Bibleline Radio Show – 2006-10-18 – What if I don’t?

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3-7-1. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s the host of Bibleline Dr. Hank Lindstrom. It’s great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning in to the broadcast. We’re looking forward to being with you every day Monday through Friday here at Calvary Community Church in Bibleline. As we come to you from from Tampa at the Bible and headquarters which is in the Calvary Community Church which I’m the pastor of. Church, which I’m the pastor of. Love to meet you. If you ever get a chance to come by, please come by and see us.

People do that every day. And we’re located right next to Tampa’s airport. We are one block west of the airport. In fact, at 4811 George Road, and we’re open every day until about 4.30 Eastern time to come and look at our resource center. We’d love to meet you. Also, you can come by on a worship day. We worship on Wednesdays and Sundays, and we’d love to have you. We hope that you’ll check out our website. We have our radio program streaming right now and you can listen to it at your convenience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in the world, 146 countries have logged on so far and that’s exciting.

We certainly hope that you’ll also take advantage of our television programs which are also on the internet. Again, if you go to my website, BibleLineMinistries.org, click on that home page and then click on the little TV set in the upper right hand corner. You’ll be connected to a page you’ll have on the left side Bible on television on the right side Bible on radio. We’re going to be webcasting our worship service this Sunday at 11am. So if you will go to the website, you’ll see probably some snowy clouds and you’ll here the old rugged cross and when we bring the message you’ll see the audio and video come up and we’re going to try to put that in archive for you so you can be able to watch that morning message at your convenience.

We’re going to take callers today and if you have a, if you’ve got our phone number down you can call us and get up on the air and ask your question or leave one off air. The phone number is 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-5763771. By the way, we’re going to Israel, March 12th. You might want to get the information on that trip. We’re going to leave on a Monday, March 12th, returning on the 23rd of Friday. This will be trip number 14 for me.

Love to have you go with me. And we need to have you take a look at our itinerary. If you go to the website, it’s right there under Bibleline news. Click on that. And you can get the whole itinerary sign up for you and everything. And we hope that you’ll go with us. You need to get your $100 deposit in and that’ll get things rolling for you and whichever friends or family are going to go with you. And that’ll be March 12th of this coming year 2007.

We also want you to get your Bibles out and study along with us here today so have your Bible handy. that. Every believer is obligated to give the gospel out. I don’t know if you knew that, but the great commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It tells us over in 1 Corinthians 9, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. In other words, we are responsible to preach the gospel.

Every believer is to evangelize. Every believer is to let family members and friends know how they go to heaven. And we really have nothing to glory of because this is something that is absolutely a necessity laid upon as a responsibility, you might say, that God has given to us. In fact, the verse goes on to say, and this is 1 Corinthians 9. It says here that WO and that word WO means judgment, W-O-E is under me if I preach not the gospel.

In other words, you’ll be judged if you don’t give out the gospel. Did you know that before? A lot of Christians I don’t think know that. If you don’t give out the gospel, which is a necessity, a responsibility, given to every believer, that is the Great Commission. Then you’ll be judged for not having given it out. One day every believer is going to stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, and there we’re going to give an account for what we have done since we have been saved.

whether it be good or bad, and one of the areas in which we’ll be judged will be in the area of did we give out the gospel. And the Bible says, judgment is unto me if I preach not the gospel. The word preach of course means to just tell somebody. Means to announce in a herald or to proclaim and whether you whisper it or whether you holler it or whether you write it out or whether you pass it on a piece of paper and a handwritten note or a track.

That’s giving out the gospel. And every believer is absolutely responsible to do that. It says over in 1 Timothy 2, 4 that we were allowed of God to be put in trust with this gospel. So even so we speak it, not as pleasing men, but God who is going to one day evaluate our lives and reward us, reward is based upon our deeds. And one of those things that we will be judged on is did we give out the gospel.

Let me read that verse again. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16 says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing the glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. In other words, it is a responsibility, it is a necessity. And it says, Yea, woah, or judgment is unto me if I preach not the gospel. So you’re going to be judged if you don’t give it out. Then it says in verse 17 of 1 Corinthians chapter 9, if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.

In other words, if you willingly witness and share the gospel, you’ll be rewarded for that when you stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. But what is interesting is that the second half of the verse says, but if against my My will, a dispensation of the gospel, is committed unto me. In other words, even if you are not willing, you are still responsible to give it out. Isn’t that amazing? So some people say, well, you know, if you don’t feel led, and if you don’t feel the Holy Spirit nudging it, you do this, then don’t run ahead of the Lord.

