Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'm so glad that you're here as Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to continue our Bible bus journey through the book of 1 John. But before we jump in, we got a quick introduction about false prophets and those who attempt to twist and stretch the truth. So here's Dr. McGee on what he calls plowing a straight furrow.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I want to take just a moment to clarify the statement I made relative to the fact that we are not attempting to use propaganda on this program either for or against any group, nor do we make announcements relative to certain things. We feel that our work is cut out for us. And I do not attack or defend any particular group. I avoid taking a stand relative to any organization. I may seem to be attacking a certain group if they're teaching something contrary to the scripture as I see it when I'm teaching that particular section. Now I do not deal in personalities, although I may mention them by name, never to condemn, but to compliment.

We're teaching the Bible. I set my hand to the plow about 40 years ago, and the Lord told me not to look back to see if I was popular or if I was unpopular. Just keep plowing a straight furrow and let the clods fall where they may.

Steve Schwetz: Dr. McGee recorded that introduction decades ago, and you can be sure that we continue to follow his commitment to plow a straight furrow. Our sites are set clearly on following Jesus Christ, and the mission that we believe has been given to us to take the whole word to the whole world. And by God's grace, he's allowed us to do just that. Wouldn't you agree, Greg?

Greg Harris: I would more than agree, Steve. Great to be with you, and hello everybody. We are so excited to be in the studio today to share the way God is not just allowing us, but it's he's growing it in ways we almost can't keep up with.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah, and and continuing to grow in what I would consider, I think the world would consider difficult places to be a Christian. And Kazakhstan is an example of that.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yes, it is. And it's a it is a country that I've been to. I don't think you have. We have a friendly competition. Not that we travel for that reason, but but uh Steve, there's you you've been racking up countries I haven't yet been to. So uh we're we're enjoying this, and it's actually very strategic cuz what I want to highlight too is we're going to be hearing from one of our team members named Dave Dunmore, and he is the executive director of TTB Canada. And what I'm excited about, Steve, just as we share this is our global partnerships team has really grown.

Steve Schwetz: I have not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and their involvement with people in country has has significantly grown as well. And we have such great testimonies and and firsthand accounts of how the Lord is moving in those countries, and it's really exciting to see how Through the Bible is being used.

Greg Harris: Yes. Absolutely. And so we are going to be referencing a newsletter that you could get this month. If you're not on our mailing list, just call 1-800-655-BIBLE, and we can put you on that list, or you can go to ttb.org and sign up. And we're going to be referencing a lot of things from a great newsletter article from this month. So what what struck you from Dave's report on Kazakhstan?

Steve Schwetz: Oh man, there's so much in here. But but Kazakhstan, like it seems so many of the difficult countries are primarily Muslim in background. And to hear uh uh just to quote his report here, it says that through the Bible, it works for discipleship, but it also works for evangelism. And I love the two things because that's what we need to be doing as believers in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Greg Harris: Yes. Yes. Yeah. That's right. And Jesus didn't say just convert people or do evangelism. He said make disciples. But it is it's often uh a surprise to us that God uses TTB for evangelism. And I was struck by this one story of an injured military veteran living in a remote Central Asian village. I liked this. His background and his threatening personality caused his family and community to live in fear of him. Uh anybody know anybody like that? I've had people like that in my life.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. Absolutely.

Greg Harris: And this man, they gave him a media player because that's a big part of the strategy in these countries is to find people that may be interested. And the long story short, and I hope you'll read this article, is that he came to Christ, but he he kept evangelizing in a threatening manner.

Steve Schwetz: Well, I maybe the Lord can use that. I mean the Lord can use, you know, Balaam's donkey. So maybe he can use a mean guy like that, who knows.

Greg Harris: Yes. But speaking of discipleship, as he listened more and more to TTB, he realized, and this is a quote from him, Christianity is not threatening. I need to tell people about the gospel with love.

