Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:08):
Hello friends. It's time for the second hour of Open
Line with Doctor Michael Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America
and the world. And we're talking about your questions about
the Bible, God and the spiritual life. My name is
Michael Ray. I'm professor of Jewish studies and Bible at
Moody Bible Institute. So glad you're with me today. If
(00:29):
you have a Bible question today, don't phone in. It's
a special all mailbag, all the time edition of Open Line.
But you can write your question. Just go to our website,
Open Line Radio.com, and you'll see a link there that
says Ask Michael a question. You click on that and
it will fill out. Bring up a form that you
(00:50):
can fill out, and you can ask your question right
there and then it will go into a future mailbag.
But today we're trying to clear the spindle. Answer so
many of the questions that have piled up. And so
joining me today in studio is Eva Redlich. She's my
colleague on the faculty of Moody Bible Institute. She's a
co-contributor to the Moody Bible Commentary and the Moody Handbook
(01:13):
of Messianic Prophecy. She's also my wife. Uh, Memorial Day weekend.
We got married way back, uh, at the dawn of time.
And so I am so glad that we have been
together answering Bible questions for each other for all these
many years. And also joining me is our mailbag expert. Uh,
she is the producer of Open Line. Her name is
Tricia McMillan. I'm so glad you're here, Tricia. Tricia is the, uh,
(01:36):
every week you hear Tricia when she brings in the
Febc mailbag. What is the Febc mailbag? Tricia.
S2 (01:43):
Uh, it is the same mailbag, but now, uh, we have, um.
S1 (01:48):
An underwriter.
S2 (01:49):
An underwriter, friends who have come alongside and said, we
want to make sure that we're helping to support Open Line.
S1 (01:54):
And that those friends are Far East Broadcasting Company and, uh,
we love them. And they are using technology to bring
the good news all the way around the world. And
they also have terrific follow up with radio and with
not just with doing using radio and internet, but also
(02:14):
with with real life people following up, bringing the gospel
to people. And you can always go to. And you
can learn all about them, pray for them. And also
when you get there, uh, look for their podcast with
Ed Cannon to all have heard. And I think knowing
about Febc is a great benefit of anyone to know
(02:37):
how to pray for reaching people around the world. Uh, okay.
We're going to go right back to the mailbag, though.
S2 (02:42):
All right. We're going to dive in here. Rich Rodas, uh,
listens on the website and says, I'm currently located in
China and I love your show. I understand the concept
of sin, but I don't understand evil. Uh, there are
bad things that happen that, you know, awful things that happen,
that just anguish and anger people, especially when it involves children.
(03:05):
How can these types of evil exist and not be
swiftly taken care of by God, knowing the evildoers will
land in hell or even be redeemed and forgiven seems unjust?
The delay in swift justice nearly shakes the faith of
the believers.
S1 (03:19):
Yeah.
S3 (03:20):
Yeah, I think, you know you can fill in the
blank for whatever kind of evil that and horrible, heartbreaking
things are happening that you see to your own family
or just internationally in the news. But I think he's
brought up an important link here when he says, I
understand the concept of sin, but I don't understand evil.
I think that evil is an outgrowth of sin.
S1 (03:41):
Mhm. Yeah. And and of course, uh, he's not asking
why do bad things happen to good people. Right. He's
actually saying, why do good things happen to bad people?
And why doesn't God judge them instantly? You know, we've
all been in a situation when we hear someone say
something blasphemous or you see someone doing something terrible, we
(04:03):
want to say, let's step aside because we think a
bolt of lightning is coming out right now. Well, that's
what the psalmist Asaph or Asaph was thinking of when
he wrote Psalm 73, and he's struggling with the fact
that God is not. Acting quickly to judge them. And listen,
(04:27):
I just want you to hear a couple of things
that he says.
S3 (04:30):
This is Psalm 73.
S1 (04:31):
Psalm 73, verse 15. He says, if I had decided
to say these things aloud about all these doubts and
worries and concerns that he had, I would have betrayed
your people. When I tried to understand all this, it
seemed hopeless until I entered God's sanctuary. Then I understood
their destiny. Indeed. You have put them in slippery places.
(04:52):
You make them fall into ruin. How suddenly they become
a desolation. So the first thing he understands is when
he goes to worship. He says, you know what? It
looks like they're not going to face judgment, but God
will act there. Think about walking on ice. How suddenly,
in those slippery places this has happened to me. You know,
(05:15):
I let my dogs out the side and it's here,
cold and snowy in Chicago, and the little pathway at
the side of my house is turned to ice, and
I'm walking along there, and next thing you know, I'm
flat on my back suddenly. And that's what this is
talking about, that that's what the destiny that God has
for the wicked, that there's going to be sudden judgment.
