman sites like the Amphitheater in Ephesus and others. There’s one, I think, in Caesarea, and it’s very interesting that you can have someone in our tour group go down to the stage at the very bottom and the platform and speak. And it’s set up in such a way that you can actually acoustically hear exactly what they’re saying.

Pastor Jim: [00:58:52] It’s amazing.

Pastor Andy: [00:58:53] So, acoustics is an interesting thing. It’s not necessarily, you know, dependent upon electronics. Now, who the name escapes me, of course, the famous preacher in colonial America, Founding fathers preacher. The name will come to me in a second. But it was said of him that he had a tremendous. What was interesting is not just his content, but it was his voice and it was his ability to be heard by the colonial masses. And so, all of that to say that God’s work has gotten done just fine without modern day electronics, you know, praise the Lord for modern day electronics. I mean, we’re using them right here. But don’t think that, you know, in ages past because we haven’t had those things that somehow the word of God, you know, was stifled. It was not.

Pastor Jim: [00:59:51] Yeah, I know you’ve been to you mentioned you’ve been to Israel. I have, too. And I’m sure you’ve probably been to the site that supposedly was where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount. And it’s very interesting. You can be down toward the. Lower part of that area and you can hear just fine somebody speaking up on the top of the hill. It’s just fascinating. Very similar type of situation there. So we hope that helps answer your question. Thank you so much for calling the program. We really appreciate it. And let’s see here, we have lines available. Oh, actually, I think it’s time for us to wrap up the show, Pastor. I just happened to see the clock. Oh, my goodness. The time flies when you’re having fun. Well, brothers and sisters, we are so thankful to you for your participation in the program this evening. We ask God’s blessing upon you. Would you pray for us as we pray for you? Have a blessed week and we’ll see you next time on KHCB’s. Question and Answer Program. Good night.