Don’t do this. Bible says that’s not true at all. We’re to do it whether we’re willing to do it or not willing to do it. Even when you’re doing it against your own will, the Bible says you’re responsible to give it out, period. You know, when I was a child at home living with my mom and dad, I didn’t always willingly do what my dad asked me to do. I was assigned chores and responsibilities around the house. And sometimes I did them with an unwilling attitude.

But I knew I was responsible to do them whether I did it willingly or not willingly. And like the Bible says here, if I do it willingly, I’m going to have a reward. But even if I don’t do it willingly, I’m still responsible to do it. Well, I was responsible to do my chores and I was responsible to do several things as a child in my dance household and whether I did it willingly or unwillingly, I was required to do it.

There was no if-and-s or buts about that. And the same thing here is true apparently about giving the gospel. It says you are responsible whether you do it willingly or unwillingly. So this thing about whether God is leading or not, of course God is leading. He’s already said go into all the world and preach the gospel. And even if it’s against your will, still responsible. Even if you do it with your gritting your teeth and say, I don’t want to do this, and yet you’re responsible to do it anyway.

It’s interesting how though when you’re obedient to the Lord how it just turns everything around. I remember one day a number of years ago somebody came and I really wasn’t feeling that great that day and this guy kind of interrupted by day. He was a salesman trying to sell me something and I didn’t want to talk to him about anything much much less the Lord. I really was not in a good mood. And you know I said to myself, Lord, I don’t want to talk to this guy.

But apparently you’ve sent him across my path. So I grudgingly… He was so interested in God. He was ready. He trusted Christ. He was so joyful and happy. I found myself joyful and happy. I just passed up a wonderful opportunity. I almost didn’t when this guy but I’m glad I did even though I did it did it grudgingly even though I didn’t really want to talk to anybody about anything I talked to this man about the Lord and led him to Christ and that was really a wonderful wonderful blessing I just got a nice note in the mail this week from a lady that I led the Christ she says back in 1977 and she wanted to thank me and And that’s exciting, isn’t it, when you have people that take time so many years later, after the fact, to say thank you for sharing the gospel with me and leading me to

Christ. And sometimes we may not feel up to the occasion, but yet we’re still responsible. Let me read this verse again. It’s amazing what it says here, but it says, though I preach the gospel, I have nothing the glory of there is nothing really unusual or different about this. This is the normal Christian life is that everybody ought to evangelize yet says necessity is laid upon me. I have to give out the gospel because that’s my responsibility as a believer.

It says, Yea, judgment is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For seventeen says if I do this thing willingly I have a reward. And if I do it against my will, I am still responsible. A dispensation or responsibility to give out the Gospels committed unto me. So the Lord is going to obviously hold us accountable for giving this message out. Paul, of course, seemingly did it willingly all the time. It says in Romans 1, 16, he says, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it.

And he says there, I am ready to preach the gospel. So he prepared himself and he was ready, he was not ashamed of it, and he couldn’t wait to bring the message to someone who was lost. And every one of us had that responsibility. We’ve been put in trust for the gospel. I call the Great Commission the Forgotten Commission because most people don’t even remember what it is. And if you were to ask most churches when you even read their mission statements, the The gospel is not even there.

When the mission statement that Christ wrote for His church was, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We have that in the foyer of the church that I pastor here where Bible and his headquartered the Calvary Community Church right in the foyer. It says, the great commission that Christ has commissioned us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That’s what it’s all about. Many churches and their mission statements talk about everything, but it’s amazing how we’ve lost sight of what Christ said in his mission statement for the church.

I hope you’ve trusted Christ as you’re saved here and I hope you’re sure of going to Heaven whenever you die. I’m Dr. Englinstroom and this is time line. We’re going to go ahead and take our callers and we’d love to hear from you and we We have Russell down in Port Charlotte, Florida. Russell, welcome to my Blender on the Air. Hey, Dr. Harlot. Yes, sir. A thousand-year range. year reign of Christ and basically people will continue to live and have children during this reign.

My question is do people live the thousand years or if they pass during, you know, they die, where do they go if heaven is here or here? Well that’s a great question. And of course, there will be death during the millennium. It tells us in Isaiah that if somebody dies in the millennium at a hundred years of age, that they will be considered just a child. They’re going to say, well, he was just getting going. Apparently life will be lengthened again as it was before the flood.

And back then we have Methuselah living 969 years. It could be that somebody will break Methuselah’s record during the millennium as people will live long lives. But the Bible doesn’t answer. They might get their resurrection body on the spot, but they might have to wait until the in-mill millennium to receive it. But actually. We don’t know. It doesn’t say. Actually, heaven isn’t on earth, but God in the person of Christ will be ruling over the earth, and heaven will still be in heaven.

