If everyone could turn to Luke 13, I am going to read a passage, beginning in verse 24, through verse 30. It says in Luke 13:24-30:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
I will stop reading there. This passage is really becoming a very important passage of the Bible. Of course, all Bible passages are important. But as far as pertaining to our present day and to what is coming shortly, this is one of the most insightful passages that we can read in the Bible.
For instance, in verse 24, where it says:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
What this is speaking about is Heaven. This is talking about entering into Heaven, of going into the Kingdom of God. This is what it is all about, right? The most important thing, for any person, is to enter into Heaven.
People think all kinds of other things are more important. They will spend their time on just about anything else but this if left to themselves and if God does not really begin giving them an interest in the things of God in the Bible. But, really, when you get down to it, the truth is, it is a fact, the most important thing, the absolutely most important thing for any person is not how much money they make, what kind of degree they have, what type of house they have, or what kind of car they have. It has nothing to do with your possessions: what you own or do not own. It has nothing to do with what kind of job you have or how intelligent you are.
The most important thing is eternity and living in the Kingdom of God, entering into Heaven. This is a fact because once God finishes His plan here on earth, once He completes it and His salvation plan is over and He destroys the world and wipes it out, then everything else is shown to be vanity at that point. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” This is what Solomon was moved to write.
This proves that, really, what was always the most important thing was getting into Heaven—somehow, someway—and man has known this deep-down. Every person has known this.
The Muslim religion, some strive by going on their knees and making a way to Mecca. Or the Hindus, they make a pilgrimage. They take a journey to the Ganges River that they might wash themselves in that holy river; this is how they look at it. Then there are all kinds of Christian who think that the place where there is a portal, where there is a doorway, is church. Church is the place; that is how they can get into Heaven.
Actually, all of this is wrong because the entryway, the portal, is not a place. It has never been a place. It has never been a place where you go and if you go there and do certain things and follow certain religious rites or traditions or guidelines, then you can enter into Heaven. It has never been this way. No, God has really laid down in the Bible how we can enter into Heaven and what the “gate” is.
If we go to Genesis 28, this is Jacob who is in view, and it says in Genesis 28:12:
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
A little later in Genesis 28:16-17:
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was wrong. There is a place! There is a place over in the Middle East somewhere. We have to find that spot. We have to find that spot where Jacob was dreaming and saw this ladder come down from Heaven and “angels…ascending and descending on it.” Well then, let us all make a pilgrimage.
No, that is not necessary. It is not necessary because Jesus fills us in on exactly what was happening here in Genesis, in the Gospel of John, where it says in John 1:51:
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
You see, Jesus is giving us the picture, the complete picture, of what Jacob’s dream represented, what it meant, that it is Christ who is the gateway. Christ is that entrance into Heaven. Angels, or messengers, ascend via Christ and descend via Christ. It is all through Him, as it says in Acts 4, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
He is the only way. He is the only possible entrance into Heaven, into eternal life. There is not any other way, even though all kinds of gospels and religions try to convince people that there are other ways, that there are other things besides just Christ, besides the Gospel of the Bible, that you can get to Heaven many other different ways. No, God says that there is only One way, just One way. That is it.
It is a very narrow entrance, is it not? It is not broad. It is not wide. It is not because people are basically good and do good things. Of course, everybody has some bad, everybody does some sinful things, but you are basically good. And who is not? Ask any of the killers on death row, “Oh, I am not that bad!” You can ask anybody, no matter what crimes they have committed, and, basically, they are going to tell you that they are pretty good, except there might be a couple of honest people whom God maybe has convinced and shown their sin.
Of course, the true child of God begins to recognize that he or she is not good, because we begin to see ourselves in the light of the Bible, as God holds up the mirror of His Word and we see all of our sins and transgressions. We know, no, we are not good and that we are “deceitful…and desperately wicked,” like the Bible says. Christ is the gate.
If we go to Psalm 118, it fills this in a little bit more, beginning in verse 19. It says in Psalm 118:19-20:
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise JEHOVAH: this gate of JEHOVAH, into which the righteous shall enter.
The Bible does call certain individuals “righteous.” It identifies them as “righteous,” like Elisabeth and her husband, Zacharias, and it says, “they were both righteous,” as well as certain others in the Bible, too. And in Romans 5, we find out how anybody can be considered “righteous.” It is “by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous,” and this is the only way.
