Pastors' Perspective - 06/06/2025

answer is to call us right now at 888-564-6173. And answering your questions today, we've got Brian and Cheryl Broderson from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. Now, Cheryl's not here in the studio. She's with us in spirit though, and I'm sure everything that Brian answers today will be what Cheryl would 100% agree with. So. We have her blessing. Yes, yeah, yeah, we, we had a briefing before I came over and she told me,

you know, basically what to say, OK, perfect about the question. So, and she knew the questions already, so yeah, I don't know how she knew that, but um. I don't either. Yeah, but you know, she does have like a prophetic gift, so maybe the Lord just showed her, these are the things you're gonna talk about today, and, yeah, so let's do it. Very good, we'll do it. It's all these calls, yep, all these calls coming in.

888-564-6173 is the number. OK, Sheryl didn't really do that just so you know, sometimes people. Take things the wrong way and then rumors get started. So, yeah, no, Cheryl is at home with the construction workers. Um, she's helping out. I decided wearing a hard hat and yeah, I'll come to the radio, honey. You just, uh, clean up after the construction crews. That's not true either. Today we're starting a program with uh with Phibs uh yes, so,

so this, this is the truth. My daughter is going home to New York tonight and so they were spending some time together and um we do have people doing some work at our house. So yeah, we weren't she wasn't able to get away, so I came, hang out with you because thank you. I don't want you to be by yourself. I so appreciate that very, very much. And so do our listeners, I'm sure. All right, 888-564-6173 is our number. And before we go to the phones,

here's a question that was sent in online. Dear pastor's perspective, I discovered that an alumnus of my university is a high ranking theologian in the United Reformed Church. It is a conservative denomination in the sense of being true to the beliefs of the reformers who founded the movement 500 years ago.

But some friends have told me negative things about the reformed church primarily because of their Calvinistic beliefs such as irresistible grace, overemphasis on divine election, and especially limited atonement. However, the Lord has opened up doors for me to do ministry alongside this theologian that furthers the gospel. My question would be, can we, as non-denominational Christians be co-laborers

with our reformed friends? And what about going to a reformed church sometimes when the Lord opens connections without abandoning fellowship at our main congregation? What would you say, Brian? Well, I would say that sounds. Exciting that you have the opportunity to minister uh alongside of this person and, um, yes, of course we can um do ministry together with the people who hold uh different but orthodox theological positions uh as to us and the reform.

People, even though I, I would disagree with some of their doctrine of salvation, like some of the things you mentioned there, um, those are just basically, you know, different, different ways of interpreting what scripture says, and um I, I have many friends who are in the reform world and I have greatly benefited from um the reformers themselves, um. Going back to Luther and to Calvin and others, and those that have been influenced by them over the years. So, yeah,

this is great, sounds like a great opportunity. I would definitely seize the moment. Awesome. Thank you for sending in your question. Here's another one. This one is from. Patricia, who says, first, I want to thank you from my heart for this awesome radio show. I love you all. My question has to do with the faith of the Canaanite woman, whom we read about in Matthew 15.

Uh, verses 21 through 27. I'm just gonna read the passage really quickly in case somebody's driving and can't turn there in their Bible, but this is where it says, uh, Jesus departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on me, son of David, my daughter is severely demon possessed. But he answered her not a word, and his disciples came and urged him, saying, Send her away, for she

cries out after us. But he answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great as your faith, let it be to you as you desire,

and her daughter was healed from that very hour. So Patricia says at first when I read this, I was not happy with the way Jesus answered the lady. I was kind of disappointed. I keep reading over and over. I even went to the Bible notes and was still not quite sure if I got it. A couple of weeks later, my pastor did a sermon on this passage. Oh my goodness, I got so excited, but it still didn't click. Please, can you guys talk

about her? So far I think it's because the lady, being a mother, didn't give up on her daughter no matter how Jesus answered her. That's just my thoughts. What would you say, Brian? Well, um, it's interesting that I was having a a brief conversation with my son about this yesterday because he's going to, I think he's going to allude to it in his teaching this Sunday, but then he's going to

actually be at that particular passage following week. So we were talking about it and he said, isn't it interesting that um this woman gives kind of a parable back to Jesus? She's the only one that responds in that sort of a way. And I thought, yeah, I never, never thought of that. So remember the context, she she's a woman from the tire uh area of Tyre and Sidon, so she's a Gentile. She's outside of the covenant. Um, Jesus says, I have not been sent except to the lost sheep of the

house of Israel. Now, of course, the gospel is going to go beyond Israel to all of the nations and um Jesus does care about this woman, but I think Jesus is. Doing something here. That is uh in in some ways it's a it's a bit of a rebuke to to Israel. Because here is a woman who is not an Israelite, who is pressing in with faith to Jesus, even though he seems to be uh just sort of dismissing her and just say, no, I, you know, I'm not gonna do that, that that's not what I'm here to do.

