Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P555 (07-23-20)
Synopsis
People often call to get answers on topical questions of life. Sometimes when they go to a certain denomination to visit, or have been there awhile, things just do not make sense. What is this about receiving a second baptism of the spirit or having to speak in tongues in order to be saved? People begin to ask those questions, especially as they begin to grow in the Lord. As you read God’s word, where Paul discusses this topic of tongues in 1 Corinthians, you understand that what people are doing is promoting error and teaching error.
First of all, you cannot get more of the Spirit than what you already have. When you have Christ in you, you have all of Christ and He says He will never leave you or forsake you. The Holy Spirit is sealed in you for the day of redemption. He does not leak out so as if you need to get more. And if He, who is eternal, is in you, then how can you lose what is sealed in you? You cannot lose salvation, who is Christ in you. And when you hear babbling of tongues in a service and no one to interpret, who is edified? Nobody. Who understands what is even being said. Basic logic reasoning tells you that.
Other times people call about struggles with their in-laws, like a controlling mother or mother-in-law when you have just been married a few years. You have to realize that you are a new entity, you have become one, and that you leave your father and your mother and cleave to your wife. At times, you, as the man of the house, the leader of the home, you will have to stand firm in truth until your mother or mother-n-law, whoever it might be, comes to her senses, and realizes she is overstepping her bounds. We learn to deal with all these things. Yes, we love our family, but it is time you have to move on with your life. And of course, you always want to allow the Lord to work in you to forgive even as He has forgiven you.
Other times, you see a troubled young person, who is rebellious as ever. You wonder if there is any hope for him. You think he might even be demon possessed. That is possible. In reality, anyone who does not know the Lord is certainly influenced by Satan, and maybe even demon possessed, if in rebellion, not against religion but against God. Regardless, a person is either controlled by God or controlled by Satan. There is no other controlling force. You can pray, show the love of Christ to them. You sow the seed of truth and allow God to show His love in you and through you, and see where that leads. It may be that all you do is plant a seed, that later on in life, someone else reaps a harvest that began with you. One man sows, another waters, but God causes the growth.
Transcript
Sherry from Fresno, CA
Sherry: I love your show. I appreciate you taking all the calls and helping us to know more about the Lord. Thank you.
Bob: You are welcome. Thank you, Sherry.
Sherry: I am calling about speaking in tongues. I know that back in the book of Acts, when he came upon those folks, that they spoke in unknown languages to them but it was known languages to other people.
Bob: Yes.
Sherry: That I understand fully. That was a supernatural thing. Nowadays, you hear people, who will be praying and then all of a sudden, they are speaking what sounds like babbling. Sometimes you might think it is Hebrew, but it really just sounds like babbling. There is no one there to interpret what is being said. They are kind of talking English for a minute, then they are talking in the other. I do not want to think, “Well, that is not right”. I know that for a fact. My problem comes in where it just seems like if it was real then someone would be able to tell us what he is saying, to edify everyone, so we can all be excited about whatever. But I do not know that. That could just be a language. That is what I am asking about.
Bob: I can answer that for sure. That is not a language. Paul said.
1 Corinthians 14:18-19
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Bob: I think that ought to show us the heart of what Paul was saying here.
1 Corinthians 14:22
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
Bob: I see nothing in scripture, at all, Sherry, and I know this is a divisive issue, but people have so abused this thing, that I am probably more critical of that subject because of the abuse that I see. You see people coming up who say, “You are not saved if you do not speak in tongues”. That is utter nonsense. “You are not filled with the Spirit if you do not speak in tongues”. That also is utter nonsense. Why would Paul say he would rather speak five intelligible words than ten thousand words in a tongue? Ten thousand words are a lot of words. No. It is not a language in this day and age. It was a language back then. But what you are hearing, there is no way anyone can interpret that to be a known language. It is not Hebrew, for sure.
