Join Bob George on this episode of Classic Christianity Radio as he addresses some pressing moral and doctrinal issues faced by modern Christianity. With a focus on the concept of ordination and morality, he challenges common liberal viewpoints and encourages listeners to consider the foundations of their faith. Emphasizing the role of the law and grace, Bob’s engaging dialogue takes us through complex topics, providing insights that are anchored deeply in scripture.
00:13:56 Discussion on Gambling and Financial Stewardship
00:19:54 Born Again Question and Personal Faith Concerns
00:23:42 Larry’s Question on Belief and Spiritual Life
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Today we are pleased to present a special radio show featuring call-in listeners from Bob’s original people-to-people daily radio program that was on the air for over 30 years, offering real answers for real-life problems as he addresses common questions as well as the tough issues of today, directing callers to the centrality of Christ in you, your only hope of glory. We want to remind our listeners that Bob George Ministries needs your financial support to continue to have Classic Christianity Radio on the air. Please visit BobGeorge.net to find out how you can help support us financially. Let’s now join Bob as he presents practical biblical insights as he helps people experience a life of faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’re going to go to Utica, New York, listening on WJIV. Bill, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, Bob.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, Bill.
SPEAKER 05 :
Appreciate you taking my call. I have a question about ordination of homosexuals in some of the mainline denominational churches. Some of the argument I’ve heard sounds similar to your, we’re not under the law, it’s all grace now. I wondered how you’d respond to them.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the issue, Bill, is the fact that you’re talking about ordaining. Is that the qualification that it would take to be an ordained pastor, is to be a homosexual or an adulterer or a fornicator or a thief? Is that the qualifications that you have for that? leading a flock of believers number one your pastor is supposed to be leading a flock of believers well they themselves aren’t even believers there isn’t any way for a man to say that i’m a born again blood-soaked man of god and i’m a homosexual there anyway he’s not he’s not he isn’t a born-again believer a born-again believer is not you can’t continue to live in a lie i think a person i agree with you 100 and yet we have people come forward with that stance oh well you’re always going to have people coming forward trying to you see bill what you have in this day and age you instead of people knowing right from wrong and remember in the bible where it says woe to them who call good evil and evil good And that’s a woe, a woe to them. You have people today that their standard of a belief system is not predicated on what is right and wrong and good and evil. It’s predicated on acceptance, as we talked about. Be tolerant. I want to tell you something. How are you going to be tolerant of these Muslims running around wanting to kill people? How are you going to be tolerant of that when someone wants to come into your country and blow the daylights out of you? You’re going to sit around and say, well, there’s some nice people. I don’t care if there’s nice people or not. You better put some controls to control every one of them if you’re going to control any of them. If you’re not going to control one, then you can’t control any. And the issue is, go ahead. It just irritates the daylights out of me, and I hear this stupid liberal thinking that people come up with that, well, everybody’s okay. What we need is a big dose of war in order to bring us to our senses. Now, if people were coming into your neighborhood and blowing up your neighborhood, I don’t think you’d be sitting back and saying, oh, well, let’s be real tolerant, and there are some nice people. That may be true. But you’re going to have to put in controls. A government such as ours is going to have to put in controls to control this country before we start trying to control some other country. And we don’t understand that evil is out there. And there are people who are evil. And there are people who want to destroy Christians and people who want to destroy Jews. Those are evil people. I’m not sitting around wanting to destroy somebody or you. Let’s go wipe the Muslims off the face of the earth. I don’t want to wipe them off the face of the earth. I just want to know where they are. In my country, I want to know where they are.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir. I’ve been facing this issue with the homosexuals. I just wanted you to read because I really respect your teachings. I come down right where you do.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you see, the law, Bill, under the law, the law will be with us forever. But the law, it says, is not for the righteous. It’s for the unrighteous. So the law will always be there into the face of the unrighteous to show them they’re a sinner so that they will turn to Christ for salvation. Now, if a person is trapped in a sin, whether it be a born-again believer or or a pastor, and he’s trapped in a sin. He’s truly born again, but he’s trapped in a sin. He isn’t going to be saying, hey, make me the senior pastor. Ordain me into a higher level, and I’m a homosexual, and I’m proud of it. He’s a sinner. It’s like saying, I’m an adulterer, and I’m proud of it. Thank God for grace. That’s what Corinth was doing, Bill. That’s what the Corinth church was, this young man having sex with his father’s wife, and they were proud of it. Isn’t this grace wonderful? And Paul came down and said, kick those people out of the assembly because they’re going to hurt the rest of the body.
