Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P629 (04-29-21)
Synopsis
Common questions keep being asked generation after generation. It seems the same old deception and misinformation, by even well-meaning denominational persuasions of men, gets passed on, and has to be addressed every generation. You will hear people say in the charismatic churches, for example, about the need to receive a second baptism of the Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. How would you answer that?
How well do you know God and His Word that you could explain why that cannot be true? We are in the end times, and we have been since Jesus rose from the dead, and He told us to not let any man deceive you. Yet people are so accustomed to readily believe whatever a pastor, such as from a denominational persuasion they identify with, says as true. Few people seem to get into the word of God for themselves. Recall what the apostle Paul remarked concerning the people of Berea. They diligently studied the scriptures to see if what even the apostle Paul said was so. Paul commended them as being more noble than all the rest. We should do likewise.
Of course, every generation people are born without the Spirit of God living in them, and so truth must be revealed to them. And so exposure to truth is needed. In Acts 19, we read about Apollos, who only knew about the baptism of John. He spoke accurately of what he knew, but he needed more information. He evidently had not heard Jesus had risen from the dead and had not heard about Pentecost, where for the first time in human history, the Spirit came to permanently dwell within men. When he was told about what Christ Jesus accomplished for him, concerning His death, burial and resurrection, then he became born again. He believed what he heard and received eternal life that God had promised.
The Spirit of God comes into a person when they believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Scripture records that the Spirit is sealed in the believer as a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance, and He will never leave you or forsake you and will be in you forever. You cannot get more than what you already have. So if anyone is out there looking for an experience, to get more of the Holy Spirit in their life, then they are believing false teaching and doctrine. What is needed is not more of the Holy Spirit, but a renewing of your mind so you may know all that God has freely given you, and is yours in Christ Jesus, and to learn how to access all that is in you by faith. You grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the pondering over God’s word, relying on Him to teach you its meaning in its context.
A question people often ask is why there are so many denominations out there. If men are leaning on their own understanding, then they will come up with all kinds of ideas of their own, and since what they say is not in agreement with the word of God, new denominations are formed and error is propagated. Until such a time truth exposes the error, and people have humble hearts to receive the knowledge of the truth, they remain bound up in error, often mixing law and grace. So the end result of leaning on your own understanding is a weak church at best and often a broad road to apostasy that Jesus prophesied will happen in the last days, where a false dominant church, as infiltrators and wolves come in, destroying what remains of the flock of God, will come, ultimately leading to the worship of antichrist.
So another question people often hear is about whether infants should be baptized. Some heretical denominations will say that water baptism is necessary for salvation. Others baptize out of fear that their infant or very young child who died did not go to heaven, having heard such heartbreaking false teaching from a so-called pastor. So if you do not know the word of God yourself, you will be led astray by all kinds of wind of doctrine, and will have unnecessary burdens on your heart.
There is no such thing as baby baptism in scripture, or sprinkling or dedication, or any of those types of things. You can do things as a church function if you wanted to, but it is not biblical. The decision to where the baby goes is in the hands of a perfectly loving and just God, whom we can depend upon to make that decision in light of who He is, and you do not have to sit around worrying where that baby is, any more than a person not hearing. Those are decisions that would be in the hands of God.
There is nothing about baptism in the gospel. Nobody is saved through baptism. You are saved through faith in Christ Jesus. Baptism is merely a visual aid to express a visual expression of an inward reality as to what took place when you were baptized, not in water, but by the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is merely a visual aid of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when you were placed into the body of Christ.
The picture that God wants us to see is that we were married to the law, and like Paul said, that it was through the law I died to the law. So the law killed us. That is a picture of being entered into grace through the law. Through the law I died. When I died, I died to the law so I could be raised into newness of life to serve another, and that is Christ Jesus. That is what that is a picture of, dying to that which killed us, the law, and coming alive into the newness of life in Christ Jesus.
So again, study the word of God, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him, rely on the Holy Spirit to teach you what the word of God means. Realize that if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you have the mind of Christ to discern spiritual things. God is no respecter of persons, and God will lead you into all truth. That truth will set you free from the error that has kept you bound up. You will be set free to live in the new way of the Spirit, experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised you, in all peace that surpasses understanding, living above your circumstances, not under them.
