Call-ins Radio Broadcast Thursday 06/17/2021

Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P643 (06-17-21)

Synopsis

Revelation 1:3
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Jesus promised a special blessing to those who read the book of Revelation, even aloud, and take to heart what is written. Yet many church leaders, sadly, have encouraged people to avoid Revelation. That should not be so, for Jesus specifically says otherwise. But realize that even the bible records that many things that are written will not be understood until the very end and the wise will understand and will instruct many. But do not fret over what you cannot understand right now. Yet there is a reason to study and learn prophecy, but it is not to cower in fear nor is it to get puffed up with pride with what you think you know and speculate about, and forget your purpose on earth. Do not let the study of prophecy keep you from living today in what God has specifically assigned you to be.

So we must keep our primary focus on what pleases God, in the life He wants to live in us today. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. We have people to love today and we have people who need to hear about the hope in Christ Jesus. The reason we are told about end time events is because God does not want us to be caught unawares. He wants us to be watchful and sober in these end time days, not to be speculating about who the antichrist might be, but to be looking for Jesus’ return. He knows what we need in the time when the birth pains increase in frequency, where troubles and persecution increase, and the tendency is for the love of most to grow. Is it not our tendency to get depressed and cower in fear when trouble and persecution comes? If we do not know that God is sovereignly in control of what is a chaotic and fallen world is why Jesus tells us these things ahead of time, to keep what you have until he returns, to not be deceived, to hold onto truth, to not be lukewarm or to return to your first love. So do not think something strange is happening, but keep your eyes on Him, and on His unfolding plan. He does not want us to have unrealistic expectations but to live in what is true, and in Him who is true, to keep our eyes on Him through it all, whatever events unfold in the days to come.

Yes, and He tells us the rapture should not come as a surprise to us, who are in Christ, for we are not in the dark. We can know the season but just not the day or hour. He tells us that in speaking of the fig tree in Matthew 24. That when you see these things begin to happen you know the end is near, and when you see certain things, look up, for your redemption draws near. That is a message of hope for those in the light. He tells us that this generation, the generation of the fig tree, that blossomed in Israel, that that generation will certainly not pass away until all these things happen.

Even now we see events unfolding before our eyes, talks of blowing up Damascus off the map, the alignment of nations to be involved in an attack on Israel, involving nations such as Russia and Turkey, in fulfillment of a prophecy spoken through the prophet Ezekiel. We hear of the drying up of the Euphrates river. We see nations listed in scripture, as spoken through the prophets, of kings of the North and kings of the East, such as China, with 200 million men, going against Israel. A leader in China, in 1961, spoke that he now has 200 million soldiers. We hear of peace treaties with Israel being signed and talks of building the third temple. So we have seen events unfolding already, even with Israel becoming a nation in 1948. Could that be the blossoming of the fig tree spoken of in Matthew 24? Could this be the year of meeting the Lord in the air? It sure seems the signs of the times of the near rapture of the church are closer now, even more so today. So let us be watchful and sober for His return so we do not lose heart.

And, stay away from false prophets, who say Jesus will appear on a specific day, and we have heard many self-proclaimed prophets already, where the specific date they prophesied came and went. But we have already had many false prophets and teachers today, teaching that godliness is a means to financial gain. As Jesus prophesied and warned us about, let no man deceive you. We have had people tell you that you need to have a second baptism as evidenced by tongues. And you have people saying they have been slain in the Spirit, when the Spirit did not come to slay people but to give them new life. We have had people who added to the bible and came up with their own additions, and call it the Book of the Mormon. Others just compiled their own book instead of the bible, such as the Quran, a book of lies.

