The Berean Call Podcast

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: What about the growing "spiritual warfare" teaching that by "binding" in the name of the Lord the "territorial spirit" controlling a city Christians can take over that city for God?

Response: Such an idea has no biblical basis, either by precept or example. Yes, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia” prevented the angel Gabriel for three weeks from coming to Daniel (Dn 10:12-13). Daniel, however, was seeking prophetic insight—not to "bind" the "territorial spirit" over Persia. Nor did Gabriel instruct him to wage such warfare. Gabriel's mission was to inform Daniel of last-days events affecting Israel (v 14)—information which the "prince of Persia" tried to hinder. There is no hint that "binding" this demon would have delivered Persia from Satanic influence or that Gabriel's victory over this demon (with the help of Michael the Archangel) had any effect upon the spiritual climate in Persia or aided in the salvation of Persians.

Paul never tried to "bind territorial spirits" in bringing the gospel to the world of his day, so why should we? And although the apostles "turned the world upside down," there is no hint that a single city was ever "taken for God," as Wimber, Paulk, Hayford, Frangipane, Lea, and so many others are promising. In Corinth, for example, where Paul spent 18 months, God gave him special protection and blessing because He had "much people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10). The issue was not to deliver Corinth, but to call a company of believers out of it. Nor did Paul's success change the destiny of Corinth—or of any other city or nation.

This is number 232 in our series of “Get Biblical Understanding.” In this session we’re reading many but certainly not all of the biblical verses that have to do with The Heart.

The heart addressed in this series is not the physical organ within our body but rather the non-physical aspects that pervade humanity, which is at the center of our spiritual and mental life. Only God knows our heart and from Him alone comes our only true insights.

1 CORINTHIANS 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

1 CORINTHIANS 7:37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:2-3 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:13-16 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when [one] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.

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.

View the full series: https://www.thebereancall.org/galatians

More about the Bible: https://www.thebereancall.org/topic/bible

Our website: https://www.reachingcatholics.org

Our main website: www.thebereancall.org

Store: store.thebereancall.org

Download our app: www.thebereancall.org/app

Sign up for our email updates: https://www.thebereancall.org/subscribe

Today and next week we’ll be discussing some of the beliefs of Seventh-day Adventism. My guest for our subject is Dale Ratzlaff. He’s a former SDA pastor trained in Seventh-day schools and seminary. He’s the author of four books addressing Adventist doctrines. He and his wife Carolyn left the SDA church over doctrines they believed undermined the biblical gospel and now are committed to communicating the gospel to those within the SDA church as well as teaching biblical Christians about the biblical errors of Adventism.

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: How could God allow such cruelty to befall mankind, such as the ignorant millions in India suffering starvation, pain, disease, etc., and brainwashed into a false religion?

Response: I sense the pain of your heart. There are some key words in your important question; the first is “allow.” This is not the world as God wants it to be or made it to be; it is the world that man has made in his rebellion and that God has allowed.

Why would God “allow” sin, suffering, idolatry, etc., all of which will lead to eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire? The biblical answer is clear: He has given man the power of choice. Without free will, we could neither love one another, nor God, nor respond to His love for us. Love is the highest expression of God’s character and image in the man whom He created. Obviously, love must come from the heart, or it is not love. The ability to love would be meaningless without the ability not to love and even to hate: obedience is meaningless unless one has the option and ability to disobey.

Rejecting free will, the Calvinist says that this evil world is exactly as God predestined and brings to pass. But the very conscience God has given us will not allow such a wicked charge against God who “is love” (1 John 4:8,16), who is “good to all: and his tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9), and who desires “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). That many will suffer in the Lake of Fire for eternity is not what God desires for anyone!

Your next key word is “ignorant.” On the contrary, God has given each person the witness of creation and conscience. No matter at what time in history or in what place and society anyone is raised (even in the pagan Far East, like India or China, where one-third of earth’s population lives), the Bible says that “they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19,20). No one is totally “ignorant”—and to those who obey the light God has given them, more light and grace will be given. But those who reject the light of creation and conscience that God has given to all are given up by God to their own willful perversions.

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.

View the full series: https://www.thebereancall.org/galatians

More about the Bible: https://www.thebereancall.org/topic/bible

Our website: https://www.reachingcatholics.org

Our main website: www.thebereancall.org

Store: store.thebereancall.org

Download our app: www.thebereancall.org/app

Sign up for our email updates: https://www.thebereancall.org/subscribe

Well, if you’ve been following our programs, you heard last week’s session where we’re dealing with the age of the earth - days of creation. Is the earth billions of years old, or only thousands of years old? And did God create the earth and its creatures in six days, meaning, you know, what we think of as 24-hour days, or in greater lengths of time? Our discussion…we’re having a great discussion with Jay Seegert. He’s the cofounder of the Creation Education Center, and he’s its principal lecturer. He has degrees in physics and engineering, and as you will hear and as we heard last week, it’s the Bible - that’s where his mind and his heart are first and foremost.

Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/thebereancall/

Brighteon: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/thebereancall

Gab: https://gab.com/TheBereanCall

Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/thebereancall

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@TheBereanCall

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/thebereancall

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBereanCall/videos

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebereancall/

Freetalk45: https://freetalk.app/thebereancall

Gab: https://gab.com/TheBereanCall

Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/thebereancall

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebereancall/

Mewe: https://mewe.com/i/thebereancall

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebereancall

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.