July 9, 2025 • 56 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez,
and we are here live on this Tuesday to talk
to you about the Bible, the Christian faith, anything you
want to talk about, give us a call at 888-564-6173.
And answering your questions today, we've got Richard Cimino, one
of the assistant pastors at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Say hello, Richard.
(00:39):
Well hello, Brian. Hello. And also joining us today is
Pastor Brian Broderson. Say hello Pastor Brian.
Well, hello.
Can you tell them apart? No. Anyway, Pastor Brian is
here today. That was Richard providing both voices, but yes,
Pastor Brian will be back, uh, we'll be in the
studio today as, uh, there he's walking in right now.
(01:01):
Check that out. There he is getting in my camera shot,
as always, uh, but I've gotten used to that, and
I love it. Pastor Brian, good to have you here, man.
Haven't seen you in a while. Uh, thank you, Brian.
Now I am thoroughly confused.
Well, it's gonna, I was gonna say, Richard would have
a little bit of a hard time impersonating me today
(01:22):
because I've got the Chuck voice going. I actually went
down an octave when he asked me to introduce myself,
say hi as you. I, I was just in a
meeting and part of the conversation was, it's amazing how
much you and Richard sound alike. Somebody called the other
day and they thought they were talking to you. They're
talking to Richard.
But today you do sound like Chuck. I do, yes,
(01:43):
I have that. I love that when I can get the,
you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, speak a little slower.
There's a, there's a negative side to it, of course,
because you're sick, but I'm not sick anymore. I'm just recovering, yes,
from sick. Yes, great to see you guys. Yeah, see you.
Good to have you here.
(02:04):
Grocery. I was in that market. I I saw that
picture and I was thinking I wish I was there.
It's a grocery store and Richard Richard's son-in-law owns a
chain of grocery stores in New York. Yeah, oh, OK,
it's called Happier.
And you know, you walk in and it's just the
(02:26):
vibe and you just, it's a happy place.
Don't you think? Yes, a little expensive but happy. Oh,
now we, now we know why it's called happy, but
friends and family, friends and family, we'll take that. Yes, yeah,
I told him I was a friend and that didn't
seem to, you know, we should, you should have told
us you're going and we would have set you up.
(02:46):
That's right, the friend and family discount.
All right, call us up, 888-564-6173. You can also send
in your questions on the pastor's perspective Instagram, or you
can go to Kwave.com and look for the pastor's perspective
page and send in your question that way. Or if
you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram right now, you
can scan the QR code, and that'll take you right
(03:08):
to that page. Or you can go to the pastor's
perspective Facebook page.
And use messenger. That's what RJ and Lamorada did. He writes,
I've been reflecting on the direction America is heading, and
it's deeply troubling to me. Our nation no longer resembles
what it once was. There's increasing moral decay, a celebration
(03:29):
of what is evil, declining church attendance, and a rise
in teachings like the prosperity gospel, the word of faith movement,
and even cult-like distortions of Christianity. As I read Revelation
18 and the description of mystery Babylon.
I can't help but notice striking parallels with the current
state of America. The more I study that chapter and
(03:49):
observe what's happening around us, the more I wonder, do
you believe America could be mystery Babylon, described in Revelation 18?
Pastor Brian, what would you say? Now, my thought, not
that my thought matters, but this could have been written
40 years ago as well, and I mean, there's been
that constant decline, you could say, but RJ thinks it's
(04:09):
worse now than it ever has been, and it probably is.
Yeah, I, I, you know, it, it's hard to say. I,
I think that um we tend, we tend to think
that in the moment, but yet if we look back
to another period in time, um, and we had lived
then we probably would have thought some very, very similar things. So, um, obviously,
(04:34):
you know, the country is
Somewhat different than it was, I'm looking at Richard, when
when we were growing up, yeah, but it's, it's not
that much different really. And, and the world is different,
but it's not that much different. So I, you know,
Paul referred to this, uh, he referred to the world
(04:54):
as this present evil age, and he wrote that 2000
years ago.
And so I think, um, you know, when we think
of the ideal society or whatever, it, you know, if
there is any such a thing, it's very short-lived. It's
always um in very limited space and things tend to
(05:17):
go um south, as they say, all throughout history, and
I think
You know, we're, we're definitely heading south. Yeah, moving down
that road, we're going down that road. Um, but you know, there,
there are many things and, and again, it kind of
depends on where you're sitting. It kind of depends on
(05:38):
your perspective. So I, I was just reading something the
other day where um
You know, many, many people would look back at uh
with nostalgia at the 50s in, in this country, in America, oh,
like the, the 50s were amazing, if we could just
get back to the 50s. Well, it depends on the
people that you were talking to in the 50s. Some
(05:59):
people would say the 50s were like a horrible decade,
you know, so it, it kind of just depends on,
on where you're sitting too, so.
I, I think you know the general picture of scripture,
Jesus said evil days are gonna grow worse and so
we can expect that, uh, to happen as we approach
(06:21):
the Lord's coming, but the mission doesn't change. Um, you know, what,
what is it Stetzer has a nice little thing that
he has been saying a lot recently that the um.
Uh, the something like the circumstances we're in doesn't change
the mission we're on. And I think, you know, that's
(06:42):
good because that's, that's reality. Circumstances are always going to change,
but the mission remains the same. Yeah. So Richard, do
you think America's mystery Babylon that we read about in
Revelation 18?
I don't know if I would give it that exact title.
I think the whole world is gonna be, it's it's
a world system that that that it's referring to at
(07:03):
the very close of the age, and I, the first
thing I thought when I read this is, well, it
sounds like you're describing Israel at numerous times in their history,
you know, it's just the reality and and God had
prophet stand up and speak to them.
And they were just they were they were sacrificing their
kids to idols. We we're not gonna call Jerusalem um
(07:26):
the mystery Babylon, you know, there there's Jerusalem is, it
is a place, it's a very real place that I
think looking forward to. There's gonna be a new Jerusalem
that comes down from above. So I just think it's
really important. I guess we tend as I think we
tend as Americans to Americanize the we look through the
at the scriptures through the lens of America.
(07:47):
And I remember I had a friend tell me when
the the day the Twin Towers were were attacked and,
and he said, Babylon the Great is fallen.
I mean, I don't know if that was Babylon the Great,
but we tend to Americanize stuff, so yeah, yeah, I
think that is there's definitely um
(08:10):
An American lens that many evangelicals kind of it it
almost interpret, especially prophetic types of passages through. And I
think that, you know, the funny thing is you get
outside of the US and they're they're looking at us like, what?
You know, I, I what are you concerned about? I
remember I have a firsthand experience with this. I remember
(08:32):
preaching in Europe one time years ago.
And I was, you know, doing like a prophecy thing,
and I was talking about the Antichrist, and I was
talking about the, the anti-Christ coming out of Europe, and oh, this,
this was not going over well with my audience and
they uh they wanted to talk to me and they
were insisting that um the Antichrist is already here and
(08:54):
he's in the White House, you know.
Uh, so they had no room for, uh, a European, uh,
origin of the Antichrist, which, so again, it's, it's kind
of your perspective, you know, and we can't.
I, I think we can't fail to recognize that sometimes we,
(09:16):
we just do, do that. We, we, it's our default
to just see it through that lens. So if it's
happening here, so we know that the end of the
world is here because my life is not as
Pleasant as it was 20 years ago as we would
like it to be. Yeah, so the end of the
(09:38):
world is here. Yeah, but even though it was completely
screwed up over in that other place, uh, 20 years ago, we,
we thought the world was just fine. Yeah, because our
world is fine, you know, this morning, honestly, I was, um, I, I,
you know, I, I had a great time in just,
you know, going through my, my chapters in, in scripture.
(10:00):
And at the same time, I was looking at news and,
you know, all the madness. So I just came came
back from New York and there's, you know, some crazy
stuff there.
And I was looking at all of that and and
then I and I was walking around my neighborhood and
I was praying and I was praying about all the
chaos and all the confusion, and as I'm praying I'm
I'm thinking I am in like a totally serene blissful
(10:22):
moment right here in my neighborhood, you know, so it's
kind of like this this contrast in, I mean, I
know there's crazy stuff going on in the world, but
in Costa Mesa, man, things are pretty darn good this morning,
you know, so it's like.
I don't know, we have, we have to be careful,
I think, not.
(10:43):
Overstating the case, yeah.
RJ, thank you for sending in your question on the
pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. Now let's go to the phones.
Here is Margot. She's calling in from Rancho Cucamonga, 888-564-6173
is the number that Margo called, and you can call
that number too. Hey, Margo, how can we help you today?
(11:04):
Uh, I was wondering where did the thief on the
cross go for the 3 days after Jesus told him
today you will be with me in paradise. And while
I was listening to, uh, while I was on hold,
I thought of another question if you don't mind. No,
we don't mind. Let's answer your first one first, though.
(11:24):
Where did the thief go for those 3 days? Richard,
what's say you?
Well, today you'll be with me in paradise, um, and
there are people who would
have opinions on where that is, what that is, and
I remember Pastor Chuck just used to talk about um
the reality that um that prior to the cross and
(11:49):
resurrection of Jesus, Hades was was compar was was.
Um, compartmentalized. There was, there was those, and he would
use the, um, when Jesus was talking about, um, the
rich man and the beggar and how the beggar who
died and went into the bosom of Abraham, and then
the rich man ended up in Hades as well, but
(12:12):
there was this gulf between them that was fixed and
um and so the bosom of Abraham would have been
equivalent to paradise where those who died looking forward in
faith to the Messiah.
Um, they, that's where they were. There was, it was
a place of comfort as opposed to the other compartment,
if you would, was a place of torment.
(12:35):
And if that's the case, then surely the guy before
the resurrection of Jesus, he would have been with the
in the bosom of Abraham, if you would. That's the
way Pastor Chuck used to explain that passage. Pastor Chuck,
is that right?
Now, Richard, uh,
I'm not sure you're remembering, uh, no, I'm kidding. I,
(13:01):
I forgot I was Pastor Chuck for a minute, so
there you go, yeah, you kind of jarred me there.
No worries. But any thoughts on Margot's question? Well, I think,
you know, yeah, I mean, what Richard said was, was
great and I I think just Jesus said, today you'll
be with me in paradise. Some people, Don Stewart, who
was with us on this program for many years, Don,
(13:24):
Don did not see that as anything less than the
thief going right into glory with Jesus, you know, at
that time.