But then the denominations that do acknowledge Jesus, make Jesus of their own imagination, contrary to what is written in the word of God that they hold in their hands, who are devoid of understanding. There are false gospels proclaimed everywhere, in all sorts of denominations. Now we have a great falling away, where even homosexual and lesbians are put in leadership in the church house. And today, truth is silenced, and people are told and believing a lie concerning so many things that I do not have time to get into. But so many people have lost their physical lives believing a lie, and hopefully they did not perish without knowing Christ Jesus as their Savior. So listen also as Bob explains the gospel message clearly and accurately to one of the callers. Check out also a short synopsis of the gospel of good news in Christ Jesus: Be Born Free

Transcript

Karen from Hammond, LA

Karen: My question is about all of the discussion going on in the church about the end times, and, of course, the bible does talk about it, and give us some signs, but that no man would really know the day and the hour. My question is, some of the things that the bible says that will be evident have been going on for years and years and years. Is there any true measuring stick as to how close we really are to Jesus’ return?

Matthew 24:3-14
³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.
⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Bob: People have been saying Jesus is going to come back for 2000 years. (The book of Thessalonians was written to encourage those who lost loved ones, and were wondering about them. The apostle Paul wrote to inform them of the blessed hope, for both those in Christ who have already died as well as them, to encourage them.)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Bob: We hear about earthquakes, nations rising against nations in various places, and all these are the beginning of birth pains. It talks about persecution of Christians, where we will be put to death and hated by all nations because of Christ. You will see a lot of those things coming. As we know it right now, the next thing on the prophetic calendar, as far as I understand scripture, is the rapture. (Some people think the prophecy of the complete destruction of Damascus, Isaiah 17:1, and of the war in Ezekiel 38 may come before the rapture.) I do not think there is anything that has to be fulfilled until that occurs. The rapture, of course, is followed by the seven year tribulation period and then the thousand year reign. (Some people believe in pre-tribulation, others pre-wrath and others something else, but certainly as believers we are not to get into arguing over such things that we forget about walking in love. The Spirit will reveal truth to us sooner or later on these matters.)

Bob: What I believe about those things, Karen, is this; “I do not know”, but to speculate on what we do not know is total foolishness. The issue is that we have to live our lives right now. If we paid more attention to what the bible says, that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love and learning how to love one another instead of wondering about what end times will be about, the church will be in better shape today. I know end times is going to occur, and I know I am going to be prepared for it, whether I go to the rapture or whether I go to meet the Lord through physical death. The latter is probably going to happen for me before the rapture occurs. I am prepared for that. The reason I am prepared for that is because I know Jesus is my Lord and Savior.

Hebrews 2:14-15
¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

1 John 4:18
¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Bob: I have no fear of any one of those things taking place, whether the rapture or going into the presence of God through death. The issue is why do I want to sit around and try to figure out everything. I know it is going to occur and that is all I need to know. In the meantime, I have a life to live down here, people to love and people who need to know about Jesus that I need to communicate to. I have too much going on there to be preoccupied with a future event that we do not know when it is going to occur. To speculate on those things makes no sense when there is such a need in the world today to come to Christ today.

Karen: Right. I agree that there is so much discussion about it everywhere. I think a part of it is that I am living in New Orleans with tragedy. It stirs up the thought process. (How much more in our time with totalitarian control afforded by a planned pandemic with lockdowns and even more evil rampant in our face today!) People begin to question things. (In our day, you wonder who is even alert to what is going on and who questions anything.) I can understand why. I am not sure how relationships of all the Jewish people coming home and the building of the temple, how all that comes to play? But I think you hit the nail on head, does it really matter?’

Bob: ’Nobody paid attention until 1948 when the Jews became a nation and returned to their homeland, which nobody thought was going to occur. I keep looking at this. I can remember when I became a Christian in 1969, where everybody was talking about prophecy. In the final analysis, people have been talking about that forever. End times are end times. I think the scripture tells us what the signs are going to be. (There are clues as to when the time is near, and it takes discernment of the Spirit, to reveal to us what it means.)