So if we ever read in the Bible where it says that someone was “righteous,” it is not of themselves, because the Bible also says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” When someone is identified as being “righteous,” it is because Christ has made them righteous through His obedience, His faith, and His taking of their sins.
Of course, if Jesus does this for someone, they will enter into the gate, into the City; they will find entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, into the Kingdom of God. And now, when they become saved, they will “ascend” and then immediately, in most cases, maybe not the thief on the Cross, but in most cases, when someone becomes saved, they are then seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are dispatched; we are sent right back to earth to carry the Gospel to the world as a messenger.
That word “angel” is also translated as “messenger,” so messengers ascend and messengers descend “upon the Son of Man.” So now we go out with tracts or we share with our neighbors or we tell other people.
Let us go to Matthew 7. I will read a couple of verses there, and then we will go back to Luke. In Matthew 7:13-14, it says:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
I just wanted to read this because I meant to read this earlier but I forgot.
Now, let us go back to Luke 13:24-25:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,…
So here in verse 25, it is making reference to a “door.” That is basically the same thing as a gate, right? We know that the Bible defines its own terms.
In John 10:7, it says:
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
And John 10:9:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
“I am the door.” This is what Christ declares. You see, if you enter in, you are saved. You are saved. God’s method for salvation is to go through Christ.
Or look at Acts 14:27. It says there:
And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
This is very self-explanatory. A “door of faith,” and Christ is the faith; He is the Door. He is the only way that someone can become a child of God.
So God uses this figure, He uses this picture, where we are not in Heaven now; we are on earth. In order to get to Heaven, there is a “door.”
Just like anything else in our life, right? Whenever you go anyplace, you normally have to enter in. There is a door here at the Union Hall. There is a door at work. There are doors everywhere, and we go from one place to another by going through the door.
In order to go to Heaven and live forever in blessing and joy and peace and love, you have to go through a “door.” There is no other way. We must go through one “door” only and that is the “door” that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has to bestow His grace upon us. He has to pay for our sins. He has to forgive us our sins. And it is only through Jesus; there is no other way.
By the way, if Christ is the “door,” what does that makes us? What does that make us? Remember that Psalm? What does it say in Psalm 84? You know, if we ever think that we are something, God always convinces us, He always reveals to us, that we are really nothing. We are just servants.
In Psalm 84:10, it says:
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
A “doorkeeper,” that is basically what we are. And that is not a very glamorous job, is it? It is not that glamorous a position.
For example, when you go to New York—and I never go to New York…no offense, I do not like that city—but when you go to New York, you see these big hotels and there is this man dressed in a uniform and he is standing at the door when a cab or a limousine pulls up. He rushes over to the limousine and he opens the door. He helps the person into the hotel. He gets their luggage. He is basically a servant just helping the person into that place. That is all that he does. That is all that he does. He does not own the place. He is not that big a deal at the place. At the hotel, they have much higher people there. He is probably the lowest on the totem pole, as well as the janitor. There is nothing wrong with these jobs. I am just saying that through the eyes of the world, maybe janitors, maybe those who take care of the place, are all basically at the same level in the world’s eyes. Doorkeepers are a dime a dozen. If they quit, then okay, they will hire somebody else tomorrow. It is a very humble position, and this is what God says we are, because Christ is the Door.
Christ is also the Word. He is the Word of God, right? And so, how does anyone get through the “door”? They have to hear the Word; they have to hear Christ, and “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
So as we bring the Gospel, as we carry the Bible’s message to anyone, we are basically being a “doorkeeper.” And not everybody is going to enter in. Some people have no interest. They just want to live their own life, for whatever reason.
But we are privileged; we are privileged to be partakers in God’s Gospel, because we are right there where all of the action is taking place. We are right there where the people are entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. We, ourselves, were ministered to when people shared the Gospel with us so that we could enter into God’s Kingdom. Now, gladly and happily, God’s people share the Word of God.
Is it not amazing when you see people go on tract trips and no matter what they do in the world, it does not matter? They just are eager, and they fill their backpacks to go out, many times, to be reviled, to be scorned, to have people look down on them, as though they are nothing in the world’s eyes when they are standing on a street corner. Yet the child of God does it joyfully, joyfully, because God has saved them, and so they are happy to serve God as a “doorkeeper.”