(05:37):
And then another thing, he says, uh, that he was stupid,
he was embittered. I was stupid and didn't understand. I
was an unthinking animal toward you. That's verse 22. And
I really pondered why it was that he says, I
was an animal when I was only living in the
moment and trying to figure out, why isn't God judging now?
(05:59):
Why does he wait? He's I think he says I
was an animal before you because animals want instantaneous. They
don't think about the future. They're only in the present.
We used to have a dog that we wanted to
put outside, and he didn't want to go outside when
we were leaving. And so we would we would stand
there on the deck, you know, step out. Come on,
come on. He'd just look at us like, no, I'm
(06:20):
not going out. And then every time I would take
a little treat.
S3 (06:24):
Little tiny dog biscuit.
S1 (06:25):
Yeah. What would you do?
S3 (06:27):
Toss it out. He'd run right out after that.
S1 (06:29):
And then I closed the door and he'd like, oh,
I totally forgot they were going to close the door
because he was in the moment. He didn't have a
sense of future. But we are eternal beings, and we
recognize that there is a future and there will be
a judgment for these things. And we shouldn't be beasts
before God, but rather we should Understand that God has
(06:52):
a purpose and a plan, and even though these evil
things happen and he will judge. Uh, it's who knows
why it is that. He doesn't judge instantly, but their
feet are in slippery places. He has a purpose and
a plan, and he will fulfill it.
S3 (07:10):
And this is you know, I think that all of
us who love God and hate evil are struck with
this question when we see things happen. And and I
think another encouraging passage for all of us to take
a look at is Habakkuk, because he begins the book
and he says, how long, O Lord, will I call
for help? And you will not hear? I cry out
(07:30):
to you, violence, and yet you do not save. Why
do you make me see iniquity and cause me to
look on wickedness? And so and the whole book is
this kind of question. And at the end it resolves
that he says, yet I trust God and know he's
going to bring righteous judgment. So read Habakkuk, along with
Psalm 73, to to look for encouragement to these heart
(07:50):
breaking questions.
S2 (07:52):
Okay, thank you for that encouragement. Thank you for your question, Rich.
Peggy in Illinois listens to. Since witchcraft is mentioned in
the Bible, what may be done today to address it?
Are there any books that I could read or prayers
for protection when I live next to a woman who
practices witchcraft?
S3 (08:12):
Well, you know, I think with in her question, there
is a warning flag for anyone who is thinking along
this way. Looking for a book to or prayer to
say for protection is almost wandering into the realm of
the occult itself.
S1 (08:29):
Yeah. We don't.
S3 (08:30):
We.
S1 (08:30):
Don't want to run and get garlic or anything like that.
S3 (08:33):
Hang up wolfbane or horseshoes or, you know, spit three
times and turn around. Um, that's not what we need
to do when we're confronted with any kind of evil
or wickedness.
S1 (08:44):
So whenever I think about witchcraft and demons and evil,
I'm always drawn to Luke chapter ten when the 70
returned with joy, saying, Lord, this is verse 17. Lord,
even the demons submit to us in your name. So
Jesus sent out 70 of his followers, gave them authority
(09:05):
to preach, and they were like, wow! We can cast
out demons. And he said to them, I watched Satan
fall from heaven like a lightning flash. In other words,
Satan is a defeated foe. He was already cast out
of heaven. He was already judged at that point. He's
going to be judged again at at the crucifixion of
(09:27):
the Messiah when he crushes the, the, the head of
the serpent, so to speak, from Genesis 315. He'll be
cast ultimately into the abyss, not ultimately into the abyss.
And then judge one more time, he'll be cast into
the lake of fire. So Jesus is talking about Satan
as a defeated foe. And then he says, look, I've
given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and
(09:50):
over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will ever
harm you. So that's what I would say to Peggy.
Nothing's going to harm you. She can't do anything to you.
She may try, but she can't. Uh, you are under
the protection of the Holy Spirit. You are secure and safe.
(10:11):
Then he says, uh. However, don't rejoice that the spirits
submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. In other words, Jesus says, don't focus on
the occult. Don't focus on demons. Don't focus on this stuff.
Focus on your own salvation. Focus on the fact that
you know the Lord. So I think when I meet
(10:33):
believers that are sort of consumed with the demonic world,
with witchcraft, with with demonization and all these different things,
I want to say Jesus said, that's not that's not
our focus. Our focus ought to be on what God
has provided for us, not what the enemy is trying
to do to us.