Um, he didn't, you know, the idea that there was
kind of this place of like where the souls, you know, resided.
Done, he didn't so much see that. So, you know, there's,
(13:45):
there's different opinions, but I think uh the point is
Jesus says, you're gonna be with me in paradise. Um, paradise.
Like, you know, it's funny because the word paradise appears
a few times in the New Testament, and you, you
kind of tend to think of because of what Jesus
said there and because of uh passage in Ephesians, uh,
(14:11):
Christ descending into the lower parts of the earth, you
kind of tend to think of it as, you know, this,
this other place that's not.
What we would call heaven.
Uh, but then Paul, when he's talking about an experience
he has where he's caught up to the third heaven,
he calls that paradise as well. So all that to
(14:34):
say it's a little bit.
Um, fuzzy on exactly, but the, the point is he's
with Jesus. Yeah, so that's, that would be paradise, that's paradise, yeah. Marco,
what's your other question?
My other question is, uh, I have some friends who
are telling me that, uh, or suggesting that Donald Trump
(14:55):
is the antichrist.
It's it's more than a few people that are suggesting that.
What do you, what do you, what are your thoughts
on that? That's scary. Yeah, I don't think you have
to worry about that. Um, I, I think that the,
you know, the Antichrist is a very specific person obviously
(15:18):
who comes at a specific time from a specific region.
And um I, I don't think that Donald Trump fits
any of that. There, there have been many uh
Different attempts over the years to
To sort of pin that on a particular person, you know,
(15:39):
there were, there, there was uh a time I remember
when people suggested that Ronald Reagan was the anti-Christ because his, uh, Ronald, um, Wilson,
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 666, you know, 6 letters to each
name and there it was, you know, he had to
be the guy and um.
(16:01):
Henry Kissinger was was tagged as that before because, you know,
he was Jewish and and all of this. So any
speculation about that, I think is just really a waste
of time.
For sure. Yeah, I, I agree. Speculation is speculation. Yeah. Margo,
(16:21):
thanks for your phone call today on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173
is the number to call to ask your question. And
now we're gonna go to Jose in Long Beach, who's
watching us on YouTube. Hi there, Jose, how can we
help you today?
Oh, hi, thank you for uh taking my call.
Yeah, you're welcome. My question was, uh, if there is
(16:43):
a salvation for Gentiles during the uh great uh tribulation.
All right, Pastor Brian.
Uh, yes, many, uh, Gentiles. This is what is happening
during the tribulation, you know, where you see these, these
great numbers that no one can count, and they are
(17:09):
then brought before the throne of God and, and in
chapter 8, I think it is, the question is asked,
who are these? and uh where did they come from? And,
and it's this multitude, this innumerable multitude.
And the responses, these are those who came out of
the Great Tribulation and who have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the lamb. And
(17:31):
um so tells us specifically that there will be these
large numbers of people that will come to.
To faith in Jesus during that time.
So why do you ask this question, Jose?
Oh, because, uh, uh, 11 of the pastors I know
said that, uh, there's no, uh, because he used, he
(17:55):
used a Romans 11, which is, uh,
Until, uh, last, uh, Gentile would be saved, something like that.
So, uh, I was wondering that, um, besides besides, uh,
Revelation 79, uh, is there another, uh, passages you have
to back that up?
(18:17):
Um, well, let's go back to the to the Romans
11 for a minute because what is being talked about there.
is the salvation of Israel in the future, which will
come after the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. So
the fullness of the Gentiles in that context would be
(18:38):
a reference to the church. The church is predominantly Gentile,
although it's not, not exclusively, but it's predominantly. And so
I think most Bible commentators would, would see that as
Um, the fullness of the Gentiles coming in is the
last person to become a Christian, kind of, and then
God's focus is redirected back to the nation and reconciling
(19:06):
them to himself. Any thoughts, Richard?
No, I'm good. OK. What do you think, Jose?
I, so, so that means uh uh for Christians then
if uh they uh they are left over left behind,
uh there uh it's gonna be a second chance for
for them.
(19:26):
For Christians? Well, I, I think it depends on your
definition of a Christian, I guess. Um, you know, I,
I think, I think we think in this room that
if you're a Christian, then you are part of the
body of Christ and you're not left behind. If you're
left behind, it was because you actually weren't a Christian.
(19:50):
Could you become a Christian then? Um, I think yes,
that that is possible.
Jose, thank you for your phone call today on Pastor's Perspective.
And now let's answer another question that was sent in
on Facebook Messenger. This is from Christiana, who asks if
demons are fallen angels. What do you guys think?
(20:11):
Richard.
Well, it talks in the book of Revelation about the
the the the stars that were swept from the sky
and
The word star can be translated angel, and, and there
are those who believe and I think there's, I would
think so, that they were, they joined Satan in his
(20:33):
original rebellion against God and was when he was cast
out of heaven, they were cast out of heaven with
him and thus they are fallen angelic beings, right.
Yeah, I think, I think that um.
That is
What the
The scripture seemed to teach. I don't, I don't think
(20:53):
demons are like a, a, a different category of being that.
We don't know anything about it except suddenly we find
them mentioned, you know, in the New Testament. So I
think um Paul talked when Paul talks about Satan, um,
appearing as an angel of light. So I think the
(21:16):
idea of angel, fallen angel, even though
That's not specifically stated. I think that is the best.
Way to understand who these beings are. Yeah, well they
were if they, the fact that they exist.
And they're labeled as demons in the New Testament.
(21:38):
Means that they're part of creation. Yeah. It's hard to
imagine that they were created as demons, right, right? Like, no,
they were created as angelic beings and they chose to
join Satan and his rebellion against God. Yeah, and and
then I was, I was thinking in the passage in
Jude where it talks about the angels who did not
(21:58):
keep their first estate. Yeah, yeah, so.
That would be the reference to falling. All right, Christiana,
thank you for sending in your question through Facebook Messenger.
And now let's go to Long Beach. Here is Norma,
who's watching us on YouTube right now, so we'll wave
hi to Norma, and what's your question for us today, Norma?
Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call. God
(22:19):
bless you all. Thank you. Um, so my question is, um,
I was, uh, I was going through the Bible and
reading the story about Jonah and the whale, and I
had also heard a teaching that, um,
When Jonah is uh praying to the Lord, it says
(22:41):
that uh Jonah was praying to the Lord from the
belly of Sheol, and my understanding is that Sheo uh
was or is some part of hell, right? And so
in that teaching, I got confused or I just wanna
make sure that I understand it, but
In the teaching that I saw, uh, the pastor was
(23:05):
saying that Jonah died and he was resurrected after he
prayed to the Lord, um, to, uh, get him out
of the way. So I just want to understand if
that's correct, because that would be the first time I
hear that somebody else resurrected in the Old Testament besides
(23:26):
um
Uh, Jesus' cousin or Jesus' friend, I'm sorry. Mhm.
Yeah, and that was in the New Testaments, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. Yeah. Well, well, Norma,
that is, um, he does reference Shield there and the
question is, is he speaking uh poetically?
(23:49):
Uh, because the experience that he's having being in the
belly of this great fish and, you know, going down
into the depths of the sea and describing the experience
that he's having, is he just using language that
I mean, it, you know, it seems like he's dead,
you know, it seems like, OK, this this must be
what like what being in hell is like, um, or
(24:13):
is he describing an actual experience of having died.
Um, and I've heard people.
Um,
Refer to to both things, and I, I think, Richard,
you can.
Jump in here too, I, I think that uh because
(24:36):
the New Testament, Jesus uses Jonah as an example of
Of himself. As Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights
in the heart, uh, in the belly of the great fish,
so the Son of Man will be 3 days and
3 nights in the heart of the earth. So Jesus
doesn't say that he died. Jesus says he's in the,
the belly of the great fish.
(24:58):
Um, so I don't know. I, I think you could
probably go either way with it. Um, we know he
was in the belly of the great fish. We know
that he, uh, came up alive onto the beach. Um,
what actually happened there?
Did he die and get resurrected? Um, I don't necessarily
think so, but I, I would tend to go with
(25:20):
the language just being descriptive and poetic, but it could
have been. What do you think, Rich? Well, in Jonah 2:7,
he says, when my life was fainting away, right? So
he's not dead. He wasn't he wasn't praying in from shale.
He's praying as a living person who's been swallowed whole
by a very great fish, giant fish.
(25:41):
And then even the use of the word pit you've
brought my life up from the pit. I, I, I
would tend to think that's very poetic in its nature because,
you know, we're reading the psalm, you lifted me up
out of the horrible pit, right? Um, this almost wasn't
saying he died, he was just in a pit, you know,
in a really horrible situation, yeah, so.
(26:02):
What do you think, Norma?
Well, thank you very much. It, it's, yeah, it makes sense.
That would be the reason why I just learned that
lesson after hearing this story over and over again, so
it makes sense that it was just the language of
him describing where he was at in that belly. So yeah,
(26:23):
thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, you're you're welcome. Thanks
for calling. Yep, 88885.
646173 is how you can ask your question. We've got
Brian Broderson and Richard Cimino here from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa,
888-564-6173 is the number. And here's a question that was
sent in through the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page. It's from
(26:46):
Ruby in Moreno Valley. Did the Lord also make the
universe and galaxies? And if he did, how long did
it take, Brian?
Well, yes, he did. Um, he makes that claim over
and over again. He's the God who made, you know, the, um,
the way the the scriptures put it is the heavens
(27:08):
and the earth, which is another way of describing the,
the universe. So he is the God who made all
things and um we read in Genesis chapter one, that
You know, we read about the, the 6 days of
creation and then on the 7th day, the Lord rest
(27:29):
and some people would read that and say, well, you know, look,
it says right here that God did this in 6
days and we understand 6 days to be 6, uh
24 hour periods just.
We, that that's how we understand a day, and I
think that that's
A good way to understand what is being told us there. Uh,
(27:53):
other Christians would say, well, no, it's not, it's not actual,
you know, 6 literal days, those are figurative days. It
was a longer period of time. We don't know how
long exactly. Um, we do know that God created the
heaven and the earth, but, um, some would not want
to say that he did it in a literal, uh,
(28:14):
6 days.
And, um, but yet when you continue to read on,
I think in Exodus, a couple of times, the Lord says,
he reminds the people that in 6 days I made
the heaven and the earth.
And so I tend myself to just take that as, um,
just kind of, you read it on the surface, he
(28:36):
says he made it in 6 days. I know there's
people who are astronomers and you know, people that are
scientifically oriented that would say, oh, you know, no, that's
that's not really.