Well, you see, this is the wonderful news: that there is a Door. There is a way. There is a possible way into Heaven, and it exists right now. It exists today for anybody, for anybody. “God is no respecter of persons,” so anybody, in all the world, could conceivably, or possibly, enter in, and this is a great blessing.
If we go back to Luke 13:24, it says:
…for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
They can not do it. They can not do it; they can not enter into the “door.”
Then Luke 13:25:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
There is no way. The “door” is shut. Once the “door” is shut, there can not be anymore salvation, because that was the only way—through Christ, through that Door. But God says that there comes a time when the “door” is shut. Then you can seek to go around or you can “climbeth up some other way” like a “thief”; you can do whatever you want, but you are not getting into Heaven through those means. It is only through Jesus.
This is why it is such a serious and tragic thing that we have come to learn that on May 21, 2011, the Door shuts, the Door shuts. This is basically what we have learned. That is the day; that is when the “the Master of the house is risen up.” That is the day when God is going to shut the Door.
He has revealed this to us. He has told us plainly in His Word. How did He do that? Well, let us go back to Genesis 7:4, where it says:
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
So God gave Noah seven-day’s warning. He warned him previously. Now the warning is more intense because it is shorter; it is only a week: “seven days.” And we know from 2 Peter 3 that God has assigned a number to each day, where He says, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
In saying this, in giving this information to Noah, spiritually—and I do not have any problem saying, “spiritually,” because the spiritual meaning is the Gospel meaning and it is the point of the Bible.
Remember in Luke 17 with the ten lepers? Jesus told them, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” They went and “as they went, they were cleansed.” But only one came running back to Christ and “fell down on his face at His feet” and “glorified God.” And Jesus asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?”
Where did they go? Why did He ask that? Why do you think He asked that? Where did they go? They went to Jerusalem to find a priest, exactly as Christ had said, literally. Literally, they went to Jerusalem; and it took them away from God because they obeyed Him literally.
But the Samaritan, the one who was given that same command, ran back to Jesus and “fell down on his face at His feet, giving him thanks” and “glorified God.” The Law in Leviticus said, “the leper in the day of his cleansing” must “be brought unto the priest,” and Jesus is the Great High Priest. He is the deeper meaning, the spiritual meaning, behind the Law.
So in trying to be literal in their obedience, it took them further from God and further away from Christ Himself. But the one who saw the spiritual meaning, He is said to have “glorified God.” So when we say that there are spiritual meanings, this means that it is not a lesser meaning. It could be a much more-important meaning, a deeper meaning.
So when we see that God says, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth” and He identifies in 2 Peter 3 that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” then we can understand rightly that this is pointing to 7,000 years in which people have an opportunity to get into the Ark.
How would someone get into the ark? How would you get into the ark? There was a little window, but I know that I could not fit. I could not fit. Maybe some of the children might fit through the window? No, nobody went through the window; there was a door. There was a door on the ark. You have “yet seven days” to get into that Door—seven days, 7,000 years.
Look in Genesis 7:11-12:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Then look at Genesis 7:16, which is going back a little bit before the rain came:
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and JEHOVAH shut him in.
After seven days—after seven days, God, Jehovah, “shut him in.” He shut the door. He closed the door.
Could anybody get into the ark after that? As soon as he shut the door, the rain came. I would not be surprised if after the rain started falling harder and harder and the rain clouds from heaven were bursting and rain was coming up out of the “great deep” and there was water everywhere, that anyone who was able was probably thinking what you would think. What would you think? “Where is that boat? Where is that ship? Let me find that ship!”
If they had been able, they would have come to the ship and knocked or banged to get in, but God shut the door. Noah did not shut the door. Nobody of Noah’s family shut the door. Jehovah shut the door, and there was no way in. There was no way in. Salvation was over. It was done. It was complete. God was only going to save Noah, his sons, and their wives, and the spared animals. That was it.
Well, we are amazed because we know that from the flood in 4990 B.C., when you go 7,000 years, it falls on 2011 A.D. But we do not know, or we did not know before, where it would fall. It says that it was “in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month.” God gave us this information for a reason, but we could never really tie it in to Noah’s calendar, because we did not understand Noah’s calendar. We did not know how to relate it to our calendar.