S3 (10:49):
Right? And I think we need to encourage ourselves by knowing,
as it says in second Timothy one seven, God has
not given us the spirit of fear, but power and
love and a strong mind. And then he goes on
to say in first John that greater is he who
is in you than he who is in the world.
So stop being afraid and instead refocus your mind on
the Lord Jesus.
S2 (11:09):
She talks about I did not read this part of
the email, but she talks about specific things that this
neighbor has.
S3 (11:16):
Who cares?
S2 (11:17):
Okay, I was going to say, how do you how
do you when you see those sometimes the visible you
can freak yourself out with those things, right? Because you
start dwelling on them and thinking about them. So what
could she do to intentionally focus on the salvation and
to focus on not being fearful and these kinds of things,
but memorizing the Scripture.
S1 (11:35):
Here's a here's something that I think I'm sure you
can find it on the internet. I know it's in
Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology 33 benefits of our salvation. Uh,
if you look up Louis Barry Schaefer, maybe I'm speaking
out of turn, but I'm guessing that if you googled
chafer Lewis Sperry Chafer, 33 Benefits of Salvation. And he
(12:01):
lists them, they're wonderful. Uh, and.
S2 (12:04):
And these are things like.
S1 (12:06):
Uh, security that we are safe in God's hands. Uh,
that and you just go through those and then meditate
on that. Don't think about what I'm saying is that's
how we rejoice.
S3 (12:20):
And and.
S1 (12:20):
In our names being written in the book of life.
S3 (12:22):
And these, uh, you know, statues or whatever she sees
in her neighbor's yard. They're just like the idols that
we see in the prophets that Isaiah and Jeremiah talked about.
They are nothing. They are just plaster, and they have
no power over her. So just avert your eyes and
look back at Scripture.
S1 (12:41):
Yeah. Focus on Scripture.
S3 (12:42):
Yeah. Okay.
S2 (12:43):
All right. Thanks for that question, Peggy. Did you want
to go to the break?
S1 (12:48):
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Let's go to a break. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm so glad you're here, Tricia. I'm ready
for more questions. Come on. We're going to go to
a break now. We're so glad that you're listening in
to Open Line with Tricia McMillan and me, Michael Radonich.
We're going to be back with more of your questions
on this all mailbag, all the time program of Open Line.
(13:11):
So stay right there. We'll be back with more questions
straight ahead. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm Michael Radonich
I'm so glad you're joining me today. And I'm here
with my Bible answer partners. Eva Reed who is a
(13:34):
professor at Moody Bible Institute and also the a contributor
to the Moody Bible Commentary, the Moody Handbook of Messianic
Prophecy and my partner in life. And also joining me
right here is Tricia McMillan. She is the producer of
Open Line. She's with me every week. You know her
from the mailbag, the Febc mailbag portion that we do
(13:54):
on the program every week. Uh, but I'm grateful for
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why in the world would someone be willing or want
to even become a kitchen table partner with so many
(14:15):
people have, and I'm so grateful for them. Uh, but
you said you just got a really cool email from
someone who became a kitchen table partner today.
S2 (14:22):
Yes. Well, Diane emailed or sorry, gave a gift earlier
this month and said I gave to Open Line because
this program has helped me tremendously in having a better
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S1 (14:36):
Wow.
S2 (14:37):
So I think that's why a lot of people give
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S1 (14:43):
Yeah, I was so grateful for people who want to
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my real hope. When I first started Open Line back
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(15:03):
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And even some people find the Lord through open lineups,
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S2 (15:57):
All right. Our next question is from Lois in Indiana.
Listens to since the angels who left their first estate
and are chained up to wait for judgment. Who do
you think the evil spirits are who are roaming about
the earth? Because we always think of them as being
like Satan fell with a third, and we think of
them as just being the fallen angels. But it says
(16:20):
that they're.
S1 (16:21):
Well, the thing is, in first Peter chapter three, uh,
I think is what they are talking about. It says, uh,
he went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison
And therefore this person is saying, these are the evil
(16:42):
spirits in prison right there, chained up, waiting future judgment.
But I don't think that those spirits in prison are
referring to demons, unless there's another verse that Lois is
talking about. I think that's talking about, uh, that he
(17:03):
made proclamation to the spirits who are now in prison.
In other words, uh, in first Peter 319, it's talking
about that Jesus preached through Noah to the people of
Noah's day who rejected the message. And now they are
spirits locked up in prison. Uh, is that.
S2 (17:23):
Perhaps there's a there's a passage in, um, verse in
second Peter.
S1 (17:27):
Second Peter.
S2 (17:28):
Two four that said, for if God didn't spare the
angels who sinned, but threw them down into Tartarus and
delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment.