But it’s not until after the thousand year reign of Christ that the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven and comes down to the New Earth. And we read that in Revelation chapter 21. So maybe that helps a little bit. But some things just aren’t said in the Bible and we just have to wait and by not what happens well thank you appreciate it okay russell import charlotte for the disself of the pamper and we have a child in pamper for the overline charles welcome to bible uh…

good morning dr uh… my question has to do with the book of janice uh… there’s a passage in there that just before the flood speaks of uh… of uh… men of renown that knew the daughters of men. Is that to do with the zoos and the sores, the Greek gods? I mean, what exactly does, I mean, I know men, angels, don’t procreate, they’re not multiplying. But who were these men of renown? What was all that about? Well, I was talking really there in that passage about the climate of that time.

There was believers called the sons of God, and they were marrying unbelievers identified there as the daughters of men. Or it would say daughters of God if they were fellow believers. The family broke down because as far as a believing household where the gospels passed down to the children, it didn’t happen. Believers were marrying unbelievers and the gospel really wasn’t going anywhere. There was only really one family that was saved at the time God told Noah to build the ark.

It says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, but the rest of the world apparently had become corrupted except for that one family. And so there were giants in the earth in those days and it says also there were these men every now. But it’s talking about the fact that the leadership of the world and the world had gone purely secular and really had gone away from the Lord and that only one family was a family of believers.

But the procreation there was between believers marrying unbelievers and that is really one of the things that did them in. You know, in the Bible, if you are not married and you’re going to get married, the Bible says you’re going to get married in the Lord. You were to find another believer not to marry an unbeliever. Yeah, very much so. Alright Charles, thank you for that call. And we now have Tom in Tampa, Florida on the line. Tom, welcome to Bibleline.

Hey, good. Good question for him. I’m a bit confused. Last week I was listening to one of the local Christian TV shows, and they had a pastor on, has a large church here in Tampa. and they’re participating in the year of community, where they go and they participate in local parades and things of that nature. And the pastor said, the reason why we’re doing this is that we’re trying to earn the right to tell others the gospel. And I want to know, is there anything in the Bible that says that we’re supposed to earn the right to tell others the gospel?

No, I don’t know the thing that tells us that. We are obviously commissioned and sent. And as we began today’s program, we are responsible to give it out. The great commission is to go in all the world and preach it. So maybe they’re trying to say that they are going to try to soften people up or win their hearts to listen to what you have to say, which certainly we can use kind words and we can certainly do good deeds, which open up the door sometimes to present the gospel.

We have the right, we are commissioned by God, he sent us forth to do it and he tells us in numerous verses that he’s told us to go. And we’ve been sent 2,000 years ago that commission was given so I don’t understand that phrase. Well, the way I look at it is that Jesus already paid the price for us to go and tell the gospel. He’s already sent us out. He said, go a long time ago. And while the Christians are not going, but I don’t think we earn any right to go.

We’ve already been, if God sends us, then we’re sent. I mean, there’s no higher authority than God. And He’s already commissioned us and sent us out with this wonderful message. And we have absolute every right to present the gospel to anybody. Okay, but thank you as an interesting point and I hadn’t heard that before So you don’t earn the right even given the right by God himself He’s commissioned and sent every one of us forth to proclaim Christ. We have Jeff now down in Venice, Florida South of Tampa welcome to Bibleline Good morning, Dr.

Hank my question for you is that they There’s a lot of people and I know it the Bible this but it’s just not making sense to me was people believe that they can accept Christ without a change occurring in their life. My thinking, you know, and what I’m getting out of the Bible is this. There’s a lot of people, especially in American Christianity, that just offer up a prayer and believe they’re saved. But until a person truly opens their heart and accepts Christ and Christ enters, then that person truly is not saved and how Christ could enter somebody’s heart and maturity doesn’t start to begin.

Now it’s going to be rapid for some and slow for others, but there would definitely, would you not agree with that? No, I don’t agree with that. The Bible gives certainly many verses that gives the potential for a believer to go nowhere after they get saved. If you read about the Judgement of Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it talks there about But if any man who has the foundation of Christ has all of his works burned up but the judgment of Christ, he will suffer loss, that is loss of reward, but he himself shall still be saved.

