0:00

With questions for Doctor Michael Riddell.

0:02

He is the author of 50 Most

0:04

Important Bible Questions. He

0:06

is a professor and dean at Moody

0:08

Bible Institute, and he's the host of Open

0:11

Line on Saturday morning. But he's ours.

0:13

Monday (800) 555-7898

0:17

Doctor Riddle Clinic. Many questions for

0:19

you today. Jumping right into Genesis six.

0:22

Genesis 612, the Angel

0:24

of the Lord describes the nature

0:26

of Ishmael. And then Genesis

0:28

2121 states,

0:30

Hagar got him a wife from Egypt. So

0:32

here's the question from Theresa

0:34

in Texas. Is this why

0:37

people descended from Ishmael

0:39

are against the people of

0:41

Israel? Does Islam come

0:43

from these descendants.

0:45

You're talking about? Actually Genesis 16

0:48

and 21. Yes.

0:49

Six oh, I'm sorry. 16 yes,

0:51

it says 16. She wrote. 16.

0:53

Yep. That's right.

0:55

I left out of one.

0:56

I think that, uh. Well.

0:59

Where did this idea that Ishmael is

1:01

the father of the

1:04

Arab peoples come from? Okay,

1:06

anyone want to start with that quiz time?

1:08

Yeah. You're asking us

1:11

where did it?

1:11

Not from the Bible. True.

1:14

It's not in Genesis 16. It's not in

1:16

Genesis 21 doesn't say anything.

1:18

In fact, what it says is that,

1:21

uh, his mother, Hagar,

1:23

once he when she was cast out

1:25

in Genesis 21, according

1:28

to God's command, she went and settled

1:30

near Egypt, in the Sinai Peninsula,

1:32

just down by Egypt.

1:34

And so, uh, she

1:36

didn't go to Arabia. Where

1:39

does this come from? I'm going to tell you

1:41

right now, everyone you got, you

1:43

learned in Sunday school that was from the Bible,

1:45

but they were mistaken

1:47

when you learned that, uh, it

1:50

comes from the Quran. Um,

1:54

uh, it was a supersessionist or replacement

1:56

approach to think that Ishmael

1:59

was the chosen son, not.

2:02

Isaac that the Jewish

2:05

people were not really chosen because, uh,

2:07

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, so forth with the Jewish

2:10

people, the people of Israel.

2:12

But they came up with Ishmael,

2:14

and then Mohammed or whoever wrote

2:16

the Quran made up

2:18

that Ishmael was the father of the Arab peoples.

2:21

And that's from the Koran. It

2:23

doesn't come from the Bible at all. And so

2:25

it really has nothing to do with

2:28

Genesis 16 and 21 have

2:30

nothing to do with the ongoing

2:32

conflict. Uh, I once heard,

2:34

uh. Charlie

2:36

Dyer was asked the question, well, where then does

2:38

the conflict come from? And

2:41

Charlie Dyer said a very interesting thing.

2:43

He said he blames the British.

2:46

That's too bad Briggs isn't here.

2:48

Uh, and the the reason he

2:50

blames the British is that they made,

2:53

uh, just before World War.

2:55

Well, during World War one, uh,

2:57

competing contradictory promises

3:00

to the Arab nations and

3:02

to the Jewish people. And

3:05

as a result, there's a great deal of resentment

3:07

about the Jewish state among the

3:09

Arabs. Interesting. Now, of course,

3:11

now, of course, with the radical,

3:14

uh, Muslims. What

3:16

what has happened is any land that was under

3:18

Muslim control at one

3:20

time, not under Arab

3:23

control, but Muslim control,

3:25

and obviously the Ottoman Empire

3:27

was a muslim empire that controlled the

3:29

land of Israel. Uh, you

3:32

know, from afar, from Istanbul. But nevertheless,

3:34

they controlled it from there. So

3:36

now, to have it under Jewish control,

3:39

that contradicts radical

3:41

Islam, and they want to take it back.

3:44

Okay. It's interesting

3:46

to kind of hear where the actual

3:48

history, uh, it comes from

3:50

and what the truth is. And so, um,

3:53

Theresa, I appreciate your, uh, question this morning

3:55

coming out of Texas. If you've got a question, feel

3:57

free to text that in this morning at (800) 555-7898.

4:01

That's (800) 555-7898.

4:07

Uh, Lori is asking this morning,

4:09

where's the sinner's prayer found in the Bible?