SPEAKER 05 :
There has to be accountability in the church.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely, and you can’t go, I mean, you know what gets me, Bill, is if you had a man in the Episcopal Church, such as that guy, now you realize he also got arrested recently. That guy was, I can’t think of what they elevated him to. Can any of you guys help me with that? No, I’m not familiar with the story. The guy in the Episcopal Church that they elevated up to, to a bishop, yeah. He also just recently got arrested for drunken driving. So he’s probably an alcoholic as well. But can you imagine saying, I want to become a bishop, a higher place in this deal, and I’m an adulterer, and I’m a drunk. Now, I want you to make me a bishop. Now, that’s insanity, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, that’s insanity.
SPEAKER 05 :
Political correctness has taken a lot of the shame and just right-thinking away. The only thing I can… I know.
SPEAKER 06 :
It seems to me today that what has taken place with the news media, as an example, that a person would have to be very careful to run for a political office. He’d almost have to have a totally clean life because they’re going to dig up some dirt someplace. That at least keeps the scoundrel from running for office. But in a church, they don’t care anymore. They say, well, they’re nice guys. They’re homosexual. They like to have sex with people of their own sex and that type of thing. Well, what if they were straight and were out sitting around in bars every night and trying to have sex with girls? Is that a qualification for a pastor or a bishop?
SPEAKER 05 :
Not in my world, is it?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, it’s not. It’s not, Bill. Of course, I think that by the grace of God that there were some people in the Episcopal Church there that took great exception to that type of thing and probably will split the church, and it should. People who believe that way shouldn’t be a part of the main body of the Episcopal denomination.
SPEAKER 05 :
I agree. Bob, I sure appreciate you taking time for me.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re welcome, my brother. Anytime, pal. God bless you. Thank you. Same to you, Bill. Bye-bye. Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. Let’s go on WWNL. Gene, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, Bob. Thanks for taking my call.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re sure welcome.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, I have a question. I was talking to my friend, Alice, and we come up with an idea about repentance and how that fits into the plan here. We know our sins are forgiven, but it seemed like repentance might be somewhere in the program. Can you tell us what you think about that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure, Gene. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What is repentance? Turning into a belief from being an unbeliever. You can be an unbeliever either by active rebellion or passive indifference toward God. I was in the passive indifference deal, never rebellion against God, just indifferent because I did not know that there was such a thing as salvation. The church I went to were liberal, Gene, and I had never heard born again or any of those type of things for 36 years of my life. So I was just indifferent. what was what did i repent of my unbelief and i became a believer in christ jesus repenting of our sins you still haven’t repented of all of yours and you when you go to your deathbed will not have repented of all your sins i’ll guarantee you that you will be at one time or other worrying worry is a sin uh when we realize that that which is not a faith is what god says is sin how many times a day do we not exercise true faith in christ jesus so The idea of repenting of your sins is nonsense because, quite frankly, you’ll be sinning until you die. And it’s good, quite frankly, I think God left it there for a reason. It keeps you dependent. If I didn’t have any weaknesses, I’d stop being dependent on Christ Jesus. So your weaknesses basically keep you dependent. And I think God knew what he was doing when he saved us in leaving our old flesh and still living this old flesh of ours. So that’s basically when you see repentance, you’re talking about if the world’s sin, see what you have to realize is take it from what Jesus did. Jesus took away the sins of the entire world from the eyes of God, never to see them again. No man will ever go to hell because of his sins. Only the sin of the rejection of the Son of God who pulled this off for us. And that’s why Jesus said the world’s sin, singular, is unbelief in me. The sins of the world were already handled, judged by God. The verdict was guilty. The punishment was death. And Jesus stepped in between God and us and took the punishment for us. So if the world’s sin is unbelief in me, then what sin do we repent of? Our unbelief. And when we have come to Christ, why then we have cured the only sin attributable to man, which is the unbelief in Christ Jesus and have become believers. And from that point on, we grow in grace. And you can, as an example, if you can use that word, I don’t think the Bible does, but you can use it of repenting of my sins. But the issue is, is you can only start again. And, you know, people, I’ve had numerous people say, I used to smoke, but now I don’t. I repented. Well, two years later, you see them smoking again or whatever else it might be. So I think it ties in to what I was just talking about the other listener in Colossians 2.16. Don’t let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink. Or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, a Sabbath day. All of these are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality is found in Christ. And so it talks about… The fact that since you died to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These are all destined to perish with use because they’re based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. So It really is saying to us that once you have repented of the sin of the world, which is the rejection of Christ, why from that moment on you’re going to be then yielding to, as a branch does to the vine, yielding to the vine and letting Jesus the vine live his life in and through us.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think what our problem was that we were still stuck back in the old church the way we were brought up by.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, that’s very good.
SPEAKER 06 :
So many people are, Gene. It’s sad. It’s very, very sad to realize how when the scriptures tell us so clearly that we are not to allow ourselves to be pushed back underneath the law and we are still with one foot in the law and one foot in grace and not understanding the truth of the finality of the cross. If it wasn’t for what Jesus did, there’s not a one of us that would stand a chance of even sniffing heaven, let alone entering into it. Yes, that’s right. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, I appreciate it. Thanks, Bob.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re sure welcome, Gene. Thanks for your call, pal. Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s go to Bakersfield, California, listening on Carrie. Sam, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I had a question, Bob. There was two Christian brothers, and I was standing around with them, and they asked me what I thought of gambling was wrong, and I really didn’t have the answer for them. I said, well, I think first you need to be faithful to your church and your offerings and And giving, and I don’t know. I just didn’t have the answer. That’s what I told him. I really don’t know. And I was going to ask you, what do you think? I don’t know.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Bob, Sam, everything is gambling. If you go into business… and buy $100,000 worth of inventory, you’re gambling that you’re going to be able to sell that for more than what you paid for it and thus produce a profit and to enable you to remain in business, aren’t you? If you buy stocks and bonds, the different things that you buy off of the stock market, mutual funds, you’re gambling. You’re putting money in with the hopes that That the corporation that you’re investing the money in will produce profits so that you can produce income off of that. That’s a gamble. Sometimes, as people have done recently, lost it all. Everything they’ve put into it, they’ve lost. That was a gamble. And so everything that we do in a free enterprise system, as an example, is a gamble. You buy a house, there’s a gamble to a degree that that house is going to diminish in value instead of increase in value. So when you look at what gambling is, is putting money in in hopes of getting great amounts back or a little back, is being done every day. Now, when you’re going and throwing your money around in a gambling casino and that type of thing, to me it’s stupid because all you have to do is to look at the size, as an example, of the hotels and the extravagance of the shows and all of that to realize who’s on the winning side, and it ain’t us. Right. The reason those casinos and all of that type of thing are the size that they are is because they’re the winners and not us. And you can always say, well, somebody could put a dollar in a slot machine, win a million dollars. Said, yeah, that’s right. But, you know, I think what the Bible says is to go out and work as unto the Lord and earn your money that way because the other can get very addicting, and it could be a terrific waste of funds that could be used some other way. So we don’t want to sit around making laws because we’ve got enough of those. But for the Christian, I think there’s many ways that he could be spending his money more effectively. then, as you say, I don’t know what you mean by gambling, going to a casino someplace or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s what they were talking about. Yeah, yeah. The guy said, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think I can find better places.