That is 1 Corinthians 3.15 and it implies that a person could go through their whole life and do absolutely nothing worthy of God’s reward upon their life. And it says, if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. The previous verse says, if any man’s work abide, which you have built their upon that is on the foundation of Christ, he’ll receive a reward. And you see illustration after illustration of the Bible where people actually went in a negative direction after they got saved.

Lot was a guy like that. He was saved. The Bible says in Peter that he was a righteous man. That means he had trusted the Lord and God’s righteousness was credited to him because otherwise there is none righteous. The Bible says no not one. But he chose to live a negative lifestyle. Obviously he heís not one we want to follow after because when God judged Sodom all of lots treasures were earthly and he lost them all. They were all burned up his house, his boat, his car, his savings in the first national bank of Sodom and everything else was gone.

All he escaped with was the close on his back and obviously lesson to us that we need to have heavenly treasures and live for Christ. But the Corinthian letters in fact were written to believers. A lot of them were living in a negative direction. First Corinthians 5, you have a man there living in adultery with his own mother or stepmother and apparently was puffed up and proud concerning that and God said, allow Satan to take his life, but he would still be saved when he stands before the Lord.

First Corinthians 5 and says, turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus or when Christ returns. So I believe a person could go negatively and there’s this teaching that your life has to change in a positive way, has to do with Calvinism and the fifth point of Calvinism, which is called a Perseverance of the Saints, which says if God has elected you, obviously they teach you have no choice at all, and he then overpowers you and saves you, that then he’s going to also obviously have your life improved, and if you don’t have those works, then they’re saying that you don’t have saving faith and you’re not saved, and that’s just really not true at all.

The whole fifth point of Calvinism is wrong. I’m eternally saved, not because I persevere, but because Christ perseveres, and He obviously keeps the promises that He made. If I never serve the Lord a day in my life, I’d still be saved because Christ paid my sin debt and fold the cross. There’s nothing required on my part but to receive it. But obviously I made the second decision, which is a smart decision for every believer to make. I’m so glad I made it, and that was the live for Christ.

The potential is there as this first tells us in the first phase of the 315 that you could have nothing in your life worthy of reward have all your works burned up yet It’s still be saved so that implies that somebody could go through their life and do zero So and I agree with you the area that I’m getting caught up in though is If Christ is truly in us that it’s coming out, right? But how can I go to the universe be inside of us in a person not?

back. Well, I think what will happen is that you would be miserable. In other words, you’re not going to be a happy Christian. If you’re a disobedient Christian, you know, I love that hymn writer. He got it right when he said trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy. He didn’t say trust and obey to be saved. You trust Christ and you’re saved. But you need to be obedient if you’re going to be happy. If you’re a disobedient child in your home, you’re not a happy child.

In obedient child is a happy child. But if you have a job, you’re not a happy child. disobedient child in your house they’re going to be a miserable child and And the same thing is true in God’s family. So we need to trust and obey to be happy There’s no other way to be happy to my love that him writer wrote and and I believe that so As I’m obedient. I’ll be happy But there’s a lot of miserable Christians and they’re gonna continue to be miserable.

God is gonna be chasing them He’ll be disciplining them and he might even take him home to heaven early, but definitely they’re gonna not get away with it They’re not going to have God just passively let them do that. God is definitely going to be not going to be having any joy and their life will be miserable. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you for that call. And that’s a good question. We’re coming up on our break time.

It looks like it’s time here to go to break and we’ll end Bible in the first half and we’ll come back and do the second half. So don’t change your radio dial, keep it tuned right where it is, and we’re going to go and do the second half of Bible in. Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. Give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Alright, I’m Dr. Englund’s room and we’re having fun. I want you to know we’re going And Israel is coming year.

March 12th will depart on a Monday or return on March 23rd Friday. Love the Heavy Go is trip number 14 for me and we’ll have a great time. And we’ll study the Bible all day long. Wow, wouldn’t that be great? We’d love to have you be a part of that trip. You can find that full itinerary on my website if you’ll go to BibleLineMinistries.org. Click on the Bibleline news on the home page and you’ll be able to pull up the full itinerary and sign up sheet and we need to get a $100 deposit to begin to process your reservation.

So you want to do that right away and in 90 days before departure we need half of your money paid off and then 45 days before departure the full amount paid in and we’ll be ready to go. And the price is $25.95, round trip from wherever your departure city is. And so you’re welcome to join me on this wonderful trip to Israel. So please let us know as soon as you possibly can. Look up the itinerary or call our 800 number and we can send it out to you in the mail, whichever you’d like to do.