4:18

There is no sinner's prayer found in

4:21

the Bible. You know, you can look

4:23

at, uh, the

4:25

the publican

4:27

or the tax gatherer and the Pharisee.

4:30

And what does the tax gatherer say? Lord,

4:32

be merciful to me, a sinner. That's the sinner's

4:34

prayer. But the

4:36

technical sinner's prayer comes

4:38

actually from, uh, late 19th

4:41

century fundamentalism

4:43

and the Finney revivals. That's

4:46

that's where it comes from. Uh,

4:48

this is kind of. Okay.

4:50

Personal story. Yeah, maybe

4:52

I shouldn't say this, but I'll

4:54

tell it. Uh, at

4:57

the time when I came to the Lord, I didn't

4:59

expect to come to the Lord. The day I did, I saw

5:01

a film, and God really yanked

5:04

on my heart. And at the end of the film,

5:06

the Billy Graham representative

5:09

gave an invitation, said

5:11

anyone that wanted to trust in Jesus,

5:14

to believe in him, raise your hand,

5:16

not say this prayer, raise your hand.

5:19

And I thought, I'm not going to raise my

5:21

hand in front of all these people. He said, bow your heads,

5:23

close your eyes. Only you and

5:25

the Lord and I will. No. And

5:29

then I was just shocked to see my hand go up.

5:31

Truthfully, uh.

5:34

And I trusted the Lord

5:36

at that moment. Believed. Didn't

5:40

say a prayer, I believed.

5:42

What does the Bible say? By grace? Through

5:44

faith, through believing that we're saved?

5:47

Uh, and and so,

5:50

you know, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and

5:52

you'll be saved. Acts 1631.

5:54

Right. I mean, we're talking what does the Bible

5:56

teach? Have faith. Faith

5:59

that Jesus died for you and Rose again, right?

6:01

Yeah. That's. Uh,

6:03

and so afterwards, the man from Billy Graham came

6:05

up to me, and he wanted to pray with me. And I didn't know

6:07

about anything about a sinner's prayer.

6:10

And so I said,

6:12

well, I've been praying about this for weeks.

6:15

And I just turned around and walked away from him.

6:17

And I think the guy thought, well, he never

6:19

became a believer, but I did

6:22

because I believed I'm

6:24

not against people saying a particular

6:26

prayer, but what the Bible

6:28

teaches is that we have to trust in Jesus.

6:30

Not that we have to say some specific

6:32

words.

6:34

It's a great question though, Laurie. Appreciate that

6:36

so much. And I think you're coming at

6:38

it from that standpoint. Like we do tend

6:40

to trust in a particular prayer.

6:42

And yet in Scripture you cannot find

6:45

a specific sinner's prayer.

6:48

(800) 555-7898

6:51

if you have a question for Doctor Michael Ridley,

6:54

get that in right now. We have

6:56

a few more for you. So we're going to

6:58

plow on as we listen to

7:00

TobyMac. But that number again

7:02

is (800) 555-7898.

7:06

Well, we are talking with Doctor Michael Ridley this

7:08

morning taking your questions about the Bible.

7:10

If you have a Bible question it's (800) 555-7898.

7:14

That is (800) 555-7898.

7:19

Michael, we've got a question coming in from

7:21

Sherry in Chicago who's asking

7:24

about Scripture in

7:26

second Samuel 24. She says

7:28

God incited David to take a census.

7:30

But she said in first Chronicles 21,

7:33

it looks like Satan incited

7:35

David to take a census. There seems

7:38

to be a contradiction there.

7:40

And so she said also, the numbers

7:43

appear to be a little bit different as well.

7:45

Second Samuel, some 800,002nd

7:47

Chronicles saying it was just a more than a

7:50

million. And so wondering,

7:52

what do you do with that?

7:53

Well, the number is fairly easy.

7:56

One is a specific number, the other is a rounded

7:58

number. Okay, that's

8:01

not a problem. Uh, but

8:04

the. The

8:06

other is, uh.

8:08

God incited David.

8:10

How did he incite David?

8:12

Some would say he used Satan.

