Bibleline Radio Show – 2010-02-23

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So cherish the old God and God. Till I draw these endless days with you. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Declary… Declaring God’s love through radio and the internet. Providing real answers to an ever-searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll-3-1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Well, good morning and welcome to Bibleline. Great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast.

We look forward to being with you each and every day, Monday through Friday as we come to you from our studios, right here in Tampa, Florida at the Calvary Community Church. And we hope that you have a wonderful day and that the Bibleline hopefully will make it special. In any case, we’re glad you’re listening. You can catch this program on the internet right now and also as often as you like anytime of day or night by going to BibleLineMinistries.org, BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe.

You’ll get our radio programs. We are going to talk about the Bible. You know, one of the most exciting things is this event called a Rapture. No doubt about it unless your head is in the sand and you’re reading the Bible. You can recognize the signs of the times are everywhere. And it tells us that in 1 Thessalonians 5 that of the times and seasons you have no need that I write unto you. There are so many verses in the Bible that talk about the return of Christ and what we are to look for.

And you know there are signs for the conclusion of the church age and the rapture, and then there are signs for the second coming, things that will occur in the tribulation period after the rapture. And so we are seeing now a host of signs, many of which are second coming signs, and also we’re seeing many of the signs of the conclusion of this age. I was always told and I was always taught and most of the books I’ve always read have said that there are no signs for the Rapture and I have come to conclude that that’s wrong teaching.

I have had so much wrong teaching and I think most of us have during our lives. But if you read 2 Timothy chapter 3, it gives us a whole chapter of what we would expect in the last times for the church age. It says this also, chapter 3 verse 1 of 2 Timothy, that in the last days perilous times shall come. And we are living, I think, in those perilous times, wherever we look, it seems in the news we’re getting really on edge about whatever might happen.

And we’re on edge because we know the reality of the perilous times that shall come. And you read down there, it tells us basically what you see in the headlines every day in those descriptions. And we really are seeing, I think, the signs of the end times. And then it talks about Christianity, how that for the most part they would be having a form of godliness, verse 5 of 2 Timothy 3, but they would deny the power thereof. Now the power I take it is the same as in Romans 1 and 16.

The gospel, you know, it says there, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. And the power of the gospel is being denied or ignored today. It’s amazing to me. I was talking to a young lady yesterday and I gave her the track that I’ve written called, Am I Going to Heaven with the contemporary terms in it? And I asked her if she would look that over. And as she looked it over, she was reading down.

And I said to her, all of these are wrong answers. Now, one of the answers in her mind, she hadn’t told me as of yet that she had mentally noted that one. She said, is it wrong to follow Christ? That was one of the options there for what must I do to be saved. And I said, no, it’s not wrong to follow Christ, but you’re not saved by following Christ. You’re saved by trusting Christ. His death and shed blood.

And she relaxed and she really got the gospel clear and left with assurance. But you know, most people think you have to follow Christ or you have to give your heart to Christ. or you have to invite Christ into your heart, or you have to put Christ on the throne of your life, or you have to, and I have 20 of these contemporary terms, none of which can save anybody. We’re not saved by any of those actions. We are saved when we TRUST, that Jesus died, shed his blood, was buried in Rosalghinn from the dead.

That’s the gospel. And you know, it says in 2 Timothy 3.5 that in the last days that they would have a form of godliness, yes, they would maybe profess to be Christian, but yet deny the power, the means by which they are saved and become Christians, which is the gospel message, the death, the barrel, the resurrection of Christ. And it’s incredible. I see it every day and most people will bite into the typical contemporary terms that are We use the day that are not the gospel and in reality think that they are a Christian but not really be born again believer.

You have to trust Christ in order to be saved. It seems like very few preachers are saying that anymore. Everything from turning from your sin to walking the aisle, uniting with the church, doing penance, saying prayers, going to mass, church membership, and on and on the list goes of things that people are told that they must do in order to be saved. I was up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I asked this young lady, what do you think you have to do to be saved?