Bob: I can just show you some of the abuses I have seen. I heard a guy who went to Dallas Theological seminary. He went to a charismatic church and started speaking in Hebrew. This other person got up to interpret. What he did was to say the Lord’s prayer in Hebrew. This guy got up to interpret and said something that had nothing to do with the Lord’s prayer. So the man said, “I am doing this to prove that what you people are doing is wrong”. They literally threw him bodily out of the church. It is very, very divisive. People get the idea that when they do that, they believe they have some kind of special gift that no one else has, and that makes him very spiritual. I think the gift of teaching is a lot more important instead of talking in a language you do not understand but to be able to talk in a language you can understand. And it says that. If anyone wants to be a prophet, he desires a greater gift, and that is, to be a truth teller, to tell what the bible says.
1 Corinthians 14:39-40
39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Bob: What I think Paul is talking about, speaking in tongues, what would he be talking about? Anything but languages.
1 Corinthians 14:28-33
28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
Bob: That, to me, is what people are talking about, a prayer language. If you are going to be speaking in some language that nobody understands, you are speaking to yourself, and you may be speaking to God, and God is talking to your heart anyway. When you are speaking a language, you have to think about it before speaking it. It is really your heart, isn’t it? God is looking at our heart, at what we are thinking. You are talking here about the fact that what good does it do to speak in a language that no one knows what you are talking about? That does not make any sense. I am trying to be reasonable with this. It makes no sense if I speak English, and I go into an assembly and they all speak English, what am I doing if I can speak in German? What would I be doing that for when the rest speak in English? It makes no sense to Paul, either. If there is no interpreter, keep quiet. You have to interpret a known language. And Paul says that I suppose there are numerous languages in the world, but if you don ’t understand it, what good is it?
Sherry: Right.
Bob: So, you are thinking then that there may be someone who says about a prayer language, they may be having that moment, and speaking in a known tongue, but they should just be quiet, or just do it at home, talk to themselves and to God. If you think God needs a language, and that, to me, makes no sense. I do not think God listens to a word we are saying anyhow. God is listening to our heart. God is Spirit and He is dealing with us on a spirit level. My voice was given to me by mom and dad. I do not think God is listening. I do not think He has a United Nations deal with interpreters. He is looking at the heart of man. Man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart.
Bob: You and I know, a lot of times, when we say something, it is not what is going on under the skin. If I am feeling like the devil and I went to church, and someone asks, “How are you doing?” You say, “Oh, great”, but deep down your guts are hanging out. If you are God, who are you listening to, ’You are great” or “Guts hanging out”? Which do you think He is listening to?
Sherry: Guts hanging out.
Bob: You better believe it. I bet, more times than not, the things we say do not represent what is going on inside. God is too smart to listen to our words. He is listening to our heart. I think so much is made of this and abused that it is very difficult sometimes for people to sit in an intelligent basis and discuss this subject because of abuses taking place with it.
Bob: When all congregations of saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak and be in submission, as the law says. That, again, was in the context of tongues. Much of the abuse that took place there was from women. So, he is saying, they are not allowed to do that. It is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. In most churches, nobody is speaking, but places where they are is where this so-called gift of tongues is being executed. I do not have a bias on this type of thing. I have to look at the scripture. I have to look at it logically. I see no logic at all in the assembly of God of somebody babbling in a language that no one knows what they are talking about. There is no place in the world they know what it is talking about because it is not a language but gibberish. If they wanted to speak that, go let him speak in that, and record it and see if there is a language and there is not any. That has been done many times. There is no language connected to it.
Bob: So I think what he is saying there, how a person wants to communicate with God, and I do not think He is listening any way, but go ahead and do it. You are talking to God and yourself but it is edifying the assembly.
Fran from Slidell, LA
Fran: I am so glad to turn on the radio and hear all of you, something familiar.
Bob: How are you doing down there?
Fran: Palm trees down everywhere. Every tree fell down, but did not hit my house.
Bob: Praise the Lord for that.
Fran: No water. I am off interstate 12, we did get some surge here. I am alive on this earth. I tell people we are going through a grieving process. Even though we do not lose personal things, homes we grew up in and memories are gone. I want to feel like it is okay. I feel bad I did not lose anything but so many people around me are suffering so bad. They lost everything.