8:15

Two in sight, David, but I

8:17

don't. I don't think so,

8:19

even though your English Bible seems

8:21

to say so. Uh,

8:24

the word for the the

8:26

proper name. Satan

8:29

like in job one, when

8:31

all the sons of God appear and Satan

8:33

appears. Has the article

8:35

attached to it in Hebrew. There's

8:37

a prefix to a word that indicates

8:39

the article. The ha

8:42

in Hebrew Hasatan

8:44

is how it is, and every

8:46

time the word Satan is used in Hebrew

8:49

using the proper name Satan,

8:52

it's Hasatan. However,

8:54

in first Chronicles 21, it's just

8:56

Satan, an adversary.

8:59

And so in the Michael translation,

9:02

if I ever got to do one, it would

9:04

be an adversary, an

9:06

army, an enemy threatening,

9:09

uh, Israel, uh,

9:11

provoked David to count the number of men

9:13

he had, uh, to fight

9:16

and do a census of the nation

9:18

because he was trying to trust in his own

9:20

strength, and that's what got him in trouble.

9:23

So the

9:25

the answer is that God

9:28

is the one that provoked that adversary

9:30

to provoke David so that

9:32

God could test David kind of.

9:34

Using means to accomplish what he

9:36

wants to accomplish. And yes, yes,

9:38

just that reminder for sure that

9:40

he got himself in trouble by not not

9:43

trusting God. Yeah. What God had originally

9:45

instructed him to do. Beth in Tennessee

9:48

has a question. Do you know,

9:50

are there families in Israel now

9:52

that can trace their lineage back to names

9:55

in Scripture? Do we have any documents

9:57

that would indicate that you

9:59

can go genealogy wise

10:01

and go all the way back to Scripture?

10:04

Not really. You know, I

10:06

don't know who I descended from. Every now and then,

10:08

you know, some very famous rabbi will say he

10:10

descends from David or something like that, but there's

10:12

really no way to know. What we do know

10:15

is that what has been passed down

10:17

from generation to generation, even today,

10:19

2000 years after the temple was

10:21

destroyed, almost right. 50 years, it'll

10:23

be, uh, uh, about 2000

10:26

years. Is

10:28

whether a person is a priest, a

10:30

Levite, or

10:32

a. Uh,

10:35

a priest, Levite or just an

10:37

Israelite, a layman. Okay.

10:40

Uh, and the reason for that is there

10:42

was always an anticipation the temple would be rebuilt.

10:45

And so, father to son,

10:47

father to son, it was passed

10:49

down about whether someone was

10:51

a Kohen, a Levi

10:54

or a

10:56

yisraeli. That's the three terms

10:58

now. Keohane c

11:00

o h e n. Right.

11:04

How many times have you seen a Jewish person

11:06

with the name Cohen?

11:07

A lot, yeah.

11:08

Mhm. Yeah.

11:10

Uh, and then uh,

11:13

the other is,

11:15

uh, Levinson,

11:17

Levi. Uh, Levi.

11:20

All those names that you see that Jewish

11:22

last names? Uh, those

11:25

are Levites. Okay.

11:27

And Cohen is the word for priest. So

11:30

that's, uh, but my my family name

11:32

has nothing to do with that. But

11:34

it was passed down from my father that I

11:36

was a Levite, so I know

11:38

I am a Levite.

11:40

Cool.

11:40

All right. So appreciate

11:42

your question this morning. Uh, Beth.

11:44

Um, I've got one here coming from first

11:47

Timothy one, a couple of

11:49

verses there, 18 through 20. It talks about

11:51

Paul handing over two guys

11:53

to Satan to be taught not

11:55

to blaspheme. What

11:57

would that mean? To be handed over to

11:59

Satan?

12:02

Well. Uh.

12:06

Basically, that's that's congregational

12:09

discipline. Uh,

12:11

cast out and and taken

12:13

out of the protective covering of the local

12:15

church. That's that

12:18

appears to be

12:20

the the answer.

12:22

Uh, because in first Corinthians

12:25

five, I believe,

12:28

uh. It

12:30

says, uh uh.

12:36

I have decided that the one who has done

12:38

this thing, this, uh, turn

12:40

that one when he when they in

12:42

first Corinthians five, there's a man in a moral relationship

12:45

with his stepmother. Mhm. And

12:47

Paul says, you know, you're boasting

12:50

about this. Not good. Uh,

12:52

he says, I've already decided that the one

12:54

who has done this thing as though I were present

12:56

when you were assembled in the name

12:58

of the Lord Jesus, with my spirit

13:01

and with the power of the Lord, Jesus turned

13:03

that one over to Satan for

13:05

the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may

13:07

be saved in the day of the Lord. So

13:10

it seems to me that what they did with this

13:12

man in this behavior is

13:14

he was, uh, basically cast

13:16

out of the fellowship until he would repent.

