The Berean Call Podcast

In today’s program, Tom concludes a two-part series with guest Jiovanne Del Cristo. Here’s TBC executive director Tom McMahon.

Tom: Thanks, Gary. Well, this is our part two of our interview with Jiovanne Del Cristo, and he ministers at Living Word [Church] which I mentioned is a Bible-centered bilingual church in Miami, Florida. Jio, for short, thanks for joining me again on Search the Scriptures 24/7.

Jio: Certainly. It is a privilege to be here once again, Tom. Thank you so much.

Tom: Jio, as we mentioned last week, and I encourage people - we archive all of our radio programs, so you can…if you haven’t heard part one, you can go back and listen to that. Jio ministers at Living Word [Church], and primarily to youth. He ministers with his dad there, and we’ve been talking about the issues of the youth, and certainly because it’s a bilingual church, Hispanic - you know, I was able to speak there, but Jio translated for me, which, okay… It was a wonderful experience, it really was. And I love your fellowship, your dad, your mom, and so on.

But, Jio… Oh! and I also mentioned last week, and I’ll mention it again, I think this is going to air the week before our conference, and you, by the Lord willing and by the grace of God, are going to be here in Bend, Oregon for our TBC conference, which is the last week in August. And as this airs, it’ll be this weekend! So praise the Lord for that. We’re going to introduce you to some snow, if we still have any when you get here, which I think that’s…

Of all the prophecies in the Bible, Revelation 17 is the most astonishing. It culminates a series of visions of four world empires, the fourth to be revived in the "last days" and ruled by Antichrist through ten subordinate "kings"—a series of visions which began 600 years earlier in Daniel 2 with Nebuchadnezzar's image. The image's "head of gold" was the first world empire, the Babylonian; the "breast and arms of silver" pictured the succeeding Medo-Persian Empire; next was the Grecian represented by "belly and thighs of brass"; and finally the "legs of iron, and feet [with ten toes signifying ten kings] part of iron and part of clay" depicted the fourth world empire arising out of Rome.

Daniel's prophecy (continued in chapters 7-12) foretold accurate details of coming world empires which we can't enumerate. Apropos of our subject, however, the image's two legs foretold the Roman Empire's division into East and West. And so it happened, first politically; centuries later, religiously. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (which in July again gained control of religion in Russia) remain divided to this day. They will, however, be reunited as the core of Antichrist's new world religion.

Gary: Welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7, a radio ministry of The Berean Call featuring T.A. McMahon. I’m Gary Carmichael. Thanks for tuning in. In today’s program, Tom begins a two-part series with guest, Jiovanne Del Cristo. Here’s TBC Executive Director, Tom McMahon.

Tom: Thanks, Gary. Today on our program and next week, as well, I welcome back to the program Jiovanne Del Cristo. He ministers at the Living Word [Church], which is a Bible-centered bilingual church in Miami, Florida.

Jio, thanks for joining me on Search the Scriptures 24/7. 

Jio: Thank you so much for the invitation, and it’s a pleasure and privilege to be back on with you.

Join Dave and Tom as they engage in an in-depth, verse-by-verse examination of the Gospel of John. We hope you will be challenged and convicted as you listen to these insightful, exegetical discussions compiled from nearly four years of Search the Scriptures Daily radio programs. Open your Bible and get ready for an edifying pilgrimage into God's Word.

The message of this treasured epistle is just as clear and convicting today as it was to the early churches of Galatia: We are justified by grace through faith alone - not by works of the law.

Join T. A. McMahon and radio guests (Greg Durel, Mike Gendron, and Jim McCarthy) as they discuss this powerful Pauline epistle and its relevance to your daily walk.

Tom: In this segment of our program, we’re beginning our discussions of Dave Hunt’s new book Judgment Day! Islam, Israel, and the Nations, which has just rolled off the press. Dave, the title is certainly thought-provoking. Most folks wouldn’t get the impression that it’s a happy, feel-good-about-the-world-situation sort of book, so can you give us a synopsis of the book and tell us why you wrote it?