And so as she presses in. And then his responses, uh, you know, to praise her for her great faith, what Jesus is doing here is he's contrasting as he's done on another occasion, uh, he's contrasting the Israelites who should believe with the Gentiles who are. You know, they're the unbelievers, but yet they actually really do believe. And, you know, there was that one moment where Jesus, um, He, he spoke of the fact that um It was after Um, they had.

Rejected him in the synagogue and he said He said that the um. He said something. He said he he talked about um in the days of um Elijah. And how um. The The prophet was sent. Um, to a woman of tire. And she received the message. And so again, he's pointing out the fact that that Israel's rejecting the message, but The Gentiles who are supposed to be the unbelievers, they're

they're receiving the message. And then he goes on and he tells another story about Elisha, the prophet, and how this man named Naman, who was a Syrian, how he was healed of leprosy. There were many lepers in Israel in the days of um Elisha the prophet Jesus said, but only Naman. The Gentile, the Syrian, was healed. There are many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah the prophet, but

only this widow was taken care of. And the point is because they believed, and that's in contrast to what he was experiencing from the very people who should have believed. That's the whole point. Israel should have believed, um, all of the evidence is there, he's there among them, but they're rejecting him. This woman, even though. He sort of seems to um dismiss her request. She is not going to take no for an answer. So

she's she's exemplifying faith. That's what she's doing. And Jesus is using this opportunity to highlight the faith that she is a gentile house. Yes, Patricia, thank you for sending in your question online through Kwave.com. I had to get my brain working there. You know, it was kind of like stuck. I saw it in action. It was just like, OK, wait, we're we're OK, yes, it all came back to me at the, at the moment there. Oh good. All right, let's go

to the phones now. 888-564-6173 is our number, and we're going to begin with Jay in Tustin listening on FM 107.9 K wave. Hey Jay, what's up? Hey, hi, I just got, um, like 5 bullet points maybe you can help me understand. Um, lately it's been talking about Adam and how he committed the first great sin.

And it seems odd to me that like, often the pastors make it sound like it was a surprise that Adam took of the fruit and that he broke the law, but it's not like God wanted to me it seemed like God wanted him to eat the fruit because he puts the tree of Good and evil or I guess it's good and evil right in the center, dead center of the Garden of Eden. And then when he does eat the fruit, why didn't you just kill Satan then, banish him from earth. He has power to do so.

And God's all knowing, so he had a no joke. Adam was to take the first fruit. And isn't that true? He had to know of course knowing. So my, my question, why are we, why does Adam always made out to be this bad person who ruined the plan of God where he wants to all live in the Garden of Eden and in some type of. Yeah. Nearly perfect environment and, and I think, I think God always planned to send the savior down because he always has a plan for everything. So that, that's been

my confusion. Why, why the different pastors talk on that subject, you know, like night and day their approach to I just kind of confused about that. Let me get some insight on that. I don't have any more questions. OK. OK, so yes, you're, you're right that God knew, but where I think you're mistaken is that God planned. So God did not plan for Adam to send, but God knew that he would create these uh, these beings in

his image, and that, um, these beings would betray him, basically. Uh, he knew that before he ever created us. And yet he nevertheless created mankind anyway. So, um, why, why did he go ahead and create if he knew

uh that all this was going to happen? Uh, we don't know exactly why, but we do know that, um, Um, you know, if you think of it like I heard this illustration one time that I thought was really good, it's like Even though you know that there might be a negative outcome to certain things, there's something worth it in the midst of all of that. And the illustration that someone gave was, was marriage and you know the love relationship

between a husband and wife. So you marry one another, and you know that at some point this marriage is going to end in death, somebody's gonna die. And so you could just say, well, I don't want to have to face that difficulty. I don't want to have to face that grief. I, I don't want to live through that moment of losing this person, so, uh, I'm never gonna get married because I don't, I don't