S1 (17:39):
Okay. Now, those, uh, there are some who are in
the abyss. I believe in revelation. They are released in
the tribulation period, and they ultimately will be judged and
cast into the lake of fire. So there are some
demons that have been not all, but some demons that
are awaiting judgment. They're going to be released one more
(18:00):
time from the abyss. Uh, and then they will again
face judgement, final judgment, and be cast into the lake
of fire. But I don't think it refers to all
fallen angels, some of the fallen angels. And I'm not
sure why God chose those to go into the abyss
and await that final day when they're going to be
released for one last attack. And I'm not sure God knows.
(18:23):
I don't know, you know, no one knows. But it
doesn't mean that all demons were placed in bondage there. Uh,
there's some obviously many that are still active trying to
through through the work of Satan, which is he seeks. He.
He is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
(18:43):
So he goes about wanders the earth to do that, right?
S2 (18:47):
So, um, yeah, in Jude six and seven also mentions, yeah,
some of the the eternal chains and darkness.
S1 (18:53):
Yeah.
S3 (18:53):
And when we think about these things, though, don't you
think we need to go back to a little bit
of what we were saying about the woman who was
concerned about witchcraft. We don't need to be focusing on
this and being afraid of them.
S1 (19:05):
Yeah. It's not. It's I don't think it's healthy. I
think people really are too demon oriented at times when
they when they think about it. I think we need
to be salvation oriented. Not that we should be ignorant
of it, but when you look at how do we
deal with spiritual warfare? I think Ephesians six is don't
go looking for it. Stand against it. Uh, you don't
(19:27):
have to cast it out. You don't have to renounce it.
What it says is resist. Stand against. That's what it means.
And and it says embody this lifestyle. And that's what the, the,
the armor of God is. The armor of God is.
It doesn't mean you pray it on. You live this lifestyle.
So you know, you have the sword of the spirit,
(19:49):
the Word of God, and read the word. You know,
you have the breastplate of salvation. Focus on your salvation,
which is our protection. Uh, if you have the if
your feet are shod with the gospel of peace, that
means go share the gospel. That's that's the lifestyle that
we need to resist. And and I think that's where
(20:10):
our focus ought to be.
S2 (20:12):
Okay. All right. Thanks for that question, Lois. Gary wrote
us from Illinois, listens to WNBA. My wife and I
were reading a devotional recently based on Luke 431 through 37. Um,
which is Jesus going down and casting out, um, a man? Sorry.
(20:32):
Casting out demons out of a man who had an
unclean spirit. A demonic spirit. Mhm. Um, and the writer
of this devotional was a physician and says many doubt
the accuracy of this diagnosis, saying it was more likely
insanity or a seizure disorder, but certainly not demon possession.
(20:54):
There's even a medical diagnosis for this called trance and
possession disorders. Uh, Gary, who wrote in with the question,
says I'm troubled by this. I looked it up in
a Bible concordance, and the word demon is used 16
times in the Gospels. So I believe there's I'm fairly
certain that demons were at work and are at work
in the world and didn't see much in the commentary,
(21:15):
the Moody Bible commentary. So I was wondering what you thought.
Are these is this a delusion kind of thing, or
is this are they demons? Like.
S1 (21:24):
I think when the Bible talks about demon possession or
actually the the most common phrases in the Bible are
either demonization or demonized. That's the word that's used in Greek.
It would really instead we we translated demon possession, but
it should be demonized. He had a daughter who was demonized.
The other thing is possessing a demon spirit. An evil spirit.
(21:45):
That's another way it's described. Okay. And I think when
the Bible talks about it. Yes, that's true. I think that, uh,
first of all, uh, there was a, I think a
real upsurge at the time of the coming of the
Messiah of Demons activity, getting involved in people's lives in
(22:06):
this way. And that's why there was so much confrontation
about it by the Lord Jesus. I think there are
still today animistic, demon oriented pagan cultures where there's still
a good deal of demonization in the lives of people. Uh,
I don't think believers can be demonized, but I think
(22:27):
what happens and this is unfortunate. Just. We know this story, Eva.
We had this friend who had, uh, psychological issues and
was being treated by medicine. And someone told him, no,
it's a demon. Stop taking the medicine. Uh, and it
(22:48):
was a disaster.
S3 (22:49):
Yeah.
S1 (22:50):
So. Right. So, uh, they cast out, allegedly, the demon.
And you're going to be fine. You don't need to
take this medicine. But they actually did have a psychological issue.
So I think in Luke four, we're dealing with a
demonization issue. But today it's not always a demonization issue.
Sometimes it's a psychological issue. And, you know, so, uh,
(23:13):
I think the best thing is to see if a
person is dealing with these issues, a Christian psychiatrist would
be able to determine whether it's a demonization issue or
a psychological issue.