Steve Schwetz: Mm. And that's the transforming truth of the gospel. So hopefully this guy is going to continue in his evangelistic efforts, but he's going to soften his tone and the Holy Spirit will help him do that.

Greg Harris: Yeah. And we're all a work in progress, aren't we?

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Greg Harris: I love when Dr. McGee says uh this lady had a pin or something that said this is not the best the grace of God can do. I like that.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. Do we have time for a letter?

Greg Harris: Yes, we do.

Steve Schwetz: Okay. Here's one from Uzbek. A listener in Uzbekistan writes this. Thank you for your programs. They are good for growing spiritually. Audio programs have started to make a big difference in my life. They are also good to listen to on the go. The fact that the programs are based on the Bible makes them more impactful. As we see the lives of families being changed through believers, we cannot forget to praise the Lord. I can confidently say that the programs can also touch unbelievers in Christ because family problems affect everyone. May God bless you in your work.

Greg Harris: And so we're talking about the ministry in some of the most difficult places on earth, what we call the Stan countries. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan. And so again, we just want to encourage you with some of the stories that came from this part of the world, particularly this newsletter article. And Steve, just remind everybody how can you sign up for that newsletter?

Steve Schwetz: Yep. Oh, I'm so glad you asked, Greg. You can go to ttb.org and you can sign up for the newsletter there. It's super easy, or you can call 1-800-655-BIBLE and ask to have your name put on that mailing list that you'll get the newsletter in. Now one of the things I really like about it is I take the physical newsletter and I put it in my Bible, and it becomes a part of my devotional process throughout the month, and I'll refer to it several times. I'd encourage you to do that as well. Greg, we're almost out of time.

Pray for us.

Greg Harris: Yes. Father, what a privilege to take the gospel and the entire word of God to the ends of the earth, even places like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. We thank you for the work that you're doing and that we get to be a part of it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Now let's open to 1 John chapter 4 as we make our way through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Uh friends, we've come to a very difficult section here in the fourth chapter of 1 John for many reasons. One of the reasons is that we're dealing with the spirit world here of which none of us know too much about. And the second thing is we are in the devil's territory. And I've always found that when I preach on the devil when I was a pastor, when I talked on him, he always managed to cause some interruption in the service. Generally pinch some baby, and we'd have trouble in that area. Or someone would cause a disturbance in the service.

It 's amazing how he works. And there are other reasons, but we're coming to a very important section, and you can go off the deep end on this section and become rather fanatical. And again, I think there's been too much occupation today in this particular area on the part of Christians. But we do need to know about it, and we intend to spend as much time as we think is important in this area. Now let me read again chapter 4 verse 1. Beloved, he's talking not to believers. Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits or prove the spirits.

I like the word prove much better. But prove the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Now we're dealing here with the spirit world, and the Bible has a great deal to say about it. For instance, we have in Psalm 104 at verse 4, who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire. And that 's quoted in Hebrews the first chapter verse 7. Actually a great many people feel that because down a little farther in Hebrews, and we've already dealt with this, but let me remind you of it, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation?

Now I've never seen an angel, and I've never had a visit by one of them. I don't personally feel that they today have a ministry to the church. My feeling is that we are endued by the Holy Spirit. And you just can't improve on that arrangement. And I'd much rather have the uncreated Holy Spirit than a created angel to follow me around or to minister. I think that today that we need to put the emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in our lives. But not only are there good angels, that is those that serve God, but there are today fallen angels, and they are spirits.

They are called that in scripture. The gospels talk a great deal that in Christ's day there were unclean spirits. That is what is known as demonism. We call them demons because the scripture uses that term. Now we're warned and told that the reason we're to put on the whole armor of God and that we are in today a gigantic battle that is beyond the flesh. It's a spiritual battle. And Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Now I've gone into detail in that when we were there in Ephesians, and also in the book of Daniel more recently, so that I'm not going back over that ground today that we believe that the devil has the thing pretty well organized on his side in his army of demons. He has at the top the generals and the lieutenant colonels, and then on down to the sergeants and the corporals and the just plain ordinary infantrymen, just a regular soldier. And I think God has his organized very much the same way. And we saw an example of that in the book of Daniel.