The way it happened. And um OK, that's, you know, there,
there's a diversity of opinion about the length of time
(28:57):
that creation took. I personally take the position that it,
it happened in 6 literal days.
And again, when it says the heavens, it's referring to
the entire, I mean, everything we can't see, it's not
just like the sky above us, it's everything. Yeah, it's
the whole thing, yeah.
OK, Ruby, thank you for sending in your question through
(29:18):
the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page, and we're gonna take a
break now, but then we'll be back with more of
your questions. What do you want to ask Brian Broderson
and Richard Cimino? We're gonna be here for about another
30 minutes, and we'd love to hear from you at 888-564-6173.
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, thank you
for watching, but, uh, call us if you have a
(29:39):
question for the guys here today, 888-564-6173.
(30:17):
We're back on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to
call today. My name is Brian Perez. We've got Brian
Broderson and Richard Cimino from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa here,
and we'd love to answer the questions you have about
the Bible, the Christian faith. Give us a call at 888-564-6173. Uh,
(30:39):
where's Bobby Conway?
Bobby Conway. Remember that guy? Where is, where is the
great doctor? Um, yeah, I wanted to take a second
and just, um, just say how much I love Bobby
and how appreciative. Of course I wasn't here, you know, on,
on the last broadcast with him last week and we
did something before when, before I left, but
(31:02):
Um, he texted me right after the program and he said, um,
he said he just started sobbing, you know, when he
got off the air and, um, and it was all
sweet and good, you know, he just was saying how, uh,
you know, just what a wonderful season it's been, and,
and I just wanted to
Uh, say that as well. I just, um, I mean, even,
(31:25):
even coming in today thinking, wow, you know, no, no, Bobby,
you know, it's just after 6 or 7 years, you
just get in that place where, you know, you're together
all the time. And I think of the many, many
great programs that we've done together and all the fun,
you know, we've had a ton of fun in the
(31:47):
process and um.
And I'm, I'm very thankful for Bobby as, uh, and so,
you know, respect him as just a great man, a
great minister of the gospel, a great husband and dad
and friend and all those things. And so, yeah, we'll
miss him, um, him and I, we, you know, we
(32:09):
Instagram each other and text back and forth, and, and we'll,
we'll get together and do some stuff too in the future,
but um.
Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to
him today. He's probably not listening today because, you know,
eating dinner. He's eating dinner. That's right. That's what he
hasn't been able to do for a lot of years. Wow,
6.5 years without dinner. That's a long time. Well, he
(32:31):
was here in California for a long time, yeah, he,
we got some dinner when he came, you know.
Because it was early, you know, it's the least we
could do. Yeah. So anyway, I just want to shout
out to my dear brother Bobby Conway and say love you,
miss you, and we'll see you when we see you. Yep.
And you can support the work of Bobby Conway on
(32:53):
his website, Christianity Still makes sense.com, and don't forget to
subscribe to his new YouTube channel called The Graphite Apologist.
You can keep up with him that way.
And yeah, last, yeah, he has a teaching program on
this radio station. It's also called Christianity still makes sense
on Saturday and Sunday. So check that out. Go to
the Kwave.com programs page so that you can see the
(33:16):
exact times. But yeah, last Thursday when we did that
last episode with Bobby.
Um, normally at the end when the program ends we
could see him here on the monitors and we just
kind of wave, see you tomorrow, whatever. And he was gone,
I think before the program ended, and I was just like,
I didn't get to wave to him. He took off,
but that's why I think he's having an emotional, yeah, yeah,
(33:38):
so I, I was in a meeting before I came
in here and they were, they were talking about just
what a, what a great program it was and yeah, yeah.
So if you guys missed it, go back, look for
the July 3rd episode.
And, uh, you can hear it on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify or watch it on Facebook or YouTube. 888-564-6173 is
our number, and here's a question that was sent in
(34:00):
on Facebook from Licy, who writes, I grew up Catholic,
and even though I've been walking with the Lord for
several years, I feel like I'm still trying to understand.
And discern different things that I was taught between my
upbringing and what the Bible says. Often I was taught
about Saint Peter waiting for us at the pearly gates
with the Book of Life, and I know there's mentions
(34:21):
of both Peter and the pearly gates in the Bible,
but I also know the verse that says to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
And I'm trying to discern how this all fits together
or grasp the real understanding of what any of this means.
I find myself cautious when saint is being used from
my Catholic upbringing, knowing we are all saints in the
(34:42):
body of Christ. What do you guys say, Brian? Well,
I think that um we are the perfect people to
ask this question to because it's pretty commonly known among
our listeners that I grew up with a Catholic background.
And so I will answer questions, you know, based on
my own experience, but what is probably not as commonly
(35:03):
known as Richard did as well. And um
And we've had some fun conversations about our, our Catholic
lives and some really amazing conversations and Richard, I'm always,
were either of you altar boys by any chance? I was,
were you? Richard was, and I did my best to
stay as far away from that as I could, and
(35:24):
I succeeded. Yes, I did not, but, but we, we
both went to Catholic school, yeah.
And um, but, but one of the things I was
gonna say is I love your, your testimony is one
of my favorites, you know, I just love the story
of how God got a hold of you, but I
also love the fact that it was to a large
(35:46):
degree in the context of the Catholic Church. And so
you should answer this question.
Yeah, well, there it is a mixed bag, you know, um, I,
you know, I don't think there's Saint Peter's gonna be,
you know, checking IDs at the gate, um.
Um, but I do, I do believe, um, that it's,
(36:07):
there is this thing that we've had, you have so
much that you've, you know, been taught, and then you
start wading through the pages of scripture and you see
some things there that's like, well that sounds very familiar,
but then there's other things you want, oh, that's, that
doesn't sound anything like what I was told before. And
so I think you're in a great space to just
continue to allow the word of God.
(36:30):
To to interpret for you, let the word of God
be the the the thing that explains for you like
which way is north on the compass, what is, what
is right, what's what's right on, what, oh, well, that
might be, maybe that might be the case. I'm with
the I I I just want to encourage you because
(36:50):
I just know it was, it was Catholic people. It
was a Catholic guy who led me to Jesus, a
guy I'd gone to grade school with all the way
through high school.
Um, some of the very first Christians I met were
were in in a Catholic charismatic church, um, and they
had such a love for the Bible that they loved Jesus, um,
(37:10):
they were so open to the person and work of
the Holy Spirit. I was my first introduction to spiritual
gifts was in the context of a Catholic charismatic prayer meeting.
And that, but it was wonderful when I came to
to Calgary Tropical Costa Mesa and Pastor Chuck would open
up the scriptures and explain these things and gave me
like a real firm um uh grasp on like, oh
(37:34):
this is what the scripture has to, this is what
that gift is. This is not just that I experience it,
but this is, this is where you find out about
it in the pages of scripture. So I, I really
do um.
First of all, praise the Lord that you have, you know, Jesus,
and there are gonna be a number of things that
the more you grow in grace and in the knowledge
(37:54):
of our Lord and Savior, and the more you grow
in your understanding of scripture that you're just going, oh,
that doesn't line up at all with what we were taught.
But I can tell you this, that, that as a
brand new like days old Christian, I didn't know where
else to go. I'd never been in a Protestant church
in my life, so I went.
To this Catholic church, and when the priest said certain
(38:17):
things that I'd heard said in Mass.
I don't know how many times, more than I could
ever number.
And I would go
Jesus, I can't believe it. It's just like it was
like it's, it's, it was amazing to me like, how
did I not hear that ever before? But I, because
now that I was born again, everything about Jesus was
(38:38):
like amplified, you know, and but then the, the more
I was around and the more I was in the Bible,
but what about, what about this bit over here? And
still I there there are dear Christians that that I mean,
dear Catholics that that value, my wife and I both
love dearly.
And they're still in the Catholic Church, and they still
love the Lord, and it's like, praise the Lord, yeah.
(38:59):
Yeah, you know, I, um, have you?
heard much about or or listened to any conversation with
um Bishop Robert Barron.
This guy is phenomenal. I mean, he is absolutely amazing.
You know, my dad, um, some years ago my dad goes, Hey, son,
you know, come over here. I want, I want you
to listen to this. So he, he puts on a,
(39:22):
a teaching by this guy, Bishop Robert Barron, and I'm,
I'm listening to this guy thinking, man, this guy's preaching,
and I think it was Philippians, and he was just
killing it, you know.
I go, Dad, keep listening to this guy, this guy.
But anyway, he is. Yeah, you know, he is a
guy whose story is so amazing and um he's like
(39:46):
millions of listeners and followers on social media, and he's
a gospel centered Catholic bishop.
And you know, and he, he is so amazing. Uh,
Justin Briley did a great interview with him recently, and
I mean, I'll I'll send it to you because it's
worth listening to and you just see a guy with
(40:08):
so much passion for the gospel and coming from where
he's coming from and thinking of the impact he's having
in the church, you just think, OK, Lord, you're doing
some good things, you know, in the Catholic Church in
in our day.
Um, I mean, your experience, I think was fairly rare because,
you know, most churches weren't alive the spirit into the gospel,
(40:30):
and none of the churches that I was in as
a Catholic really ever were, um, but to think that
there were some then and there are more today even
than there were in the past. So I think that's encouraging.
So like you said though, it's, it's a mixed bag.
Some of it is
Yeah, that's, that's it right there. That's it, and sometimes
(40:51):
even an insight, you're like, wow, I, I didn't see
that before. And then other stuff you're like, no, no, no,
that's not. Yeah, and when you engage Catholics, there's so
much more to talk about than is Peter gonna be
at the pearly gates, you know what I mean, it's
like there's just so much more than that and and
and is when my advice to anybody is whenever you're
(41:12):
In a conversation with Catholics, like, like.
Don't assume, don't assume the worst, and, and don't, don't
go to places that are points of controversy unless they
deal specifically with the Lord Jesus Christ and, and just
like keep it to Jesus because like I, I was
just thinking while you were talking, Brian, I was just
(41:32):
thinking like, like.
I had a prophetic word spoken over me that I
would be in pastoral ministry at a at a Catholic
charismatic Greek gathering in Westminster at Blessed Sacrament Church with
about 400, 500 kids crammed into this gymnasium on a
hot summer night, and just somebody came up, put their
(41:53):
hand on my shoulder and said, brother, the Lord's gonna
put the shepherd staff in your hand.
