Quickly before we get back into calls, I'd like to make a note that
a dear friend of the program and producer, Neil Sevadra of this very program,
passed away last Thursday, and many of you may know him. His
name is and was Ian Punnett. You've heard his voice on radio through Coast
to Coast AM and other radio stations, and he was a faithful believer who
dedicated his life to thinking and learning everything he could about God and passing those
things on to others. He is survived by his lovely wife and his children.
It was due to to a very short illness, and he was a
man of many strengths and abilities, but his love of God pushed him through
his studies. He became a deacon and he continued to be a professor,
teaching people many things that he had learned along the way. And although the
spirit of Ian will live on through reruns on Coast to Coast and those that
listen online, that he will be sorely missed by those who knew him,
and for those of you who are in the prayer warrior camp to lift up
his family and his children, his wife, the people that knew him to
find strength to lose someone this close to the holidays adds just that little extra
kick to the gut. But they believe that he is with his maker,
which was his goal ultimately after his time was done here. So this program
today is dedicated to deacon Ian Punnett and all the joy and information and the
contagious curiosity that he brought to everyone. Dean, Welcome to the Jesus Christ
Show. Hi Jesus, how are you? I am? Well, Dean,
what's going on? Well? I have a where situation. So I
have a son with a girl who they both lived with me in my grandparents'
house. They are both gone. We're not together anymore. We broke up
before he was born, so we lived together for my son's sake, and
it's been really hard to We live together for a year now and we don't
get along. We sleep in such a separate bedrooms. We don't talk to
each other unless I have to do with my son. And it's been a
very very stressful situation on me. There's a lot of things that happen prior
to this that has really made me question my faith. And I'm just and
we're still together and she's been you know, she's almost left my family,
her family. We don't like each other, and it's this very toxic situation,
and the only thing I could think to do to get through it is
to become a better person, become a better man, because I was not
prior to all this, and I'm just really really wondering if I should keep
going like this and we should just leave each other and live separate houses.
But she doesn't want to do it because of our son, because she doesn't
want to separate his mom and dad. And so the only thing, again
I could think to do is to become a better man and just keep trying
to make things better as best I can, as we can. And again,
so I guess my question is, you know, it's God putting me
to the test because I've been a person of faith my whole life. And
again I said before, I was not a good person. Prior to this.
I had a lot of problems. I'm doing much better than I was
before now and I just keep telling myself to keep going, just keep being
a better person for my son, better person for situation. And yeah,
again, so I'm just wondering, should is this a test? You know?
Is God putting me to the test? Or is it just something I
should just throw away and give up? Given up? Is not really something
that God's going to put in your way per se. There are wounds that
you amputate, yes, and there are wounds that you mandage. You will
have to decide that point in your life if there is a toxicity that's going
to read that's going to penetrate everything, so like something that becomes gangrenous,
a wound that becomes so bad that it's going to go through the rest of
the body and destroy the body. Yes, you amputate, but in this
particular case you have to pull apart a few things. Does God want you
to be a better person? Absolutely, that's everybody. Is this a situation
that's been put in your path by God? No, I'll tell you exactly
who did this, Dean there is. God is not the cosmic killjoy that
people think. So the Father isn't running around going Gosh, what do people
want? And let me say no to it. When God talks about marriage,
when God talks about connecting with your partner, When God talks about two
people coming together and to each other, they will cleave and leave their families
to build a new one. The imperative, there is that bond because if
you are bringing other people into the relationship by way of children and into the
world, that's heavy. That's a huge thing for the child, for the
parents, for the community, for the world. These children may grow up
to be good, bad, and will have ripple effects throughout the entirety of
the world based on those things, depending on the people they meet and the
connections they have. So when you make decisions to do that out of that
commitment, out of testing a relationship with multiple years of connecting, dating,
seeing each other at the best of the best and the worst of the worst,
meeting families, connecting with the families, knowing that those families come attached
to the relationship. When you don't take the time to see people during holidays,
during layoffs, firings, any of these things, you don't take the
proper time to do that at each thing you remove from that equation puts you
more at risk. You drive a car with bald tires, not a good
idea, but you drive a car with bald tires and the oil light on,
the engine light on, you don't put on your seat belt, you
have no mirrors because it broke off. Each of these things add to the
consequences that will come with that decision. So be And these aren't some spiritual
things put in a pot as a concoction for God to teach you something.
This is a world you built not only for you, but for your girlfriend
and your child. And this is merely the consequences of those decisions. So
some people think, gosh, to take the time to get to know somebody
on those things. But I'm feeling the love and the connection. You want
to hate that, Well, you pay for it on one end or the
other. If you want it more quickly and easier on the front, then
it's going to be more difficult, most likely on the back end and reverse.