13:20

And yet it says here that he's

13:22

turned over to Satan. Right.

13:24

So it sounds to me that that's

13:26

what Paul did with these two that committed,

13:30

uh. This blasphemy

13:33

that they were cast out of the protection

13:35

of the local congregation? They were they

13:37

were not to have fellowship with believers.

13:39

And so they were taught not to blaspheme God.

13:42

That's just amazing to me. How

13:44

correctives. Yeah, right. Sure,

13:47

it is corrective. It's still

13:49

just shows you the depth

13:52

of a relationship with the Lord. There's

13:54

so much more than this surface level

13:56

thing that we might be content to

13:58

stay with. There is depth

14:00

to understanding his character, his

14:03

attributes.

14:04

It's not just holding hands

14:06

and singing Kumbaya.

14:07

It's it's not. No, it's not

14:09

nice as an idea as that is, he

14:11

cares so much more deeply for us

14:14

than we may understand. Doctor Michael riding

14:16

with us every Monday. If you have

14:18

a question, don't give up. You can

14:20

go ahead and get that in. We'll hang

14:22

on to it for next week. (800) 555-7898

14:28

text or call (800) 555-7898.

14:32

Don and Steve in the morning. Serpents

14:35

and doves. You've heard that terminology.

14:37

We're to be wise as serpents

14:39

and gentle as doves.

14:42

Let's look a little bit in

14:44

the mirror and see how we're doing with that. Doctor James

14:46

Spencer is going to help us as

14:48

the president of the D.L. Moody Center.

14:51

Moody Center.org. Uh, you're

14:53

challenging us, though. How do we kind

14:55

of untangle what we

14:57

hear a lot? Christian Nation.

15:00

And this is an election season, and you hear that

15:02

term come up over and over again. James,

15:04

how do you help us kind of untangle that?

15:07

Well, first, I think we have to look at the way the Bible

15:10

uses Christian. Um, it's only actually

15:12

found in three passages. But when

15:14

we look at what it means to be Christian in the scriptures,

15:16

it means that Christ is essential.

15:18

Um, you can't be Christian unless Christ

15:21

is at the center of it. And

15:23

so the way I usually try to distinguish

15:25

between Christian nation and, and other

15:27

uses of Christian is, we think maybe something like

15:29

Christian doctrine. These are

15:31

the teachings that all of us who

15:34

are united in Jesus Christ would have

15:36

convictions about, uh, Christian

15:38

worship. This is the shared,

15:40

uh, adoration of God,

15:42

um, the shared reverence for God that

15:44

all those who are united in Christ have

15:47

and those Christian, Christian worship

15:49

and Christian doctrine, they're very different

15:51

than what we usually mean by Christian nation.

15:53

Christian nation comes to mean something

15:55

that's a little bit more influenced,

15:58

maybe by Christian ideas or

16:00

biblical ideas, but they're very much

16:02

decoupled from Jesus Christ

16:04

and from the theological frameworks

16:06

that we're presented with through Scripture. And

16:09

so we just need to recognize that it's very different

16:11

to say, Christian Nation than it

16:13

is to say Christian worship, Christian

16:15

doctrine, Christian church. Um, we're

16:17

talking about two different things there.

16:20

So I think that's fascinating because

16:22

I'm sure that you've had people say to you,

16:24

as I've heard people say to me before,

16:27

but, James, this was a nation that was founded

16:29

on biblical principles. This was a nation

16:32

that was founded based on,

16:34

you know, some of these Old Testament laws

16:36

that we saw the Ten Commandments.

16:38

Our founding fathers were Christians.

16:41

What do you and we're losing that. So we're losing

16:43

our Christian nation here. And so

16:46

when you get that pushback along

16:48

those lines, because I'm guessing you probably do,

16:50

at least occasionally, uh, how

16:53

do you engage that conversation? Well.

16:55

I think number one, what I usually say

16:57

is there's a difference between being inspired,

16:59

inspired by the Bible and recognizing

17:02

the Bible as an inspired authority.

17:04

And so Christians do the

17:06

latter. I think our nation was founded

17:09

on the former. So it looked to the Bible for

17:11

inspiration, for inspiration around

17:13

morals and around, um, general

17:15

ideals that maybe a society would

17:17

want to embody. But when we think about

17:20

what our nation is founded on,

17:22

you know, we go maybe to the Ten Commandments.