So listen as other questions are asked in regard to understanding what “turn the other cheek“ means in light of the fact that Jesus was teaching under an Old Covenant system and in regard to the New Covenant we live under today. Listen as Bob attempts to answer questions in regard to marrying a first cousin or where or not your dog or cat that died goes to heaven. I am sure there are many questions you may want to ask. The word of God has answers to so many questions we have, or sheds light on it. The word of God where truth can be found, truth you can rely on the Spirit to reveal to you the meaning of many things. There are certain things we do not currently have the answers to. Some things we have to wait on the Lord to reveal the meaning to us, and other things we may never know, being a more trivial and not a critical matter. But to the most important things of life, on how to live in abundant freedom God desires for you, and to know the gospel so that you may know you have eternal life, those things are explained in detail.
Transcript
Ernest from New Orleans, LA
Ernest: I have a question I want to ask you. They have some people running around hollering about, “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” I thought when you received Christ in your life, that you have received the Holy Spirit. Then they asked you if you have ever spoken in tongues. “Do you have the power of the Holy Spirit?” and all that kind of stuff. What is your answer on that?
Bob: Ernest, in the first place, if the Spirit of God does not live in you, then you do not belong to Him.
Romans 8:9
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Bob: So anyone teaching that you are born again today and teaching you receive the Holy Spirit tomorrow is teaching false teaching. If they are teaching false teaching in that realm, then I am assuming they are teaching false teaching in the followup to it. A false teacher is a false teacher. He just cannot teach one thing false and then all of the rest of it is true. If he is off on one point then he will be off on most all other points. If you are beginning from a premise that you are born again of the Spirit but then you have to receive another Spirit later, you are totally into false doctrine. Doctrine will not fly in the face of scripture.
Ernest: Yes.
Bob: So that is how you have to answer that. Now, they will come up with all kinds of stuff. Again, Ernest, it shows their ignorance in biblical interpretation.
Ernest: Yes. I know you are right.
Acts 19:1-7
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Bob: In the book of Acts, in one place they asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” “No, we do not even know what you are talking about.” Why? They did not know what he was talking about. They had merely received the baptism of John the Baptist. They heard Jesus died on a cross but had not heard he had been raised from the dead or heard about the day of Pentecost. So they had to explain that to them so they could receive the fullness of salvation. It had nothing to do with being saved and receiving the Spirit later. It had to do with the fact they had not yet received the Spirit of God. They had not been born again yet.
Ernest: That is right. I sure appreciate that.
Bob: You are sure welcome, brother. I hope that helps?
Ernest: I really enjoy you.
Bob: We appreciate you being a listener, my friend.
Ernest: I am about to send you something.
Bob: That will be wonderful and we will appreciate that, Ernest.
Craig from Vancouver, British Columbia
Craig: I was approached this week from a relative to see if I would baptize their infant in a nearby lake with three or four families present. Part of the urgency or the request of this is because of another relative whose little baby died. The pastor had a church service, at a funeral service, who said the little baby would not be going to heaven now. So you can understand there is quite a discussion that is going on at this point as a Christian. But not as an ordained minister, can I baptize or is that not something that I would be able to do?
Bob: Craig, it is not the issue if you could. The issue is why would you? First of all, that pastor should be rebuked and ignored, who made that kind of a statement, that that baby is not going to be in heaven. You wonder that kind of a brain that man has, who would make a statement like that, for it is absolutely unbiblical. The issue is that when a child is too young to have had an opportunity to have heard the gospel, the decision to where the baby goes, it goes into the hands of a perfectly loving and just God. I believe we can depend upon the fact that if you have God who is perfectly loving and just, then you do not have to sit around worrying where that baby is, any more than a person not hearing. Those are decisions that would be in the hands of God.
1 Peter 3:21
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
Matthew 3:11
11 “I [John the Baptist] baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Bob: In the meantime, we are committed as Christians to be talking to people who can understand, and are old enough to understand, and to proclaim the fullness of the gospel to them. There is nothing about baptism in the gospel. Nobody is saved through baptism. You are saved through faith in Christ Jesus. Baptism is merely a visual aid to express a visual expression of an inward reality as to what took place when you were baptized, not in water, but by the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is merely a visual aid of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when you were placed into the body of Christ.