It's great. It's great. So praise the Lord for for
Catholics that love Jesus. Yeah, awesome. Lucy, thank you for
sending in your question, and we've got another question on
Catholicism from Carlos. Hey, Carlos, thank you for calling 888-564-6173.
(42:15):
What's your question for us today?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I have a question, pastors. Thank you so much for your,
for your guidance and um all the prosperity that you have,
have given me in my life through, through your, your
teachings and your, your perspectives on things. Um, I just
recently just got back when I say recently, I just
got back today from Mexico City. Um, I was there when, when, yeah,
(42:37):
thank you, sir. When I was there.
I went to um the basilica, the the the era
de Guadalupe, which is the basilica of the Virgin Mary
in Mexico City. My dad took me there when I
was born after I was born, um, because I was
supposed to be born on December 26th, but I wasn't,
I didn't get to be born until January 5th of 1975.
(43:01):
So my dad felt that it was a miracle that
my mom, he asked for my mom and for me
to be healthy.
And then it, it did happen. So he, he drove
from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City and presented me
to the Virgin Mary. Now, be it so. So I
went there and I told my dad, you know what, Dad,
(43:21):
I'm here.
He told me to give thanks to the Virgin Mary.
I felt uncomfortable because at a very young age, I,
I accepted Christ after, you know, being baptized, first communion
and confirmation in the Catholic Church, but
I felt guilty because I didn't wanna thank the Virgin Mary.
(43:44):
And did I do wrong by disrespecting my father that
way when he told me it was a promise for
me to be for for for me to be well nowadays,
you know, well off and everything.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Uh, well, Carlos, um, no, you know, there, there is
a point and we understand, you know, the, the family.
Connection and and your dad and and you know, all
of this, I mean, really.
Interesting stuff that's kind of woven together with.
(44:17):
In in your story, but you did the, you did
the right thing in that you honored God and um
You know, not intending to disrespect your dad, but just
honoring the Lord above even, you know, your dad's wish
there because, you know, your, your dad, I'm sure his
(44:38):
heart is pure and all of this stuff, and but
he's just sincerely wrong on this issue, you know, the
Virgin Mary.
Uh, does not exist in the way that Roman Catholics
think that she exists, and she's not to be thanked
or praised or anything. She's, she doesn't exist. Um, you know,
(44:59):
we have one God and one mediator between God and men,
and that is the man Christ Jesus, and
Uh, the apostles made that perfectly clear. Jesus made that clear.
Marry herself, the mother of Jesus made it clear when
she said, listen to him, you know, do what he says. Uh,
she never said to anybody, hey, you know, pray to me,
(45:21):
listen to me. This is all stuff that came on
later in church history. So, you wanted to honor your dad,
I get all of that, but you did the right
thing and so you don't need to feel guilty.
Um, and you can even, you know, just say to
your dad, well, Dad, you know, I think God, because
of course, God is the, he's the, the one that
(45:42):
we really in the end, even if you think about the,
the idea of Mary, what is, what is she doing? Well,
she's pointing us to God. So I'm just gonna go
straight to God and be thankful to him. Yeah.
What do you think, Carlos?
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I think that's um very soothing to me right now
at this point because I was having um thoughts.
That um maybe I'm doing the doing the wrong thing
but apparently I'm not. I guess my, my, my, my
deep gut feeling was to um.
Um, fight, fight and protect and what I believe in, and,
(46:19):
and that's the Lord Jesus
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Christ. Yeah. And, and that was the, I think you
could say that that was the spirit of God just
within you saying, no, you know, you need to stand
on the truth here. And um it's easy to get
kind of sucked into the sentimental aspects of it or
the emotional aspects of it because of family and all
of that. But there's a place where we just have
to say, well, you know, look, I, I love you
(46:40):
and I respect you, but in this area.
Uh, we gotta really go with what the Bible teaches,
not with what we think about it. So thank you, Carlos,
for calling in today to Pastor's perspective. Now we'll go
to Philadelphia. Here is Jacqueline, who's listening to us on
the Kwave app. Thank you, Jacqueline, for downloading the app
and for calling in today.
(47:03):
Hi, can you hear me? Loud and clear.
Well, well, this is the first time I've been on
the radio ever. Ever. So, uh, I've been listening to
you guys. I wanna say thank you for 2 years
straight every morning going to work and then about this
time it's 6 o'clock in Philadelphia.
(47:23):
And um
I just wanna say thank you. It's really, it really
helps many, many people out there just to listen to
people's questions. Um, I've been saved from 2010. In 2010,
I got saved and then I drifted after a couple
of years, but, you know, always went back to the cavalry, um,
(47:44):
in Chatsford, Pennsylvania.
And um.
So here I was being drawn again a couple of
years ago and I went and here Ryan Reese was there. Oh, really?
And I never knew I had never heard of him before. Yeah.
And um
So I bought his book Kill the Noise is called
(48:07):
and in the book it has K wave. I'm like,
what's K wave? So I got on and I, I
have not listened to music music on the, in the
car for two years and I just listen to you
guys going to work. So I'm just really grateful. Well,
we're glad that you.
(48:27):
Stumbled across Ryan and his book and our radio station.
That's great. Thank you for mentioning Kwave in your book, Ryan.
In fact, anybody who's writing a book, make sure to
mention Kwave because you have, you never have an you
have no idea who's gonna read it in the future,
but that is awesome. I listen, I, um, I, um,
I have, um, I'm connected to his father. Instagram.
(48:50):
Yeah. So, um, he's, he's adorable. um how he gets
on and he talks. Yeah, that's great. My question is,
my throat is hoarse. I don't know why, but my
question is really basic, simple, maybe I'm, I'm sure a
lot of people wonder, do our pets go to heaven
and are we gonna see them, like our dogs and
(49:12):
stuff like that. Did you recently lose a pet? Is
that why you're asking, Jacqueline?
No, no, I lost, well, I lost mine in 2021.
You know, everyone says, you know, they go with the
rainbow bridge, that's I think it's saying, but I just
wondered if we do.
What do you guys say? I don't.
(49:33):
Richard,
Well, I can't think of any place in the Bible
that says that that pets die and then go to heaven,
but
The Bible is pretty clear that there will be animals
in the new creation and that and that when we
speak about the new heavens and the new earth, um,
it's a physical renewed creation and if animals were a
(49:56):
part of the original creation that God looked at and
said very good certainly not unreasonable to think that there
will be, there won't be animals in the new creation.
The the question is that we have nothing in the
Bible that would hint to to it being affirm is
do do our personal pets go to heaven. But on
(50:16):
the other hand, it doesn't it it doesn't really address it,
so it doesn't say, um, oh by the way, you
won't see your pet in heaven, so don't get too attached.
So I, I think I've told people before like.
You know, if you really feel like you need to
have your pet in heaven, you know, just relax because
(50:37):
God will, God will take care of whatever, whatever that
need is. Now, now Richard and I both are dog
owners and um Penny is Richard's dog and Barnabas is
is my dog.
Yeah, and uh my wife is, if you call on
Friday and ask Cheryl this question, she'll tell you, of course,
(50:59):
dogs are gonna be in pets are gonna be in
heaven because Barnabas is gonna be there for sure.
So I don't know if Valerie would say the same
thing about Penny Rich. What do you know, I think
Valerie would, but I don't think any of our kids would.
I think, no, she's, she's lost. She's going to the
lake of fire. Oh, that's sad, they would never say.
My dog just spent 10 days with my son Char
(51:23):
and his family, and all they could say was, Dad,
Barnabas is the best dog in the world.
So he's a great one. He is, and you know,
of course he's gonna have the great he's the son
of consolation. That's it, you know, he's the son of encouragement.
All right, Jacqueline. What do you think? And I thank
you so much. You talk to everybody. All right. Well
(51:46):
bless you. God bless. Thank you for calling us today
here on Pastor's Perspective. I think we have time for
one more question. Let me read this one that was
sent in online through the Kwave.com Pastor's perspective page. It's
from Jordan and Wildemar.
He writes, uh, given that the New Testament emphasizes the
priesthood of all believers, why do we maintain a hierarchical
(52:11):
structure with a single pastor as the primary spiritual authority,
instead of empowering every member of the congregation to lead
and minister, Brian?
Well, I don't know that we do. I mean, you know,
some people do and some churches are structured that way,
but I
I don't think that um everybody does that necessarily. Um, there,
(52:35):
there is no
There is no really detailed um
Church governmental structure that's given to us in scripture, which
to me seems to mean that there's some flexibility and
freedom to kind of do, you know, what, what works
(52:56):
um in your
Context. Um, so sometimes, you know, the, I, I don't
know that there is like a singular leader who is
just absolutely, um, I lead, nobody else leads, nobody else
has input, nobody else matters. It's just what I think
and what I say.
(53:16):
Uh, that's a cult. I mean, if there is such,
you know, that, that would be a cult. But, um,
even though you have churches, and Richard and I have
both pastor churches where we were the senior pastors, so,
but it didn't mean that, um, we didn't believe in
the priesthood of all believers, we, we fully believed in
that and we encouraged everybody to discover their gift, their
(53:38):
calling and to walk in it. And so, you know.
Richard. Yes, I mean, you know, the idea that that
Pastors, they don't want to empower other people to serve
would be very umbiblical because it says that God gave
these gifts to the church, the pastor, the teacher is,
(53:59):
is one of the gifts he's given to the church
and all of these, the gifts that he gave to
the church was to equip the body for the work
of the ministry and um and to equip men and
women to serve within their gifting and you go to
1 Corinthians 12 and there's all sorts of distributions of
the the gifts of the spirit, the manifestations of the spirit.
And um so we there's there's a diversity of gifts,
(54:22):
there's a diversity of people exercising those gifts, and some
of those people, their gifts is going to be to pastor,
but not everybody's gonna be called to pastor, um, but
there are people who are going to be called to
minister under the various manifestations of the spirit.
Very good. Jacob, or I'm sorry, Jordan. Thank you for
sending in your question through the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page.
(54:45):
Thank you all for listening today and for watching as well.
We're gonna archive today's episode on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts,
and Spotify if you want to listen or watch again
or share it with your friends, it'll be there soon. And, uh,
if you want to call in with your questions, do
so tomorrow. We open up the phone lines about 7
minutes before 3 p.m. Pacific time.
(55:06):
So give us a call at 888-564-6173. Thank you guys
for coming in today, Brian Broderson and Richard Cimino. We'll
see you again soon here on Pastor's Perspective. Bye bye.