17:25

Um, you know, we're not a nation

17:27

that's founded on that first commandment.

17:29

You shall have no other gods besides me.

17:32

Um, you know that our nation was founded

17:34

on the idea of religious freedom.

17:37

And, uh, and early on in our nation,

17:39

there were a lot of evidences that that

17:41

didn't just mean everyone had to be Christian.

17:44

And so as we get an influx of people

17:46

whose rights now are inviolable,

17:48

um, based on the Constitution, you start

17:51

to open up and

17:53

and that's where Christ becomes less than central.

17:55

And so our nation has generally moved

17:58

toward something that's a little bit more religiously

18:00

pluralist, um, just as

18:02

it's sort of national character,

18:05

um, which again, I think speaks to

18:07

not, uh, not something that we

18:09

should get rid of necessarily, but

18:12

it, we should just recognize that's very

18:14

different than what it means to be Christian.

18:16

Well, so yeah, yeah.

18:18

There's so much more to this conversation

18:20

than we're going to have time for in just

18:23

the few minutes that we have. But we will come

18:25

back, continue the conversation with Doctor James Spencer

18:27

in just a few moments. He's written the book Serpents

18:29

and Doves. It's all about Christians,

18:31

politics and the art of bearing

18:33

witness. And I love that language,

18:36

the art of bearing witness.

18:38

What does that look like in this current culture

18:41

and climate that we find ourselves in today? We'll

18:43

come back and talk about that. And we

18:45

are talking with Doctor James Spencer this morning.

18:47

He has written a book, Serpents and Doves.

18:49

It's all about Christians, politics and the

18:51

art of bearing witness.

18:53

And James, I'm really intrigued

18:55

by that last little part, the art of bearing

18:58

witness, because I think in

19:00

this current climate that we're in right now

19:02

and we've got an election coming up before too

19:04

long that this is, uh,

19:07

it's going to take an art of bearing

19:09

witness, to be able to navigate some of these conversations

19:12

and to be able to be salt, to

19:14

be light, to be a serpent, to be a dove

19:16

in, in this climate. And so as you

19:19

have written this book and as

19:21

you have thought about what it looks like in

19:23

our current national and political

19:26

climate, to have conversations

19:28

for Christ when so many people are going to

19:30

want to talk about what's wrong with

19:32

this country, and if we can just get this person in

19:34

office or pass this bill, or get this legislation

19:36

through, or do this or that and the other, it's

19:38

going to fix things that are wrong.

19:41

How would you encourage us to think about bearing

19:43

witness for Christ in our current

19:45

climate?

19:47

Number one. I mean, I think something

19:49

like Romans 13 really helps us

19:51

in this realm. Um, in Romans 13,

19:53

we see that all of our national leaders, all

19:56

of our governing authorities are appointed by God. They're

19:58

instituted by God, and they carry a

20:00

delegated authority from him. And

20:02

so anytime we're talking politics, what we're really

20:04

talking about is what is God doing

20:06

through our governing authorities and

20:09

what what how do we understand that?

20:11

And so I think there's a natural starting

20:13

point biblically, to just point beyond

20:15

the political realm, to the God who sits

20:17

above it. And, and and

20:19

as we can sort of maneuver

20:22

what is a tumultuous conversation and

20:24

a tumultuous environment right now, it's

20:26

a little chaotic. Um, but as we can

20:28

not navigate that calmly and

20:31

without feeling sort of like

20:33

our worlds are being shaken by this political

20:36

realm, I think that that will speak volumes

20:38

to a watching world. We don't have

20:41

to be, uh, concerned

20:44

necessarily. Uh, we don't have to be

20:46

overly concerned, I should say, about what's

20:48

going on in the political realm, because we know

20:50

that God has all of this under

20:52

control, that the church is going

20:55

to continue. And we just

20:57

need to focus on being prepared to endure

20:59

whatever comes faithfully.

21:01

That is such a valid

21:03

and good biblical point that, James,

21:06

as we think about how we

21:08

endure turning back to the scriptures,

21:10

not just a verse, but the entirety

21:13

of Scripture living that

21:15

out. And I know that's a challenge

21:17

because we are so politically

21:20

minded anymore. We're either politically minded

21:22

and we're we're completely involved in

21:24

the process or we've checked out. But

21:27

either way, what would you say

21:29

to somebody that says, I just can't anymore? I don't know

21:31

what to do with the political process. I

21:33

still want to be a Christian and live my

21:35

life to honor the Lord. What's

21:37

some good instruction there for us as

21:40

people of a nation that get to vote?

