Bible Q&A • Episode 66

If you've got a pastor who encourages everybody to speak in tongues at the same time, you have a disobedient pastor. That's simple as that. He is not abiding by the Word of God. If you hear people speaking in tongues in your church and there's no interpretation, then you're in the wrong church. Welcome back to our Bible question and answer time. I'm Pastor Paul. I'm here with my wife, Sue. And we have some more of your questions that we're going to tackle in this episode.

And the first one is from an anonymous viewer that asked the question, whenever we see the phrase in the Lord, like in Philippians 2:29 or anywhere else, what exactly does it mean?

That's a great question. What does it mean in the Lord? This is a reference in Philippians to Paul writing to the church in Philippi and saying, I'm going to send Epaphroditus back to you guys. He was from Philippi. He says he's, he's really wanting to come home, so, um, and, and here's how I want you to receive him. He basically says that, um, I want you to welcome him in the Lord with great joy and honor people like him.

Yeah.

So what does that mean?

Yeah.

To re— to receive someone or welcome them or even to acknowledge them in the Lord means to recognize that they are brother or sister in Christ. They're part of the family of God. They stand equal with you as a born-again believer, a child of God, and that we are family. That's what it means to, to receive someone or even to love someone. You know, you hear people say that, I love you in the Lord.

Sure.

You know, which is a way of saying, I love you as a brother or a sister in Christ, and I recognize that you are saved, you're a child of God, and together we are family in him.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah. Do you think in that situation Paul was maybe even using it to remind them? Because some could have perceived a little bit of a failure on the part of Epaphroditus, right? Because he was— wasn't he ill and had to— it was, it was a challenge, it was a trial for him to do this whole ministry.

Maybe because he was coming home? Well, and staying with—

and you know, in, in the body of Christ, we, uh, sometimes can kind of look a little sideways at someone. Yeah, like just wonder, did you do that quite right? And so that reminder of in the family, in the Lord, I think is—

Could very well be.

It's a good reminder.

It could very well be.

Uh, so our next question here is from Judy, and she says, I understand that during the days of Noah and Lot, children were not spared from the judgment that came upon the earth. With that in mind, will the Rapture be different? If a child is too young to be held accountable for his or her own decisions, would that child be taken in the Rapture even if the parents are not believers? And how should we understand this in relation to a teenager who may be old enough to be accountable for their own faith and choices?

Well, these questions, you know, there's a lot going on here, um, that frankly the Bible doesn't comment on. The Bible does not speak to us about what's going to happen with children, uh, when the Rapture takes place. And the Bible— and the second part of her question really centers around the idea of the age of accountability.

Yeah.

What is the age of accountability? When, when would a teenager, for example, have to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus before the rapture takes place in order to be taken in the rapture? And once again, those questions don't have a biblical answer. because they don't have a biblical answer, I cannot venture an answer because I would be guessing and speculating, and that's not what God has called me to do. Here's what I will say to this person: God is fair. God is completely fair.

Yeah.

He is perfect in all of his ways. He Will not— no, he cannot make a mistake about your children. He cannot. And so, in these situations where we don't have a biblical answer, we simply have to fall back and rest in who God is and what he has declared to be true about himself, such as his goodness.

Right.

His loving kindness, his justice, and so forth. That's what we have to rest in when the answers aren't given to us in the Bible.

Yeah, and you recently taught a fantastic message at our old church, uh, Is God Fair?

Yeah.

And someone can find that on our website under the topical messages.

Yep, it is.

And that answers questions like this.

Oh, it does, it does. Listen, there are tons of questions that are not covered in the Bible. God didn't tell us everything we want to know. He told us everything we need to know. And so, for all of the other questions, there is a point where we just have to rest in who God is and trust in him.

Evelyn says, what advice would you give a young woman who wants to seriously study theology and apologetics? I don't see many women around me interested in these things, and I'd love to know where you recommend starting.

I wonder if that's true. I suppose maybe it is true that perhaps there aren't as many women who are involved in theological debates or apologetic debates, although I do know of some fairly prominent women on YouTube who have channels that deal with apologetic matters and that sort of thing. So, how would I encourage someone to kind of get started? Well, first of all, to know your Bible.

Yeah.

You know, in order— apologetics is really about arguing for the faith, and if you want to recognize a fake, you got to know the real item.

Right.