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many that are listening to the program right now. You that are listeners who are giving are the ones that are doing it. We don’t pay any salaries to anybody connected with Bibleline. All of our staff, our volunteers are myself included and we try to use all the money that comes in to get this message out and expand this ministry. So maybe you like to help us. We’re ready to go now to do Bibleline Part 2 and if your station doesn’t You can go to the internet and catch the full program there either right now or you can do it later in the day.

But stay tuned. We’re going to do Bible and Part 2 right now. Would you like to call Bibleline and ask Dr. Lindstrom a question? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. Now here again is Dr. Hank Lindstrom. All right, we’re back from that break and this is Bibleline and we’re glad to be able to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast as we come to you live from Tampa, Florida from our studios here at the Calvary Community Church in Tampa.

We’re located right next to the airport. Love to have you come by. Love to have you come visit with us, and we’d love to have you visit our resource center during the week, and we’re open to about 4.30 every day, Eastern Standard Time. We also would love to have you come by on a worship day, and you’re always welcome to do that. We have a dinner every month on the third Sunday, and this month, being a five Sunday month, we’re gonna have a dinner on the fifth Sunday, As our youth are going to put on a special dinner, it’ll be a fundraiser and basically, this is not a covered dish dinner like we normally have, but it’s a dinner prepared by our cooks and you can come and give a donation, whatever you would like to give to help the youth program and enjoy it one over time of food and fellowship.

So this month we’ll do dinner twice and that’ll be on the fifth Sunday of this month, the 29th of October, you can come by and join us for a wonderful time of worship at 1030 and then stay for the dinner that we’ll follow. And you can just give a donation or whatever you want to help the youth program with and eat with us and it’ll be a great time together. We want to thank all of you who pray for and give a divine line.

You’re the ones who keep this program on the air. We really couldn’t survive without you. I am a volunteer, my staff are all volunteers here for Bible and we try to get all of what comes in to go right back out into the ministry so you can know that this ministry is really probably the best investment as far as value for the dollar to reach out to as many as we do through this program. And please take a look at our website where we have so many things you can learn about and so many things that help you in your Bible study, articles I’ve written, questions I’ve answered.

We have the Radio and Television programs right there on the Internet and online bookstore of the things that I recommend that will be helpful to you in your growth and studies. And by the way we just finished now the class I just taught called meeting the challenge and we have those 10 hours of teaching on CDs and also we have a DVD series of all 10 hours of teaching video and audio for a gift of $75 and if you want to get just the CDs it’s a gift of $50 and you can have all of those 10 hours of teaching about what the challenge is that God presents in the Bible for each of us as believers in Christ and how to meet that challenge and how to be successful at it and what happens if you don’t meet that challenge and the consequences of either doing it or not doing it and how to be successful at meeting that challenge.

You might want to call our operators and get that series. It’s been a good one and I believe people that were actually in the class really were impacted by it and so you might want to get that teaching. It’s available. Also we’re webcasting our Sunday morning service. If you go to the website and click on the camera on the home page, you’ll be connected to the presentation of our worship service. If you’ll tune in about 11 o’clock, you’ll see clouds going by, you’ll hear the old rugged cross.

And as the message is delivered, you’ll see the audio and video come up on your screen and you’ll be able to watch the morning worship service. the message I’ll deliver here at Calvary Community Church. We’re leaving for Israel. We would love to have you go. March 12th is the departure date of Monday. March 23rd is the return date of Friday. 12 days all Israel and we’ll have a great time. We’ll study the Bible morning to night. This will be trip number 14 for me.

I’d love to have you going with me and all you have to do is go to my website and click on Bibleline news, you can pull up the full itinerant, read it over, and you can see a sign up sheet there. We need to get a hundred dollar deposit from you right away to begin to process your reservations to make sure that you’re on board with us here for the trip to Israel. We are going to take some all fair questions right now, and then if you want to call in and get on the air you can dial in at 1-800-576-3771.

Joyce in New York calls in and she says, you say that there are believers in Jesus and followers. Why? Why follow Jesus if you’re not a believer? That’s a very interesting concept. But a lot of people use the term believe. What they mean by that is that they believe Christ lived and he was a historical figure. They are believing that he is a great example, for example. In other words, if we just live and follow his example, we’ll be able to earn our way to heaven.

When the Bible talks about a believer, the believer in the Bible is somebody who has totally trusted Christ and his death and shed blood, is the only means of their salvation. So for example, Roman Catholics will all say, if you ask them, do you believe in Jesus Christ, and they’ll all say 701. And yet they are really not believing or trusting Christ to save them. They’re trusting the Catholic Church to save them, as the Catholic Church dispenses the sacraments and a way of earning your salvation, which of course is false.