SPEAKER 03 :
He goes, I only spend like $20 and I have a limit. I’ll have dinner and I’ll spend $20. If I lose or win, I go home.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know. I work real hard for my money.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Well, I’m too tight to lose, so that’s why I’ve never had much problem with that. But the issue is that we can’t sit around saying something is right or something is wrong. The Bible doesn’t speak to it, so therefore we don’t really have a place to go for that answer. But I think the answer is to use your money wisely, and if you’re going to gamble with it, put it where it belongs, and that is in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you said you’ll give it to the church. There’s some churches I wouldn’t give a dime to. So I’m not going to give to the church because they call themselves church. I’m going to give to who is teaching truth. That’s where I’m going to give. Who’s going to be teaching the truth about the grace of God. I’ll give my life to that. I’m not going to give a dime for somebody to build better jails for me to live in.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 06 :
And look how much money we have wasted, Sam. How much money Christians have wasted. by not knowing the difference between the old and new covenant, not knowing the difference between law and grace, who have wasted thousands of dollars by supporting legalistic teachers, which Paul was not very, very kind with when he said, you know, you foolish Galatians, have you lost your minds? And questioned him with the fact, did you accept the Spirit of God by believing what you heard or by obeying the law? And so he wasn’t very, what everybody wants to be today is just accepting of everything, just accept everything that comes down the pike and be tolerant. He wasn’t tolerant at all of legalism. He hated it, and he expressed it. But we sit back and say, oh, well, you know, a little law isn’t going to hurt anybody.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think it was like last Friday you were saying. Somebody asked about the tithe, and you said that the tithe was to take care of the Levitical priesthood or something like that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, exactly. And it was not money. It was foodstuff.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, but it’s not in the New Testament.
SPEAKER 03 :
I really enjoy your show, and this is the first time I heard there was a financial need, so I will be sending you guys what I can.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thank you, Sam, and I appreciate that from the bottom of our heart, friend. Thank you. Thanks, Sam. Okay. Bye-bye, Sam. Argentine, Michigan. Let’s go on WRDT. Marcia, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hello, you wonderful guys. How are you?
SPEAKER 06 :
Who are you talking to? No, we’re doing fine, Marcia.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I mean that with all my heart. I really do.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thank you. Thank you, Marcia. We’re just joking around. What can we do for you today?
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. I have almost a friend, an acquaintance, who… He said he’s born again, but yet wrote on the computer in an email that, quote, unquote, I do not believe that Christ is the Son of God. Could he be born again when he says stuff like that?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, absolutely not. You’ve got to be born again by putting your faith in the Son of God. And if you don’t believe Jesus is, well, who are you going to put it in? You know, Marsha, I’ve asked rabbis sometimes who believe that the Messiah is coming back again. but they don’t believe Jesus was the Messiah. And I’ve talked to rabbis on that, and I said, Rabbi, how much greater is your Messiah that’s coming back going to have to be than Jesus? How many more miracles is he going to have to do than Jesus did? How many more people is he going to have to raise from the dead than Jesus did? How much more loving is he going to have to be than Jesus was. You stop to think of that, you’re going to have to have a pretty dynamic guy coming back who’s going to outdo in those things what Jesus did. So it’s when you refuse to believe in Jesus… as not only the Son of God, but as God, why there’s no way to be saved because you’re putting your faith not in who he is. That’s who he is. And if you don’t put your faith in who he is, how in the world are you going to be saved? It would be like saying that I don’t believe Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Well, then you don’t believe in Jesus of the Bible. You’ve got some imaginary Jesus in your mind that you’ve made up that’s different from the one of the Bible. So no way for salvation to be taking place.
