Bibleline Radio Show – 2007-10-05

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Coming to you from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and television, providing real answers to an end- to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Coming to you from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and television, providing real answers to an ever-searching world. Got a question? Dial toll free at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s the hose.

Well, good morning and welcome to Bibleline Greek to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast. We’re coming to you live from Tampa, Florida from our studios here at the Calvary Community Church from the pastor and we look forward to meeting you and seeing you. And if you ever get a chance to come by, please knock on our door. Our Resource Center is open every day. We’ve already had several coming by early this morning and you’re welcome to come by every day till about 4.30 in afternoon, Eastern time and knock on our door and we’ll You can go to the Internet and look at the online bookstore on the Internet.

You can see all of our things that we have to offer our resources. By the way, that’s BibleLineMinistries.org.com BibleLineMinistries.org. And when you go, you can click on the spinning globe and there you’ll get our radio programs. When you click on that spinning globe, a page will come up that has a place all set for you to go to type in your question. You can hit submit and we’ll get that and we’ll try to answer that as an offer question.

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A lot of things there for you to take a look at. I hope you’ll take advantage. And that’s just go to BibleLineMinistries.org or .com. We’re excited about being with you today. This is October. It’s Friday and hopefully you’ll listen to the Bible over the weekend on the Internet or if you live in the Tampa Bay area, we’re on seven days a week so you can hear us on Saturday and Sunday as well. We play the best of it. You can still hear Bibleline every day, seven days a week here in the Tampa Bay area.

Thank you for tuning in today and by the way the third Sunday of the month if you come by you can join us for a dinner Sunday. That’s right right after the 1030 service we all head to the educational building and we have all this great home cooked food. It’s wonderful a great time of food and fellowship. I’d love to have you come as my guest come at 1030 bring your family your appetite your Bible and then join us at the 1030 service and then stay for the luncheon that will follow What’s special about this one coming up the 21st of October the 3rd Sunday is we’re having a baptism at three in the afternoon.

And if you have not been water baptized since you have been saved, you’re welcome to be included in our baptism. I would be honored to baptize you. People tell me that they attend a church where they don’t baptize by immersion and they want to be immersed. Well, we’re going to do it in a small lake just north of the church where I pastor here where Bible and headquarters is established. And we’d love to have you come and join us for that three-clock baptism.

So if you want to inquire, call and get on the list and give us your name and phone number and we’ll give you instructions for that baptism the 21st of October. Of course, we’d love you to have you just come for the service sometime, any Sunday, but you can come and enjoy the dinner on that third Sunday the 21st of October. Thank you for joining us today. into the Bible for a few minutes, and then we’re going to go to the questions on the air and off the air.

And so we invite you to… We have been studying repentance all week long and again this is a doctrine that is very, very significant because if you add any works into salvation you have contradicted the Bible because the Bible says clearly that salvation is apart from works or without works. It excludes works. Turn if you will with me and your Bible is to Romans 11, Romans 11, 6. It says, and if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.

But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. And you say, well, what did he just say? That sounds kind of complicated, doesn’t it? What it’s saying here is that grace and works are opposite of one another, And they are not the same. Grace means really by definition without works. Grace is unmerited favor, favor that is not merited, not based upon any deed or action on our part that would allow grace to come your way.

Now, many churches totally mystifying grace. They will tell you that grace is earned. For example, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that you earn grace through the sacraments. The Seventh Nandenus also teaches that grace is earned or deserved by works, that Christ is entered into the holy of holies and is now carrying out the investigative judgment, where Christ is weighing your works in the balances to determine whether you are worthy of grace or not. That is so foreign to the Bible, so contradictory to the Bible.

You ought to write this verse down, Romans 11-6. It says, and if by grace. If you are saved by grace. It says then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. In other words, grace by definition means the absence of any works. If you add any works to grace you no longer have grace. The second part of the verse is really scary because it says if it be of works, if you attempt to be saved by works, then it is no more of grace.

Otherwise work does not work. In other words, if you had any works to grace, you will not have grace at all because grace is violated. If you were to graph the two grace and works, you’d have to put grace and infinity to the left, works and infinity to the right, they would never ever come together. They’re exact opposites. The way I like to often illustrate this verse is I like to say, it’s daytime right now. Since it’s daytime, it can’t be nighttime.

Otherwise, daytime wouldn’t be daytime. But if it were nighttime, it couldn’t be daytime, otherwise nighttime wouldn’t be nighttime. What am I saying? It can’t be daytime and nighttime at the same time. Did I mix you up? I hope I didn’t. We’re saying they’re opposites, just like daytime and nighttime are opposites. So is Grayson works and you can’t mix the two. I’m not splitting hairs. This is what the Bible says. We covered yesterday Romans 4-4, which says, now to him that worketh is the reward not But Reckon of Grace or Mercy, in other words, as long as you’re working you won’t have any grace.