So you either do the homework at front end of things, or the
homework and the troubleshooting and the catching up on the back end. And unfortunately
for you, you're at the place where you're at the back end of this
having to make decisions based or deal with the consequences based on the decisions you
made. Will you learn and be a better person from it, Well,
that's up to you. Life is genuinely ten percent what happens to you and
ninety percent how you react to it. We had a question ask about AI
artificial intelligence and whether the discussion going on in Revelation thirteen is talking about artificial
intelligence, an image coming to life and these things. Well, there have
been many different technologies throughout the centuries that people have looked at, and Christians,
the people of faith, have said, this is of the devil,
and it goes with everything. It goes for telephones, the home phone,
and it goes to radio, it goes to television, it goes to credit
cards. Many different things have raised the eyebrow of believers, even the printing
press. Things that may seem benign to you now were not to those that
saw the technology and its infancy. Because that's the concern, right, the
Antichrist is coming. The Devil's going to try and trick you, and the
devil will The devil's been trying to trick you forever and doesn't need technology to
do it. Social media was seen as that platform the same that it was
seen like the Tower of Babel, because now you can bring all languages together,
you can translate them, you can do all of these things and can
necked globally. In you're with an instrument in your hand. But I assure
you although technology needs to be understood so that it can be utilized properly,
but the tech itself is without morality. Mankind human kind are the ones that
make something either good or bad by using it for something that is moral or
immoral. However, it's easier for humankind to look at these things and say,
oh, this is good or bad. The technology is good or bad,
rather than pointing the finger back at themselves and saying, I am the
one that makes this good or bad. So you have an immoral inanimate object,
and humans point to that as the problem, rather than looking at themselves
as the one that puts the moral twist on something. And as you combine
it with whatever you may be doing, therein lies what defines something, not
that thing itself. It's always easier to blame something else than to take on
the courage of knowing that you controlling the item are the one that is doing
good or doing evil. Paul, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Good
morning. I'm calling you from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I'm not reading in
my day's Bible. It's a King James aversion. And in Genesis one he
alludes that God said to Adam go forth and replenish the earth. And he's
eluding that there was a society or a civilization on Earth before Adam and Eve
and it was destroyed by lucifers for blood. And there's a controversy that the
word replenished in the Hebrew may mean fill the earth instead of replenish. And
I was wanting you to comment on that, if you would please. Sure,
Well, there's more than just that as well, Paul. There are
some that make the argument when it comes to scripture that in Genesis that they
also use a plural. They are speaking in plural in scripture in Genesis as
well, so some people assume that there's more. It says in Genesis one
twenty six through twenty eight, let us make man in our image after our
likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish and the sea and the
birds. So there's the views here come into different beliefs, one of which
in Genesis, the belief is these pre atom characters, so they call it
pre atomite or pre atomism, is the belief that there was this time where
that in Genesis one and two, basically Genesis one is articulating the original creation.
For lack of a better term, and then it was destroyed. Some
say that there were perversions in that the devil played perversions in it. Some
even say that that was the time that the devil messed with DNA and dinosaurs
came about, and then God had to wipe it all off and start again.
And that's why it looks like you have Genesis two another creation. So
there are those that believe that that takes place. This has something to do
with something called the gap theory, and in this or ruin reconstruction theory.
These are theories that there was this gap and something took place, and then
God had to create again. So the word replenish simply occurs seven times in
the King James version and both times in the imperative that something needs to take
place now five times three major profits in the passive forms, and it means
too can really mean refill in some cases, but before getting into the Hebrew
you have to ask yourself why the translators used that particular verb replenish. So
the word can be used to mean fill, and it can be used not
only to refill or replenish, but just to fill. It can mean to
provide, to supply, to be made full. So in the context it
gives that there's really no need for it to be refill. It could mean
satiate, in habit, occupy, the whole of So in the context,
you have to use that to define as to what's being said and how it's
being used. So, Paul, there isn't in the context. You would
need something great, not just one word. You would need something greater to
explain why that would be refill. And if you look at it in the
context, there's no reason for there to have been a gap or a belief
that there was a second creation. Actually, what it is is a headline
and then the full story. So the headline in Genesis one is the basics
of what is going on in the creation. Genesis two is more of an
elaboration and pulling the camera back to see a bigger view of what was taking
place. So in that case, that sets that word into the context and
doesn't really give it the ability to say, oh, in this particular context,
it means refill or replenish in that sense. And the reason this is
is that ancient Hebrew is limited. A lot of words mean different things depending
on their context. That has to be understood. There's no reason to put
that there and say, okay, well it must mean this because it could
mean that, but in the context, it just doesn't. There is nothing
there. There's nothing that says, hey, here is a second creation,
or explaining this was destroyed, or going back and saying there's this gap here
that needs to be explained or accounted for. There's just not You have to
you have to look further, or you have to actually create the need for
that word to be there in its context. And once you do all that,
once you get into having to create seating that word or a necessity of
that word, that's when you start cramming thoughts into scripture rather letting scripture breathe
forth the truth that's in it, and that's you know, done. A
lot a lot of people will try and put their views into scripture, whether
it's political, whether it's theological, whatever it might be, try to cram
it in scripture. I will tell you this, the King Jimmy, there
is not the best translation. And there are better translations out there. The
one used by the production of this show, my producer Neil and the like
is the new American standard. That has been his focus and study Bible for
quite some time. And although there are other really wonderful translations that just happens
to be his particular favorite. As a study Bible, he finds it to
be sound, the translation to be solid and in not only the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, but also the guidance of great scholars that took the time
to hash these things out and understand them in the context in which they were
seated. So those things are really what is key when it comes to translating
or understanding scripture is the context, because in that particular case, you're really
having to force it to get that gap theory or to get a second creation.
George, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Good morning. I'd you
have a life situation question for you. Okay, I'm in a situation.
I've been married for quite a few years and my wife left me. She
is a Christian, and I'm kind of debating what I need to do about
that. I agread in First Corinthians seven thirteen that it says if a believer
leaves, let them go. But I'm sorry, if an unbeliever leaves,
let them go. My question is what do you do if it's a believer,
Well, if she abandoned the marriage that's on her, not you.
So in this particular case, has she gone forward with the legalities of it
and decided to divorce you? Well, papers have been filed, but no
action's been taken for quite a while. Well have you You haven't signed anything?
Have you signed papers? No? No? Okay, legally we're still
still married. But you know, I'm not concerned as much legally as I
am spiritually, of course, But this is someone abandoning you. There's nothing
you can do about that unless there is a way for you to reconcile,
which would always be my goal and desires to see people reconcile and work together
towards these things, especially believers who have made a commitment before God. That
doesn't mean that they don't fall apart. It doesn't mean that there aren't divorces.
You can go back to Jeremiah three and you can see that even God
hands a certificate of divorce to Israel. So did she give reason as to
why she was leaving you? Not really, I mean probably a whole host
of things. You know, I'm not angry with her. I'm not,
you know, upset, whether I just for questions now is what do I
do about it? You know, do I let linger on forever or do
I force the people through? And you know, I just want to do
what God wants me to do. And you know, there's no indication she
wants to come back. Okay, Well, without understanding as to why she
left, it's hard to see how it can come back. Is is there
another person? Did you have an affair? Did she have an affair?
To my knowledge? Okay, so she just said I can't be with you
anymore? Pretty much? Yes? And you say she gave you a nice
solid list as to why No? No, just I mean it's it's,
you know, other than just my own thoughts about what she must feel that
she's never really communicated to me. Why just I don't want to live like
this anymore? Okay? Well, what was living like this? What was
this? Well, how would you know from your point of view she's not
here? What what would you say it was that caused the division? Well,
I would say we were both a little too selfish. I wasn't giving
her what she thought she should get out of a marriage. And I think,
you know, she was being selfish, thinking that everything ought to be
the way she'd like it to be. God, you know, it's not
like we argued. We didn't argue a lot just to kind of grew apart,
you know, lived in the same house, but didn't talk a whole
lot. Well, yeah, you become roommates. And when there's no passion
for each other, and I don't mean just physical passion, but when there's
no passion to connect, to learn from, to teach one another, to
do things that inspire or find out what someone's goals are and these basic things,
we kind of can fall into those areas of where there is no love.
But love love came from nothing the first time. You have to learn
somebody and find out about them and be curious about them and you know,
connect with them, and that's how love forms. You know. One of
the program directors of our flagship station KFI that it helped come up with the
idea of this very program used to say his name was David G. Holl
And he used to say that love was understanding and although that's not the totality
of it, there's power in that is to is to whittle down the connection
by saying, you know what, I know all these things about you and
still want to be around you. Is kind of like that. And if
that fire can go out. As long as two people are alive and communicative,
that fire can be lit again. But selfishness is the absolute oxygen sucker
of the flame of a relationship. So if if that is gone, you
have to reintroduce that. And the only way to do that is for humility,
is to be able to walk up to your partner or the other person
in the relationship and say, I can only do my part. This is
where I think I failed. This is where I think I can do better.
We were in love. Once I've thought about those days, I've looked
at pictures, I've thought about what I love about you. This is the
list of what I love about you. Of course, if it's completely dead,
then you know I can't love for you. I can only love for
me. But I think I can do this. I think that we can
find our way back. And if the response is I don't think so,
or then you have to prove by living in a way, not for a
small amount of time, but by living in a way that shows the reality
of your feelings. Remember, it's not what you say, it's not how
you act, it's how you react to a situation that truly shows who you
are. In life, and you reacting to this can show her how much
you care. Maybe she wants that, maybe she doesn't. You know,
Help me find what you need in your life, Help me find the path
that brings you joy. And if you really say that it's over and there
is no peace, there is no joy left. We can't find that spark
again, then let's sign the paperwork and end it. But if there's a
tiny bit of a possibility, I'd like to do my part to be better,
to be a better partner, to focus on you. And the hope
is she focuses on you as well, and then everybody's taken care of by
each other. That's the key to the relationship. You listen, Jesus