want that experience. Or you could say, well, yeah, that that will happen someday and I will just, you know, when, when that comes, I'll I'll deal with that. But I wanna, I wanna live with the love and, and the beauty and the wonder of this relationship that that I will have in the meantime. And so that was an attempt to point out, well, you know, if God knew everything was gonna go so bad, why would he allow it to happen in the first place? Well, he figured that the good that would come out of

it would outweigh the bad that would transpire during during this. So, so, and I think that's a a pretty good way to think about it. Um, but then the other question, or, or, you know, suggestion that Adam, I mean, why is anybody blaming Adam? I mean, he didn't, you know, uh, this is just what he was supposed to do. No, he wasn't supposed to do it. That's the difference. God knew he would do it. But he wasn't intended to do it, and God told

him not to do it. So, you know, you mentioned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. Yes, God points it out, he says, all the trees in the garden, you can eat freely from every one of them, don't eat from this one. And so this is God's opportunity to allow mankind to have a choice as to whether uh we would. Willingly follow him and love him and serve him or if we would only do it if we were forced

to do it. God didn't want to force us to do it or create us without a capacity uh to not do it because then that wouldn't be genuine love. So, um, Adam had to have the choice, he made the wrong choice, and that's why he gets the blame. Got it, Jay. Thank you very much. You made some good points there. OK, good. I'm glad that helped. Thank you for calling in today on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is our number. And now let's talk to Debbie. Welcome to Pastor's Perspective, Debbie.

Hi, hi. So, um, Uh, I would say about almost a year ago, I went to my pastor and said I could not handle the burden of my husband's pornography addiction. And, uh, he scheduled a meeting with us, and at that meeting, he looked at me at one point and said, Are you compassionate about your husband's pornography addiction? And I said, yes, I am. I've been in this marriage for 12 years. I prayed for him. I've recommended different programs. Um, I've done counseling, but I can't surrender

for him. So that was the one thing. Now, fast forward to a couple of months ago, and I actually got attacked by, I guess, an unclean spirit. I woke up at 1:30 in the morning with feeling like something went inside of me down to my stomach and then quickly. As quick as it went in, that's as quick as it went out. But it was really eerie and the whole thing just freaked me out and I was trying

to process it. And I reached out to him, my pastor, and said, um, I explained what happened, and I said, could this be, um, my husband's pornography used in the house opening up to a demonic realm. Uh, this unclean spirit, and he said, I would not focus on, um, your husband's pornography addiction. There's nearly nothing in the Bible that would say that, support that. I would look at your own heart and maybe bitterness that you have in your heart. That would be the reason

for the unclean spirit to attack you. So, I left that church. I, I didn't feel supported there. And I'm just wondering, is that correct? Um, I don't think so. No. um. Oh, thank you. Uh. Yeah, I. I mean, I, I think. OK. And I went to the Lord. I went to the Lord and I said, Lord, do I have bitterness in my heart towards my husband? And I heard as clear as a bell, the Lord said to me, you can't get over the fact that 12 years ago when you remarried him, I divorced him the first time because

of pornography. When you remarried him and you asked him, you, you're done with the pornography, and he said to me, yes. So he, he lied. And I, I, the Lord said to me, you can't get over that fact. Yeah. Well, yeah. We're separated right now. I asked him to move out like two months ago. OK. Yeah, I mean, to get, to get over it, what did you feel like the Lord, what like what did that mean when the Lord said you can't get over it? Is, is

God diagnosing? Is this what you felt the Lord was telling you this is the problem that you can't get over this? Or is he giving you like, oh, I understand that, you can't get over this. I don't know. I don't know. I, I think, I think, honestly, I think, I think he's saying I can understand why you're feeling this way because of the betrayal, you know, um, but that's what I think. Yeah, yeah, OK, a couple of things. Number one, I think.

I, I don't think you should think in terms of an evil spirited you and then departed from you because you have no, I mean, there's no way to to actually prove that that happened. And it's unlikely that it did happen, and not to say that something uh didn't happen, but, but that's not what it was, whatever it was, because you're the possession of God, you belong to him.

And the Bible tells us in 1 John chapter 5 verse 18, that because we belong to him, the evil one cannot touch us or in in the sense of of possessing us or taking control of us. So I would say that. OK, so whatever happened, and I almost think that whatever that was, because you don't really have an explanation for what it was, it was a it was a weird experience to just leave that leave that behind. Now, I think with your husband, you want to, if, if, if there is.

You know, bitterness there and listen, this is understandable. This is easy to go in that direction with this kind of thing where it's deceit, it's ongoing sin, uh, and, and so it's, it's easy to understand how this could uh create a bitterness type of a thing in you. I'm not saying that it has, but I'm just saying I, everybody would understand if it did. So then what you need to do is just like

you've done. Lord, is, do, do I have bitterness or Lord, if I, if I have bitterness that I'm unaware of, show it to me. Uh, Lord, I don't think I'm bitter, but, you know, help me if I am, and, and God will, God will help you. Now, I mean, the question that you said the pastor asked you during that counseling session is, do you have compassion for your husband?

Um, I would never have asked that question, especially in that kind of a context, because this is a moment where, I mean, You know, having compassion for him is one thing if it's in the sense that you're praying and you want

to see him really set free from this. But if having compassion on him means, oh, the poor guy, you know, he just can't help this and so we're not gonna worry about it, we're just gonna let it go because, uh, it's, it, you know, it's out of his control and I just have to live with this now. If that's what that was inferring, I would say that's, that's, yeah, that's exactly what it was. They did a covenant and he broke it within two weeks and he'd be like, hey, buddy,

how you doing? And I'm like, oh my gosh, I went to you because I can't take the burden any longer of of 12 years of just catching him, you know, and the trauma of that done to me and in me. And so that's why I, I, and he's, he's actually contacted me and I said, look, I, I don't have any. Any anything to against you, I just don't feel that I can be supportive in the church and I've, you know, but I don't think that was, it was good counsel.

I mean, myself, and I think that, you know, I think sometimes I've I've seen this happen many times, um, you know, in pastoral counseling, oftentimes there's the for some, some strange reason it it kind of You know, we want to be compassionate towards people's situations. Of course, repentance is the big thing that we're looking for and you know, compassion extends to uh those who repent. Those who persist, we're supposed to warn people uh in

the that position. We're supposed to let them know that, hey, this is the kind of thing that will actually bring God's judgment on you if you, if you don't turn away from it. So, yeah, you know, and you know, we, we should do that lovingly, obviously, but, but that's, that's the counsel we give, not just You know, dumping compassion on, on people who are continuing in their sense, so. So I, you know, honestly, Debbie, I just feel like you got, you got kind of a bad.

Um, you had a bad experience in that session, and I think you need to just simply make sure that in your own heart, you're letting God help you deal with your husband. And it doesn't mean you have to get back with him. It doesn't mean any of that stuff. It just means that in your heart, you want God to give you the ability to just not allow it to turn into a root of bitterness. Right, right. Do you think, do you think that that could have been like an unclean spirit harassing me? Could be, yeah,

because evil spirits can harass us. That is true, yeah. Can harass us. Yeah, cause you wrote that book, like, can evil spirits be brought. And because pornography opens up that spiritual realm. Well, I think, I think that's possible. Um, I mean, it is, you know, pornography is a dark, it's a dark, dark world and it's definitely the devil's, you know, it's his realm. So it could certainly open something up, but not. It can't affect you because you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. You're,

you know, you're God's daughter. So, Whatever else is going on, that's not gonna um affect you. Debbie, thanks for calling us today here on Pastor's Perspective. Now here's Cynthia in Lake Elsinore, who called 888-564-6173. Hi Cynthia, what's up? Hi, hi, Pastor Broderson. This is Cynthia. Um, I'm the reason why I'm calling is because I've had this, um, dream a couple of months ago. I've been trying to reach, call in and reach um you off for a while, but, um,

I've had this dream and it was really strange. Um, it was, it was, well. It was me getting on the freeway, but there was an ambulance in front, and there was bodies, and then there was a traffic, so I couldn't go any farther on the off on the on rap. So I went into the middle lane. I walked across because there was no cars coming and I was standing there in the middle of the intersection, you know, between lanes, and I was, I just started crying because I was seeing things, you know, like.

Like a big accident. And so I'm standing there and I turned to my right and I can see from behind me that there was a lion and it was a good feeling. It wasn't a bad feeling, and he had his arm paul wrapped around the front of me and he been like up towards my neck. I, I was just wondering because I know there's different um. So, so this is a dream. This then nothing happened after the dream, right? No, even after I woke up. Yeah,

that's a quite a vivid dream. And um how long ago did you have that? A couple months ago. You like my, like my wife, she has perfect recollection of her dreams and I'm, I can't remember mine.