That’s a theme that runs throughout the Bible. It’s amazing you never hear it taught on. Nobody ever talks about this. And it makes perfectly good sense when you read what the Bible has to say here. I guess it’s my engineering background. I graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Florida. And I guess A plus B had the always equal C. And I had to be able to see how it computed out and in churches today, it doesn’t seem to matter whether what is connected to truth or not.

It really doesn’t matter, it seems. I know in my studies, 2 plus 2 was equal to 4. And that’s true in America, it’s true in South America, it’s true in Russia and Australia and Africa. It’s true in outer space, it’s true everywhere, 2 plus 2 is 4. But when I as a brand new believer began to visit churches, it seemed to me that they were saying in one church two plus two is four yes another churches might say two plus two is five and people would say amen hallelujah preach it another church might say two plus two is nine and they would say amen hallelujah in other words they would say things that really weren’t true and we’re not connected to truth and people would amen and hallelujah and affirm the wrongness of that preaching, but the Bible says it is not by works.

It is of grace that were saved. Then Romans 4, 4 says to him that workethRepeat is the reward not reckoned of mercy or grace, but of debt. And then the one that’s saved according to Romans 4, 5 is to him that workedeth not, but believeth on him that justified hand-godly. In other words, You have to stop trying to save yourself. Before God can save you. When you give up and when you recognize you cannot save yourself, then God can save you.

As long as you’re working to be saved, you’ll not be saved. I’ll never forget many years ago Dr. M.R. Dahan who founded the Radio Bible class that’s still around today. Today the head of the Radio Bible class has martyred Dahan, the grandson of M.R. I know him personally. And the granddad was just a champion. And he said, and I never forgot this, God will not save a man who is trying to be saved. Well that caused me to turn my head.

And I said, what do you mean? God will not save a man who is trying to be saved. He said, God will only save a man who is trusting to be saved. Wow, what a great statement. God will not save a man who is trying to be saved, but God will only save a man who is trusting to be saved. As long as you’re trying, as long as you’re struggling, as long as you’re working, you’re not going to make it.

You have to stop struggling and just trust. Trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the Cross of Calvary and you’re saved. Never forget taking a life-saving course at some time in my life and they always used to tell us if it all possible, never enter the water with a drowning swimmer because there might be two drownings that day. If you get into water with a drowning swimmer, he’s going to try to grab onto you and he’ll get a death grip on you and you’ll both go down and you’ll both drown.

The one who is the lifesaver is told to throw a raft or a flotation device, throw a rope, extend a pole, do anything if you possibly can to help that drowning swimmer without going into the water. If you actually go into the water, the old-time technique was you would swim out close to the drowning swimmer who’s thrashing the water and is ready to grab on anything he can get his hands on. It could be dangerous to you, so they would tell us that you would come over and when you got a clear shot you’d pop him in the face with your fist.

That’s an awful dirty trick to do on a drowning swimmer. But the whole object is to get that drowning swimmer to stop struggling. Because it’s not until he stops struggling and stops trying to save himself that the lifeguard can assist and take that person to shore. Understand the newer technique is you get close to the drowning swimmer and then you go underwater and come over and pull him under water too. Wow, that seems to be a bad technique. But you know, again, the whole object is to get that person to stop struggling.

When they give up, when they simply put their trust in the lifeguard to save them, They can be saved. And until you give up and you say, God, I can’t save myself. I’m headed for hell. There’s nothing I can offer. I can’t do anything in order to save myself. I need you to save me. When you trust Christ and Christ alone, God saves you. That’s what the Bible is saying here. Romans 4, 5, the hymn that work if not or doesn’t do any works, but we believe on Christ who justifies the ungodly.

That’s us. accounts your faith in Christ for righteousness, you’re made righteous in God’s sight by trusting Christ. Romans 11, 6, what a great verse, if by grace that is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works that is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Imagine if you would, if I had a glass of pure water, in order to offer it to you, I’m sure you would not hesitate to drink it.

But if I took that glass of pure water, in your sight. I took an eye-dropper and ISTARPED just one drop of a deadly poison into that water, stirred it around and said, here, drink this. You would hesitate, wouldn’t you? Well, you say there’s only one drop, but that one drop would, what, poison the whole glass of water and what you would be drinking is poison! Well, in the same way, if you have a glass of the pure grace of God.

And someone were to just squeeze off one human work into that glass of pure grace. Guess what? You would no longer have grace. The class would have been contaminated. It would have been poisoned. And now it would not be by grace. You would be saved based upon those works which would not save you. My friend, all it takes is one work. If you are attempting to be saved by baptism, a church membership, or by prayers, by turning from sin, by stopping sinning, by penance, by mass, by anything other than Jesus Christ alone, my friend, you will not be saved.

I’m pleading with you for your soul. I’m asking God to say that sinner today that’s closest to going to hell. You might be that one. You don’t know that you might be in a car accident this afternoon and you might be plunged into eternity. And then if you’re trusting in your works, any works, in addition to Christ, you will not be saved. You have to trust Christ and Christ alone. One work with absolutely poison, God’s grace, and you would no longer have grace.