Now we are told here that we are to believe not every spirit. That is these unclean spirits. We are to test the spirits. Now a few years ago, that sounded rather spooky. The supernatural was ridiculed, especially in college circles and among the intelligentsia. But we have now moved into an area today where Satan has become quite a reality, and there's Satan worship. And it's confined to a great extent to colleges, either the campus or around the campus. We have one or two satanic churches here in Los Angeles, and we may even have more. And few years ago, you know, it was way out in left field, is something that's in existence today.

And down in Florida, they had a young boy that was killed, a 17-year-old boy murdered. And they found out that it was done to appease Satan because the satanic priestess down there, just a young woman of 22, said that this boy should be killed. I have all types of clippings here before me. And these are things that are taking place today. Now we've had quite a few things that have happened actually in our day that are really, and I mean really spooky. We have, for instance, this book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. That's the name of the book.

The author is named Richard Bach. And he has said that a voice dictated it to him, and that it's not his own style of writing actually. And very candidly, it's something today that I'm understand that many churches have recommended, and several good men have been taken in by. Well, it's the story about a theological concept of a young seagull which has human attributes. He soared off toward unlimited perfection and found that each of us is just an idea of the great gull. And that birth and sin and sickness and death are not realities, but just illusions.

And what the biblical writers call sins really are virtues. And freedom is freedom to do what one pleases. Well, that's not new, but this, of course, is actually out of the very pit of hell itself because this is satanic. Now we are seeing a manifestation of demonism today, and it's all around us. When I was in college, why it was frowned upon. Uh looked down upon. You were just a plebeian. It didn't make any difference what IQ you had or what grades you made in school. But if you just happened to believe in the supernatural, you were radically wrong.

And they didn't have state to tell you so. Well, let me say that today that 's all changed. And it's weird today, and many young people have gone off the deep end into this. They've never had any Bible training at all. Now he 's talking here to God's children. He's told us about how we'd love each other, how believers are to love each other and to help each other. But we must be careful as we said last time. You remember that Paul prayed for the Philippians, and he loved them a great deal. He says, I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.

It's wonderful to love, but may I say to you, you and I in a mean, big, wicked world. And this world we live in today is going to take us in. It'll deceive us. We need to be careful. And he says, beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirit. And when I hear today somebody tells me about some person that seems to have supernatural power, maybe to heal, maybe to impart a gift, I don't get excited. Somebody said, why don't you go here, so and so? Well, I don't want to waste my time. I am told today to test, to prove the spirits.

And may I say to you, just because a thing looks like it's supernatural and there's a lot of hocus pocus going on today, I can assure you that it has nothing supernatural in it at all. It's just a camouflaged Christianity. We are to test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now the false prophets that John means here are teachers. And Paul used it that way. For instance, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:3, he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. You see, prophecy here means to teach, to exhort, to instruct, and to do that sort of thing.

Now there are many false prophets that have gone out into the world. And I want to tell you that there are many that are abroad today that we need to be aware of. I think right now that prophecy is becoming such an interesting subject, and I think rightly so. But again, the thing that has been said, Sir Robert Anderson made the statement, he says, beware of the wild utterances of prophecy mongers. Well, there are a lot of those abroad today that are saying more than the scripture says. So that we need to be very careful today.

Just because a man comes along saying Lord, Lord, that doesn't mean we should love him. That may be the man that's more dangerous than a rattlesnake because he may be teaching false doctrine. That is he's not really teaching the word of God, although he may carry a big Bible under his arm. Now will you notice verse 2. By this know ye the spirit of God. Now how are we to distinguish? Now here is the way. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now this is where it all begins.