21:43

I think that any time

21:45

we give our attention to something

21:47

other than God, we're we're

21:49

coming close to idolatry. Whenever

21:51

that whatever what comes up,

21:54

um, is, you know, if our politics

21:56

start trumping. Um, no

21:59

pun intended. Uh, what we're doing

22:01

in in our worship, um,

22:03

we have absolutely started to commit

22:05

adultery. And so if people are feeling

22:08

like they're overwhelmed by the political conversations

22:10

such that they can't get it off their mind, they

22:13

can't they can't stop thinking about

22:15

it. It consumes their thoughts. What I would

22:17

encourage them to do is to step away from it,

22:19

refocus on God, put

22:21

their attention there. If our political

22:24

participation cannot flow from our

22:26

love and our worship of God, it's

22:28

going to become a problem for us. It's

22:30

just going to become a problem for us. So we've

22:33

got to stop thinking that the political

22:35

realm is the solution to our problems. The political

22:37

realm is not trivial. Uh, but

22:40

at the same time, God is

22:42

the light is our life and the length of our days.

22:44

This Deuteronomy 3020. And so

22:46

we've got to focus there and

22:48

allow whatever our focus there emanates

22:51

into our political life to do that.

22:53

But we have to stop thinking that there's some

22:55

sort of balance we can strike between being theological

22:58

and being political. The two really

23:00

can't be separated. And so what I

23:02

would say is, yeah, focus back in

23:04

on God. Don't worry if you don't get

23:06

to the politics. Hey, don't get to the

23:08

politics. That that would be my advice.

23:11

Um, we need to be Christian first, radically

23:13

Christian first. And to the extent that

23:15

we can do that, we're going to be far better off.

23:17

Um, so we've got one minute left here.

23:19

And one of the things, James, that I so often hear

23:22

religious leaders say is you have a moral

23:24

responsibility and obligation

23:26

to vote. And sometimes Christians

23:28

can look at the landscape and say, I

23:30

don't see a good option. I don't see a good

23:32

way out. I don't know what to do. In fact, I'd

23:34

rather kind of abstain from the process

23:36

because of that. I want to engage, but

23:39

I, in good conscience don't feel like I can.

23:41

But then we have religious leaders who are

23:43

saying, no, you need to. And so

23:45

if you're feeling that tension this political

23:48

cycle, would you have any words of advice?

23:52

Uh, I would not feel a moral obligation

23:54

to vote. Um. I've

23:56

never. I don't see that in Scripture. I

23:58

see that we are supposed to respect our governing authorities.

24:00

And so if we want to abstain from voting but

24:02

still respect the governing authorities,

24:05

um, giving them the authority that

24:07

God has delegated to them is never a

24:09

problem. It's when they try to

24:11

stretch out of that authority and take more

24:13

than God has given them, that we start

24:15

to have friction and we need to resist

24:18

that. Uh, but yeah, I don't

24:20

I think every time we vote, we end up compromising

24:23

our principles. And that's just a, you know,

24:25

it's not an evil thing to vote or anything like

24:27

that. I'm just saying that no candidate

24:29

perfectly aligns with all of our convictions.

24:32

And so we're always making some sort of a choice.

24:34

And I think if people get to the point where their conscience

24:36

is saying, I'm not sure I can

24:38

make a good choice in this setting.

24:41

Don't make a choice. Don't make a choice against

24:43

your conscience. Um. Listen to the Holy

24:46

Spirit. Be prayerful and decide

24:48

who you want to vote for or whether you want

24:50

to participate. Maybe you want to participate

24:52

in a different way, but voting is not something

24:54

that I see as a moral, uh,

24:57

necessity for Christians.

24:58

Keeping our focus on the

25:00

Lord and in his word

25:03

is our top priority, and to have no

25:05

other God before him. Doctor James

25:07

Spencer has so much more

25:09

to share. Serpents and doves.

25:12

Christians, politics and the

25:14

Art of bearing witness.

25:16

You know that is a deep conversation.

25:18

Grateful for your time today, James.

25:20

It's Don and Steve in the morning.