And she said, you have to tithe. I said, what? I’d never really seen anybody commit to that one thing. And she said, yeah, I said, where did you learn that? She said, for my preacher. He says, unless you tie, he’ll go to hell. I said, that’s incredibly wrong. Tithing has nothing to do with going to heaven or hell. Tithing or giving to Christ is a way, as a believer, after we’re saved, we can make an investment in eternity. We can be laying up treasures in heaven and having rewards.

Anyway, she wound up trusting the Lord. She says, can you wait another minute? Can you, you got a little bit more time? I said, yes, she said, I want to get my husband. She grabbed him. He was just about 25 feet away and brought him over and says, explain that to him. Will you explain that to my husband? And so I was able to explain it to her husband as well. You know, both of them were in a church where they were taught unless they tied, they would go to hell in that tragic.

It’s just awful. And we have so much bad teaching today. In any case, it says in verse seven of second Timothy chapter 3 that they would be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Isn’t that amazing? That they can be studying and learning, reading books and going to church and yet never discovering the truth. We have a gentleman in our church here that I pastor. From five years old until he was 76 years old, he was active in quite a number of different churches.

What a story he has to tell. But it wasn’t until he discovered us that he got saved. So can you imagine? For 71 years of his life, between five years old and 76, he was actively involved in churches but never saved. called to me malpractice for sure. You know if you go to the doctor and he malpractices well you die physically but if a church malpractice is you go to hell. Don’t you see that that’s far worse? How many churches should be sued for malpractice because they let you go 71 years without ever telling you how to be saved.

Now that is a tragic, tragic thing. It’s one thing to die physically and if the medical doctor now practices obviously you go to court usually it seems today but the patient dies and everybody is really upset but can you imagine? Shouldn’t we get upset when somebody goes through church all their life and never finds out how to be safe? I went through 18 years of my life in church. I was confirmed and baptized, homogenized, pasteurized, capsized, and colonized, and the whole nine years, but I never was saved.

Thank God my sister was concerned enough about me to pester me until I finally went to the Bible study she was attending, and there I got saved. I only need to hear it here at one time. When I heard that it was a gift, when I heard it was not of myself, when I heard it was not of works, when I heard it was all paid for, when I heard that I had this simply trust Christ, John 3 16 which I already knew but I didn’t understand that whosoever believeth in Christ should not perish but have everlasting life.

Wow, it was like the light turned on and I said this is incredible. This is the best news I’ve ever heard. You mean to say I can go to heaven? I could go to heaven? I thought I was going to hell. You mean I can actually be saved? Yes indeed the Bible said whosoever anyone that would believe on Christ would not perish but have everlasting life. I hope you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior. I’m praying that you will if you haven’t.

You could do it right now. You could say, Lord, I’m the sinner. I don’t understand much about the Bible. But I believe Jesus died for me and paid my sin debt and full by his death and shed blood. And I believe he was buried. I believe he rose again from the dead and I trust him right now to save me. Would you do that? Oh, my friend, that’s the most important decision you’ll ever make. And we hear from so many who tell us they’ve done that by listening to this program.

Boy, does that thrill me. And I hope it thrills you as well to know that people are hearing the gospel. So many Christian programs would very few ever address the issue of salvation. And if they do, they don’t address it in a real clear way. You’re still left confused with contemporary terminology that’s not really even the gospel. The Gospel is to believe or trust. As the Gospel is the power of God, the Bible says in Romans 1,16, unto all of them that believe or trust.

When you trust Christ, you’ve got it. I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom. This is Bible. I’m great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning in. We’re going to go to the phone lines. I’m going to jump to a couple of offer questions real quick here. We have Jerry in Pleasant Grove, New York, calling in. He leaves us all for a question. In Revelation 18 it speaks about an economic power. How do you see this happening? Well right now I believe that we see it in all of the Western nations which are described I think in chapter 18 of Revelation as Babylon.