Um, I don't have too many of them, but yeah, I. Well, Cynthia, I mean, you know, there's there's no way to know for sure what, what that meant, if it meant anything uh significant, that there's no way to know unless something were to happen down the road and then all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, this is that thing that was my dream, um. I would say, I would say the one.

The one thing that I would think would be in the reference to the lion, and the lion um embracing you or holding you, uh, Is that, you know, the Bible says that Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And so, you know, perhaps there was something there in the great uh children's series by CS Lewis, the Chronicles of Narnia. uh Aslan is the Jesus figure in that in that series, and You know, he comes and comforts and saves and all of that kind of stuff too, so yeah, so comforting.

It was, and then it was over, but it was that feeling of just looking over and Yeah, I mean, is there anything, is your life been chaotic at all or? No, no, I think um it's been great because um the last year, I would say um I have Uh, my daughter has been baptized, my 33-year-old last two weeks ago and here in Lake Elsnore at Cornerstone. Um, I got baptized at CCCM and that was 2 years ago in May, and, um, that was wonderful. I lived

closer to go there. Good, good. OK, yeah, I think, I mean, I think the comfort. You just take the comfort from it and just say whatever that was, you know, I think the Lord was giving you some comfort, comforting, yeah, but, but the, the way it happened, you know, like the accident and the ambulance and a few other people, you know, getting into the ambulance, and this is kind of strange. So I'm thinking I didn't know what it was coming from. Is it?

And, and it felt good though. Yeah, it's hard to, it's hard to say dreams are tough, you know. That's for sure. Cynthia, thanks for calling us today on Pastor's Perspective. And by the way, there's a house for rent across the street from Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa in case you wanted to live closer like you said. So come on down, and then you can start coming to church here on at the Calvary Costa Mesa Sunday mornings. OK, break time, we'll be back in a little bit. 888-564-6173

is our number. Give us a call. Welcome back to Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to call for the next 25 minutes or so. Pastor Brian

Broderson from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa is here. Yes, that's the same Pastor Brian that you hear weekday afternoons at 5:30 here on Kwave as well as weekday mornings at 7 and late night at midnight or early morning at midnight depending on how you want to look at it, right, and Sunday night live at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa right at 6:30 in the fellowship hall for Back to Basics Live, where we are teaching through the Book of Acts and

having a great time. Yay! And uh don't forget the uh Calvary Chapel conference, the Calvary Global Network conference, that's coming up soon. Want to tell us about that? Yes, of course, I want to tell us about that. Yes, this, uh, the way forward ministry according to Jesus, we are just looking forward to a fantastic time. You know, conferences are, um, conferences,

I just love the, the fellowship. I like to, you get to see people that you haven't seen in a while maybe, and it's You know, you just have a few days to really reconnect and to get encouraged, God speaks through. You know, the messages, um, and, and all of that. So I've always really been blessed by conferences. So that's why we do conferences and we encourage people to come and be part of our conferences. So the 22nd through

the 25th, is it? Yeah, I think the 25th, yes, yep, 22nd through the 25th of this month. And we will be back out at um well out in the Murrieta area we'll be at uh Reliance Church in Temecula, California. So there's a little nostalgia here because, uh, some of us are gonna be staying on the campus of Myriad Hot Springs that used to be our conference center, but we're using that as our uh hotel accommodation this time around, and they've given us a great deal, so that's really sweet.

And so anyway, um, it's just gonna be a good time. We got a fantastic lineup of speakers and just it's just gonna be, uh, if you want to be encouraged in ministry, then get signed up and come out and be part of it, and conference. Calvary Chapel.com will give you all of the information you need. Yes, indeed, conference. Calvary Chapel.com. Let's go get some more questions now. Pete, we're gonna go to you after I read one that was sent in online. Here it is. How is it?

That a church of people who are saved and have the Holy Spirit cannot recognize poor theology or cultish teaching and behaviors. If they have the Holy Spirit, why doesn't it not sit right with them? Why does the pastors subscribe to those ideas if they really have the Holy Spirit and are seeking God and His nature? That is a, it's a really good question. And funny enough,

my wife echoed that very thing to me today. We were talking about something and, um, you know, people who just tend to, to believe lies and things like that and, and, uh, you know, I, I, my comment was the fact that they don't think for themselves and. And she said, yeah, but why, why aren't they convicted by the Holy Spirit? And I said, well, honey, that's a good question. So, so I think, I think what you're dealing with is you're dealing with immaturity and people

who are immature have not developed their spiritual senses. Hebrews census in the um the fifth chapter there, the author talks about those who, um, Haven't, uh, they've They've become uh those who need milk instead of solid food. They haven't really nourished themselves on the solid food of biblical truth and so they are like babes, uh, in Christ rather than than growing up and and being mature, and they're not able because of that immature state, they're not able to uh discern good and evil.

