The Berean Call Podcast

1 TIMOTHY 2:7-8 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

1 TIMOTHY 2:11-14 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

1 TIMOTHY 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

1 TIMOTHY 4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

1 TIMOTHY 4:10-11 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach.

1 TIMOTHY 5:17-18 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

You’re listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a program in which we encourage everyone who desires to know God’s truth to look to God’s Word for all that is essential for salvation and living one’s life in a way that is pleasing to Him. We are and have been discussing Dave Hunt’s latest book Judgment Day! Islam, Israel, and the Nations. That’s what we’ve been doing, Dave, as you know, for almost 24 weeks now in this first segment of our program. 

Dave, you end chapter 13 by giving what you call “Hopeful Signs among Muslims Related to Terrorism.” Now, that comes after chapter after chapter of things that gravely concern us about what takes place in Islam. But now, what are these hopeful signs, and in what way do you think they are truly hopeful?

Tom: Thanks, Gary. Dave, as you know, for the last two weeks we discussed the critical distinctions between Roman Catholicism and biblical Christianity, and following that discussion we need to address the differences between Islam and biblical Christianity, especially regarding salvation. So let’s begin with your chapter title: “How, or on What Basis, and to Whom Does the God of the Bible Offer Salvation?”

Dave: Yeah, Tom, it’s a good question. It’s a logical question. The fact is that we have broken God’s laws; everybody knows that. You break the laws of the state, and you can’t tell the judge, “Well, let me off this time and from now on I’ll never break the law again.” 

COLOSSIANS 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

COLOSSIANS 2:6-7 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

COLOSSIANS 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

1 THESSALONIANS 3:9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;

1 THESSALONIANS 3:10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

2 THESSALONIANS 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

1 TIMOTHY 1:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. 

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD….” —Isaiah 1:18 

Two years ago (February 2022) we published a TBC article titled "The Flight from Reason." At that time, certain things were taking place that made you wonder if the world and the church had indeed taken leave of their senses, or, in the church's case, a huge slipping away from God's truth (Hebrews 2:1), verging on complete irrationality.

Reason, even at the level of just plain common sense, has ceased to be the criterion of everyday living. That was certainly obvious in the realm of politics. Although the mantra of the various left-leaning agendas claimed it was for the good of society, the "good" was either short-lived or quickly destructive. Gaining control over the populous was their main goal, and the objective was to impose a certain ideology on the masses by whatever means. For Bible-believing Christians it became necessary to enter into the political realm as voters when the promoted agendas dealt with moral issues such as abortion and the legalization of mind-altering drugs. We certainly have a responsibility as US citizens to affect the outcome of what our government attempts to adopt, especially regarding the consequences related to our children. However, that's not the primary concern of this article. It's the effect that the seeming abandonment of reason is having on the church.

Tom: Thanks, Gary. In this our opening segment of Search the Scriptures, we are continuing our discussion of Dave Hunt’s latest book Judgment Day! Islam, Israel, and the Nations. We’re in chapter 12, titled “Some Important Distinctions.” What about evangelical Christians? Why do you, in the book, call them “Israel’s true friends?”

Dave: Well, Tom, let me just briefly comment on what you just said, because some people may have misunderstood, or don’t know: Why would this be of such importance for Jews to know the distinction between evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics? Because it was the Roman Catholic Church that led the Crusades. They had two crusades. They slaughtered Jews all across Europe. They chased the Jews into the synagogues, set it ablaze when they took Jerusalem. They’ve been persecuting Jews down through the centuries. It was the popes who first put the Jews in ghettos, made them wear an identifying…

Tom: Dave, as we mentioned last week, the majority of Jewish people—practically all, you could say—make no distinction between Catholics and evangelicals, which leads to some serious misunderstandings. 

Dave: Tom, as we mentioned last week, one of the biggest complaints that Jewish people have against Christians, or Christianity, is that it was the Christians that persecuted them down through the centuries. Hitler was a Christian, wasn’t he? Well he was never excommunicated from the Catholic Church; neither was Mussolini, so they have a misperception that Catholics are Christians. Now, you can’t call yourself a Christian unless you follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, unless you follow the Bible and the gospel, and the Catholic Church—we won’t get into a big doctrinal thing about that—but the Catholic Church openly says it does not just go by the Bible, it goes by church tradition, as well. And as you know, an ex-Catholic, tradition is on the same level as the Bible. 

ACTS 28:30-31 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

ROMANS 12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;

1 CORINTHIANS 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

GALATIANS 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate [share] unto him that teacheth in all good things.

EPHESIANS 4:11-13 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

EPHESIANS 4:20-21 But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Well, Tom, there are so many promises like that in the Bible—literally hundreds. We had mentioned in the very beginning when we started to study this book in our first segment of the program: anti-Semitism. It is one of the prophecies in the Bible, one of the great proofs. God said these people would be hated and persecuted and killed like no other people, and it came to pass. We explained what anti-Semitism is. Why? It’s satanic, and that can be very easily established by logic and from the Scriptures. As soon as God said to Satan, the serpent in the garden, “The seed of the woman is going to bruise your head…” in other words, “You will be destroyed by a virgin-born Man, born of a woman, somewhere down in history,” Satan began to look for this Person. We find this all through history, and we don’t have time to document that. But whether it was Haman, who would wipe out all the Jews in the days of Esther, whether it was Herod who was going to make sure he killed the Messiah, all down through history we’ve had this happening. 

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.

—Matthew 7:13-14

Each part of this three-part series began with the above scriptures because we believe they capture the options the church and the world face. What's found through the "strait gate" are numerous instructions that make up the truth of God's Word. Although that gate is open to all, only those who are born again of the Holy Spirit choose to enter therein. Yet still retaining their old nature, believers can be enticed by the sins of the world. Twice in Proverbs (14:12; 16:25) we find, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death," indicating that believers can still slip into the errors of the wide gate/broad way. William MacDonald in his Believer's Bible Commentary calls the wide gate the way of a "life of self-indulgence and pleasure." Simple observation reveals that such an attraction would be the case for a majority of Christians whether they are professing or true believers. Obviously, that's more attractive than the difficulties that accompany the exhortation of "denying self" found in Matthew 16:24. What is overwhelmingly clear and increasing exponentially is that the instructions of the "strait gate" are being abandoned by the church in wholesale fashion.