Matthew 24:32-35
³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Psalm 90:10
¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. ¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. ¹² Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Bob: In the meantime, it would not matter if every one of those signs was taking place. What would you and I do? I would be on the radio telling people about Jesus. (Sadly in our day, with censorship and suppression of speech, it is getting harder and harder to get the truth out. It seems to me more people are hardened from hearing truth than ever before. It is like the time of the Gentiles and the church age is coming to a close. It appears in our country, the United States, that we are in the process of a Communist takeover. It seems more like global Communism also, not just the United states. And there is more and more talk of global governance and more troubling events occurring surrounding Israel as a nation.)

Karen: Right.

Bob: I just quite frankly think people spend far too much time discussing end times. It is very divisive because everybody has an opinion on it, of interpretation, so we miss the dynamic of what God has given us, and that is today. Live a day at a time. This is going to occur. That is why it is recorded. In the meantime, we have a life to live. (I personally believe in our day, end times should be discussed, not to debate and argue over disputable matters that leads to broken relationships, but as a wakeup call for the lost, that time is short, and to be ready and come to Christ for life, and for the saved, to be shared, to be watchful and sober, and not for fear of things coming, but as a means of encouragement, to ponder and be blessed, as you take things written to heart.)

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
¹ Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
⁴ But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶ So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.

Karen: Right. Some of that can border on Christian fortune telling. There is a fine line between prophecy and someone saying this is going to happen at this point, and this is the way it is going to happen.

Bob: It also becomes my knowledge, which puffs up pride. It is something I can not really talk about that I know. That can get into a real feel good trip. I stay away from it personally. I know it is going to occur, but in the meantime, I have people to love and people to tell about Jesus.

Karen: Thank you so much, Bob. I listen to you every day. I do not know what I would do without you on my ride home.

Bob: Thanks so much, Karen.

Rene from Bato, CA

Rene: It is a pleasure to talk to you again. I want to encourage you. I read Classic Christianity, Growing in Grace, and Faith that Pleases God. Hopefully you might consider translating them into Spanish. It has been a wonderful journey, following your teachings, and checking it out as the Bereans did. The Holy Spirit testifies to my spirit that this is right.

Acts 17:11
¹¹ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Bob: That is great, Rene.

Rene: It is a real blessing to be able to do that, through His grace and patience with me. My question is in regard to prophecies and prophesying. I have a brother who was telling me that he had gone to a men’s retreat. An individual said he was prophesying over him what he should do as far as this brother was concerned. I wanted to get as much information from scripture as possible. Maybe you can direct me where I can find an answer and set him straight as far as prophecy and prophesying.

Bob: You can go to a fortune teller and get the same kind of nonsense. They say they can tell you what your future holds. They say they can lay out cards for you and bring out a crystal ball, and all of that is part of fraudulent activity that is Satanically induced. We have the same thing happening today. (And these spiritual formation and prayer practices crept into churches and seminaries are much the same thing too.)

Bob: I remember going to a conference one time. A man came up to me with glossy eyes. He put his hands on my head. I told him, “If God is talking to you, you better tell him to get his hands off my head. I do not go for this kind of nonsense.” Why would people want to sprinkle water on me, and all that kind of stuff? Quite frankly, it is just total nonsense. “If God has something to say to you, he is going to say it to you. He is not going to tell me to tell you something. He will tell you. If you had two children and you wanted to tell one something, you would not go to the other to tell your brother the issue. You would go over yourself and talk to him.” People doing that are all puffed up in their idle notions and believing all kinds of mystical things and acting like they have some direct line from God in order to tell everybody what God has in mind for them. They are false prophets. They are dangerous people. You need to stay away from them like a plague. There is no more prophecy to be prophesied. The canon has been closed. It says so in scripture.

Hebrews 1:1-2
¹ In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

Bob: So, when that revelation has been closed, which the bible is closed, there is not any more revelation. You have a Book of Mormon because somebody thought he was a latter day prophet. So what do you get? A book of nonsense. The same type of deal with the Jehovah Witnesses, saying they have this special prophecy over and above the bible. So what do you have? A book of nonsense. In every one of those things, there is no such thing as further information. Everything God wants us to know about Himself has been revealed to us through scripture. There is no further prophecy.