Romans 11, 6, write it down. by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it’s no more grace. You can’t have it both ways. Both can’t be right. You’re either saved by grace or you attempt to be saved by works. Nobody will be saved by works. And if you add one work to grace, you no longer have grace and you have works, and you’ll perish, you’ll go to hell, you’ll be lost.

It scares me for you. I’m so glad I understood If my church raised me believing that I was going to be saved by works and when I saw what the Bible had to say, what a revelation. My church was wrong. My church was wrong. I had to admit to that. I had to admit that the Bible taught one thing and my church taught another. I had to go with the Bible and believe what the Bible had to say. What about you?

Are you willing to believe the Bible? Are you willing to believe God? Are you willing to believe this book that’s called the Word of God and demonstrates to be the word of God? I don’t care what your church teaches. It doesn’t matter. If the Bible says you’re saved by grace, through faith and not by works, it’s the Bible you need to trust. A lot of people have difficulty cutting those strings and they would rather believe their church, their cult, their religion, rather than believe God’s word.

And that is unfortunate because the Bible gives warning. If it’s by grace and it’s no more of works otherwise grace isn’t grace but if a deal works it’s no more grace otherwise work isn’t work. It reminds me of that lady that went down to get her pictures taken in a photo studio and she got the proofs back and she looked at them and she was irate, she was upset. She said she didn’t like them. She took them back to the photographer through it down He said, these pictures don’t do me justice.

He looked up at her and said, lady, you don’t need justice. You need mercy. You know, if you got what you deserved, if I got what I deserved, we’d all go to hell. We all need mercy. We all need grace. We all need God’s forgiveness. And it only comes based upon Christ’s death. And He finished the work of salvation. There’s no work for us to do. I’m Dr. Englunds from Mrs. Bible and we’re going to take the live callers right now and offer questions.

You can dial us at 1-800-576-3771. Give us a call. I want to welcome our new listeners up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, listing up there. At the same time, we’re on the air here. For those that are listing in Jacksonville, some of the new areas where we’re on, God bless all of you. Give us a call. We’d love to hear from you. Tim, in St. Petersburg calls in with this offer question. He says the Catholic Church is works based. Are they Christian?

Well if you’re trusting in works you’re not a Christian. They say they pray to Mary and the saints. That’s true. The Catholic Church promotes the praying to saints. I have a Catholic Encyclopedia right down the hall and they list hundreds of saints. And each one of them have a particular role. So if you have a tooth problem you call a particular saint. If you have a problem with your work, you call it a particular saint in prayer. If you are traveling, you have a particular saint that you call upon.

If whatever, they have got somebody to pray to for every possible problem you have, and all this is false. The next question here is, this is a false church. Why do people believe this? You know, people often equate bigness with rightness. And the Bible tells us throughout, don’t follow the crowd to do evil. You know, we’re not to do, as the people in Rome do, we’re to do in Rome, what the people in Rome ought to do. And we need to stand for God’s word and not follow the group.

You know, if you talk about bigness being right, and get yourself into trouble, you don’t think about the days of Noah. How many people were right? Well, God said that there was a flood coming. Nobody seemed to believe that. Only eight people believed that everybody else was wrong. So it seems to me that the minority was right in days of Noah. Everybody else drowned in the flood. Only eight people entered into that ark. Noah and his sons and their wives, eight people were spared that flood by being inside the ark.

So the Bible often speaks of the minority being right. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 he says, brought is the way that leads to destruction. You can choose any religion you want and all to get a hell. Narrow is the way that leads to the life. That’s Christ. Christ is the way. The truth in the life, there’s only one way to heaven, it’s Jesus. Unless you trust Him, you’ll not be saved. Well, we’re going to go to the lines.

We have Scranton, Pennsylvania, we have Bob calling in and Bob, welcome to Bibleline and we’re glad to be on the air up in your area now. How are you doing? good uh… i got a question i want to ask you fireweight you’re on the air go ahead i want i got a question i want to ask you i want to ask you a question about uh… moses in the bible where it says uh… that they did that that that got that buried moses and uh…

and uh… you know that the thing thing never said talking about the disputing about the body of moses but then again on the uh… mama transfiguration is that moses in the life of work with the son of mama transfiguration uh… was uh… moses really buried or was he translated and he never died or what do you can you tell me give me an answer on that i’ll give it a try you know moses uh… apparently nobody knows where’s grave is i’ve been uh…

to uh… the mountain from which he viewed the promised land and stood up there uh… but uh… there is no grave i think God knew that they would probably worship the grave of Moses if they knew where it was. But apparently God has kept Moses’ body fresh and alive for his reappearance because the Bible tells us that Moses will come back before the second coming during the tribulation period. There are two prophets mentioned in Revelation chapter 11 and it seems that one is Elijah, the other is Moses.