Romans 7:4
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
Bob: It is also a picture, and that is why I do not believe in sprinkling for baptism but rather submersion. It is not because I am a Baptist, for I am not, or something else. The picture that God wants us to see is that we were married to the law and like Paul said, that it was through the law I died to the law. So the law killed us. That is a picture of being entered into grace through the law. Through the law I died. When I died, I died to the law so I could be raised into newness of life to serve another, and that is Christ Jesus. That is what that is a picture of, dying to that which killed us, the law, and coming alive into the newness of life in Christ Jesus. You cannot get that by sprinkling a baby.
Galatians 2:19-20
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Bob: I think what you have to do is explain to a person that there is no such thing as baby baptism in scripture, or sprinkling or dedication, or any of those types of things. You can do things as a church function if you wanted to, but it is not biblical. God has no grandchildren, only children. When that child is old enough to hear then you will be able to give the gospel to them. If something happened to them before that time, you commit them into the hands of a perfectly loving and just God.
Craig: Okay. It was quite a discussion. You can understand why, as I said about previous relatives.
Bob: It is quite something to hear from someone who is supposed to be a theologian or a pastor of some kind who makes such a statement that a baby that dies would not go into the presence of God. That is ridiculous.
Craig: What it has done is deeply affected the family of the parents. They got totally turned off with church.
Bob: I would too. If that is who God is, I would not want anything to do with Him. And I would not blame them. That is quite a jolt to say the least.
Craig: Thanks for your answer. I will share all of this with her. Another niece asked if her pet will go to heaven.
Bob: I do not think so. I do not think animals will go to heaven, but again, it is not talked about in the scripture. I certainly hope alligators are not going to be there.
Craig: Some pastors refer to Romans 8:18.
Romans 8:18-21
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Craig: I have heard a few pastors saying that they suggest it will happen.
Bob: I think that is stretching interpretation there, but who knows. If it does, I look forward to seeing my Rusty. I do not know. Again, those kinds of questions, think about it for a minute. We are in this world down here, surrounded by dogs, alligators and worms, and we live in this realm, and so we try to equate heaven, which is an entirely different realm altogether with what we have down here. We will not even know what we will look like up there, let alone a dog. We do not even know what God looks like, who is Spirit. When you leave this realm, you are entering a spiritual realm. We act like we know what that looks like. We do not have a clue what it looks like. What we do know is that when we leave this body we will be present with the Lord, and we will see Him as He is and be like Him. We will be so engrossed in being in the presence of God that, quite frankly, we will not be sitting around thinking about our dead dog or our dead cat.
Craig: In the case if you have a four or five year old who comes to you as a pastor and asks, “Will my pets go to heaven?”, would you take the point of view, “I am not sure”, or would you say, “No” point blank?
Bob: I would say it is not discussed in the bible but what God wants you to do is to enjoy that pet right here on earth. I think you shift that down to you living here on earth. In God’s goodness and grace, He gave you pets to be loved and to be loved by it. So do not think about the future but think about right now.
Craig: Thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate that.
Bob: You are welcome, Craig. Thanks for your call, brother.
Craig: Okay. God bless you.
Bob: God bless you, my friend. Bye. Bye.
David from Marietta, GA
David: How are you guys?
Bob: Doing great. Thanks.
David: I think you touched on it with a previous caller. Last night’s service. I am a newcomer again to Christianity. Something I always had a problem with is this turning the cheek. I am an old retired marine, 77 years old. They just never taught us to turn the other cheek. I get out here now in a new life, trying a different direction. I am having a problem absorbing this because I am thoroughly convinced that America is the greatest nation in the world. The marines and army and navy, those boys, have helped put it there, Bob.
Bob: Yes.
David: I think by the grace of God. That is the reason we are here, by the grace of God. I do believe that. Now, we have a situation where our nation is threatened by a so-called religion that says that they want to destroy us, and they want to destroy the Jewish nation, and to make the whole world a religious nation.