Dave: Well, Tom, we have a lot of happy, feel-good books. That is mostly what is being written out there. We try to hide our heads in the sand; we don’t want to face the problems that are in the world today. And probably the greatest challenge - the greatest danger to the entire world - is Islam. And the Bible is filled with very clear and frightening (really frightening) declarations by God of the judgment He is going to bring upon this world. Why is He going to do that? Well, that’s what we talk about, and we give you the documentation from prophecy in the Bible, from history, and from the daily news, what is happening in our world. This world is ripening for God’s judgment. 

Join Dave and Tom as they engage in an in-depth, verse-by-verse examination of the Gospel of John. We hope you will be challenged and convicted as you listen to these insightful, exegetical discussions compiled from nearly four years of Search the Scriptures Daily radio programs. Open your Bible and get ready for an edifying pilgrimage into God's Word.

Question: I challenge you to prove the Trinity without the help of Catholic Church councils like Nicea in 325 and others after. Also don't even give me the opinions from the early Church Catholic Fathers either. Also, don't even give me any theological eisegesis interpretation on who is God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Response: You sound like you're not acquainted with our position on the Godhead. The Berean Call has never referenced "Church" Councils in establishing that the Scriptures are the final authority as to whether or not the Trinity exists.

The key to understanding the Godhead is knowing His Word. To study the Trinity to the point of full understanding requires extremely finite individuals grappling with an infinite God. Further, we have to understand what is said in Scripture. Titus 3:4 speaks of "God our Saviour" and Titus 1:3 speaks of "God our Saviour," while the next verse speaks of "Jesus Christ our Saviour" (1:4). 

Isaiah 43:11 tells us, "I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour." Yet in Acts 4:12 (speaking of Jesus), we are told, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

The declarations made are often explained by the idea that the one God takes on a different "mode" or existence. Yet Jesus, the Son, left the disciples at times to go and have conversations with the Father. As limited humanity, we cannot conceive of a simultaneous unity and diversity. Our closest "understanding" (and that a stretch) is what some call schizophrenia; but we are not deities. 

Yet even the prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus contain elements foreign to anyone less than God: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Mic 5:2). Jesus is a distinct individual who regularly talks to His Father. "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak" (Jn 12:49). He was also in submission to the Father.

That's just a few of the challenges to those who deny the Trinity (Godhead). We would encourage you to read what we have already written; there is quite a bit more (see—https://bit.ly/4csqWT3).

Why do we need to repent and believe in Christ if the penalty has been paid in full for everyone? The good news of the gospel is that salvation is offered to all.

Question: I have kind of a loaded question concerning the kingdom parables of Matthew 13. I don’t know if you are able to follow me on this, but the typical evangelical interpretation of the parable of the “leaven hidden in three measures of meal” starts with “leaven is usually bad in the Bible,” but in this case it is good. This to me is not an acceptable interpretation, but I’m really perplexed as to why so many evangelical leaders, who undoubtedly are aware, at least, of the other interpretation still persist in this.

Response: The fuller context of this parable is found in Matthew 13:33-42, which includes the Lord’s explanation of the “tares and the wheat.” It is instructive that in the parable of the tares and wheat, the Lord has planted “good seed.” We cannot deny that this is good. The enemy, however, has (using the same method) sowed his own seeds. The seed of the Lord permeating the world like leaven is good. Yet the tares (until the harvest) are virtually indistinguishable from the wheat. This is bad. Leaven is a natural development in the process of making good bread and the process is used by both the good and the bad. And it is true that most references to leaven are used as a negative: “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Gal 5:9, etc.). (continues)

The message of this treasured epistle is just as clear and convicting today as it was to the early churches of Galatia: We are justified by grace through faith alone - not by works of the law.

Join T. A. McMahon and radio guests (Greg Durel, Mike Gendron, and Jim McCarthy) as they discuss this powerful Pauline epistle and its relevance to your daily walk.