The reason why we say that is in the chapter there, it says, one will pray that the heavens be shut up that it will not rain during the time of his ministry. Elijah did that in the Old Testament. The other prophet will smite the waters with blood and turn them to blood and smite the earth with his plagues as often as he will. That seems to be Moses. So Moses is coming back and we see that in the Mountain Transfiguration that the two prophets associated with Christ in his second coming are Moses and Elijah.

So Satan apparently is calling foul play about the body of Moses that God has apparently kept it alive or kept it fresh so that he can come back and use it before the second coming of Christ. So Moses is going to come back and I believe that’s what that discussion is all about. That’s Jude verse 9 where Michael and Satan get into a little bit of a discussion there and Michael simply says to Satan the Lord rebuked the end.

It was a big argument over the body of Moses. uh… okay i i i thought that was one of the good there were coming to go to the law to direct into the most of the uh… being uh… being the law and and and they lied to be the property no i mean in comparison their uh… or a law of god and and and the property of god as i was wondering as well i wanted actually about that question is a really it really got me wondering about because of the because it did say in the by one of the most buried here i should take a very most of the confusing other because he was translated i thought he was translated was with most of what the light on the mama transfiguration and think of myself well if he was there with with with with with jesus on the mount transfiguration

with a lot of that he would have to be still alive they would you know he would have to be a diet it’s a good question bob and thank you for calling in a lot of people have debated that and uh… Apparently Elijah was translated, but Moses died, but God has preserved his body for the future of it. We have a caller from Washington, D.C., and Elaine. In Washington, D.C., welcome to Bibleline. We’re going to have you calling in today.

Elaine, you’re on the air. Hello, Elaine? Yes. Are you on the air? On the air, recording right. Well, I don’t know why you call, but this is Bibleline and you’re on the live radio show across America right now. Did you have a Bible question? Oh, no, sorry, Dan. In fact, I was calling to order your strong components and your skill field by people. All right. Well, let me put you back over to our operator and we’ll get that order placed.

But thank you for calling in anyway. I’m glad you’re listening up there in Washington, D.C. and we’ll take care of that for you. Thank you for calling in. We obviously have listeners all over the place, Grant in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and all across America. You’re welcome to call. We hope you will. We have David in St. Petersburg saying, instead of seeking vain personal salvation, are we instructed to seek the kingdom? And the answer is no. The kingdom really is offered to Israel, not to us.

The church, the body of Christ, is a separate group. It’s primarily comprised of Gentiles who’ve got his turn to for the past 2,000 years. But the kingdom is going to be offered to Israel. Israel will be the head nation on the earth, 30, and a thousand-year kingdom of Christ. It is what the Lord’s Prayer is all about, but we are not to pray that prayer. Now it will be prayed again after the Rapture during the Tribulation, where it says, Our Father, which art in heaven, heaven, hell be thy name, thy kingdom come.

Then it says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That’s never happened yet. The whole earth will be at peace. The earth will be released from the curse and the deserts will blossom and the earth will be a marvelous place to be alive on during that thousand years. I believe we’re pretty close. Excuse me, if the rapture happened today we’d have seven years of tribulation that would follow and then Christ would set up that kingdom but it’s for Israel primarily.

We’ll come back and rule and reign with Christ but the kingdom is not for us. The church we are the bride of Christ will be caught up at the rapture to live in the presence of the Lord forever. We have to go to a break here but thank you for tuning in today and again, Bible and is listeners support it if you want to help us you can give a gift by credit card over the phone. Just call our operators or call them ask for an envelope to be sent with our address on it and mail a gift back in and also ask for our resource list to get in on all the things that we have in our resource center.

We’ll take a break and come back and do a second half hour Bible and so hug your radio don’t let it get away from you and we’ll be right back after this short break. A 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, so it’s great to be with you today. Thanks again for tuning into the broadcast. We appreciate you and all of our listeners. I look forward to meeting you, if not here, but maybe later in the air when the rapture happens.

But definitely as believers we’re all going to be reunited one day. In the meantime, we have a great job given to us the Great Commission, which I sometimes call the Forgotten Commission, is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And wow, what are we doing to accomplish that? I believe Bible line is the way we can at least tackle a portion of that. We’re on the internet and 150 countries have logged in and we have regularly an average of 30 people a day that take that quiz on the internet on our website when they begin as a quiz on how to go to heaven.

They fail it, they come back and pass it. That’s 1500 a month from all over the world that find that and do that. Isn’t that exciting? I’ll tell you, the Lord is good and we certainly are excited about what God is doing and we hope that you’ll become a part of that. That is that we are living in the last days, Christ is coming back and we need desperately to get this message out. Plus, we’re on many broadcast stations and we reach out in so many different ways.