S3 (23:26):
And and perhaps this devotional that they were talking about reading.
There are some people who want to strip the, the, the, the,
the New Testament of any sort of supernaturalism. And they
say it's all it's only it was only medical. It's
only natural. It's nothing supernatural. And that's not where we
(23:46):
want to go when we look at the scriptures.
S4 (23:48):
Yeah. Okay.
S2 (23:49):
All right. Thank you for that. Thanks for that question, Gary.
Autumn wrote us from Ohio listens to CRF going to
Luke 15 now. Um, Jesus gives several parables. The first two,
the lost sheep and the lost coin display. A shepherd
or owner who seeks and finds the lost. The third
is The Lost Son depicts the lost having to come
(24:10):
back to the Master and Father, where the father is
not seeking, he's just standing and watching and waiting. Can
you explain the difference between these parables and how it
ties into salvation? Why was there no seeking in the
third parable of the Lost Son?
S1 (24:27):
I'm going to give a kind of a quick answer
on this in parables. We have to ask, what is
this about? This is not about how people come to salvation.
It is about how much God values sinners, lost people
just like the lost coin and the lost sheep and
the lost son. In each of them it communicates how
much God values the lost, how much he cares about
(24:51):
the lost, and how much he wants them to be,
to be, to come home to him. And it also
deals with the son, the older son who represents religious hypocrisy,
people who don't care about the lost the way God does,
but they just care about themselves and want to be
kind of righteously legalistic, you know. And so it's not
(25:14):
really explaining how people are saved. And yet I can
say this the Bible teaches, Jesus said all that the
father has given me will come to me. Uh, it
says in Luke, in acts 13, all who were appointed
for eternal life believed. So the Bible teaches both that
(25:37):
God appoints God draws people, and then also people must believe.
And so what you see are both those things right
there in those parables. Okay. We're going to be right
back with more of your questions on this all mailbag
day of open line. Stay right there. Ever been reading
(25:59):
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(26:20):
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It's another all mailbag, all the time program on Open Line,
(26:42):
another edition. You've sent so many emails, we thought that
it'd be really good to to kind of clear the
spindle with all the questions you've sent in. And so
I'm here, Michael Ray. And joining me is Eva Ray
Jelinek and Tricia McMillan and Tricia. Uh, let's continue with
these questions. Let's try and answer as many as we can.
S2 (27:00):
All right. I have another parable question from Luke 16.
But before I get to that one, uh, a follow
up to the previous question on Luke 15. Yeah. Um,
from Autumn, she was asking about the three lost, the
lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son parables
that Jesus told us earlier in the program. You had
said parables need to be read because they're standalone stories.
(27:23):
And so how how are how does that statement apply
to Luke 15 with these three parables that you kind
of tied together?
S1 (27:30):
Well, the reason I tied those together is that they
all come together. It says all in Luke 15, all
the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to
him and the religious leadership. The Pharisees and the scribes
were complaining, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
So he told them this parable. He tells the story
(27:52):
of the the lost sheep. And then he says, or
what woman? And so he's continuing to address the same issue, uh, with,
with those religious leadership, uh, by talking about the lost coin.
And then in verse 11, he says, he also said,
indicating he's still addressing the very same issue. So although
(28:16):
these are three different parables, they're all addressing the same
issue and they were told one after another, three stories
in a row to address the issue that was raised
about how can how can he care about these sinners?
S2 (28:34):
So it's a time when our, our little, um, chapter, uh,
our little, uh, division things within to tell you what
the story is.
S1 (28:42):
Our conjunctions help. Yes. Yeah.
S2 (28:44):
Okay. All right. So Luke 16, it does say. He
also said. But this is to the disciples now instead
of to the leaders. Okay. Yeah. All right. So Alison
in Illinois listens to WNBA and said in Luke 1609
talking about this is now the parable of the dishonest manager.
S1 (29:01):
Mhm.
S2 (29:02):
Um, it says, I tell you, make friends for yourselves
by means of the unrighteous money, so that when it
fails they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.
S1 (29:12):
Oh, you know what? I just want to say something.
You just nailed something exactly right in verse six and
16 when it says it's like a shift. He also
said to his disciples, and now I think he's addressing
the same issue of God's concern for the lost. But
now it's not to the religious leadership. Now it's what
(29:36):
should you do about it, you disciples?
S2 (29:38):
Yeah. These are people closer to him. His audience has shifted.
S1 (29:41):
Yeah. And he's going to tell this other parable. Go ahead. Okay. Question.