So these people all would claim to be believers, and yet they’re following the Church, the Catholic church and would claim that they are followers of Christ, but yet according to the Bible they will not be saved because they are trusting in their works to be saved. So it’s a subtle thing and there are many churches that have different spins on all this, but basically they say yes and the cults do this all the time. But they are obviously, if you ask a Jehovah’s Witness for example, do you believe in Jesus Christ?

say yes, every one of them. And you’ll say, oh, I guess they’re saved. No. Because what they mean by that, not that they trusted Christ to save them, but they believe He existed. And obviously, you must trust the best English word that is the equivalent of the Greek word pestuo, this translated, believe in your New Testament. Trust is the word. You must trust that he died and shed his blood at the cross of Calvary in order to be saved.

The gospel is the message of the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, and according to the Bible the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it. So Joyce, the answer is there are a lot of people who are say their believers but really are not and are followers so called, but are not going to have it at all. To be saved, you have to be like the dying thief. Come to the place where you realize you are helpless and unable to save yourself and totally trust in what Christ did for you at the cross and then he saved you.

We have Frank in Largo, Florida. Frank, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air frank are you there hello high-frent i can’t i can hardly hear you okay about now that’s a little better okay let me turn down my radio are we on the air you’re on the air now okay that’s a appreciate your program i just try to radio when i go a little bit about uh… what you’re saying about the catholic church and uh… i just want to share with my testimony I mean, I was brought up Catholic.

And I thank them that they taught me to believe in Jesus Christ. I always believed that He was the Son of God. And I believe that He died by sins. I wasn’t saved. I mean, I always said my prayers in the evening, and everything. But I remember explicitly when someone said, you need a Christ. And I said, right away, I said, I I knew I was a Catholic, I knew that I was a sinner. But I was always under the thing that I didn’t have the peace.

I mean, I always had purgatory and I knew that I could go to heaven. And the person showed me that I could know I had eternal life. And that’s what changed my life. I became born again. Isn’t that wonderful? Yeah, I know that a lot of people can go through church. I went through a Protestant church and I was the same kind of a thing. I believe that Christ lived and died and historically acknowledged the historical facts about Christ, but I had never trusted him as my very own Savior that he died for me, and when I did that, that’s what made the difference.

And for that moment on, I knew I had to eat her life. I’m so thankful that you do preach the gospel very clearly. One thing I am amazed that I see people living from churches that are legalistic, and then they get right back into another denomination which teaches salvation by works again. You kind of, I wonder why they do that, you know. And I hear so many callers come in to your program and, uh, constantly you have to exhort them.

That salvation is by faith and, uh, through grace, you know. And I wonder why people get tripped up so much and want to go back into something that, uh, just brought them into bondage. Uh, it’s great. And I was so, I was so, uh, happy when, when I, um, learned about that, I was I know it isn’t wonderful and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but you’re absolutely right there. Many that will go right back into a different form of the same thing.

You see that in the book of Galatians where Paul writes and says, oh foolish Galatians, they had been delivered from the law and bondage and now they wanted to go right back into it all over again. He said how foolish that is. that is. There’s so many bad teachers out there. I heard one brother after we were talking about baptism and he came right back and he preached on, you had to be baptized. He was very clever if I had not known the scriptures like I know him.

He could have deceived me also. But I thank you for your program. I thank you that you know preaching Christ and the gospel so clearly we need more people like you to turn our country around. Well thank you for having me. Thank you very much and God bless you. Thank you for calling in today. That was Frank and Largo, a former Roman Catholic but recognized he was not saved and trusted Christ and that’s what we’re talking about. Pat, I mean, Joyce up in New York maybe that would be also helpful for you attifthequestionyouasked.

We have Othiir Pat in Bath, Michigan calling in. She says, Calvinism. and what does your stand? Predestination. Well, I believe that God has predestined before the foundations of the earth to save all that would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He has predetermined before the foundations of the earthopted not to save those who do not trust Christ as Savior. DL Moody said it as simply as I have ever heard it, the Whosoever Your wills are the elect, and whosoever wants are the non-elect.

All those who trust Christ are elected of God to be saved. All those who die without Christ are elected to go to hell. So the choice is yours. God does not make the choice for you. And John 3.16 is a bona fide offer. For God’s love the world, that includes the whole human race. So much that he gave his only beg, begotten son that is Jesus Christ, that whosoever God extends an invitation to all of us in the human race to simply trust Christ.