Would you pray for us? We hear about people every day. We have a person that has come by this week and he said that he had been incarcerated and He knew about salvation, knew he couldn’t lose it, it was forever. He said he heard Bibleline in jail and they began a Bible study as a result and many prisoners got saved and he was one of them and wow what a blessing. And you know we see letters coming in here from the jails, they come in from all over and we’re excited about how God is using Bibleline to reach a lost role of the gospel.

If you’d like to be a part of that I believe that we’ll share equally really in the rewards As you give and pray to Bibleline, I think you’re going to find the consequences, the fruit of Bibleline will be accrued to your account in heaven. What a great investment. We don’t pay any salaries, so we’re able to do a lot more than most ministries. We reach further with the dollar than anybody else does, I think, because we have a very low overhead.

We use all volunteers. Isn’t that exciting? If you’d like to help us though, our expenses are great because we’ve stretched ourselves out all over the country and we can use your help because we are totally listener supported. You can send a gift by credit card calling in and giving a gift right now or you can do it by mail if you want to call it ask for an envelope to be sent. We can have it sent out with our address on it.

You can mail a gift. You can also give on our online bookstore on our website, BibleLineMinistries.org. Just go to the bookstore and you’ll find a place there to be able to give. We’re going to rejoin stations now that have been on break and do the second half hour of So please continue to listen. 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 for a night break and this is Bibleline. We’re coming to you live from Tampa, Florida. From our studios right here at the Calvary Community Church, we sure appreciate each and every one of you listeners. Without you, Bible, and wouldn’t exist. We’re the ones who are the voice on your behalf, proclaiming the Word of God. And we try to be very honest about what it says and tell you exactly what the Bible is saying without apology.

Not always the most popular answer, but we believe it’s what God says as we proclaim what God says is right. And we proclaim the message that’s in the Bible here. you’d like to help us we could use your help and especially this time we’re just extended way out there and that’s because we believe the time is short. I can’t believe Christ will be too much longer before he returns first to snatch a sound and then a seven year tribulation period and then coming to rule and reign on the surface king of kings and lord of lords and the earth will finally come to peace.

But right now it’s a un-peaceful place. I I can’t believe if you’re reading your Bible and you’re watching the news, you can’t see the connection between the signs of the times and the return of Jesus Christ. We’re getting close. Would you consider helping us? We really don’t have any other means of support. That’s right. We don’t have a piggy bank. We don’t have a reserve account. We just go by day by day trusting God. Miraculously, God has taken care of us and we’re still on the air and we’re still reaching up further and we’re excited about all ready today from Washington DC, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, people calling in from all over asking their questions about the Bible and we’re excited about what God is doing.

How about pray for us? Would you do that and maybe give a gift to Bible and it would be so helpful if everybody gave just a little bit, we’d be able to really reach this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I don’t believe many people are doing on radio and television what we’re doing and that is getting to the heart of the issue. Somebody once told me, God didn’t leave us here to make this world a better place to go to hell from.

A lot of Christians are involved in all kinds of projects that makes the world look better, smell better, and so on. And I don’t think they’re really that successful at doing it. But the people still go to hell. We have to reach them with the gospel of Jesus. If they’re going to be saved, they must believe the gospel. Paul said in Romans 1, 16, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. Of Christ, for it, the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes it.

When you believe the gospel, you become saved. And who’s telling people what they must do to be saved? And that it’s not of words. That it’s the gift of God. That it’s a free gift that has been paid for. That you simply trust Christ and you’re saved forever. I think it’s so important to do that. we’re not seeing that get done. Well, we’re going to go to the phone lines now and if you want to call it’s 1-800-576-3771. We’re going to go all the way out to Texas and we have an anonymous caller in Texas.

And Texas, welcome to Bibleline your on the air. Yes, good morning. I have just a few quick questions for you. One, are you familiar with James Dobson? And if so, what do you think of him as he’s solid or who do you think our solid in the ministry. I like a lot of things that James Dobson does, but he is working his way to heaven, so I’m really frightened for him and his salvation. If you listen very carefully to him, and I have over the years, he says he hopes he can live faithfully to the very end of his life so that he’ll go to heaven.

And he’s oftentimes on the radio mentioned his children that he’s asked us to pray for them that they would be faithful to the end of their lives so that they could enter heaven. Salvation is really basically by works. That means if that be true, that he’s not saved, that’s scary, isn’t it? I tell you. My heart just weeks for people like that, and that’s what Bible ends all about is to say, we’re not splitting hairs, we’re just telling you the truth that if you add works to salvation, you’re the Savior, not Christ.

You have to say Christ finished the work of salvation at the cross and Dobson doesn’t do that. But he has many worthy causes and I applaud the many things he does to enlighten us as to what’s happening in our government that’s anti-Christian, anti-government, I mean anti-the freedoms that we have and God bless him on that but I’m scared for him. Okay. My next question is the story about the prodigal son in the Bible. Who is that specifically directed to and how would you respond to someone who uses that story to defend rebellious and flax after their salvation?