Rene: That is my understanding also. That also is in regards to when we are baptized. He mentioned a second baptism of the Spirit.

Bob: There is no second baptism of the Spirit. You would not be born again. If the Holy Spirit is not in you, you are not born again, are you? So how can you be born again and get the Spirit later. If you did get the Spirit later, it means you never got Him the first time. There is no such thing as a second baptism. The baptism of the Spirit is what happens when the Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ. That happens at spiritual birth.

Romans 6:3-4
³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Bob: The Spirit of God comes to live in you and then places you into His body. That is called the baptism by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. That is not something where you babble in tongues. That is not something where you have to roll around on the floor. It is not something you need a sign to be accompanying. If you are born again, the Holy Spirit in you testifies you are a child of God.

Romans 8:14-16
¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Rene: Right.

Bob: So you do not need any signs and wonders. Jesus said this to the religious leaders always looking for a sign and a wonder.

Matthew 16:4
⁴ A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Rene: That is true. I will have to look those up.

Bob: He got into a lion’s den, my friend. All that stuff going on is being taught, and people are falling for it, but it is not biblical in any shape or form. Those same people will be slaying people in the spirit. Where do you find that in the bible?

Rene: That is true.

Bob: The Spirit did not come to knock you down. The Spirit came to give you life.

Rene: That is true.

Bob: All of that teaching is all wrapped up in a big bundle. People step into that, and get hooked on it, and they might as well count themselves out of the picture as far as God is concerned because you are not living by faith, but you are living by sight.

Rene: Yes that is true. I thank you very much for your response. God bless you guys. God is great.

Bob: I say He is Rene. God bless you too, my friend.

Tarrance from Kentucky

Tarrance: I had a question relative to what it seems to me are three basic doctrines that have been taught in the body of Christ today. They all seem to be in conflict. The three basic doctrines are security, restoration of all things, meaning no one is going to hell, and that if you sin after you receive salvation there is no sacrifice for sins. Can you deconflict those teachings?

Bob: The obvious error is “All people are saved” is ludicrous. Whoever teaches that is teaching heresy, spitting in the face of God of everything written in the bible, from Genesis to Revelation. As far as eternal security, the reason we know we have eternal life is because of the eternal consequences of the cross. Salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. Salvation is being restored to spiritual life.

Romans 8:1-4
¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit

Bob: The law was given to show we are sinners and that there is a consequence of sin, which is death. Death has to be corrected. Forgiving someone does not bring life to someone. Forgiveness is forgiveness. But what God had to do was clear the deck for the divine action of bringing eternal life to the dead. The reason I know I have eternal life is because of the eternal consequences of the cross. To deny you can have eternal life is to spit in the face of Jesus and say He did not complete the work. It is to call God a liar. It is to say God lied when He cried out on the cross, “it is finished.” It would mean the apostle Paul lied when he wrote letters to the churches.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19
¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation

Bob: In essence, going against the entire teaching of the New Testament, where Jesus took away the cause of spiritual death so that he can impart to us spiritual life. If you have come to Him for your correction of spiritual death, which is life, you are saved. And the reason you are saved eternally is because of the eternal consequence of the cross, where Jesus eternally took away the cause of spiritual death. That is the good news of the gospel. Sinning before or after becoming saved makes no difference. You are born into this world with sins forgiven. The only sin attributable to man is the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus who provided all this for us. That is why Jesus said the world’s sin is unbelief in me.

John 16:9 (TLB)
⁹ The world’s sin is unbelief in me

Bob: The only question God will never ask you is what have you done with My Son. Why is that?