It began in Bethlehem, you see. He was born in Bethlehem, and it began there. It's the incarnation is where we begin because Calvary and the garden tomb are meaningless unless he's who he claimed to be, unless he is the God man. And so today, the way that you can determine the false one, he'll deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean they don't talk nice about him. They talk about what a remarkable youth that he was and that he was a child that was born into the world and he was superior.

They talk about the fact he was a religious genius and that he was just intoxicated with God. And he probably had a greater knowledge of God, and he may have had something a little superior to someone else. He was a superstar, you know. They can say a lot of nice things about him, you see. But was he God manifested in the flesh? John says the word. And who was the word? Why he's God. And he created all things, and he became flesh. Where? Yonder in Bethlehem at the incarnation. Jesus came in that. One of the early heresies, and John is meeting this head on.

Gnosticism said that one branch of it that Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him at Calvary. Well, may I say to you that that 's not what the word of God teaches. The word of God says that that babe in Bethlehem was more than a remarkable baby. And that his death upon the cross was not an ordinary death. And that when he rose from the dead, he rose bodily from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification. And it was as Isaiah had said, unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given. Now the child is born. The son is given. You see, he came out of eternity, the Ancient of Days. But the child, his humanity was conceived in the virgin's womb. And he came forth yonder in Bethlehem. And they came a few shepherds, and wise men came to worship him. He was more than just a precocious child. He was the precious Prince of Peace who made peace by the blood of his cross and someday shall bring peace to this war weary world that we are living in. And the important thing for us to note here is that this is the mark.

This is the way that you tell by this know ye the spirit of God. Let's find out what they believe about Jesus Christ. That's important, very important. And now he adds to this and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist of which you have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world. Now he has mentioned this is the third time that he has mentioned antichrist. And John is the only writer who mentions antichrist, and he only mentions it in his epistles.

Now we have this before us again, and I'm not going to be able to develop all of the great truth concerning this. But next time, I want to talk a little about antichrist. But we've seen already in 1 John 2:22, who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He's antichrist 0 that denieth the Father and the Son. Now we find that again here in this passage of scripture that he's mentioned it. But I think we had a reference even before 1 John 2:22 in 1 John 2:18. Little children, it's the last time.

As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists by which we know that it's the last time. We saw since we've been in this epistle here, it can mean actually two different things. Antichrist can be either against or it can be instead of. That is an imitation. And we have presented that in scripture. The Lord Jesus said many shall come in my name. That is imitating antichrist in that sense, pretending to be. And the other is against Christ. Now you have two beasts in the 13th chapter of Revelation. That first beast is a great political ruler that's coming, antichrist to rule the world, a world dictator.

Then you have a religious ruler that is coming, and he is called a false prophet there, and he causes the world to worship the first beast. And he comes like a lamb, but underneath he's a wolf so that he imitates Christ. Now I believe there'll be two men, and it'll take two men to fulfill all that's said about antichrist. You'll have a great political ruler at the end time, and you'll have a great religious ruler at the end time. Now the civilization that we're in is all building up to the coming of antichrist. That is there is coming a great religious ruler.

All the religions of the world to be put together in the movements in that direction today. And you have the same kind of movement actually politically because there's a moving today toward one ruler for this world. It would bring peace, and it will bring it temporarily into the world. And it's going to be the most frightful time that the world has ever seen. We talked about that ruler when we were in the book of Daniel. Now that's the picture that's given to us here concerning antichrist. And already there are many antichrists. And there are quite a few of them about today, but they are not the antichrist, you see.

They are teachers that are moving the world closer and closer to the day and the world is being prepared for that one finally to appear. Well, we're going to have to leave off right there today, but we'll pick right up there next time. And so until then, may God ritually bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: You know, a great way to prepare for our next study is to read through chapter 4 several times or use our app or visit ttb.org to download Dr. McGee's free Bible companion on 1 John. If we can help you find it, just give us a call at 1-800-655-BIBLE. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here as we continue to make our way through the Bible.

Guest (Male): Through the Bible is a five-year study of God's entire word, and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?