How should they be received? Well obviously the Lord never kicks us out and he never loses us. I think it’s a believer who goes astray. and in John 637 Jesus said him that comes to me, I will know wise, or under no circumstance ever cast out. And even better than that, John 639 Christ promises not to lose one of those that have come to him. So no one is ever going to be lost. If one person in history were ever lost, then Christ would be a liar.

The Bible would be wrong and we might as well lie to match and walk away. But here was a young man who went off thinking that the grass was greener on the other side. But you know when he came back and was restored, the Lord was, or his father was so happy that he prepared a great feast and so on and so on. And look at the other son, the one that stayed at home. He obviously was jealous and he had sins of a more internal type, but he was also a sinner even though he was a son.

So we find that we sin as believers and the Lord loves for us to be restored and he wants us to come back whenever we stray. And so as a believer it tells us you can go away from the Lord but you can always come back. He says come on home and I think it’s a great story of the Lord’s forgiveness and willingness to help us get back on our feet and get serving him again. I have met many that have maybe 10 or 20 years where they just drifted away from the Lord.

They have come back. Many have told me through Bibleline they have gotten excited about the Lord again, about the Bible again, about serving the Lord again. They have come back to the Lord and they are serving him now. Never were lost but certainly we are not getting the blessings that they should have had in their Christian life and those were dark years in their Christian experience. You see it in the Bible, Abraham got to the Promised Land, he was tested, and immediately when there was famine he ran down to Egypt to get food.

That was 13 years where you just don’t read a thing about what happened in the life of Abraham because he made no spiritual progress when he went out of fellowship with God and went down to Egypt. In fact, he picked up Hagar, the Egyptian made, and look at the result. We still have this what Hell is he calls the everlasting hatred between Ishmael and Isaac that really fell out of that whole story where he had a child illegitimately by Hagar, his hand-made and the real child through which the promise that God had made would come would be Isaac and look at the problems he created.

So definitely God was patient with Abraham and Abraham became a great man of God over were peer to time, but at the very beginning, he was a fledgling and made mistakes. Okay, so it also applies to someone, even after a salpation, after they’ve been selected. Oh yeah, absolutely. And we as believers, none of us can say that we are perfect. We’re always in the process of maturing and growing, and sometimes there are times when we just don’t grow. we just get away from our focus of on the Lord.

The Bible gives us lots of examples of people just like that. Lot is a great example of the prodigal son in a way because here he goes and lives in Sodom. He chose the liberty to do that. He was a Christian and the Lord delivered he and his wife and the two daughters. Of course she was killed in the process because she went back. They were believers and they were delivered before the destruction of Sodom because they were the only believers there.

But they were saved but they just didn’t have much of a testimony. And also my third question yesterday you had mentioned to someone about counseling versus just going directly to the Bible. And so I was wondering how you handled that within your congregation. Do you believe that people should just go straight to the Bible or did they come to you as a pastor for counseling? Do you know that Christian counselor or to the colleges? Well, if you can have a good Christian counselor, that’s a problem.

I have a good friend who we’ve known each other for over 40 years and he does a great job and I send a lot of people to him because he doesn’t scripturally. He takes the description. But a lot of the counseling today is more secular based and sometimes it gives some terrible advice and I’ve been really embarrassed sometimes when I sent somebody off for counseling to come back and tell me what kind of counsel I got. I said whoops I think you better just drop out of that counseling and get with somebody that can give you spiritual guidance.

So it’s hard to find a good Christian counselor today and if you find one you’ve got a jam and I have a good friend who does that and he’s a retired military chaplain and has got his doctorate in counseling and he does, he uses the Bible. the Bible as his means of doing that. possible to call back at another time and find out who that is. Absolutely. Call the direct line. You sure can. Call in and ask for me and I’ll get that.

I’ll give you his name and phone number. Okay, great. Thank you. All right. And that was in Texas. We’ve been in Washington, D.C. in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We’ve been in Texas and now we’re going to go to Beverly Hills, Florida and Betty, welcome to my mine. You are on the air. Yes. Good morning, I hope you can give me an answer and put an end to a discussion that I’ve been having on the subject of judging, correct judging and incorrect judging according to the Bible, with a beacon of a former fellowship that we had been going to and left many months ago because I believe they’re teaching false doctrine.

But the beacon said, are you there, brotherly? Oh, right here. I’m listening carefully. I’m sorry. This speaking made the remark that Mother Teresa was not saved when she died. We could tell by what she’d been teaching and what she’d been involved in. And he said, what about Hitler? Betty, you’re going to tell me then that you can read his heart and that maybe he wasn’t saved either. So I’m really very, very frustrated. We keep emailing each other back and forth.