And so I would encourage someone to start with just studying through the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation— not reading through the whole Bible, studying through the whole Bible— and know what it says, know what God's Word says, know what all of the nuances are related to the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, where we are today versus where they were before under the Old Covenant, and be able to put those things in a discernible and understandable sort of a place in your head so that you can then walk out a ministry of theology and apologetics. So it starts with knowing the Word of God, and then just pray for doors to open from there. You know, if God has called you to a place of theological understanding and apologetics, then he'll open a door, and you don't have to bust it down or even create a door. God will provide it. Where God guides, God provides. And so I would encourage someone just to make sure the preparation is in, in, in order, and then let the Lord lead from there.

Yeah, very good. Uh, Braven says, I believe Christians can get dreams inspired by God or from God. But I'm wondering whether Satan can also give dreams. If so, how do you differentiate them, especially concerning big life decisions like marriage, career, and so on?

There's nothing in the Bible about Satan giving dreams. There is— there are passages about God giving dreams. I believe they are very rare. Okay. But But be that as it may, it is biblical to believe that God can and does give dreams. Sometimes he does it as a warning, sometimes as a directive. But I do think we have to be very careful assuming that every dream is from the Lord, or even every dream that kind of seems to kind of make sense to us.

Yeah.

Is from the Lord. I would really and very strongly encourage people who think that they've received a dream to pray about it, not to go to people and say, what do you think this dream means?

Right.

That is one of the biggest mistakes we can make. Go to the Lord. If he gave the dream, if he gave it, he will give the directive related to that dream. He will give insight and understanding. Um, so pray. And if the Lord doesn't respond, then it wasn't a dream he gave to you, right? You know, I mean, I'm saying after a protracted period of time, the Lord may give a dream and then wait to give the meaning for a period of time. But, um, prayer is always the answer— seeking the Lord.

And this question is about dreams, um, but this person also mentioned concerning big life decisions like marriage, career, and so on. And if I was having a cup of coffee with a girl talking about marriage and career and big life decisions, leaning on dreams is not something I would ever bring up.

I wouldn't recommend it.

No, no. And so to me, they're in kind of different categories. Yeah, I would recommend other ways of making large life decisions.

You know, the Bible tells us as New Testament believers, that we are to be led by the Spirit. It doesn't say we're to be led by dreams. Dreams can happen, but I don't think it's, it's God's preferred method of communicating to his children. He wants us to tune into his Spirit. He wants us to know the Word, and he wants us to be led by his Spirit. Yeah.

Okay, Michelle says, I attended a women's event and there was a woman pastor speaking.

Yeah.

While she was praying over people at the altar, she began to speak in tongues when there was no one to interpret. Help me understand if this is appropriate, because I don't want to be going to a place that isn't safe.

You know, this is really, really common. People do this. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that in the church, and that means in the gathering of believers, if someone speaks in tongues in a way that others can hear, they are to make sure that there is someone present who has the gift of interpretation. If there is not someone there to interpret, they are to remain silent. Paul makes that very clear. In, in many, many churches people don't care what the Bible says about the gift of tongues.

Yeah.

They just don't care, and, and/or they explain it away. So, I mean, that, that's kind of my blunt answer about what often happens in churches. If you've got a pastor who encourages everybody to speak in tongues at the same time, you have a disobedient pastor. That's simple as that. He is not abiding by the Word of God. If you hear people speaking in tongues in your church and there's no interpretation, uh, then you're in the wrong church. You're in a disobedient church that has learned to ignore the Word of God. The gift of tongues is wonderful. Interpretation of tongues is wonderful. It's necessary so that we might be built up, right? If somebody speaks in tongues and, and there's no one there to interpret, What do I get out of that? Nothing. Nothing. Well, and someone might say, well, I didn't speak in tongues for you. I spoke in tongues for me because the Bible says that he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. Great. Do it between you and the Lord.

Yeah.

And not so that anyone else can hear. It's not wrong for someone who is praying for others to use the gift of tongues for their own prayer between them and the Lord, but it should be done in a way that others cannot hear. If others can hear, there needs to be an interpretation. Yeah, bottom line.

Our next 2 questions are kind of similar, so I'm going to read them both.

Okay.

Is that fine?

All right.

The first one is from Tony, and he says, dear Pastor Paul, please help me understand the difference between the spirit and the soul.

Yeah.

Are the 2 different and distinct from each other? As human beings, I know we're composed of Body, soul, and spirit. And when a Christian dies, will the spirit and the soul be with the Lord, or just the spirit? And at the rapture, for those who are still alive on the earth, will the soul and the spirit be raptured, or just the spirit? So that's kind of a long question, but then this next one is similar. Yeah, it says, I'm studying Psalm 63, and I've become really interested in understanding what the Bible means by soul. spirit and flesh or body. In Psalm 63:1, David said, my soul thirsts for you, and then says, my flesh faints for you. What make— what that makes me wonder, what exactly is the biblical distinction between the soul, the spirit, and the flesh or body?