But it just so happens that on May 21st in 2011…why that date? Because it is an exact 23 years from 1988. From the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988 until May 21, 2011 is 23 years and a full 8400 days, and there are many reasons why this is important. And we get these dates and numbers from the Bible through a totally different way of approaching it than the flood. Those dates and numbers were in place before anyone put any of this together. And we find out that May 21, 2011 of the Bible calendar, of the Hebrew calendar, is the 17th day of the 2nd month.
Coincidence? Is it a coincidence that here in Genesis 7, God says that you have “seven days.” Okay, and then He tells us in 2 Peter 3, in the context of the flood and the end of the world, right in the middle, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Then you go 7,000, and it falls on 2011. Then after 13,000 years of history in 1988, when we come to that Feast of Pentecost, you go an exact 23 years, which is a Biblical time of Great Tribulation as God has used this number in the past (nobody just made it up), and it is 23 years to May 21, 2011, which is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Hebrew calendar. That is the day that God shut the door in Noah’s day; and in Noah’s calendar, it was the 17th day of the 2nd month.
So what can we do? What can we do? We can try to play with it. We can try to move it, but we can not move it anywhere. It locks in; it fits together perfectly. So we have to say that May 21, 2011 is the day that God is going to shut the door on the world, on the world, just like He did in Noah’s day, and that there will be no more salvation possible after that day.
We are not going to get into this too much today, but the problem that we had was that we were expecting the Feast of Tabernacles to be the end of the world, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is not until October 21, 2011, and that is five months later, an exact five months of our calendar, 153 days.
Well, look at Genesis 7:22-23, where it says:
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
That is five months. Now we have another tie-in, another thing that is confirming that this is correct. It is correct! This is going to happen. Five months—we had five months left over. We had five months from May 21st to October 21st, and God says that “the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days,” five months, five 30-day months of Noah’s calendar.
So God is telling us, May 21st the door is shut, but then there are five months of time when He is destroying the earth, not with water but with whatever He is going to do it with. We know that earthquakes will be in view. Five months where people will be left in the world, just like people were left outside of the ark. On May 21, God will rapture all of the believers and leave everyone else.
Actually, if we go back to Luke 13:25-27, it says:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
We thought that this was happening on Judgment Day. We used to think that this was when mankind would be saying, “Lord, Lord.” But actually, this is after May 21st. It is after May 21st, after the door is shut. That is the time when the door is shut.
So Christ is saying, “I know you not…depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity.” Then Luke 13:28:
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
The time of the “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” I had always read as being in Hell. When people were in Hell forever, they would just be…I had never really looked into those two words too much.
“Weeping” we can understand because there is intense sorrow and sadness, as we used to understand, being cast into an evil place, an evil new world called “hell” where somebody would suffer forever. But “gnashing of teeth”?
You know, it is necessary for God to destroy the wicked so that there will not be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” forever. It is more just. It glorifies God more to destroy a sinner so that he does not gnash on Him with His teeth in a sinful and rebellious way throughout all eternity.
Can you imagine that? You have a rebel, you have a transgressor of God’s Holy Law, and he is thrown into Hell where he remains rebellious. He remains stubborn, prideful, and that is what “gnashing of teeth” has to do with. I do not know if we will have time to look at that today, but he remains angry at God. Remember in Revelation 16, they are blaspheming God. They do not repent. They are not turning from their sins, despite the punishment that is being poured out on them.
Is that the state of sinners in Hell forever and ever and ever? And God has to exist knowing all things? There is not a place where God does not know what is going on. The Bible says that He knows what is going on in Hell also. Is there a place that God has created where rebels are housed and continue to blaspheme God’s Holy Name into eternity?
That does not sound right. Even today, after someone has committed a crime of murder and they are put into prison, what does the family want? Does the family want them to suffer life in prison for as long as they live? It is a place of torment, of trouble. No, the family wants justice. The family does not want that person in prison, still unapologetic, not sorry for their crime. The family would rather that person be executed and dead so that whatever arrogance they have is destroyed with them.
That is how it is with God. That is how it is with God. He is going to destroy the sinner completely, and then they will no longer gnash on Him with their teeth. It will not be permitted any longer, after that five-month period.