Those who do exercise themselves in the the strong food, they are the ones who who can make the discernment. So I would say that you just are dealing with a lot of people who are spiritually immature and you say, but what about pastors? How do pastors get led astray in this? Well pastors can be spiritually immature as well, you know, just because you can. Communicate because you can teach, it doesn't necessarily mean you're mature,

just means you have a gift to speak. And um so discernment and truth is really, that's how you. That's one way, of course, love and grace and mercy and all that too, but, but you know, if people are embracing false teaching, then you know that there's something amiss with their spiritual development. For sure. All right, thanks for sending in your question. Now let's go to the phones. Here is Pete in San Pedro. Welcome to the program, Pete. How can we help you today?

Yes, thank you. I'm calling, um, uh, with my question is from uh John 14, where Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you where I am, so you can be there too, and I've always heard that it means, you know, it's gonna be awesome because how many years it's been since then. But then I heard Pastor Chuck Smith on the word for today, unless I'm mistaken, within the last week, saying that it's not about that, it's about receiving our new

glorified body. So I'm just curious which which is which. Yeah. Um, well, you know, it, it says dwelling places. I, I go to prepare, uh, a place for you. There in my father's house, there are many dwelling places. That's the, that's literally what the words translate to. Um, the old King James version said in my father's house are many mansions and uh I go to prepare a place for you. And so Jesus is going to prepare a dwelling place

for us. Does that, is that a reference to like literal sort of, you know, mansions in the sky, um, probably not, um, because actually we're going to be coming back to earth with the Lord and ruling and reigning with him here on the earth. So, Um, is it referring to the, to the body? It could be. So I, I think that it's one of those things you can't, you probably can't be dogmatic about it because Jesus doesn't really explain it beyond that.

OK, OK, great answer, and I just wanted to ask you, Pastor Brian, are you gonna be teaching, um, Sunday night at, at your church? Yes, I teach Sunday nights at 6:30 in the fellowship hall at Calvary, yeah. Great. Oh, and the fellowship. OK, great. I have a new believers that agreed to go with me and so I wanna make sure you're gonna be there. OK, good. I look forward to seeing you guys. OK, I'll look forward to seeing you then. All right, Pete,

God bless. Thank you for calling us today on Pastor's Perspective. Now, some people might be upset all of a sudden about because they're hearing this and they're thinking, wait a minute, I thought I was gonna have this big giant 14 bedroom mansion with, you know, this, that, whatever, and so you're saying that might not be the case? Um, Maybe not, right? Yeah. I mean, you know, the word mansion, it's funny that that was even a translation at a certain point because it is, I mean, it is literally

just dwelling places. Uh, so you think like, Um, you know, a dwelling place it's, it's pretty, it's a pretty, um, A nondescriptive description, right? It doesn't really tell you, but then. You know, somebody said Let's say mansions here, but I, I heard somebody once say, well, If, if you really understood what God was preparing for you,

you would realize it is a mansion. And so that's why mansions is a good Is a good translation compared to the tent we have now, I guess I mean if, if it is your body, if, if it is the glorified body that he is preparing for us, then yes, indeed. I mean, that's gonna be absolutely amazing. And the contrast that Paul gives in uh 2 Corinthians 5, you know, um, this earthly tent, our our present dwelling place, if our earthly tent is destroyed.

We have a building from God not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens, and for this we groan, desiring to be clothed with that heavenly body. So, very good, could be. Pete, thank you for your phone call, and, uh, let me read another one that was sent in online and then Allison, you'll be next, so hang on. Here is Sylvester's question. Can a person be so And he did put a lot of os there in his email to us, so I'm not just being overly

dramatic here. Can a person be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good? Well, it depends on what heavenly minded means, I think. Um, it If, if heavenly minded means that you. Or just sort of walking around with your head in the clouds and you're not dealing with reality and you're. Not Um, Understanding that. You know, God has called us to work out our salvation here on earth with fear and trembling, uh, and you just live in, in kind of a make-believe world.