And we are friends, he and his wife and my husband and myself, but I’m getting very, very tired. I feel like emailing him back in his confusion. I don’t want to confuse him any further because his mind is made up and the facts are just confusing him more. That kind of happens. Well, I think you might be right. You know, we don’t have a landscape of life, but it does appear from what we do know that But obviously Hitler was into the occult and the witchcraft and everything else and certainly never was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and certainly if he were, I don’t believe that he would want to have done the things that he did in his life would be too terrible.

Mother Teresa though, it’s clear in her confessions that the last two years she said she didn’t pray that she thought God had left her and that she was always working her way to heaven. And obviously you can’t be saved by work. So if that’s the case and it appears from her writings that have just now come out, that she was working her way to heaven and she’s not going to be there then if she’s working, you can only be there by trusting in the finished work of Jesus.

And it’s unfortunate that she never found that wonderful message before she slipped into eternity. Yes, I sent him a link regarding Mother Teresa and her writings of late and how she didn’t even believe there was a God towards the end in how depressed she was. But this is the thing. He says that if they repented at the last moment and trusted, well, I didn’t say trust Christ. He just says they repented at the last moment, then they are in fact in heaven.

I don’t know how to, I would like to end this dialogue on this subject with him without being argumentative. Well, it’s not going to pay off. You know, I mean, we’re not going to change what happened to Mother Tressa and what’s important is this fellow that you’re talking to is saying, because what did he mean by repentance? And we’ve been talking about that this week. And if he means turning from sin or something, then he’s obviously not on the right track for salvation either because we’re not saved by stopping sinning.

If we got everybody in the world to stop sinning right now, that wouldn’t get them into heaven. You’ve got to trust Jesus as your Savior and if you think that stopping your sinning or if you’re attempting to stop your sinning as a means of your being saved, that’s works and you won’t be saved at all. If you add any works to grace, you won’t have any grace. This is what is backward. happens as you get saved and then God gives you the power to have victory over sin and find new desires in your heart and your new nature that cause you to want to serve the Lord.

But we don’t serve Him to be saved. We serve Him because we are saved. Yes, I thank you so much for doing that teaching on metronolia because it’s so important and so many people are confused. Bob, thank you, Dr. Lindstrom. You’re very welcome. I think I would shift gears with him and start talking about repents. All right, thank you. Thank you, Betty, in Beverly Hills. And a lot of people throw that word around and they don’t have a clue what it means.

We’re going to go to, let’s see here, we have Mike and he’s in Orlando. Now Mike and Orlando welcome to Bibleline you are on the air. Well thank you sir, good morning. You’re on the air, go ahead, what do you have a question? Yes sir, I had a question about what you were saying in reference to the Catholic Church and the sacraments that I just didn’t understand what you were trying to say. Well basically, the Catholic church will say you’re saved by grace, but they teach that you can earn grace.

The grace is earned by different things that you do including the second one. So ultimately whether you have grace is dependent upon your works. And so it really is a workspace. The seven-day Adventist and many groups do that. They’ll say, yeah, you’re saved by grace. But then when you look a little more carefully, LNG white taught that Christ entered the holy of holy sin heaven and is doing the investigative judgment where your works are placed in the scale and he decides whether you’re worthy of grace or not.

So ultimately, grace is the spend space on works according to many different churches. But the Bible doesn’t teach that. The Bible teaches that grace is unmerited and is not given out on the basis of any work or merit on our part. I’m saying that Christ freely gave his life for you and for me, and all that would simply trust in his finished work would be saved. And we don’t have to do anything else to be saved. We should go to church.

We should read our Bible. We should pray. We should do all those things, but not to be saved. But because we’re grateful that Christ did indeed save us. And according to the Bible, we’re already saved at the moment we trust Him. From that point on forever, you’re a saved person. I think you need to go have a discussion with him and say what if you didn’t do any psychroments and you didn’t attend the Mass could you go to heaven and he’s gonna say no you’re not gonna make it.

Ask him if you stopped going to Mass and if you didn’t do any psychroments and you left the church and stayed at home if you could make heaven. They’re gonna say that the only way to go to heaven is through the church. The Catholic Church teaches and the Pope just reaffirmed that just a few weeks ago he said that this is where we are the prime church in the world and the only means by which people can be saved he said everybody every other church is defective and to be safe you have to go through the Catholic church and the Pope just said that a month ago all in all the newspapers well I don’t show it to you alright I have a great day keep calling I think you might in Orlando and Jesus is the Savior.

Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man can come under the Father but by me, not the church. My church, there’s no church that can save you. I can’t save you. Jesus is the only one that can save you. He’s the way. And I’m pointing people to Christ. Christ will save all that believe on him. We’re going to Denise now in Seminole Florida. Denise, welcome to Bibleline your own ear. Hi, Dr.

Lindstrom. My husband, Darrell, wanted me to give you a call and ask you about the wine in the Bible. Did Jesus and the disciples actually drink wine? Or was it like a strong fruit or juice? No, they drank wine. And the thing is, you know, the wine that they, with a mild alcoholic content. Today, people today, they brewed today wine with a content that can get you drunk. And I think you could get drunk if you drank enough of that back in the time of price.