Yeah, there's actually— I, I anticipated this question. I've got my Bible with me. I've got my NIV because that's the one that was close by. And there's a passage in 1 Thessalonians where the Apostle Paul uses all 3 of these words to describe our being— body, soul, and spirit. It's in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and it says, May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there are— there's all those terms.

Okay.

The thing that you need to understand, first of all, is that there are different Greek words for each one of these, right? And the Greek words tell us— the fact that they're different tell us that they're very distinctive. All right, uh, the Greek word for the soul is psuché. It's where we get our word psyche And we understand from the Scripture that the soul of man essentially is his emotions, his intellect, his will, and that sort of thing. The desires of the heart come from the soul, right? My soul magnifies the Lord. That's an emotional outburst of praise and thanksgiving.

Right.

That's the soul.

Right.

The spirit is a completely different Greek word. It's the Greek word pneuma, and it means literally either wind or breath. It is that part of us that God breathed into us that caused us to become a living being. All right. The Bible tells us in Genesis that God breathed into man and he became a living being. It is the spirit that needs to be reborn, right?

Yeah.

When this— when we receive Christ as our Savior, our spirit is reborn. And that is the new birth, the born-again experience, if you will. The body, which is the flesh, is what Paul calls the corruptible flesh. And it has been corrupted by sin. And it is something that we will leave behind. Right. So because of these varying questions, what we understand is that at the time of the rapture, the spirit and the soul are merged with a new body, a new incorruptible body.

Right.

Now, if someone dies before the rapture, their spirit and soul go to be with the Lord. The body dies and awaits resurrection. And the spirit and soul are with the Lord. Right. I think that covers most of the questions. Is there anything else that I missed between the two of those questions?

No, I think, I think you did. There was the question about will the soul and spirit be raptured or just the spirit?

The soul and the spirit go together.

Okay.

The spirit is the essence of life. The soul is who you are. It's the essence of who you are. Those will not be separated. So the soul and spirit go together. When the body dies, the soul and the spirit go to be with the Lord.

Yeah, that's very good. Very, very good. Uh, Catherine has a question. Okay. She says, I had social anxiety for some time now, and I find myself finding one reason or another not to attend church. I feel that people can be rude, just dislike or judge me. Whether I've imagined it or not is another story. How can I square this with God's expectation that I fellowship when most of the time I'd rather not?

Yeah, there is an expectation in the Word of God that we maintain a level of fellowship. It is given to us in Hebrews 10:25, where we are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves with other believers, but we're to encourage one another, we're to pray for one another, and the fact of the matter is, we need fellowship. We are a body; we are different members of a single body, the body of Christ, and we need those members to be a complete and whole body. Unfortunately, for various reasons, there are a lot of people that just don't fellowship, Yeah. and they say, you know, I just— I stay home, I listen to Bible teachers online or on TV, and, you know, I don't go to church because there's just too much drama. And like she says, people can be rude. She's right. People can be rude. They can be difficult. They can be hard to get along with. But you know what? That can't be an excuse.

Yeah.

People are always going to be challenging. God knew that when he laid it upon the author of Hebrews to say, don't forsake assembling. with other believers. I would encourage this person to pray about their social anxiety and to find ways that they can fellowship, maybe in small groups, at least for a starter. You know, when it says don't forsake the assembling, it doesn't necessarily— it's not referring to a church service with 3,000 people. It just means getting together with other believers.

Right.

Do you know the early church got together in homes? They got together in living rooms. Well, if whatever— if they had a living room, they just got together wherever they could. So knowing what we know from the Bible, that we are to gather, I would encourage this person to start small and go from there. Um, I understand there are people with PTSD that just crowds freak them out. I get it. But you know what? you can't just retreat into yourself and into your own home and never relate to other believers on a one-on-one basis. So start small. If it means having 1 or 2 people over to your home for a Bible study, even if this gal were to say— to go to her pastor, go to a pastor, Mm-hmm. and say, I would love to come to church, but I'm dealing with some social anxiety, and I need some help getting free from this. So are there a couple of people maybe in the fellowship who'd be willing to come to my home and just start praying with me, going through the Word, because I know I need to gather with other people, and then hopefully someday I can get over this to the point where I can come and join a church service? You know, there are a lot of churches that are quite small.

Right.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a church. We went to a Calvary Chapel that probably in their first service had about 25 people.

Yep.

Pretty small group, you know? For somebody who's kind of, you know, socially anxious, that might be a good place when you're ready to start going to church to find, to go to a place that's small and then work your way up from there.