We will stop here. Lord willing, maybe we will look at “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in another study at another time. Let us close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your mercy. We thank You for Your graciousness. And, Father, we thank You for the wonderful gift of time. We have time now. There is not much of it, but there is time. As something is rare in the world, it takes on great value, so we pray that You would help us to value our time, to redeem the time, for “the days are evil.” Help us to no longer waste time. Father, we do this. We continue to do this despite knowing what is coming. And, Father, we pray that You would move in us “to will and to do” of Your “good pleasure,” to use our time more wisely in a God-glorifying way. Father, we pray that You would be with us the rest of this day. Help us to keep our minds on things above, and that is on the Bible. We do pray and ask for Your blessing upon Your Word, and we pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.
Okay, we have time for a few questions or comments if anyone has anything. Then maybe we can sing a hymn after. Okay, does anyone have any questions or comments here?
1st Question: One of the verses that has been brought up to me numerous times by my wife who is still in the church is concerning, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock,” and the context of that. I wonder if you might explain that.
Chris: Okay, let us turn to Revelation 3:20:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Again, the context is salvation. If Christ were to “come in,” it is using this in sort of a reverse picture than we were talking about earlier where Christ is the Door and we must go through Him, but here God is just looking at a different angle.
He is saying that if anyone were to “hear,” and that is the key. That is the key because we are all spiritually dead. If you are dead, you can not hear anything. You can not hear anything, so no one, of themselves, is going to hear Christ knock, or they are not going to hear the Lord Jesus, and they will not be able to enter in.
It is only after God gives us life, after He regenerates a soul, that now they have spiritual ears to “hear,” and then there can be communion with Christ. That is what the language of supping with Him is pointing to. We have a relationship with the Lord Jesus at that point, but not before.
I know that free-will people, Arminians, they point to this verse. This is one of the verses that they go to and say, “Well, you see, Jesus is coming to you. He is beckoning you. He is calling you. Will you not open up the door of your heart?”
That is how they use it, but they are not understanding; they are not fitting it with everything else in the Bible that indicates that we are spiritually dead and that no one can. No one has the ability to “hear” the Lord Jesus and to bring salvation upon themselves.
2nd Question: You made a reference to Psalm 84. You probably can not answer this, but tabernacles and altars is plural in verses 1-3. Do you have any idea why?
Chris: Psalm 84:1-3:
How amiable are thy tabernacles, JEHOVAH of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of JEHOVAH: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O JEHHOVAH of hosts, my King, and my God.
Well, you know, that is interesting because when I was looking up “door” or “gate,” I noticed that in some places it is “gates.” Like in Palm 118, it speaks of the “gates” of Jehovah.
You see, there is One Lord, One Faith, One Gospel, but there are many messengers. This is I think how we can understand it. So even though there is only one way into Heaven, God multiplies that by sending forth His word into the world through His people carrying it. I think this might be how we can understand this.
3rd Question: Can I ask again if there are any fellowships in the Pittsburgh area of Family Radio listeners?
Chris: If anyone listening on Paltalk is from or near Pittsburg, PA, we do have someone who is interested in a fellowship in that area, so please send Bob a private message or contact us.
Anyone else? Anyone on Paltalk? Sally, can you post your message?
4th Question: I know someone who is witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses and is trying to share the Gospel with them. I point to your discussion with the Muslims to show that the Bible allows that.
Chris: First of all, we never point to…[brief audio gap]… 2 John 1:10:
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
One thing I will not do is get into any kind of discussion like that with professing Christians who are in the church because we know that God is indicating that He is not saving in the churches, so I do not think there could be in blessing with that. But since the Muslims are not Christian, they are not Christian, they are not a Christian organization, they have their own religion, that is why I think it is permissible to have discussion with them in order to bring them the Gospel. But I think that this is permissible. I am going to think and pray about this more, but that has been my mindset.
There is actually an individual who keeps writing me and saying that he wants to have a debate. He is from our old church in Malvern, and I keep saying, “No. No, I will not have any kind of a discussion with you because God is not blessing anything with the churches today, and it can not be profitable.”
From what I see, it is different with the Muslims because they are outside of that area and they are not coming with “another gospel.” They are a different religion. If I am wrong about that, please let me know, but that is how I am thinking.
I would say, though, that Jehovah’s Witnesses, if they come to your door, no, I would not talk to them and I would not invite them in. I would close the door and say, “I am sorry. I can not talk with you because the Bible will not allow it.”
With that, why do we not close and have a hymn.