But that wasn’t the whole point. In the Middle East, even to this very day, the water is usually bad, except Israel is very modern and you can trust the water there. But if you are… In almost any Muslim country, Egypt, you can get Pharaohs revenge real quickly and I’ve always warned my groups that don’t drink the water. You can’t even brush your teeth with the water out of the tap. You have to take bottled water and then brush your teeth with that.

If you’re in the shower, you don’t open your mouth and let the shower run in your mouth. You’re going to get sick. And so, you know, all my trips people have gotten sick because they just disregarded that. And we have a bunch of rules that will keep you well. but you got to be careful. And so if you drink bottled water or hot drink fine, but a mild wine also kills the germs and I think that was the reason why.

But the Bible forbids getting drunk. So Jesus and his disciples didn’t get drunk but they were, they did drink wine. Thank you very much. All right. The Bible doesn’t forbid drinking wine. It drinks, it forbids getting drunk. Some people can’t control that and they I shouldn’t drink at all. But thank you to these for that question. We have Tony in Richmond, Virginia. Tony, welcome to Bibleline your own ear. Hey, Dr. Lissen, how are you today? Great. Good. I have a question really quickly.

I’ve listened to your program, and I understand I’m safe. I’m going to have an hallelujah. But I want to explain to me, please, when Jesus was talking about enduring to the end, and I want you to also explain, you may have already answered I’m not listening to the program I’m just calling in. And about the people continuing in the faith till the end and we’ll talk about can you explain those scriptures? Absolutely. You know, in Matthew 2413 where it says Endure to the End is talking about the end of the tribulation period and is talking about physical survival, non-eternal salvation.

He’s saying if you manage to live through all the wars, diseases, famines and everything else as a believer, you will then be saved to live into the Millennial Kingdom. And that’s what it’s talking about in Matthew 24, 13. If you go over to verse 22, it says, if Christ had done to come back and get off the tribulation period at just seven years in length, there would no flesh be saved on the earth. He’s talking about physical survival. That all life on the planet would be extinguished at the battle of Armageddon, if Christ had interrupted and defeat the armies of his furlough instead of his kingdom.

So it’s talking about a physical deliverance. You have to really read the context in these verses to see if the salvation is about eternal salvation or whether it’s about a temporal salvation. The word save is used in different ways. James 2 14 says, can faith save you? There is talking about the judgment of Christ and it’s talking about the fact that you have no works as a Christian save you because you have faith from the embarrassment, the ashamedness, the loss of reward and the regret and the sorrow and the tears that you will shed it, the judgment of Christ if you have done no works for Christ.

So that is another kind of salvation. But you have to read the context and it will help you a lot. Thank you for calling in Tony from Richmond, Virginia. We are going to the land, Florida. We have Earl on the line. Earl, welcome to the line. You are on the air. uh… the world because only there getting a lot of static i don’t know i think we lost a role or else and after call back we have adam and tampa adam welcome to buy one you’re on the line yeah i mean is bringing people into a wrong teaching when you’re it’s it’s not the right terminology uh…

it just there’s a distinction between the church and the kingdom the kingdom is for israel is an earthly uh… kingdom and the church of course is a heavenly body that will be the bride of Christ and come up to meet even here at the rapture now there’s a bigger word kingdom the kingdom of God that’s all inclosive and every every believer period is according to Colossians one thirteen translated into the kingdom of God’s dear son from the kingdom of darkness which is Satan’s realm of power over the human race and so that is true but uh…

we Today are in a time of really bad theology. We have Kingdom preaching, Kingdom music, Kingdom power, Kingdom prayer, Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom. That’s really bad theology because we’re in the church age and we’re not in the Kingdom and nor are we to be looking for the Kingdom. We’re to be looking for the Rapture. That’s the next The Van on God’s program. Unless you rightly divide the word. That’s what I recommend people learn how to do. Timothy 2 15 study, which requires study to do this, to show yourself approved under God as workmen.

He’s not to be ashamed, but rightly divides the word of truth. He has to be able to separate between the Church and the Kingdom and between the Jew and the Church and Israel, between the 1st and 2nd coming, between the Rapture and 2nd coming. And to be able to separate what the Bible is talking about. And just like we were talking about salvation here, whether it’s a physical salvation or whether it’s a salvation from the consequences of the Judge of the City of Christ for the believer that James is talking about, or whether it’s salvation from hell, which is very What John 3 16 is about sure to thank you for calling you.

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Well, I’m Dr. Englund Striman. We had a great week all week. Long Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Great to be with you here on Friday and we look forward to being with you again live on Monday. But if you have withdrawal from Bible and some people do, they tell me they just can’t wait for the next program. You can go to the internet. It catches 24 hours a day, seven days a week anywhere in the world. If you have family or friends or missionaries in other countries, Would you tell them about Bibleline?

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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.