Bob: Let me see if I can get into this for you. The Old Testament talks about the nation of Israel. There are wars and rumors of wars. Obviously in the end times, there is going to be war. There has been war since Adam and until the end times that nations will be against the nation of Israel and people against people. In the New Testament, it talks about how does David and Bob get along with his neighbor.
Bob: On the other hand, when it says to turn the other cheek, you have to realize that it is also in the same lineup. A person who lusts at a woman has already committed adultery with her. That buries you. If you are angry at somebody, that is the same as murder. That buries you. We have to understand that the teachings of Jesus were showing you and me what a totally righteous life would be and only He could pull that off. You and I cannot. Everything He taught us was for the purpose of showing us we cannot do it. That is what prepares you for the cross and the resurrection.
Bob: If I think, as the Jews did, and new Christians, the Gentiles, thought “I could do that” and “I can pull this off”, then you are not ready for salvation. You know that in your own life. You did not come to Christ until you came to the end of David. I did not come to Christ until I came to the end of Bob. You cannot take the teachings of Jesus and say, “I am trying to pull that off” because you cannot pull it off if you think you can. I told people that if you think you can pull it of, the next time we meet, I will say “hi” and then slap you in the cheek and see what you do.
Bob: The issue is that it is not for the purpose you are using it. It is to show you, “I cannot do that Lord.” If someone comes into my house and wants to rape my wife and wants to rob me, and I have a gun, I will shoot them. I am not going to turn my cheek. I am going to protect my family and protect my home. A country is no different. It is just an extension of a home. A country in America is an extension of all the homes in America. You would protect your home if an enemy wanted to come in and take it over. Why would we think that we would not want to protect our nation when you have nations who want to come over and take over your home. If you are wise, that would be the most natural thing to do. If you are a wimp of some kind, you would sit back and say come on in and help yourself to my wife and kids because I just love Jesus. That is nonsense. That is liberal nonsensical thinking that people have. Quite frankly, it is like these people talking about the death of people. They do not care about the deaths of people over there. It is just talk. We lost more people in Normandy, about 40,000 in one deal. It is not that any loss of life is good. But like you say, “when you have people.” I saw the other day, walking in the grocery store in Dallas, at Whole Foods, of two people dressed in all black, and their entire head covered with just their eyes showing, and that is supposedly legal in this country. I just met with two policemen today who said that is legal. That is a religion. Well, then I am going to adapt the Adam and Eve religion, and come in naked, and see what you guys think. Well, you know what he said. That would provide some comic relief.
The issue is, if that is true, why not, if that is my religion? Okay, then I got Adam and Eve religion, and I can walk around naked. Do you think I would be allowed to do that? No. Then why are they allowed to come in with their face covered? Do you think I will get on an airplane with somebody with their face covered with only their eyeballs showing? No way. Do you think I will walk into a bank with such people, walking around saying that is my religion. Like I said to the police officers, “That is a stupid religion. There is nothing with having your face covered. That is what crooks do. That is not what religious people do. We are living in the day and age where all common sense is taken out of a lot of people. We have a lot of crazy ideas in regard to protecting ourselves. A nation is no different than an extension of my home. The question is if I had a group of Muslims, or militants of any kind, what would I do? They say, “I want to kill Bob George and his family and I am going to see that I do” and you think I am not going to defend myself and my family, you are crazy. Why should we not defend ourselves nationwide?
David: To justify by the teaching of Jesus.
Bob: He does not deal with national issues at all. He only deals personally.
David: You just mentioned earlier that Jesus’ teachings show a totally righteous life.
Bob: It shows His life, David. Look at it this way. Remember He says to be perfect.
David: Like Jesus is.
Bob: Right. So how are you going to pull it off? And you say, “I will give it a whack”, then you are not ready for salvation. But when you say, “I cannot do that.”, then He says, “Good, David. Now you are ready for salvation.”
David: Okay.
Bob: His teaching buried us. It is an extension of the law. You cannot even obey the law let alone Jesus’ teachings.
David: Yes. Yes. I thank you. You put it in the right kind of light for me, Bob. I am an old man. I wrestled with this for I do not know how long. I was in speech with Billy Graham. He has grown up in years then. He got onto the same subject where Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. But he did not tell us what to do after that. Do you know what I am saying? To put it into perspective, like you just did, is a teaching of Jesus and to understand that we just cannot be perfect.