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez,
and we are here live on this Tuesday to talk
to you about the Bible, the Christian faith, anything you
want to talk about, give us a call at 888-564-6173.
And answering your questions today, we've got Richard Cimino, one
of the assistant pastors at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Say hello, Richard.
(00:39):
Well hello, Brian. Hello. And also joining us today is
Pastor Brian Broderson. Say hello Pastor Brian.
Well, hello.
Can you tell them apart? No. Anyway, Pastor Brian is
here today. That was Richard providing both voices, but yes,
Pastor Brian will be back, uh, we'll be in the
studio today as, uh, there he's walking in right now.
(01:01):
Check that out. There he is getting in my camera shot,
as always, uh, but I've gotten used to that, and
I love it. Pastor Brian, good to have you here, man.
Haven't seen you in a while. Uh, thank you, Brian.
Now I am thoroughly confused.
Well, it's gonna, I was gonna say, Richard would have
a little bit of a hard time impersonating me today
(01:22):
because I've got the Chuck voice going. I actually went
down an octave when he asked me to introduce myself,
say hi as you. I, I was just in a
meeting and part of the conversation was, it's amazing how
much you and Richard sound alike. Somebody called the other
day and they thought they were talking to you. They're
talking to Richard.
But today you do sound like Chuck. I do, yes,
(01:43):
I have that. I love that when I can get the,
you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, speak a little slower.
There's a, there's a negative side to it, of course,
because you're sick, but I'm not sick anymore. I'm just recovering, yes,
from sick. Yes, great to see you guys. Yeah, see you.
Good to have you here.
(02:04):
Grocery. I was in that market. I I saw that
picture and I was thinking I wish I was there.
It's a grocery store and Richard Richard's son-in-law owns a
chain of grocery stores in New York. Yeah, oh, OK,
it's called Happier.
And you know, you walk in and it's just the
(02:26):
vibe and you just, it's a happy place.
Don't you think? Yes, a little expensive but happy. Oh,
now we, now we know why it's called happy, but
friends and family, friends and family, we'll take that. Yes, yeah,
I told him I was a friend and that didn't
seem to, you know, we should, you should have told
us you're going and we would have set you up.
(02:46):
That's right, the friend and family discount.
All right, call us up, 888-564-6173. You can also send
in your questions on the pastor's perspective Instagram, or you
can go to Kwave.com and look for the pastor's perspective
page and send in your question that way. Or if
you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram right now, you
can scan the QR code, and that'll take you right
(03:08):
to that page. Or you can go to the pastor's
perspective Facebook page.
And use messenger. That's what RJ and Lamorada did. He writes,
I've been reflecting on the direction America is heading, and
it's deeply troubling to me. Our nation no longer resembles
what it once was. There's increasing moral decay, a celebration
(03:29):
of what is evil, declining church attendance, and a rise
in teachings like the prosperity gospel, the word of faith movement,
and even cult-like distortions of Christianity. As I read Revelation
18 and the description of mystery Babylon.
I can't help but notice striking parallels with the current
state of America. The more I study that chapter and
(03:49):
observe what's happening around us, the more I wonder, do
you believe America could be mystery Babylon, described in Revelation 18?
Pastor Brian, what would you say? Now, my thought, not
that my thought matters, but this could have been written
40 years ago as well, and I mean, there's been
that constant decline, you could say, but RJ thinks it's
(04:09):
worse now than it ever has been, and it probably is.
Yeah, I, I, you know, it, it's hard to say. I,
I think that um we tend, we tend to think
that in the moment, but yet if we look back
to another period in time, um, and we had lived
then we probably would have thought some very, very similar things. So, um, obviously,
(04:34):
you know, the country is
Somewhat different than it was, I'm looking at Richard, when
when we were growing up, yeah, but it's, it's not
that much different really. And, and the world is different,
but it's not that much different. So I, you know,
Paul referred to this, uh, he referred to the world
(04:54):
as this present evil age, and he wrote that 2000
years ago.
And so I think, um, you know, when we think
of the ideal society or whatever, it, you know, if
there is any such a thing, it's very short-lived. It's
always um in very limited space and things tend to
(05:17):
go um south, as they say, all throughout history, and
I think
You know, we're, we're definitely heading south. Yeah, moving down
that road, we're going down that road. Um, but you know, there,
there are many things and, and again, it kind of
depends on where you're sitting. It kind of depends on
(05:38):
your perspective. So I, I was just reading something the
other day where um
You know, many, many people would look back at uh
with nostalgia at the 50s in, in this country, in America, oh,
like the, the 50s were amazing, if we could just
get back to the 50s. Well, it depends on the
people that you were talking to in the 50s. Some
(05:59):
people would say the 50s were like a horrible decade,
you know, so it, it kind of just depends on,
on where you're sitting too, so.
I, I think you know the general picture of scripture,
Jesus said evil days are gonna grow worse and so
we can expect that, uh, to happen as we approach
(06:21):
the Lord's coming, but the mission doesn't change. Um, you know, what,
what is it Stetzer has a nice little thing that
he has been saying a lot recently that the um.
Uh, the something like the circumstances we're in doesn't change
the mission we're on. And I think, you know, that's
(06:42):
good because that's, that's reality. Circumstances are always going to change,
but the mission remains the same. Yeah. So Richard, do
you think America's mystery Babylon that we read about in
Revelation 18?
I don't know if I would give it that exact title.
I think the whole world is gonna be, it's it's
a world system that that that it's referring to at
(07:03):
the very close of the age, and I, the first
thing I thought when I read this is, well, it
sounds like you're describing Israel at numerous times in their history,
you know, it's just the reality and and God had
prophet stand up and speak to them.
And they were just they were they were sacrificing their
kids to idols. We we're not gonna call Jerusalem um
(07:26):
the mystery Babylon, you know, there there's Jerusalem is, it
is a place, it's a very real place that I
think looking forward to. There's gonna be a new Jerusalem
that comes down from above. So I just think it's
really important. I guess we tend as I think we
tend as Americans to Americanize the we look through the
at the scriptures through the lens of America.
(07:47):
And I remember I had a friend tell me when
the the day the Twin Towers were were attacked and,
and he said, Babylon the Great is fallen.
I mean, I don't know if that was Babylon the Great,
but we tend to Americanize stuff, so yeah, yeah, I
think that is there's definitely um
(08:10):
An American lens that many evangelicals kind of it it
almost interpret, especially prophetic types of passages through. And I
think that, you know, the funny thing is you get
outside of the US and they're they're looking at us like, what?
You know, I, I what are you concerned about? I
remember I have a firsthand experience with this. I remember
(08:32):
preaching in Europe one time years ago.
And I was, you know, doing like a prophecy thing,
and I was talking about the Antichrist, and I was
talking about the, the anti-Christ coming out of Europe, and oh, this,
this was not going over well with my audience and
they uh they wanted to talk to me and they
were insisting that um the Antichrist is already here and
(08:54):
he's in the White House, you know.
Uh, so they had no room for, uh, a European, uh,
origin of the Antichrist, which, so again, it's, it's kind
of your perspective, you know, and we can't.
I, I think we can't fail to recognize that sometimes we,
(09:16):
we just do, do that. We, we, it's our default
to just see it through that lens. So if it's
happening here, so we know that the end of the
world is here because my life is not as
Pleasant as it was 20 years ago as we would
like it to be. Yeah, so the end of the
(09:38):
world is here. Yeah, but even though it was completely
screwed up over in that other place, uh, 20 years ago, we,
we thought the world was just fine. Yeah, because our
world is fine, you know, this morning, honestly, I was, um, I, I,
you know, I, I had a great time in just,
you know, going through my, my chapters in, in scripture.
(10:00):
And at the same time, I was looking at news and,
you know, all the madness. So I just came came
back from New York and there's, you know, some crazy
stuff there.
And I was looking at all of that and and
then I and I was walking around my neighborhood and
I was praying and I was praying about all the
chaos and all the confusion, and as I'm praying I'm
I'm thinking I am in like a totally serene blissful
(10:22):
moment right here in my neighborhood, you know, so it's
kind of like this this contrast in, I mean, I
know there's crazy stuff going on in the world, but
in Costa Mesa, man, things are pretty darn good this morning,
you know, so it's like.
I don't know, we have, we have to be careful,
I think, not.
(10:43):
Overstating the case, yeah.
RJ, thank you for sending in your question on the
pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. Now let's go to the phones.
Here is Margot. She's calling in from Rancho Cucamonga, 888-564-6173
is the number that Margo called, and you can call
that number too. Hey, Margo, how can we help you today?
(11:04):
Uh, I was wondering where did the thief on the
cross go for the 3 days after Jesus told him
today you will be with me in paradise. And while
I was listening to, uh, while I was on hold,
I thought of another question if you don't mind. No,
we don't mind. Let's answer your first one first, though.
(11:24):
Where did the thief go for those 3 days? Richard,
what's say you?
Well, today you'll be with me in paradise, um, and
there are people who would
have opinions on where that is, what that is, and
I remember Pastor Chuck just used to talk about um
the reality that um that prior to the cross and
(11:49):
resurrection of Jesus, Hades was was compar was was.
Um, compartmentalized. There was, there was those, and he would
use the, um, when Jesus was talking about, um, the
rich man and the beggar and how the beggar who
died and went into the bosom of Abraham, and then
the rich man ended up in Hades as well, but
(12:12):
there was this gulf between them that was fixed and
um and so the bosom of Abraham would have been
equivalent to paradise where those who died looking forward in
faith to the Messiah.
Um, they, that's where they were. There was, it was
a place of comfort as opposed to the other compartment,
if you would, was a place of torment.
(12:35):
And if that's the case, then surely the guy before
the resurrection of Jesus, he would have been with the
in the bosom of Abraham, if you would. That's the
way Pastor Chuck used to explain that passage. Pastor Chuck,
is that right?
Now, Richard, uh,
I'm not sure you're remembering, uh, no, I'm kidding. I,
(13:01):
I forgot I was Pastor Chuck for a minute, so
there you go, yeah, you kind of jarred me there.
No worries. But any thoughts on Margot's question? Well, I think,
you know, yeah, I mean, what Richard said was, was
great and I I think just Jesus said, today you'll
be with me in paradise. Some people, Don Stewart, who
was with us on this program for many years, Don,
(13:24):
Don did not see that as anything less than the
thief going right into glory with Jesus, you know, at
that time.