S2 (29:44):
So Alison wants to know, can friends in that verse
that I read be interpreted souls for Christ? And if not,
can you help me understand the meaning of this?
S1 (29:54):
Yeah. Uh, in 1609, it says, make friends for yourselves
by means of unrighteous money. Now, this is about the
unrighteous steward. And of course, Eva, uh, people want to say,
is Jesus teaching unrighteousness?
S3 (30:08):
No, of course not. He's not saying be unrighteous like
the steward was unrighteous. He's saying, use take that principle
of wisdom, that he was wise in the ways of
the world. You need to be wise in the ways
of eternity.
S1 (30:21):
Yeah, that we can use. Just like he used money
to set himself up when he was getting in trouble, right?
We can use filthy mammon, you know, filthy money, which
we think is. Oh, that's always dirty. No, we can
use it for the kingdom.
S3 (30:34):
Money is neutral.
S1 (30:35):
Yeah.
S3 (30:36):
It's the love of money.
S1 (30:37):
That's exactly.
S3 (30:38):
It's not money itself.
S1 (30:39):
And he says that just as he used money to
set himself up, he's. Now he says that believers, his disciples,
should also use money.
S3 (30:48):
Yeah.
S1 (30:49):
Uh, to advance the kingdom. And the way they do
that is make friends for yourselves by means of the
unrighteous money. So when it fails, they may welcome you
into eternal dwellings. And I would just say that, uh,
you know, even I we give to missionaries, you know,
we're using our money for the kingdom. Yeah. And, uh,
there's going to come a day when I go into
(31:11):
the presence of the Lord when we enter the kingdom. Right?
They're going to be friends. I've made that. I don't
even know about that when I. There'll be people there saying,
you know, you gave money to Dave and Barbara or
to Pete and Carol, and they brought the gospel to
me in Irian Jaya or to.
S3 (31:32):
South America.
S1 (31:33):
In South America. And I came to the Lord through
their ministry. And you have made we have a friend
for eternity now, because I have in a sense, what
I've been trying to do is make friends for yourselves,
for eternity, for myself, for ourselves, by giving to the
ministry and using money to advance the kingdom. And that's
(31:54):
the principle there. Those are the friends, the people that
will be one to the Lord through using the money
for the kingdom.
S2 (32:00):
So then it seems the answer would be yes. It
could be interpreted souls for Christ. Yeah. Okay.
S3 (32:05):
And using whatever money you have to to advance the
work of God and it's, you know, it may not
be soul winning. It may be providing for the poor
who maybe already know the Lord. But they're destitute because
it says in Proverbs, he who gives to the poor
lends to the Lord. So use your money, because where
(32:25):
your treasure is, there will your heart be also. I
think it's related to all of that kingdom principle of
of using your your money, your money to advance whatever
God is doing on earth.
S2 (32:35):
Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, Gerson in Florida listens
to and wants to know about jealousy. Haha. Sort of.
Galatians 520 and 21 talks about how jealousy is a sin.
But in Exodus 3414 it says God is a jealous God.
(32:55):
And actually you are never to bow down to another God,
because Yahweh, being jealous by nature, is a jealous God.
So someone asked Gerson if there's a contradiction in what's
said in these two verses, and wasn't sure how to
answer that.
S1 (33:11):
Uh, well, jealousy is one of those things that we
can have righteous jealousy or unrighteous jealousy.
S2 (33:24):
So similar to anger.
S1 (33:25):
Yeah.
S2 (33:26):
Okay.
S1 (33:27):
And so in a in a sense, we can say
that God is a jealous God. That's righteous jealousy if
we will ever go to idols. Right? That's that's righteous jealousy. Now,
if what is unrighteous jealousy? I'll give you an example. Uh,
(33:50):
since I have the most faithful wife that ever has
lived on the earth. If my wife were not flirtatious
and she were not in any way, uh, and she
wasn't doing anything like that, and I still she happened
to be talking to some man. Uh, and I see it,
and I become jealous, even though there's no cause that's
(34:11):
unrighteous jealousy. And we all have heard about people who
have unrighteous jealousy.
S3 (34:17):
Now there are suspicious in their cruel because they think
that their spouse is cheating on them when their spouse isn't.
S1 (34:25):
Yeah.
S3 (34:25):
Or or or even thinking of cheating on them. For example.
S1 (34:28):
The, uh, you know, the the student that sees me, uh,
having lunch with a student at Moody and says, I
wanted to have lunch with him. Why isn't he having
lunch with me? Well, I never asked, you know what
I mean? And so as a result, they become jealous. Oh,
he plays favorites. And, uh, the end result is that
(34:51):
they they they actually can make trouble. And that's unrighteous jealousy.