2 Corinthians 5:19
¹⁹ God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s sins against them

Bob: Our sins were taken away from the eyes of God eternally. Every person who ever walked on the earth has his sins taken away at the cross. The forgiveness provided for us then is only received in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even though the cross took care of the sin issue, life has to take care of the death issue. In case people have not figured it out, death is a worse problem than sin. Sin is what caused death but death is your problem. Death can only be corrected by the resurrected life in Christ Jesus. So, to insult the Lord Jesus, as written in Hebrews, makes a mockery of the grace of God.

Hebrews 10:26
²⁶ For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

Hebrews 10:29
²⁹ How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Bob: So the person is sinning against the knowledge of truth, insulting the grace of God, and there is no sacrifice for rejecting truth. The sins of the whole world have already been forgiven and there is no longer a sacrifice for sin. If you sin against such knowledge, the only place to go is hell. More people are sinning against the knowledge of truth than sinning against the ten commandments. Jesus took away our sins never to be seen again and that is what people are sinning against.

Tarrance: Thank you, Bob. I have never heard it explained that way.

Bob: Religion keeps teaching about sin, sin, and sin but never deals with death.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Bob: We have glossed over the idea of wages of sin is death but never realized that is us, being spiritually dead already, under condemnation of the law. The only life available to us is the resurrected life in Christ Jesus that can save us from the consequences of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. Buddha, Mohammed or Luther cannot give you life for they are still dead in the grave. Only the resurrected life of Jesus can save us. There has been so much emphasis on the cross instead of the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19
¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Bob: Paul said that without the resurrection, we are to be pitied of all people and are still in our sins, knowing full well that a cross had occurred, where He took away the sins of the whole world, but also knowing, what evidently we forgot or never knew to begin with, that that forgiveness that was provided then is only received in the resurrection of Christ.

Tarrance: Absolutely grace. That is awesome.

Bob: And that is good news, brother.

Tarrance: I have been living under condemnation for so many years that I just needed someone to tell me the truth.

Bob: That is great, Tarrance. Grab a hold of that and walk in the newness of life. It is a new way of life.

Tarrance: Thank you so much. I just need to learn how to get sin out of my life so I can learn to live.

Bob: Do not pray for that too hard for the only way you will get sin out of your life is if you die.

(Laughter together.)

Tarrance: I guess you are right.

Bob: So do not pray for that too hard unless you are ready to go. To be really honest, God has a reason for leaving that old sin nature in us. The reason for it is if we did not have the weakness of the flesh, we would stop trusting Jesus in a New York minute.

Tarrance: Yes.

Bob: So, that is why we can rejoice in our weakness. It is what keeps us dependent. That is the only thing God is interested in is us walking in dependency upon Him. Many times it is our own weakness that keeps us walking in dependence. If we did not have any weakness, we would become so self-righteous and so proud of ourselves and make everyone else around us sick in their stomach.

Tarrance: That is so true.

Bob: I will put you on hold and send you Classic Christianity as our compliments. I think your heart is open to it and I think it will be of great benefit to your spiritual growth.

Tarrance: I did not hear of your ministry until now. I will be contributing.

Bob: Thank you, my brother. Hang on. We will put you on hold and get that book to you.

John from Dallas, TX

John: I have a question about knowing God’s will, such as everyday decisions such as what job to accept or what car to buy. Should I do this or that? Not about going to a bar to get drunk, for God’s word is clear on that, but on things like should I buy a new business or should I buy that car? If I am asking God, how do I know what He wants me to do?

Bob: God’s answer to that is “I don’t care what kind of car you have.” There were no cars in Jesus’ day. Remember the garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:15-17
¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Bob: All these trees Adam was free to eat. Only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he was warned not to eat. There was freedom to eat anything else, with no need to ask, whichever one you want. But one thing we are incapable of doing is determining right from wrong, so we have to depend on God for that. But in all other things we are open to all kinds of options. Jesus is sitting there with you in whatever car you choose to buy. But unless you are leaning on our own understanding in regards to good and evil, you have that freedom. God says whatever you want to do, and you do not need to ask me, just pick whatever you want.