Bob: That is what the disciples said. “Depart from us. You are too much for us. We cannot pull this off.” He said, “Good Peter, now you are ready for salvation.” Until you see your wretchedness, then you are not ready for salvation. He alone is the only one who ever walked on this earth with true righteousness. That is why it says the Holy Spirit of God, when He comes, “He will convict the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgement. About sin because they do not believe in me.” That is the world’s sin, unbelief in Jesus. “And about righteousness because I go to the Father where you will see me no more.” In other words, “you will see righteousness in me, Jesus, but you will never see it in you.” For there is no righteousness in you and me apart from the imputed righteousness that has been given to us by God.
David: You have been such a great help. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that.
Bob: You are sure welcome, David. God bless you, pal. You call any time.
David: Thank you so much. God bless everybody out there.
Bob: You too. Bye. Bye.
Marcella from Manderville, LA
Marcella: I have a question that I have been pondering over for awhile. I am from South America, from Peru. My family are all Catholic but my family is well off. They feel like you are what you have, which of course, I am now a new born believer. I have been a Christian for about sixteen years. I know that is not true at all. The question I have is this. I have a sister who is married to a first cousin. She is married to my father’s sister’s son. I know that is wrong. I talked to one of the girls that it says in Leviticus 18, where it says something like that. I do not know how to approach that. They ask to come and visit over here. I know it is wrong but how do I let them know it is wrong? The whole family accepted it and went by and said it is okay. As long as they are happy, it is okay. If I go and visit for Christmas and invite me to the house and want to hang around with us.
Bob: Marcella, the issue is this. How in the world do you think that people get started in this world? They married their sisters. They married cousins. They married everything else. That is how the world got started. The issue is they are married. They are married and if they are born again people, then they are Christians who are in Christ together.
Bob: Marcela, I think to round this off, this is obviously a practice that anybody would not be advocating, marrying that close in your family, but on the other hand, they are married and you should love them as who they are. There are cases where people have married cousins and incestual type relationship of having children where the child has been a Mongoloid, or has mental illnesses. There have been situations like that due to that happening. So there could be natural repercussions for somebody doing that. I think why it is not recommended in any way, shape or form or acknowledged as something to do. But since it has been done and they are now married but to not have them in your home if they are relatives of yours, they are family. Enjoy them. If you do not know where they are in Christ, try to get them to Christ.
Marcella: I think that is great. Actually, I have felt like that the whole time. I am the only one who is a new believer. All of my family. I think God took me away from there and brought me here so He can work in my life away from them for the best later on. But my husband I do not think he thinks the same about me being friendly with them. He feels I should separate from having a relationship with them. But I feel like it is trying to gain the lost. If you do not go where they are, how are you going to gain them?
Bob: Sure. Yes.
Marcella: I just wanted to clarify that. I did not want to create a problem with my own immediate family. We are getting to take off for Christmas over there. They are so loving. They will go out of the way to take us out, to go here and there. I did not want my husband to feel that he was doing the wrong thing.
Bob: Yes.
Marcella: Okay. That really makes me feel at peace. I felt that all the time but I was not completely sure.
Bob: I am not, as far as, again, you have people who are already married. You say they are loving people. If they do not know the Lord, they need to. If they do know the Lord, love them in Jesus Christ. There is a lot of talk about incest but that is with immediate family, with daughters and sons, but I do not see a lot in there that I know of about cousins and that type of thing. But that also is the Old Testament. We have to realize that if that has happened it has happened and love them into the kingdom.
Marcella: Actually, there are two cases in my family. One of them married young. They decided not to have any children. They adopted. That was wise.
Bob: Probably was.
Marcella: The others were in their late forties so they had other marriages and they had their children there, but they never had any children. That really makes me feel a lot better. I think God is going to use me in some way. Maybe I can share with them what we have so they can have it too.
Bob: That is great.
Marcella: I love your program. I try to listen to your program every day after work. I will probably be calling you again.
Bob: That sounds great, Marcella. Thank God.
Marcella: Thanks so much for taking my call.
Bob: You are sure welcome. Thank you. Bye. Bye now.
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