So the God's righteousness is seen in his jealousy. You know,
just like a man ought to be jealous of his wife.
Were flirtatious. Right. On the other hand, God's not like that.
(35:11):
But we can be unrighteously jealous.
S3 (35:15):
And.
S1 (35:16):
By projecting these kinds of false thoughts.
S3 (35:19):
Right. And in the in the passage he points out
in Galatians five, it really is a whole bunch of
things that are that are bad immorality and impurity and
sensuality and, um, all of these things all together. And
so these are bad things. But yeah, but God's concern.
S1 (35:36):
But it even has outbursts of anger. And yet in Ephesians,
the very next book, it says, uh, be angry, yet
do not sin. So what does it say? Anger isn't wrong.
It's the outburst of anger.
S2 (35:49):
But can we, as sinful humans, are we able to
have righteous jealousy?
S1 (35:55):
Yeah. Yeah, sure.
S2 (35:56):
Okay. Like how? I mean, like I think about, yes,
we could have righteous anger, but it's really hard, I think,
to even know what that looks like on a sinful human,
because it seems like it's such a fine line between
what takes you over into, um, the unrighteous anger or
the unrighteous jealousy. Like, so often, it's it's from a sinful, uh,
(36:18):
place that that is kind of springing forth. And so
how do you how can you tell if it's a
righteous or unrighteous jealousy?
S1 (36:25):
Okay, so I, I know of a woman that established
a friendship with a man that was not her husband.
They did not have an immoral relationship. But this woman
had become really best friends with another man. And her
husband had a righteous jealousy, and he didn't get angry
(36:49):
and explode. But he sat down and said, listen, this
ought not to be. I'm the primary male relationship. You
ought to have. Not saying you can't be friends, but
this person has displaced me. And she was penitent and restored.
But you see, that would be your righteous H's jealousy. Uh,
(37:10):
when when that woman was involved with a person that
she ought not to have as her primary relationship.
S4 (37:18):
Okay.
S3 (37:18):
A classic story of unrighteous jealousy is Othello by Shakespeare.
S1 (37:24):
Yeah.
S3 (37:24):
He was so jealous of his wife, and he was
prodded on by this wicked man. Iago.
S1 (37:31):
Iago? Yeah.
S3 (37:32):
And it is a story of disaster. His wife was
totally faithful to him, but his unrighteous jealousy led to tragedy.
And it's one of the great tragedies of literature. And
it's a great example of this.
S1 (37:45):
Of unrighteous.
S3 (37:46):
Unrighteous jealousy.
S4 (37:47):
Okay. All right.
S2 (37:49):
Thanks.
S1 (37:51):
We're going to take a break again. Here we go. Uh,
I keep waiting for you to ask me another question,
but the time's up. We're going to be right back
with more of your questions in just a moment. Uh,
you're listening to Open Line with Michael Jelenic, Eva melnik,
and Tricia McMillan. When we come back. we've got more
of the mailbag coming up. So stay right there. We'll
be right back. So many people have questions about Israel.
(38:25):
That's why Chosen People Ministry is one of our partners
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(38:45):
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(39:06):
Welcome back to Open Line. So glad this has been
just a great time. As we cleared the spindle for
this Memorial Day weekend and all mailbag all the Time program.
I'm so thankful that you've joined me today. And, uh,
Tricia McMillan, my name is Michael Melnick. We're doing our
best to answer the questions you've mailed in. And so, Tricia,
let's see what else we can cover.
S2 (39:27):
All right. Linda in Tennessee listens to WNBA. Says recently,
I discovered that the word homosexual was not in the
Bible until the 1950s. Can you please explain the Greek
word Arsa arsenokoitai? Yes. That word and how you see
the translation.
S1 (39:46):
Uh, and, you know, she did a little second question there.
Is this translated more toward molestation than homosexuality? Uh, which
is what it is contended.
S4 (40:00):
Okay.
S1 (40:01):
Okay. Uh, this is, uh, let me just say, first
of all, I think that that believers have sometimes made
homosexuality the single worst sin. And God, you know, there's
a lot of sins out there. And I'm not saying
(40:21):
homosexuality isn't a sin. I believe that God never intended
sexual relations between to be with same sex relationships. It's, um,
but God didn't intend sexual relationships outside of marriage, even
heterosexual relationships outside of marriage. And there are many things
that are an abomination to the Lord. In fact, slander
(40:43):
is an abomination. So let's put this in perspective. I
think God loves all people. For God so loved the world.