I think also people often need to be reminded that going to church isn't so much about how people treat you what people give you, but why you're going there, what, um, how, what you are offering.

Yeah.

And when somebody says the people are rude, presumably what they're saying is, I'm not rude. And then I, you know, I would say, well, I think you're really needed then to balance that.

Yeah.

They need, they need a person coming in that's not rude, like you. So you belong, you know. But, um, there's a, there is a gathering situation available for everyone. You just need to ask the Lord, what is going to be a good fit for me?

Yeah. In this season of life, a home group can be a great way to gather with other believers. You know, once a week you get together in a room with 2, 3, 4 people, and a lot of churches offer home groups, small groups, and they don't want them to get bigger because those small groups are where people interact, share their needs, get prayer, and, and so forth. And, um, I would encourage this person to reach out and try to get into a small group.

Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, Connie says, my brother had a stroke. He refuses to do physical therapy because he and my 91-year-old dad believe healing should only come from God providing a miracle. How do we have a conversation with my brother to put in the work to heal while waiting for the miracle that may or may not ever Well, this is tough.

You know, there are a lot of people who think, well, this has got to be a miracle or nothing, right? And they completely ignore the fact that God can and does operate at times through natural means. I mean, good grief, he created a natural healing system in our bodies. That's from God.

Right.

Some people would call that a miracle. You know, I, I get a cut on my finger, And my blood clots when it hits the oxygen, and it creates a band-aid.

Yeah.

And then over a period of time, the skin grows together, the scab falls off, and then you can't even find the cut.

Sure.

That's a miracle.

Yeah.

But it's natural.

Right. And there are other healing situations.

Yeah.

This— there was more to this letter, and she expressed that she herself had had a situation where she had to put in a lot of PT. Yeah, to get to a place of— so, but her question is centered on how do we have a conversation?

Well, yeah, you, you, you have to pray for an open door. You know, when you're dealing with someone who is bound and determined to go a particular way, for you to jump in there and just kind of say, all right, we're going to have an intervention, that probably isn't going to work. Yeah, those rarely do. You have to pray, and we need to learn to be patient and pray. You know, her brother he has— he's— he's— he has a free will. And if he chooses to wait and not take physical therapy, that's his decision.

Sure.

And I know that it's hard for family members to sit and watch that. But ultimately, you know, God has kind of given him the freedom, you know, of self-determination. So, you know, if you're really concerned for your brother, pray for him, pray for an open door. To be able to speak to him about it and then wait for God to give you a sign that that door is in fact open and his heart is now ready to have a conversation.

Yeah, family life can be very difficult. I know another situation where someone had cancer and they had just chosen no treatment. Um, either God's going to heal me or he's going to take me.

Yeah.

Well, that can be a difficult decision for family members.

Oh boy. To accept. Yeah, for sure.

Uh, so it's complicated.

But, you know, depending on the age of the person, I would give them the freedom to make that decision.

Well, I think we need to— we just do. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah.

All right, so Evelyn says, is it wrong to use my phone during Bible study, alone time with the Lord? I'll use it to look up Hebrew words, historical context, traditions, etc., to better understand what I'm reading. But when it comes to deeper questions like Lord, why do children get cancer? I don't want to immediately search for someone else's answer. I want to bring those questions to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me. So I'm kind of conflicted about where the line is.

Yeah, okay. Well, it's no— it's no worse for you to use your phone to study the Word of God than it is for me to use my computer and my Bible program. It's a resource, right? And you know, the technology that we have available to us today is truly amazing. It is to look up and to understand ancient Hebrew and Greek words that do give some great insight into the Word of God. There's nothing wrong with that when you're studying the Bible, but using technology to ask questions that even God hasn't answered, that's gonna— that's gonna be a problem.

Yeah.

You know, she brings up the example of why does God allow children to get cancer? He doesn't answer that. So any answer you seek to get from the world is going to be pure speculation and nothing— and nothing more.

Yeah.

So, you know, the Bible is our final answer for questions. So be very careful about asking those kinds of questions from the world. from AI, right, or anything like that. Make sure that you're, you're searching the Bible, right, and not the wisdom of the world.

Very good. Yeah, that's our last question.

Oh, that's it? Yeah, that is episode 66. Thank you. Those are good questions, some of— some very challenging ones there too. If you have a question you'd like to pass along to us, the email address is questions At lifebibleministry.com. We'll do our best to get to those as soon as we can. Also, be sure and check out our website at lifebibleministry.com, and you'll find a lot of resources there to help with your study of God's Word. Until next time, God bless you. Have a good rest of your day. Bye-bye.