Um, he didn't, you know, the idea that there was
kind of this place of like where the souls, you know, resided.
Done, he didn't so much see that. So, you know, there's,
(13:45):
there's different opinions, but I think uh the point is
Jesus says, you're gonna be with me in paradise. Um, paradise.
Like, you know, it's funny because the word paradise appears
a few times in the New Testament, and you, you
kind of tend to think of because of what Jesus
said there and because of uh passage in Ephesians, uh,
(14:11):
Christ descending into the lower parts of the earth, you
kind of tend to think of it as, you know, this,
this other place that's not.
What we would call heaven.
Uh, but then Paul, when he's talking about an experience
he has where he's caught up to the third heaven,
he calls that paradise as well. So all that to
(14:34):
say it's a little bit.
Um, fuzzy on exactly, but the, the point is he's
with Jesus. Yeah, so that's, that would be paradise, that's paradise, yeah. Marco,
what's your other question?
My other question is, uh, I have some friends who
are telling me that, uh, or suggesting that Donald Trump
(14:55):
is the antichrist.
It's it's more than a few people that are suggesting that.
What do you, what do you, what are your thoughts
on that? That's scary. Yeah, I don't think you have
to worry about that. Um, I, I think that the,
you know, the Antichrist is a very specific person obviously
(15:18):
who comes at a specific time from a specific region.
And um I, I don't think that Donald Trump fits
any of that. There, there have been many uh
Different attempts over the years to
To sort of pin that on a particular person, you know,
(15:39):
there were, there, there was uh a time I remember
when people suggested that Ronald Reagan was the anti-Christ because his, uh, Ronald, um, Wilson,
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 666, you know, 6 letters to each
name and there it was, you know, he had to
be the guy and um.
(16:01):
Henry Kissinger was was tagged as that before because, you know,
he was Jewish and and all of this. So any
speculation about that, I think is just really a waste
of time.
For sure. Yeah, I, I agree. Speculation is speculation. Yeah. Margo,
(16:21):
thanks for your phone call today on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173
is the number to call to ask your question. And
now we're gonna go to Jose in Long Beach, who's
watching us on YouTube. Hi there, Jose, how can we
help you today?
Oh, hi, thank you for uh taking my call.
Yeah, you're welcome. My question was, uh, if there is
(16:43):
a salvation for Gentiles during the uh great uh tribulation.
All right, Pastor Brian.
Uh, yes, many, uh, Gentiles. This is what is happening
during the tribulation, you know, where you see these, these
great numbers that no one can count, and they are
(17:09):
then brought before the throne of God and, and in
chapter 8, I think it is, the question is asked,
who are these? and uh where did they come from? And,
and it's this multitude, this innumerable multitude.
And the responses, these are those who came out of
the Great Tribulation and who have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the lamb. And
(17:31):
um so tells us specifically that there will be these
large numbers of people that will come to.
To faith in Jesus during that time.
So why do you ask this question, Jose?
Oh, because, uh, uh, 11 of the pastors I know
said that, uh, there's no, uh, because he used, he
(17:55):
used a Romans 11, which is, uh,
Until, uh, last, uh, Gentile would be saved, something like that.
So, uh, I was wondering that, um, besides besides, uh,
Revelation 79, uh, is there another, uh, passages you have
to back that up?
(18:17):
Um, well, let's go back to the to the Romans
11 for a minute because what is being talked about there.
is the salvation of Israel in the future, which will
come after the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. So
the fullness of the Gentiles in that context would be
(18:38):
a reference to the church. The church is predominantly Gentile,
although it's not, not exclusively, but it's predominantly. And so
I think most Bible commentators would, would see that as
Um, the fullness of the Gentiles coming in is the
last person to become a Christian, kind of, and then
God's focus is redirected back to the nation and reconciling
(19:06):
them to himself. Any thoughts, Richard?
No, I'm good. OK. What do you think, Jose?
I, so, so that means uh uh for Christians then
if uh they uh they are left over left behind,
uh there uh it's gonna be a second chance for
for them.
(19:26):
For Christians? Well, I, I think it depends on your
definition of a Christian, I guess. Um, you know, I,
I think, I think we think in this room that
if you're a Christian, then you are part of the
body of Christ and you're not left behind. If you're
left behind, it was because you actually weren't a Christian.
(19:50):
Could you become a Christian then? Um, I think yes,
that that is possible.
Jose, thank you for your phone call today on Pastor's Perspective.
And now let's answer another question that was sent in
on Facebook Messenger. This is from Christiana, who asks if
demons are fallen angels. What do you guys think?
(20:11):
Richard.
Well, it talks in the book of Revelation about the
the the the stars that were swept from the sky
and
The word star can be translated angel, and, and there
are those who believe and I think there's, I would
think so, that they were, they joined Satan in his
(20:33):
original rebellion against God and was when he was cast
out of heaven, they were cast out of heaven with
him and thus they are fallen angelic beings, right.
Yeah, I think, I think that um.
That is
What the
The scripture seemed to teach. I don't, I don't think
(20:53):
demons are like a, a, a different category of being that.
We don't know anything about it except suddenly we find
them mentioned, you know, in the New Testament. So I
think um Paul talked when Paul talks about Satan, um,
appearing as an angel of light. So I think the
(21:16):
idea of angel, fallen angel, even though
That's not specifically stated. I think that is the best.
Way to understand who these beings are. Yeah, well they
were if they, the fact that they exist.
And they're labeled as demons in the New Testament.
(21:38):
Means that they're part of creation. Yeah. It's hard to
imagine that they were created as demons, right, right? Like, no,
they were created as angelic beings and they chose to
join Satan and his rebellion against God. Yeah, and and
then I was, I was thinking in the passage in
Jude where it talks about the angels who did not
(21:58):
keep their first estate. Yeah, yeah, so.
That would be the reference to falling. All right, Christiana,
thank you for sending in your question through Facebook Messenger.
And now let's go to Long Beach. Here is Norma,
who's watching us on YouTube right now, so we'll wave
hi to Norma, and what's your question for us today, Norma?
Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call. God
(22:19):
bless you all. Thank you. Um, so my question is, um,
I was, uh, I was going through the Bible and
reading the story about Jonah and the whale, and I
had also heard a teaching that, um,
When Jonah is uh praying to the Lord, it says
(22:41):
that uh Jonah was praying to the Lord from the
belly of Sheol, and my understanding is that Sheo uh
was or is some part of hell, right? And so
in that teaching, I got confused or I just wanna
make sure that I understand it, but
In the teaching that I saw, uh, the pastor was
(23:05):
saying that Jonah died and he was resurrected after he
prayed to the Lord, um, to, uh, get him out
of the way. So I just want to understand if
that's correct, because that would be the first time I
hear that somebody else resurrected in the Old Testament besides
(23:26):
um
Uh, Jesus' cousin or Jesus' friend, I'm sorry. Mhm.
Yeah, and that was in the New Testaments, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. Yeah. Well, well, Norma,
that is, um, he does reference Shield there and the
question is, is he speaking uh poetically?
(23:49):
Uh, because the experience that he's having being in the
belly of this great fish and, you know, going down
into the depths of the sea and describing the experience
that he's having, is he just using language that
I mean, it, you know, it seems like he's dead,
you know, it seems like, OK, this this must be
what like what being in hell is like, um, or
(24:13):
is he describing an actual experience of having died.
Um, and I've heard people.
Um,
Refer to to both things, and I, I think, Richard,
you can.
Jump in here too, I, I think that uh because
(24:36):
the New Testament, Jesus uses Jonah as an example of
Of himself. As Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights
in the heart, uh, in the belly of the great fish,
so the Son of Man will be 3 days and
3 nights in the heart of the earth. So Jesus
doesn't say that he died. Jesus says he's in the,
the belly of the great fish.
(24:58):
Um, so I don't know. I, I think you could
probably go either way with it. Um, we know he
was in the belly of the great fish. We know
that he, uh, came up alive onto the beach. Um,
what actually happened there?
Did he die and get resurrected? Um, I don't necessarily
think so, but I, I would tend to go with
(25:20):
the language just being descriptive and poetic, but it could
have been. What do you think, Rich? Well, in Jonah 2:7,
he says, when my life was fainting away, right? So
he's not dead. He wasn't he wasn't praying in from shale.
He's praying as a living person who's been swallowed whole
by a very great fish, giant fish.
(25:41):
And then even the use of the word pit you've
brought my life up from the pit. I, I, I
would tend to think that's very poetic in its nature because,
you know, we're reading the psalm, you lifted me up
out of the horrible pit, right? Um, this almost wasn't
saying he died, he was just in a pit, you know,
in a really horrible situation, yeah, so.
(26:02):
What do you think, Norma?
Well, thank you very much. It, it's, yeah, it makes sense.
That would be the reason why I just learned that
lesson after hearing this story over and over again, so
it makes sense that it was just the language of
him describing where he was at in that belly. So yeah,
(26:23):
thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, you're you're welcome. Thanks
for calling. Yep, 88885.
646173 is how you can ask your question. We've got
Brian Broderson and Richard Cimino here from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa,
888-564-6173 is the number. And here's a question that was
sent in through the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page. It's from
(26:46):
Ruby in Moreno Valley. Did the Lord also make the
universe and galaxies? And if he did, how long did
it take, Brian?
Well, yes, he did. Um, he makes that claim over
and over again. He's the God who made, you know, the, um,
the way the the scriptures put it is the heavens
(27:08):
and the earth, which is another way of describing the,
the universe. So he is the God who made all
things and um we read in Genesis chapter one, that
You know, we read about the, the 6 days of
creation and then on the 7th day, the Lord rest
(27:29):
and some people would read that and say, well, you know, look,
it says right here that God did this in 6
days and we understand 6 days to be 6, uh
24 hour periods just.
We, that that's how we understand a day, and I
think that that's
A good way to understand what is being told us there. Uh,
(27:53):
other Christians would say, well, no, it's not, it's not actual,
you know, 6 literal days, those are figurative days. It
was a longer period of time. We don't know how
long exactly. Um, we do know that God created the
heaven and the earth, but, um, some would not want
to say that he did it in a literal, uh,
(28:14):
6 days.
And, um, but yet when you continue to read on,
I think in Exodus, a couple of times, the Lord says,
he reminds the people that in 6 days I made
the heaven and the earth.
And so I tend myself to just take that as, um,
just kind of, you read it on the surface, he
(28:36):
says he made it in 6 days. I know there's
people who are astronomers and you know, people that are
scientifically oriented that would say, oh, you know, no, that's
that's not really.