It’s not Babylon the city because the Babylon the city was destroyed. In Isaiah chapter 13 it says it would never be rebuilt and you know it hasn’t. Saddam Hussein had tried to make it a tourist attraction and did some reconstruction, but nothing. Nothing’s happened. Nobody lives there. The Bible said it would not be lived in, but it’s talking about the system of merchandising and exchanging of goods and selling and buying and so on. And you see that all the way through chapter 18 of Revelation.

And in the last days, system that came out of ancient Babylon, spread them through the Medo-Persian Empire, spread to the Grecian Empire, spread to the Roman Empire, and now has spread to the European common market and America. And we believe that we’re getting very close to the Lord’s return. It’s interesting that in the offering there behind the scenes is that apparently they’re talking about a new currency called the Amero equivalent to the Euro of Europe that apparently behind the scenes they want to have a common currency for Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

of A. Watch out what’s happening behind the scenes. I believe Europe and America will come together and control the Middle East and that is of course the kingdom under the control of the and a Christ. It is that Kingdom that will be destroyed by Christ that is returned, that’s described in Revelation chapter 18. And I think we see that all the major trading of merchandise is in the West. It’s where the leaders of that. Anyway, we thank you for that question.

We now have Betty in Beverly Hills, Florida and Betty, welcome to Bible Enstrom. Yes, good morning, Brother Olenschter. I’m just going to fill you in on a little bit of the continuing saga. Yesterday morning, my husband and I had a meeting with our pastor and two of the deacons who had yelled at me and faulted me for saying Mother Teresa had died, not as a Christian, and they had screamed at me, what about Hitler? Could you judge his heart or also?

Do you have that ability? Would you say, would you accuse him of not being a… Christian and I brought scriptures, test spirits and so forth and that we certainly have to make judgments in certain areas so far as if we’re single we have to discern whether the person we’re considering marrying is in fact a Christian or not. But to make a long story short, there was also an anti-Semitic attitude so far as the Jewish people don’t need to be brought as the scriptures from the Old Testament.

They can learn exactly like everybody else. And he gave Romans road. And now I understand that the Southern Baptist, the Latte-Worah Saturation Association is going to be teaching how to win the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons to Christ. So we prayed with them, we told them we just could not be a part of nor support this particular work. So we have officially left. I guess I’m just looking for a little bit of sympathy or support from you. Sometimes it’s kind of tough, but certainly the Jewish person needs to be saved, but oftentimes They’re not going to even look or listen to anything from the New Testament and And Paul obviously was very successful in leading Jewish people to Christ by using the Old Testament in Act 17 in particular It says there that as his manner was he went into the synagogue and there he got into a discussion with the

Jewish worshipers and he alleged that Christ had to suffer and die and come back again from the dead and he showed them out of the scriptures and that had to be the Old Testament Scriptures at that time. And it says there that many would believe in. So he was leading people to Christ, Jewish people to Christ, by presenting the Old Testament Scriptures. And even in Romans where they went and take the Romans road, it quotes there the Old Testament from Isaiah 53 in chapter 10 of Romans where it talks about, if you believe in your heart that Jesus died and rose again and so on that a little bit later it talks about Isaiah saying who have believed our report and that wonderful chapter that it’s quoting is chapter 53 that tells the whole story of Jesus.

So I don’t know how you can just shut off the Old Testament. The Bible is one book I believe. I quoted all scriptures profitable and so forth. What I really would like, just briefly, I’m sorry to take your time again, is what about this blanket? Absolutely no judging in any way, shape or form. Well, that’s really craziness. Obviously, all through the New Testament, you see it. Peter, for example, when Simon, chapter eight, thought he could buy salvation, Peter says, you need to change your mind here.

You need to repent of this evil thought of yours that you could buy salvation and purchase it. And he says, you need to have a part nor lot in this matter. The word matter there in the Greek is Lagos, the very name for Jesus. So he says, you have no part in Christ because you are trying to get it by buying salvation. He needed to change his mind and receive it by faith. And he could have been saved. So obviously, Peter discerned very quickly that Simon was not saved and you see that throughout the New Testament where they recognized it.