We need to love our homosexual friends. Uh, we need
to do our best to win them to the Lord. Uh, I,
I just I want to really clarify how much we
have to care about those people who have same sex
(41:07):
attraction and same sex relationships. All that said, though, the
current advocacy for same sex relationships is saying this very
thing that the word homosexual was not used in any
Bible translation until 1946. And the answer to that is
the word homosexual did not exist until about 1891 or 2.
(41:30):
It was coined at that time. So the behavior of
same sex relationship is spoken of in the Bible. Uh, but, uh,
the that behavior, uh, was not called homosexuality. It's described.
It is not using that word because the word didn't
(41:52):
exist when the Bible was translated, for example, into the
King James Bible. It's only modern translations that use that.
And for example, in First Corinthians six. It uses this
word arsenokoitai. It is taken right out of the book
of Leviticus, which was translated into Greek in Leviticus as
describes same sex relationships and calls it a sinful. And
(42:15):
then the Septuagint translates it and uses the word male
sexual relations. And that generally is the word that's used
for the, uh, the, the male who is active in
sexual relations. And then in first Corinthians six, there's another word, malakoi, uh, which, uh,
(42:37):
in Eve is Bible. She. We were talking about this
word recently. It's the word translated in the New American
Standard as effeminate. Right. Yeah. And, uh, but I don't
think it means effeminate. When I looked it up in
the Greek lexicon, it was the passive recipient of a
male sexual relationship. The male receiving it has nothing to
do with molestation. It doesn't have to do with pagan, uh, actions.
(43:01):
What it's referring to are same sex relationships. And, uh,
that's what Paul says ought not to be, as well
as other issues. I mean, the very same passage he
deals with stealing. Robbing. So, uh, I believe that he
says that in first Corinthians six, uh, where he he
(43:23):
says these things, uh, he says, don't be deceived. No
sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers. And then he uses that word, uh,
malakoi and arsenokoitai, uh, sexual homosexual relationships.
S3 (43:42):
People seem to be okay with that.
S1 (43:43):
Yeah. And no thieves, no greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive
people or swindlers will inherit the God's kingdom. And so
what happens is people want to make homosexuality something Thing
worse than all these other things. These are all things
that will separate us from God and and we we need.
(44:06):
But it says and such were some of you used
to be like this? We can be redeemed from that.
So the Lord Jesus died for all our sins, including
same sex relationship sins.
S3 (44:18):
And rose again.
S1 (44:19):
And then he rose again. He died for the sins,
rose again, proving he's God. And he can redeem us
if we'll trust in him.
S2 (44:26):
Yeah, I like the end of the verse where you said, um,
you used to be like this, but you were washed,
you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.
S4 (44:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
S1 (44:39):
So we don't have to say, oh, that's that's what
we are. And there's no hope. There's great hope.
S4 (44:45):
Yeah.
S2 (44:45):
Yeah. Thank you. Uh, next question is from Joanne in Florida.
She says we usually say amen at the end of prayer.
Does that mean so be it? Or is it giving
reference to the sun god?
S3 (44:57):
Uh, well, first of all, it's not giving reference to
the sun god. Amenhotep has nothing to do with the
word Amen. This is, you know, the internet's a wealth
of bad information. And the word amen is, is we
see it in Greek, but it actually comes from the Hebrew,
from the same word. It's just a transliteration that came
into Greek. And it means and it does mean truth
or it is true, it and it is used in firm.
S1 (45:20):
It actually literally means firm.
S3 (45:22):
Firm. Yeah, it is firm. And uh, and it's interesting
that where Jesus is called the Amen in revelation 314,
it is really a reference, I think back to Isaiah
6516 where he talks about how God is truth. It's
the same thing. He is called the Amen and the word.
We read the New Testament and Jesus is teaching and
he says, verily, verily, I say to you, it actually
(45:43):
is Amen, Amen, I say to you. He used it
at the beginning of so many statements, where as we
have come into the to the practice of when someone
is praying, we say Amen. Meaning yes, we agree. May
it be so. May it be so.
S1 (45:58):
Yeah. Well, can you believe it? That's the program for
this week. Thanks for listening, everyone. Especially those of you
who sent in these really terrific questions. I really appreciate that. Uh,
as always, I'm grateful to Tricia McMillan for putting this
mailbag together and joining me and for for helping me
answer these questions today and also Courtney. Courtney Young, our engineer,
(46:22):
did a great job making this all flow together. Thank
you so much for that. Uh, remember you can check
out our web page, Open Line radio.org. It's got all
sorts of great links. You can see our current Bible
study resource, how to become a Kitchen table Partner. You
can see my own website. Keep reading the Bible. We'll
talk about it next week. Open line with Doctor Michael
Wright is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
(46:44):
Moody Bible Institute. Have a great Memorial Day. Bye.