And if we do, then the Bible says, we will not perish. That has been predetermined before the foundation of the earth, but that we would have possessed eternal life. That was predetermined before the foundation of the earth, that all that would believe on Christ would receive that. If you don’t believe, then the Bible is saying you will perish and you will not have eternal life. So, obviously, John 3.16 has predestination in it. God has already determined if you believe you will not perish, he will have eternal life.

But if you don’t believe, you will perish and not have eternal life. So Pat, I hope that helps and thanks for listening up there in Michigan to Bibleline. We have Jason in Tampa, Florida on the line. Jason, welcome to Bibleline. Hello? Hello, Jason. Hello Jason. Okay, I just had a question in Job. I don’t have my Bible in front of me, but Satan goes before God and then the sons of those are believers, right? Everywhere in the Bible it talks about the believers being the sons of God.

John 1 12 tells us to as many as received Christ to them God gave the authority for them to become the sons of God to those that believe on his name. And so when we become born again, we become a child of God. And the sons of God, they were believers. The scene is on the earth, and they were coming to worship the Lord, and Satan also came there as Satan is here on the earth as well. In fact, the Lord asked him where had he been?

And Satan said from going to and fro throughout the earth. And then God said, did you happen to notice my servant Job? That there’s none like him? And then they got into that discussion where Satan said, yeah, but if you just let me . . . . . . . . . He was a believer in the Lord’s He could curse him, and then he’d curse you God. Of course that didn’t happen. Those believers were still alive at the time.

Yeah. Okay, it was basically coming before God in prayer. Coming to worship Him. Yes, at an appointment in the Old Testament. They were coming to worship the Lord. Okay. Now just a little confusing when I read that, but thank you. You’re very welcome. The Sons of God are believers. The angels are believers. We are not believers. We are just believers. We are not believers. We are believers. never called sons of God. Now Hebrews 1, 5 answers that question and ends the story right there.

It says, under which of the angels did God say at any time, though, aren’t my son. The answer is he never did. He never called an angel his son. And we as believers never become angels and angels never become men and angels are never called the sons of God. We have Gene in Richmond, Virginia, calling in, off air. He says, you do something wrong so long that you think you’re doing right. Somewhere in the Bible it says God gives you over to a repurvete mind.

Where is this thought in the Bible? I think it’s in Romans chapter 1. Read that whole chapter and it lists, I think, 31 different sins of those who depart away from the Bible and just do what is right in their own mind. Gene, I hope that helps. That’s Romans the first chapter. Alright, Tony in Richmond, Virginia calls in and leaves this all fair question. In the book of Revelation, during the Tribulation, it says, people who take the mark of the beast will be damned.

What happens if they get saved and then take the mark of the beast, or take the mark of the beast and then get saved. The answer is, Tony, that apparently most all of the evangelism after the rapture during the tribulation takes place in the first three and a half years. The mark of the beast, which will be placed in the right hand or in the forehead, doesn’t occur till the middle of the tribulation. And apparently the unsaved will take that mark, but believers knowing what the Bible says will not take that mark.

And so it’s not the taking of the mark that determines whether you’re saved or not, but when you have the mark it’s an indication that you’re not a believer because the believers refuse that mark. You are saved the same way by faith in the shed blood of Christ during the tribulation period just as we are now. Salvation is always the same way. Off the air, Jim, in Richmond calls in and he says he was watching his show the other day and there was a preacher that said there was no rapture and quoted for the Thessalonians.

Why would he say this? Well, there are those who deny the rapture, but the rapture is there. But he may be talking about the fact that the English word rapture is not in that passage and he is right. But I’m glad it isn’t. It says in verse 17 of 1 Thessalonians 4 that we which are alive and remain shall be caught up. The word rapture means caught up. And I’m so glad a lot of people don’t know what the word rapture means and they’d have to go to their dictionary, I’d rather have it say like it does that we’re caught up to be with the Lord.

And you can put in the margin rapture in the Latin translation. The phrase caught up is rapturo from which we get our English word rapture. And so the word rapture is in the Latin translation, but in the English translation they just translated it caught up and I think it’s great. But the word rapture doesn’t occur in the Bible. The word trinity doesn’t occur in the Bible, but we certainly believe in the trinity. So the say that there is no rapture because the English word rapture is not used is not a good argument at all.

And then, author Carl in Sarasota calls in, he says, you say Jesus is a picture of the Jewish feast that were fulfilled. Is there a feast for his birthday and the start of the millennium? And I believe yes, the answer is the feast of tabernacles and Christ was probably born on the feast of tabernacles which always occurs in October. So I believe Christ’s birthday is in October. The December 25th is not the real birthday. We have Vinnie in Hudson, Florida calling in and Vinnie welcome to Bibleline.