The way it happened. And um OK, that's, you know, there,
there's a diversity of opinion about the length of time
(28:57):
that creation took. I personally take the position that it,
it happened in 6 literal days.
And again, when it says the heavens, it's referring to
the entire, I mean, everything we can't see, it's not
just like the sky above us, it's everything. Yeah, it's
the whole thing, yeah.
OK, Ruby, thank you for sending in your question through
(29:18):
the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page, and we're gonna take a
break now, but then we'll be back with more of
your questions. What do you want to ask Brian Broderson
and Richard Cimino? We're gonna be here for about another
30 minutes, and we'd love to hear from you at 888-564-6173.
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, thank you
for watching, but, uh, call us if you have a
(29:39):
question for the guys here today, 888-564-6173.
(30:17):
We're back on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to
call today. My name is Brian Perez. We've got Brian
Broderson and Richard Cimino from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa here,
and we'd love to answer the questions you have about
the Bible, the Christian faith. Give us a call at 888-564-6173. Uh,
(30:39):
where's Bobby Conway?
Bobby Conway. Remember that guy? Where is, where is the
great doctor? Um, yeah, I wanted to take a second
and just, um, just say how much I love Bobby
and how appreciative. Of course I wasn't here, you know, on,
on the last broadcast with him last week and we
did something before when, before I left, but
(31:02):
Um, he texted me right after the program and he said, um,
he said he just started sobbing, you know, when he
got off the air and, um, and it was all
sweet and good, you know, he just was saying how, uh,
you know, just what a wonderful season it's been, and,
and I just wanted to
Uh, say that as well. I just, um, I mean, even,
(31:25):
even coming in today thinking, wow, you know, no, no, Bobby,
you know, it's just after 6 or 7 years, you
just get in that place where, you know, you're together
all the time. And I think of the many, many
great programs that we've done together and all the fun,
you know, we've had a ton of fun in the
(31:47):
process and um.
And I'm, I'm very thankful for Bobby as, uh, and so,
you know, respect him as just a great man, a
great minister of the gospel, a great husband and dad
and friend and all those things. And so, yeah, we'll
miss him, um, him and I, we, you know, we
(32:09):
Instagram each other and text back and forth, and, and we'll,
we'll get together and do some stuff too in the future,
but um.
Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to
him today. He's probably not listening today because, you know,
eating dinner. He's eating dinner. That's right. That's what he
hasn't been able to do for a lot of years. Wow,
6.5 years without dinner. That's a long time. Well, he
(32:31):
was here in California for a long time, yeah, he,
we got some dinner when he came, you know.
Because it was early, you know, it's the least we
could do. Yeah. So anyway, I just want to shout
out to my dear brother Bobby Conway and say love you,
miss you, and we'll see you when we see you. Yep.
And you can support the work of Bobby Conway on
(32:53):
his website, Christianity Still makes sense.com, and don't forget to
subscribe to his new YouTube channel called The Graphite Apologist.
You can keep up with him that way.
And yeah, last, yeah, he has a teaching program on
this radio station. It's also called Christianity still makes sense
on Saturday and Sunday. So check that out. Go to
the Kwave.com programs page so that you can see the
(33:16):
exact times. But yeah, last Thursday when we did that
last episode with Bobby.
Um, normally at the end when the program ends we
could see him here on the monitors and we just
kind of wave, see you tomorrow, whatever. And he was gone,
I think before the program ended, and I was just like,
I didn't get to wave to him. He took off,
but that's why I think he's having an emotional, yeah, yeah,
(33:38):
so I, I was in a meeting before I came
in here and they were, they were talking about just
what a, what a great program it was and yeah, yeah.
So if you guys missed it, go back, look for
the July 3rd episode.
And, uh, you can hear it on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify or watch it on Facebook or YouTube. 888-564-6173 is
our number, and here's a question that was sent in
(34:00):
on Facebook from Licy, who writes, I grew up Catholic,
and even though I've been walking with the Lord for
several years, I feel like I'm still trying to understand.
And discern different things that I was taught between my
upbringing and what the Bible says. Often I was taught
about Saint Peter waiting for us at the pearly gates
with the Book of Life, and I know there's mentions
(34:21):
of both Peter and the pearly gates in the Bible,
but I also know the verse that says to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
And I'm trying to discern how this all fits together
or grasp the real understanding of what any of this means.
I find myself cautious when saint is being used from
my Catholic upbringing, knowing we are all saints in the
(34:42):
body of Christ. What do you guys say, Brian? Well,
I think that um we are the perfect people to
ask this question to because it's pretty commonly known among
our listeners that I grew up with a Catholic background.
And so I will answer questions, you know, based on
my own experience, but what is probably not as commonly
(35:03):
known as Richard did as well. And um
And we've had some fun conversations about our, our Catholic
lives and some really amazing conversations and Richard, I'm always,
were either of you altar boys by any chance? I was,
were you? Richard was, and I did my best to
stay as far away from that as I could, and
(35:24):
I succeeded. Yes, I did not, but, but we, we
both went to Catholic school, yeah.
And um, but, but one of the things I was
gonna say is I love your, your testimony is one
of my favorites, you know, I just love the story
of how God got a hold of you, but I
also love the fact that it was to a large
(35:46):
degree in the context of the Catholic Church. And so
you should answer this question.
Yeah, well, there it is a mixed bag, you know, um, I,
you know, I don't think there's Saint Peter's gonna be,
you know, checking IDs at the gate, um.
Um, but I do, I do believe, um, that it's,
(36:07):
there is this thing that we've had, you have so
much that you've, you know, been taught, and then you
start wading through the pages of scripture and you see
some things there that's like, well that sounds very familiar,
but then there's other things you want, oh, that's, that
doesn't sound anything like what I was told before. And
so I think you're in a great space to just
continue to allow the word of God.
(36:30):
To to interpret for you, let the word of God
be the the the thing that explains for you like
which way is north on the compass, what is, what
is right, what's what's right on, what, oh, well, that
might be, maybe that might be the case. I'm with
the I I I just want to encourage you because
(36:50):
I just know it was, it was Catholic people. It
was a Catholic guy who led me to Jesus, a
guy I'd gone to grade school with all the way
through high school.
Um, some of the very first Christians I met were
were in in a Catholic charismatic church, um, and they
had such a love for the Bible that they loved Jesus, um,
(37:10):
they were so open to the person and work of
the Holy Spirit. I was my first introduction to spiritual
gifts was in the context of a Catholic charismatic prayer meeting.
And that, but it was wonderful when I came to
to Calgary Tropical Costa Mesa and Pastor Chuck would open
up the scriptures and explain these things and gave me
like a real firm um uh grasp on like, oh
(37:34):
this is what the scripture has to, this is what
that gift is. This is not just that I experience it,
but this is, this is where you find out about
it in the pages of scripture. So I, I really
do um.
First of all, praise the Lord that you have, you know, Jesus,
and there are gonna be a number of things that
the more you grow in grace and in the knowledge
(37:54):
of our Lord and Savior, and the more you grow
in your understanding of scripture that you're just going, oh,
that doesn't line up at all with what we were taught.
But I can tell you this, that, that as a
brand new like days old Christian, I didn't know where
else to go. I'd never been in a Protestant church
in my life, so I went.
To this Catholic church, and when the priest said certain
(38:17):
things that I'd heard said in Mass.
I don't know how many times, more than I could
ever number.
And I would go
Jesus, I can't believe it. It's just like it was
like it's, it's, it was amazing to me like, how
did I not hear that ever before? But I, because
now that I was born again, everything about Jesus was
(38:38):
like amplified, you know, and but then the, the more
I was around and the more I was in the Bible,
but what about, what about this bit over here? And
still I there there are dear Christians that that I mean,
dear Catholics that that value, my wife and I both
love dearly.
And they're still in the Catholic Church, and they still
love the Lord, and it's like, praise the Lord, yeah.
(38:59):
Yeah, you know, I, um, have you?
heard much about or or listened to any conversation with
um Bishop Robert Barron.
This guy is phenomenal. I mean, he is absolutely amazing.
You know, my dad, um, some years ago my dad goes, Hey, son,
you know, come over here. I want, I want you
to listen to this. So he, he puts on a,
(39:22):
a teaching by this guy, Bishop Robert Barron, and I'm,
I'm listening to this guy thinking, man, this guy's preaching,
and I think it was Philippians, and he was just
killing it, you know.
I go, Dad, keep listening to this guy, this guy.
But anyway, he is. Yeah, you know, he is a
guy whose story is so amazing and um he's like
(39:46):
millions of listeners and followers on social media, and he's
a gospel centered Catholic bishop.
And you know, and he, he is so amazing. Uh,
Justin Briley did a great interview with him recently, and
I mean, I'll I'll send it to you because it's
worth listening to and you just see a guy with
(40:08):
so much passion for the gospel and coming from where
he's coming from and thinking of the impact he's having
in the church, you just think, OK, Lord, you're doing
some good things, you know, in the Catholic Church in
in our day.
Um, I mean, your experience, I think was fairly rare because,
you know, most churches weren't alive the spirit into the gospel,
(40:30):
and none of the churches that I was in as
a Catholic really ever were, um, but to think that
there were some then and there are more today even
than there were in the past. So I think that's encouraging.
So like you said though, it's, it's a mixed bag.
Some of it is
Yeah, that's, that's it right there. That's it, and sometimes
(40:51):
even an insight, you're like, wow, I, I didn't see
that before. And then other stuff you're like, no, no, no,
that's not. Yeah, and when you engage Catholics, there's so
much more to talk about than is Peter gonna be
at the pearly gates, you know what I mean, it's
like there's just so much more than that and and
and is when my advice to anybody is whenever you're
(41:12):
In a conversation with Catholics, like, like.
Don't assume, don't assume the worst, and, and don't, don't
go to places that are points of controversy unless they
deal specifically with the Lord Jesus Christ and, and just
like keep it to Jesus because like I, I was
just thinking while you were talking, Brian, I was just
(41:32):
thinking like, like.
I had a prophetic word spoken over me that I
would be in pastoral ministry at a at a Catholic
charismatic Greek gathering in Westminster at Blessed Sacrament Church with
about 400, 500 kids crammed into this gymnasium on a
hot summer night, and just somebody came up, put their
(41:53):
hand on my shoulder and said, brother, the Lord's gonna
put the shepherd staff in your hand.