Which sometimes people do do. um, they, I, I think. Become in lots of ways ineffective in their Potential ministry. But if you're heavenly minded in the right sense, That you're grounded. In the word of God. And you're thinking in terms of the way God thinks, and you're seeing things through the lens through which God sees things, like a, uh, you know, we talk about a Christian worldview.

I think the more the more we're developed in that area, the more the better off and more effective we're gonna be for. Serving the Lord here in the world. So, so if it's a If it's just sort of a. Um, pie in the sky. Float on the clouds idea of heaven, then you're. You're not gonna do much good. But if it's a real. Uh, grip on Scripture and the mission of God and those things, then of course you're gonna do. Really well I mean, I I'd like to think that we're heavenly minded people, you know.

But We're not weird, like, most of the time anyway. Although we were talking the other day about keeping Christianity weird, which reminded me of, yes, yes, and I wanted to ask you a follow up about that and, um, thought about it the other morning is when we say to keep Christianity weird, but yet, does that mean Christians are supposed to be weird? What is the what is the difference? And I mean we are peculiar people, but what's that, what's that fine line.

Yeah, peculiar. I don't know if that's really the best word that's ever been used to translate that passage, but, uh, OK, so, The weirdness of Christianity is the miraculous, the supernatural, that when, when somebody says keep, keep it weird, that's what, in the best sense, that's what they're talking about. Don't don't get it of the supernatural. Don't try to take away from the reality of the miraculous. Don't deny that Jesus

actually did rise from the dead. Don't be, um, afraid to say that he, he died for the sins of the world. Don't be afraid to Have confidence that you can actually pray and God hears you and um you can expect to see God work in your life and you believe that he's living and powerful and moving today. Don't be afraid to do any of that. Do, do all of that. Now, for lots and lots and lots of people, that's the weird stuff.

So keeping it weird means, yeah, just keep, keep doing the real believing that, yeah, don't be a weirdo. Yourself. And you know, sometimes people they cross over into weird they're just, they're weird and awkward and people are like, uh, that's. You know, it's, it's, it's one thing to have the gospel offend people. It's another thing to be offensive to people just because of the way you are. Um, presenting the gospel sometimes, you know, that, that happens too.

So let's not be weird awkward people, let's be God's people, and let's embrace all that. That the scripture gives us to embrace, and people will think that's weird, but that's OK. Good stuff. Allison, you're next. Thanks for calling us today on Pastor's Perspective from Riverside. How can we help you?

I am going through something right now. I am under witchcraft attack from, uh, and, uh, that stemmed from an ex-boyfriend and Um, the evil touches me. I'm, I'm being attacked. I feel different, uh, arrows, if you will, um. Burning, you know, they, they can actually get into my car, they leave stuff in my car, they get into my, where I live and, and throw stuff, the, the dust. Is blown on me. They're using dust and different things to be blown on me on all my clothes, my shoes.

I can shake my clothes and the dust is on me. Um, whatever they're using to throw on me, it, it, uh, it burns my legs. I am told not to talk about it because Um, well, it's just giving more ammunition to the person, and, but, um, and I'm trying not to talk about it, but I heard, you know, I was listening and I heard you said that, you know, the evil one cannot touch us well it's touching me and I'm feeling it.

the control. So to be taken possession of by the devil, um, those, the whole world lies in the grip of the wicked one, John says, but the evil one does not touch us or or possess us or control us in that way. Now, there are occasions when there can be spiritual warfare that manifests itself in physical types of affliction. Uh, Paul talked about a thorn in the flesh that he had a messenger of Satan that buffeted him, and it seems that he's describing some sort of a, of a condition

of a physical, uh, an illness of some sort. We don't know because he doesn't really go into the details on it. Um, but he, but he makes those statements and then we see in scripture, we see examples of that occasionally being the case with people. But generally speaking, it's people who are um. Not believers in the sense that they were under the control of demons and then Jesus delivered them and they

be they became believers. So so you're a believer, so you're so you're in a category where you're under the protection of the spirit and now the things that you're describing. Now, whether those are are really. Manifestations of spiritual warfare or not, it's very, very difficult to, to know, and it could be you have um something going on in your, in your body physically that's causing

these kinds of things. It could be you have a neurological kind of a disorder that's happening, that's causing these sensations and so forth. So to say that this is the devil and this is witchcraft and You know, there's dust in my car and on my house and on my dress and all of that. That's going beyond what the Bible really, um, allows us to say definitely about spiritual warfare. So at this point, you're

just sort of guessing that maybe that's what's happening. And, and I would say that that's probably not what's happening. And maybe your imagination is just kind of, you know, gotten the better of you and and run away a little bit. But I would also say, Alison, that you obviously, um, you know the Lord, you trust him, and you know the scripture because you quoted it to me.