Bob: Fran, there is nothing wrong with going through a situation like that, and even being that close to it. You will experience a certain grief, but let that grief turn to joy as you give thanks in all things. Praise Him for what you did have, and start reaching out to those who were not quite as fortunate as you are. As you reach out, that grief will subside and you will find God has given you a purpose for living.
John from Eugene, OR
John: I was wondering in Revelation where John was told to write to some of the churches. He said that he would rather be cold or hot, and if lukewarm, he would spew them out of his mouth. Does that mean you lose salvation? I am red hot, but I think there are so many Christians that describe them. Is that talking to our churches nowadays? How does that relate?
Revelation 3:14-16
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Bob: John, it says it is written to an angel or a messenger, which would be the pastor, or the leadership of a church of Sardis, in that particular case, or the church of Laodicea, or wherever it might be, to say of those seven churches, which were evident, in existence, when it was written. I could go through all seven of those and put denominations on them. It is not the believers I am worried about. It is leaders of denominations that have taken denominations and perverted them into a liberal mindset. The gentleman that preceded me was talking about reading something from Harvard, and all of those eastern universities started out as places for people to come and learn scriptures. Today, you would not recognize it. It is all liberal.
Bob: To the church of Ephesus and the angel, or messenger or agent, he writes. To the church of Smyrna, to the leadership, he writes. What he is saying to the leadership, that in essence, if you do not change your ways, I am going to write Ichabod over it. There are many today that He has written Ichabod over them. There are people in that denomination that are saved just as you and me. As far as the denomination, He has written Ichabod across it.
John: My mom looked at one of these mega churches. Someone interviewed him and asked him if he spoke on the subject of homosexuals. He said no because they have enough problems.
Bob: Then you have another denomination that has elected a bishop who is an open homosexual and elected him as bishop. Those are the kind of things God says, “I am just writing Ichabod across you. As far as I am concerned you are not even in existence”. Again, I think we have to be careful there, John. It does not mean there could not be people sitting in pews and some of whom are totally saved. If they are saved, they are saved. As far as denomination is concerned, they are written off. There are some places I would not sit inside them because I would be sick in my stomach to hear what they have to say.
John: I heard today something about the sin of pride is as witchcraft. I know somebody who is in rebellion. They were just as rebellious as children toward their parents and toward authority. It seems like she is almost possessed. Does that mean they can get possessed because of that?
Bob: When you are in a state of rebellion, it depends on what you are rebelling against, John. I have been around for a long time. I saw children who thought they were rebelling against Jesus. They were not rebelling against Jesus at all, but against legalism, the church, but not against the Lord. So it depends on what they are rebelling against. But children who get into a state of rebellion, I believe that they certainly can become demon possessed. I have known some children who I have to wonder if indeed they are not demon possessed. If not possessed, they are highly influenced.
Bob: There are only two areas of control in our lives. You are either controlled by the Spirit or controlled by Satan. There is nothing in between. I compare that to back yards that have a fence and then you have an alley, then a fence and then another house. We like to live in the alley way. There is no alleyway in regard to God. There is just a fence. There is property on one side and another property on the other side. There is no alleyway in between. So you are either controlled by God or controlled by Satan. When you refuse to be controlled by God, then you automatically, without trying, just like you step out of the law of aerodynamics in an airplane, you do not have to choose to be under the law of gravity. You are automatically under it, when you refuse to be controlled by God. You are automatically controlled by demonic influence. That is scary and it should be enough to frighten people that I do not want to be controlled by Satan. Whatever you want to or not, that is who is controlling you, if you are not allowing God to control your life.
John: That is obvious as to what is happening. This person is not born again because it is just out of control. They could not be under God’s control at all.
Bob: You keep working with those people, loving them and trying to get them to Jesus.
John: Thank you.
Bob: Thank you, John. Bye. Bye.