And you know, the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 was commended for the fact that they recognized those that were false and didn’t agree with the Bible in their teaching. And the Bereans also searched the scriptures and they recognized those that were false. And the whole book, Galatians warns the Galatian believers about these sneaky people that came in undercover and began to change and pervert the gospel. And he says they creep in unawares and they spy out our liberty in Christ and they try to steal it from us and change and pervert the gospel of Christ, which is kind of you have to be on target there with what the Bible says.

That would be the wolves and sheep’s clothing. And I believe judging would really come out of a discernment which only Chris, true Bible believing Christian could have. Where you’re not the judge, Betty, is in the area of things that you cannot have any knowledge of. I can’t judge a person’s motive because unless they tell me what their motive is, I don’t know. I can’t judge the secret things at the heart that I know nothing about. God will one day reveal all those things when we stand before Him.

the things that are playing and out in the open, we can judge and we can make a decision whether it’s biblical or not or whether a person is saved or not based on their testimony upon what they say. Well, God willing, I will be down to fear every third Sunday of the month. You keep up the good work. We love you in the Lord and we’re supportive of everything you say and audience please tune in and support Bibleline. He is in fact telling God’s truth.

God bless you brother. Thank you Betty and Beverly Hills that third Sunday she’s referring to is a dinner day when everybody brings their best home cook food and we have a wonderful time of fellowship after the worship service and you’re welcome to join us. and be our guest on that third Sunday and we’ll have a great time of food and fellowship after the 1030 morning worship service. We have Matthew up in Palm Harbor on the line waiting. Matthew welcome.

My other question is quickly I had an opportunity to minister to several Muslims. My question is I don’t know if you talk about I’ll get off and maybe you can make a statement. Some Muslims will say that their religion is one of peace and that a lot of the different uh… verses from the karana in reference to jihadi war have been taken out of context others will say no that it’s specifically a religion of war and it’s there uh…

they need to uh… and in support of all on their belief of the karana to expand the muslim faith throughout the world through jihadi so it’s hard at this time how we should really look at the religion overall and and do we have had to do we have christian or have we made any any uh… you know what’s the real conclusion that we can drop out that and if you can talk about that a little bit from a run ok i’ll do that thank you very much you know you don’t have to go to the core and just go to the islamic websites and i went to one last week and basically they say within one generation expect to take over the whole world and that the western shaped culture that we’re living in now will no longer be and that the whole world be shaped and run by

uh… the islamic religion so they believe in the take over the whole world and the way that is done is by force. And so when you read, you know, the core end is quite clear as to its statements, but just take a look at some of the Islamic websites that are out there and they don’t hide in those websites what their desire is and you can see it on the move. And they’re taking over different nations. they’re infiltrating and taking over nations as quickly as they can right now.

So keep your eye open, we’re living in the last days and you know Christ is coming back soon and he’s going to judge all the false religions of the world and guess what? At the end of the tribulation period Christ is going to slay every unbeliever on the planet and the Bible says he will famish all the gods of the world. In other words, they’ll have nobody around to worship them anymore. The gods of the world will be starved.

You know, the Hindus believe in about 4 million gods. So all those who haven’t accepted Christ will be slain and all those 4 million Hindu gods will have no one to worship them. And obviously, Allah will have nobody to worship Him because there’s only one way to heaven. Jesus said it in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man cometh unto the father by me. But the little prophet Zephaniah says that Christ will be terrible to those who have rejected him when he comes back.

And he will famish all the gods of the world. They’ll have no one to worship them. But then everybody that is left after the second coming who are only believers will wind up worshiping him. Let me read the verse to you. 7 and I at 2 and 11, the Lord will be terrible unto them, for he will famish all the gods of the earth. None of them will have any worshippers left, because Christ will slay them all, and men shall worship him.