You’re on the air. Good morning, Dr. Lindstrom. I heard you speaking earlier accepting that fact they believe in not enough. Well, it’s just what I need to trust, right? Which the Greek word translated believe means the trust Christ. Right. But in James two nineteen, we see that the devil’s also believe in a trombo that distinction that we have to trust with our faith and our hope and trust in Christ correct? Exactly. The Roman Catholics trust the church. They don’t trust Christ to take them to heaven.

They believe in Christ. But they don’t trust him. Right. Right. Okay. Very good. And thank you for calling me and that’s absolutely the case. I remember that I certainly acknowledged all the historical facts about Christ and believe that existed, but I had never trusted him as my Savior until the moment I did that I was saved and saved forever. This is Bible and I’m Dr. Englundstrom and we invite you to call. We don’t have a whole lot of time left, but we invite you to call us at 1-800-576-3771.

Tomorrow is our television day. We’re on the dish network tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. on Angel 1 on Sky Angel. We’re on in the Tampa Bay area on more television, Channel 32 at 8 o’clock in the morning Thursday morning. And then at 6.30 tomorrow, Thursday evening, Eastern Standard Time, we’re on Direct TV, 3-2-1 nationwide and we’re on again in the evening at 7 on the Christian television network all over the West Coast of Florida and we hope that you’ll take advantage of our TV programs tomorrow.

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So go to BibleLineMinistries.org, click on the little TV set in the upper right hand corner and you’re on your way. We have Shirley in Tampa, Florida and Shirley, welcome to Bimline. You’re on there. Hi. You were just talking about Catholics not trusting and believing in Christ. I disagree with that. They do and they are taught that Christ is only way to the Father. But you have to keep the sacraments to go to Heaven. Pardon me? Don’t you believe you have to keep the sacraments to go to Heaven in the Catholic Church?

No, you have Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. Well, that’s wonderful. You’re an exception then because the Catholic Church teaches that salvation is earned through the sacraments and that you have to keep the sacraments. And do you believe you could go to heaven without keeping the Mass? Yes, absolutely. Well, good for you. Yeah, I think the teachings. You’re the first Catholic Church, Catholic that I’ve meant that I believe that. I don’t know, I think they’re changing that night.

The more Catholics that I work with too, they believe the soul. Well, wonderful. I’m healthy. I’m excited. And I’m glad you believe that Christ is the only way because that is the truth. That’s what the Bible teaches. That’s what we’re saying. But, you know, many people I think are just going to church and they don’t pay close attention attention to what the Bible has to say and they think if they are a church member and they follow the teachings of Christ they’ll get to heaven but they must trust that He died and shed His blood for them to enter heaven.

Well thank you for calling Shirley. Okay you’re welcome. Thank you. That’s unusual. I’ve very few Catholics who will tell me that Christ is the only way not the church and that by simply trusting Him and not through the Mass but through Christ’s death their say, well, pray the Lord. We have Dave in done Eden, Florida, and Dave, welcome to Bible and you’re on the air. Dr. Hank Lindstrom, I have a translation. The only translation that I study from or read is the King James Version.

For me that did. But of course you go different places than they read from various translations. And I’ll bring it down to one verse. One of my favorite verses, if not my favorite is Hebrews 412, for the word God is quick and powerful. And I hear that translated as living, in other words, quick living. And I see that to me living, that’s what I’m saying. does not approach the meaning of quick in that. And there are of course many, many other instances of these translations which if you have studied the Bible from the King James then.

I agree with you. I think it causes a lot of confusion. Dave will have to continue to say discussion tomorrow because we’re out of time. Again, I’m Dr. Inklyn Smith. Thank you all for calling in today. Thanks for listening. We’ve got to run. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming and Lord willing we’ll be back again tomorrow morning. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your donation to Bibleline makes it possible for this ministry to continue in your area.

Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online at BibleLineMinistries.com. Be sure to tune in for another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church of Tampa, Florida. Well, I’m Dr. Englunds from, and we’ve had fun again bringing the program to you today. Thanks for tuning in, and we ask you if you would consider praying for us and also giving the Bibleline because we could use your help, especially at this time. If you could give a gift to Bibleline, it would be greatly appreciated, and you can mail a gift or you can give one by credit card over the phone and you would be a real help to Bible.

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God bless and have a wonderful day. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your donation to Bibleline makes it possible for this ministry to continue in your area. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, or visit Bibleline online at BibleLineMinistries.com. Be sure to tune in for another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church of Tampa, Florida.