And so just keep trusting in God's word and know that the evil one cannot control you or possess you, because that's what God's word says, regardless of what you're feeling like. So this is why God gave us the Bible, so we could discern things uh that are real and things that aren't real, because we can think a lot of things, we can imagine a lot of things, we can come up with all kinds of different theories about this, that or the other thing.

But the Bible is the place where we get the, the, the clear cut answers, and in this case, it's clear cut that you as a child of God cannot be controlled or possessed by the devil. Allison, thank you for your phone call today here on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is our number. And, uh, here's two questions that were sent in by Samuel online through Kwave.com. He writes, Hello, brothers in the Lord, I have two questions.

Are we going to see Solomon in heaven? And why did the Lord allow polygamy? Why did the Lord, that why did the Lord, that's the, that's the the one, you know, Pastor Chuck always used to say, now, you know, don't ask me why did the Lord unless he told us why, um, we can only speculate. So, but are we going to see Solomon in heaven? Yes, it seems to me, as you read Ecclesiastes, which is a um most people believe that this was written by Solomon.

That Solomon, although he does have a season where he has gone astray, he's actually fallen into uh idolatry because of the influence of his wives and so forth. Um, it does seem as you read Ecclesiastes that he comes back around and the end of the book, he basically says this is the, the whole purpose in life is to fear God and um that's what's that's what everything is about. So you might wanna Check that out and read those last chapters, one or

two chapters of Ecclesiastes, and I think you'll see that there. Um, why did God allow polygamy? Well, God has allowed a lot of things that he hasn't approved of because he's given people the, the freedom. To Act, uh, according to their will and sometimes against his will. And so polygamy was never God's will, but he did allow it to take place. Uh, in the beginning, God

created them male and female. He said for this woman, uh, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother cling to his wife, the two will become flesh, one flesh, um, what God has joined, let no one separate. That's the beginning. And then we go through this long history. Where polygamy is a part of even the, the people of God are engaging in it. And um in some cases, like in Solomon's case, it's very, very bad outcome.

Uh, in the case of others, it's, it's different and the circumstances are different, but then we come back to Jesus, and when we get to Jesus, Jesus takes us all the way back to the beginning and says this is how God intended to be and this is how it is to be from now on. And so Jesus brings us back to the the um monogamous relationship. Samuel, thank you for sending in your questions. And now

let's do one more. This one is from Don, who wrote in on the pastor's perspective Facebook page using messenger. Don writes, in Mark 9:13, it says, Elijah has already come, and they abused him. I have heard John the Baptist referred to as Elijah. Was he Elijah or was there another record of him coming? John the Baptist was not Elijah, but he uh came

in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And so when you read about the birth of John the Baptist back in the Gospel of Luke in the first chapter there, you will see that that is what was declared concerning this child that he would go forth in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the parents. And so, John, um, John the Baptist becomes a type. Jesus says at one point, John is Elijah if you can handle that.

But then he says, but Elijah will come. So Jesus is just affirming that John is a he is a type of Elijah. Um, he's the, the, the forerunner of the Messiah in his first coming, and Elijah will be the forerunner of the Messiah in his second coming. Very good, Don. Thank you for sending in your question online, and we are out of time for today's program of

pastor's perspective. We did it. We did it. We're gonna archive on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify in just a few minutes if you missed any portion of this or just want to hear it again or share it with your friends, and then we'll be back with you on Monday. All right, yes, I thought you were gonna say something else. Oh, I know what you're gonna say. I won't be here on Monday, but you will. Oh, that's right. I'll be

here with Char Char Broderson. By the way, Char is teaching this coming Sunday morning as he does every Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. Well, he's been gone for the past couple of weeks. He's back this week he was gone last week, but one week, yes, OK, so Gospel of Mark Gospel of Mark, yep, Sunday mornings at 8:30 or 11 if you can't be here in person.

You can watch online at live.ccm.com or listen to the 11 a.m. service live here on the radio and Pastor Brian Broderson Sunday night at 6:30 at Calvarey Chapel Costa Mesa. More details about that at back to Basradio.com/live. All right guys, talk to you later. Have a great weekend. See you at church on Sunday. Thanks for listening and watching Pastor's Perspective.