Daniel from Phoenix, AZ
Daniel: Something has been bothering me for the past three years. I have been married for three years. Other than having a happy marriage and a happy life, it has gone to being very unstable. Any move that we take, I find myself trying to make any move possible to find happiness. It has been really hard. I come from a home that has been my parents. My parents raised us in church. The thing is that my wife was not Christian when I met her. We became friends. When we got serious, then things started occurring to me if she was a believer or not. We got married and within a week after we got married, she gave her life to the Lord. My mom tends to be controlling. The mom finds out her place taken by another woman. That has always been there. My wife has felt as if my parents did not want her for me. I have a ministry as well. My parents look at ministry, and say, “He needs somebody that is an assistant to the ministry”. She has that feeling that is there why they do not want her for me and so forth. We went through the stage where we had to live with them for a couple of months. It just got worse. Now at some point, they do not talk to each other. I try to make peace between both. My wife knows that I am on her side. But if it is carnal and not biblical, I try to explain to her what is not biblical. That is not the way God wants us to be. But has gotten to the point she is okay with just not talking. One or the other will not make the effort to talk. It gets to the point where she does not want my children to even see my parents. I am fine with my parents and so forth, but I also have to side with my wife and show my wife that I am not against her. My question is how do you get it to where I do not want my parents to hate me or I do not want to disrespect them or dishonor them. Proverbs tell us to honor them but at the same time, I am the priest of my own home. I am my own head. You know that you need to be parents because the word of God says this. I am the father of my home now. That no longer applies to me but I do honor you and respect you, but there is a limit. I am tied in the middle. I do not know which way to turn. If I go one one way that will cave in on me.
Bob: Let me see if I can shed some light on that Daniel. First of all mom and dad are not your parents any more. They were parents when parenting you. They are no longer parenting you and they ought to stand out of your business. The problem is not with your wife but the problem is with your mom. You are the one who has to stand up. That is why he tells a man to leave your father and your mother. It does not say that to a woman. But it says that to the son.
Genesis 2:24
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Bob: I think one reason it says that is because a man has the tendency to hang onto the skirt tails of the mother. Mother has a tendency to want to continue mothering a child who is now married. That is why He says to a man that if you are going to be a man of your home, then you are going to have to leave your mom and dad and cleave to your wife and the two of you become one. Because you are not the head of this new entity called a brand new household. So do not think the problem is with your wife. The problem is with your mom, trying to hang on. You are in a predicament there of not wanting to offend any one of them, but you are going to have to take a stance to have to offend one, and if you do, it will have to be mom. If your mom becomes angry over that type of thing, that is her problem for she is controlling and is trying to control things and she has interfered in your life. It may be just having to sit down and say, “Mom. This is my family. I do not want you trying to control our family”.
Daniel: It gets to the point where sometimes I sat down with her and talked with her about certain issues. We were moving from one house to another house and we stayed there for a little bit. My mom, for the first couple of years, they hit it off really good, but then my mom felt she had the right to say certain things. There were certain issues I would have to tell my mom. This is my wife. If you do not accept my wife, you are not accepting me. My wife and I are one. Sometimes it gets extreme. I am trying to make peace with everybody.
Bob: It is not going to do us any good rehashing this. We do not have time to do that. The issue is that if you are married, which you are, and the two of you have become one, if your mom makes those kinds of decisions, “I do not want to see you anymore”, then you have to leave that into her hands and accept that and the two of you go on with your life and quit worrying about it. If mom comes to the point, or comes to her senses, and says, “I have been acting like a fool”, which she has. If she comes to her senses and says, “It is your life, not mine. I am going to support you in your marriage. You are my son and she is my daughter-in-law”. If she comes to that point, then praise God. If she does not, go on with your life and let this fall where it may. You cannot change things and fix things, Daniel. You cannot fix a heart that is wanting to control. You cannot fix a heart like that. You have to leave that to God.
Daniel: I appreciate that.
Bob: Move in that direction but I would let your wife know this. “We are together and if you are mad at my mom, I understand that, but try to be loving and try to be forgiving as Christ says to forgive even as He has forgiven you, but in God’s timing. But we are not going to pay any attention to what mom and dad are saying right now and we are going to go on with our marriage”.
Bob: That will do wonders for her.
Daniel: Thank you so much.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Daniel. Keep us posted on how you are doing.