SPEAKER 04 :
May I ask you one more question?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, very quickly.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, regarding myself. A lot of people that I, you know, listen to on the radio that witness about the Lord and stuff or, you know, about their everyday experience, they’re saying that, you know, they feel they’re so happy and joyful and all that. And I know that joy is one of the things of the Holy Spirit. I don’t feel that, and I want to. And I’m wondering why I don’t.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Marsha, again, you know some people go to a football game and they yell and scream. And, man, every call they’ve got their fist up, angry at the umpire if it goes the wrong way and joyful if it goes the right way. And there’s people who sit there quietly. I’m one who sits there quietly. I don’t ever get up and scream and yell, but my partner might just be up just going bananas there. Both of us are enjoying the game. But one is more enthusiastic than the other. Both enjoyed it identically the same way, just the way they’re expressing it. Same way in our Christian faith. There are some people that they just like to shoot the shout and all that type of thing. Other people were not in that category. I’ve never been one of those kind of people. So. That’s my personality, not saying there’s anything wrong with the other. I’m just saying we’re all made differently. Just like he said, we’re all different parts of the body, and though the parts are many, they form one body, so get your eyes off of what others are doing. So relax, and what you are enjoying is the peace of God that passes understanding, and praise God for that.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, when I read the Word of God, there are quite a lot of times that I’ll read about the awesomeness of what God has done and what God can do, and the creation and so forth. And I’ll just say to our Heavenly Father, what an awesome Father you are. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s how you respond, Marcia. How you respond is in accordance with your personality, so don’t be looking at others.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay? Thank you, Bob. God bless all of you there.
SPEAKER 06 :
You too, Marcia. Bye-bye. Let’s go to Bakersfield, California. Let’s go on KERI. Larry, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, Bob. How are you?
SPEAKER 06 :
Doing good, Larry. Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Bob, the question I’m not sure what to answer, but I think I’m right. Why don’t people just believe what Jesus says and just come forth that I believe it and walk it out? Why is it that you just don’t want to believe it?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Larry, I think all of us are in that same boat. I mean, how many times a day do we deny what Jesus said and believe what the old flesh is crying out to do? You know, so that’s just a part of the fallen nature of mankind. But it is amazing to me that if you have the opportunity to discover truth and And again, instead of going to man to interpret for me or going to this book to interpret for me, but to be able to go into the word of God. And trust the spirit of God who lives in you to do what he says he will do, and that is reveal the meaning of the word of God to us. And to really be a seeker of truth. That I don’t want to deny truth, but I want to know truth. I may not always be able to live up to truth, but I don’t ever want to deny that it is truth. That it would be a wonderful time. But I do know that when people… are sincere and they’ve been humbled because I think God gives grace to the humble and he resists the proud. And you’ve been humbled through life to the point where you say, Lord, it’s no longer me, it’s you. And that puts you in a position of God being able to teach you the word of God. I’m just amazed that people all over the world who have grabbed a hold of the grace of God, how we think so much alike on almost every issue. That’s encouraging to me. But there are some people that don’t want truth. Pride keeps us from it, Larry.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. I was hoping because I agree with you. It cost me my life to learn this here. But Jesus did tell me that to live spiritually, I could live. But I had to find out what he meant by it. But spiritually was that spiritual lifestyle, which is the love, the kindness, the kindness. All those things, you have to learn to walk those out in your life, so then you’ll see what he’s talking about. But no one wants him to take that trip. Are they afraid of it or scared of it? They try to do it in the flesh, but they don’t work in the flesh. But the Spirit, the gift is shown what he means by walking it out. And as you walk it out, you’ll see it unfold in your eyes.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’ll see it, what it means.
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Larry, thank you for your call, my brother. We’ve got to go off of the air, but God bless you, my friend. God bless you, too. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 07 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