That is those who remain. And then it speaks about this being true over all the world. The Prophet Zechariah also says, in that day there’s going to be only one Lord, and he will be king over all the earth. And there won’t be anybody else to worship. I’m afraid everybody else, all the gods that have been invented down through time will be famished, they’ll have no one to worship them. Zephaniah 211, your verse for today. And so basically, we need to be evangelistic.

We need to win our friends and family to Christ because when the rapture happens, the believers go up and unbelievers are left behind. But then if you’re friends who have seven more years to get it together and trust Christ as Savior, If they don’t trust the Lord by the end of the seven years, they’ll all be destroyed by Christ when He comes back and there’s not going to be anybody left to worship a false God. He’s going to clean house and only those who are believers will be left and they will live into the millennium and they will only worship the one and true and living God who is Jesus Christ.

God who took on flesh will come back in a flesh body and rule over the earth as a king. King of the Jews, but also King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as he will rule over all the nations. The Bible is quite clear in passage after passage that no one will survive. Malachi says, who will stand in the day of the Lord? And the answer is only those that have accepted Christ. All others will be destroyed. Thank you for that call and I hope that answered that question and this is Bibleline.

I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom and we’re going now to Sharon in Tampa, Florida. Sharon, welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air. Hi, Pastor Hank. I just have a question about job and in the beginning of the chapter it says that the son of man and that uh… satan first standing before god and accusing or were he was saying he was going to and fro to and he goes where have you come from he said to and fro to and fro and i was just wondering why who the other people were that was with him when he came before god okay well the But first of all, the scene is on the earth and it says, sons of God, which is believers.

Every person who becomes born again becomes a son of God or a child of God, a daughter of a son of God. And so the believers came together to worship and their Satan came to observe. I think he still does it today. When we meet at church, I think not necessarily Satan himself, but his demons come to spy out what we do and they report back to the devil. So he’s constantly observing us and God talks to Satan says, have you happened to notice Job?

How he’s such a wonderful Christian. It was God here bragging on Job. And of course Satan said, yeah, I’ve noticed him. But the reason why he is so faithful and loyal to you is because you keep a hedge about him and won’t let me get at him. But if you only let me, you know, take away what he possesses and everything, he’ll curse you. And of course God allowed him to do that. And in all that Job did not sinned or did he curse God.

But these were believers. It was on the earth it’s not a scene in heaven and uh… he was just simply observing as he does uh… all our activities the bible says that there are angels out there satan’s angels as well as god’s angels that observe our activities now in that meant toward the middle or toward the mid end there were a couple of fellows that came and started talking to him about why he shouldn’t be feeling sorry for himself and at the end why did god rebuke them because it sounded when i was reading it sounded like they were trying to talk him into you know being more righteous or you know being happy for what he had and then it seemed like they got trouble for trying to talk him into not feeling sorry for well they didn’t know the whole story and they were judging job and they said

you know come on job confess up you obviously committed some secret since here that caused all this grief to come upon you and that was it true at all and so they were they were out of line really they they they were judging an area where they couldn’t judge they didn’t know and uh… and joe really hadn’t sinned and it wasn’t about job sitting was about this uh… thing of allowing satan to test him and job came out better for it and uh…

he also came out getting twice what he had before god replaced everything plus at the very end of the steam okay well you answered it good we’ve got a run keep looking up jesus is coming We will be back tomorrow morning, Lord Willing. Our time together seems to go so quickly. We’ve already reached the end of our program for today. Please make plans to join us again and invite a friend to listen with you for another broadcast of Bibleline.

It was Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry to tell others how to be certain of their salvation by trusting Jesus as their Savior. Are you absolutely certain of where you will go when you die? I know that I am. If you’d like to learn how you too can be certain, then visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks to our audio team for their work on today’s production. This has been Tom Perry, and we look forward to being with you for the next edition of Bible Line.

And as Dr. Hanklandstrom liked to say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming, and we believe soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the Internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4011 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.