It's great. It's great. So praise the Lord for for
Catholics that love Jesus. Yeah, awesome. Lucy, thank you for
sending in your question, and we've got another question on
Catholicism from Carlos. Hey, Carlos, thank you for calling 888-564-6173.
(42:15):
What's your question for us today?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I have a question, pastors. Thank you so much for your,
for your guidance and um all the prosperity that you have,
have given me in my life through, through your, your
teachings and your, your perspectives on things. Um, I just
recently just got back when I say recently, I just
got back today from Mexico City. Um, I was there when, when, yeah,
(42:37):
thank you, sir. When I was there.
I went to um the basilica, the the the era
de Guadalupe, which is the basilica of the Virgin Mary
in Mexico City. My dad took me there when I
was born after I was born, um, because I was
supposed to be born on December 26th, but I wasn't,
I didn't get to be born until January 5th of 1975.
(43:01):
So my dad felt that it was a miracle that
my mom, he asked for my mom and for me
to be healthy.
And then it, it did happen. So he, he drove
from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City and presented me
to the Virgin Mary. Now, be it so. So I
went there and I told my dad, you know what, Dad,
(43:21):
I'm here.
He told me to give thanks to the Virgin Mary.
I felt uncomfortable because at a very young age, I,
I accepted Christ after, you know, being baptized, first communion
and confirmation in the Catholic Church, but
I felt guilty because I didn't wanna thank the Virgin Mary.
(43:44):
And did I do wrong by disrespecting my father that
way when he told me it was a promise for
me to be for for for me to be well nowadays,
you know, well off and everything.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Uh, well, Carlos, um, no, you know, there, there is
a point and we understand, you know, the, the family.
Connection and and your dad and and you know, all
of this, I mean, really.
Interesting stuff that's kind of woven together with.
(44:17):
In in your story, but you did the, you did
the right thing in that you honored God and um
You know, not intending to disrespect your dad, but just
honoring the Lord above even, you know, your dad's wish
there because, you know, your, your dad, I'm sure his
(44:38):
heart is pure and all of this stuff, and but
he's just sincerely wrong on this issue, you know, the
Virgin Mary.
Uh, does not exist in the way that Roman Catholics
think that she exists, and she's not to be thanked
or praised or anything. She's, she doesn't exist. Um, you know,
(44:59):
we have one God and one mediator between God and men,
and that is the man Christ Jesus, and
Uh, the apostles made that perfectly clear. Jesus made that clear.
Marry herself, the mother of Jesus made it clear when
she said, listen to him, you know, do what he says. Uh,
she never said to anybody, hey, you know, pray to me,
(45:21):
listen to me. This is all stuff that came on
later in church history. So, you wanted to honor your dad,
I get all of that, but you did the right
thing and so you don't need to feel guilty.
Um, and you can even, you know, just say to
your dad, well, Dad, you know, I think God, because
of course, God is the, he's the, the one that
(45:42):
we really in the end, even if you think about the,
the idea of Mary, what is, what is she doing? Well,
she's pointing us to God. So I'm just gonna go
straight to God and be thankful to him. Yeah.
What do you think, Carlos?
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I think that's um very soothing to me right now
at this point because I was having um thoughts.
That um maybe I'm doing the doing the wrong thing
but apparently I'm not. I guess my, my, my, my
deep gut feeling was to um.
Um, fight, fight and protect and what I believe in, and,
(46:19):
and that's the Lord Jesus
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Christ. Yeah. And, and that was the, I think you
could say that that was the spirit of God just
within you saying, no, you know, you need to stand
on the truth here. And um it's easy to get
kind of sucked into the sentimental aspects of it or
the emotional aspects of it because of family and all
of that. But there's a place where we just have
to say, well, you know, look, I, I love you
(46:40):
and I respect you, but in this area.
Uh, we gotta really go with what the Bible teaches,
not with what we think about it. So thank you, Carlos,
for calling in today to Pastor's perspective. Now we'll go
to Philadelphia. Here is Jacqueline, who's listening to us on
the Kwave app. Thank you, Jacqueline, for downloading the app
and for calling in today.
(47:03):
Hi, can you hear me? Loud and clear.
Well, well, this is the first time I've been on
the radio ever. Ever. So, uh, I've been listening to
you guys. I wanna say thank you for 2 years
straight every morning going to work and then about this
time it's 6 o'clock in Philadelphia.
(47:23):
And um
I just wanna say thank you. It's really, it really
helps many, many people out there just to listen to
people's questions. Um, I've been saved from 2010. In 2010,
I got saved and then I drifted after a couple
of years, but, you know, always went back to the cavalry, um,
(47:44):
in Chatsford, Pennsylvania.
And um.
So here I was being drawn again a couple of
years ago and I went and here Ryan Reese was there. Oh, really?
And I never knew I had never heard of him before. Yeah.
And um
So I bought his book Kill the Noise is called
(48:07):
and in the book it has K wave. I'm like,
what's K wave? So I got on and I, I
have not listened to music music on the, in the
car for two years and I just listen to you
guys going to work. So I'm just really grateful. Well,
we're glad that you.
(48:27):
Stumbled across Ryan and his book and our radio station.
That's great. Thank you for mentioning Kwave in your book, Ryan.
In fact, anybody who's writing a book, make sure to
mention Kwave because you have, you never have an you
have no idea who's gonna read it in the future,
but that is awesome. I listen, I, um, I, um,
I have, um, I'm connected to his father. Instagram.
(48:50):
Yeah. So, um, he's, he's adorable. um how he gets
on and he talks. Yeah, that's great. My question is,
my throat is hoarse. I don't know why, but my
question is really basic, simple, maybe I'm, I'm sure a
lot of people wonder, do our pets go to heaven
and are we gonna see them, like our dogs and
(49:12):
stuff like that. Did you recently lose a pet? Is
that why you're asking, Jacqueline?
No, no, I lost, well, I lost mine in 2021.
You know, everyone says, you know, they go with the
rainbow bridge, that's I think it's saying, but I just
wondered if we do.
What do you guys say? I don't.
(49:33):
Richard,
Well, I can't think of any place in the Bible
that says that that pets die and then go to heaven,
but
The Bible is pretty clear that there will be animals
in the new creation and that and that when we
speak about the new heavens and the new earth, um,
it's a physical renewed creation and if animals were a
(49:56):
part of the original creation that God looked at and
said very good certainly not unreasonable to think that there
will be, there won't be animals in the new creation.
The the question is that we have nothing in the
Bible that would hint to to it being affirm is
do do our personal pets go to heaven. But on
(50:16):
the other hand, it doesn't it it doesn't really address it,
so it doesn't say, um, oh by the way, you
won't see your pet in heaven, so don't get too attached.
So I, I think I've told people before like.
You know, if you really feel like you need to
have your pet in heaven, you know, just relax because
(50:37):
God will, God will take care of whatever, whatever that
need is. Now, now Richard and I both are dog
owners and um Penny is Richard's dog and Barnabas is
is my dog.
Yeah, and uh my wife is, if you call on
Friday and ask Cheryl this question, she'll tell you, of course,
(50:59):
dogs are gonna be in pets are gonna be in
heaven because Barnabas is gonna be there for sure.
So I don't know if Valerie would say the same
thing about Penny Rich. What do you know, I think
Valerie would, but I don't think any of our kids would.
I think, no, she's, she's lost. She's going to the
lake of fire. Oh, that's sad, they would never say.
My dog just spent 10 days with my son Char
(51:23):
and his family, and all they could say was, Dad,
Barnabas is the best dog in the world.
So he's a great one. He is, and you know,
of course he's gonna have the great he's the son
of consolation. That's it, you know, he's the son of encouragement.
All right, Jacqueline. What do you think? And I thank
you so much. You talk to everybody. All right. Well
(51:46):
bless you. God bless. Thank you for calling us today
here on Pastor's Perspective. I think we have time for
one more question. Let me read this one that was
sent in online through the Kwave.com Pastor's perspective page. It's
from Jordan and Wildemar.
He writes, uh, given that the New Testament emphasizes the
priesthood of all believers, why do we maintain a hierarchical
(52:11):
structure with a single pastor as the primary spiritual authority,
instead of empowering every member of the congregation to lead
and minister, Brian?
Well, I don't know that we do. I mean, you know,
some people do and some churches are structured that way,
but I
I don't think that um everybody does that necessarily. Um, there,
(52:35):
there is no
There is no really detailed um
Church governmental structure that's given to us in scripture, which
to me seems to mean that there's some flexibility and
freedom to kind of do, you know, what, what works
(52:56):
um in your
Context. Um, so sometimes, you know, the, I, I don't
know that there is like a singular leader who is
just absolutely, um, I lead, nobody else leads, nobody else
has input, nobody else matters. It's just what I think
and what I say.
(53:16):
Uh, that's a cult. I mean, if there is such,
you know, that, that would be a cult. But, um,
even though you have churches, and Richard and I have
both pastor churches where we were the senior pastors, so,
but it didn't mean that, um, we didn't believe in
the priesthood of all believers, we, we fully believed in
that and we encouraged everybody to discover their gift, their
(53:38):
calling and to walk in it. And so, you know.
Richard. Yes, I mean, you know, the idea that that
Pastors, they don't want to empower other people to serve
would be very umbiblical because it says that God gave
these gifts to the church, the pastor, the teacher is,
(53:59):
is one of the gifts he's given to the church
and all of these, the gifts that he gave to
the church was to equip the body for the work
of the ministry and um and to equip men and
women to serve within their gifting and you go to
1 Corinthians 12 and there's all sorts of distributions of
the the gifts of the spirit, the manifestations of the spirit.
And um so we there's there's a diversity of gifts,
(54:22):
there's a diversity of people exercising those gifts, and some
of those people, their gifts is going to be to pastor,
but not everybody's gonna be called to pastor, um, but
there are people who are going to be called to
minister under the various manifestations of the spirit.
Very good. Jacob, or I'm sorry, Jordan. Thank you for
sending in your question through the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page.
(54:45):
Thank you all for listening today and for watching as well.
We're gonna archive today's episode on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts,
and Spotify if you want to listen or watch again
or share it with your friends, it'll be there soon. And, uh,
if you want to call in with your questions, do
so tomorrow. We open up the phone lines about 7
minutes before 3 p.m. Pacific time.
(55:06):
So give us a call at 888-564-6173. Thank you guys
for coming in today, Brian Broderson and Richard Cimino. We'll
see you again soon here on Pastor's Perspective. Bye bye.
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