 Welcome to Hard Questions. This is where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Ray Hypo Providence, Presbyterian Church, Robinson Township. Pastor Mark Motor, Berean Church in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly Guide Church, Bethel Park, PA. Janthony Gilbert, pastor of another level in the North Hills area. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us today. I'm excited to get started. We have some interesting questions today. We're talking about sinning, about demons taking over our bodies, and the holy kiss, that's a lot to dive into here, Pete. But so we're taking your questions from the Hard Questions Hotline, which I love doing this. So let's start with this one. I've sent the sinner's prayer and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but I still find myself sinning sometimes. And I don't know what to do. Could you point me to some Bible scriptures? That may help me. Thank you. Amen. Pete, I'm gonna start with you on this one. What was that gentleman's name? Do we have his name? I don't, I don't think we have his name. Okay, we don't have his name. Well, let me call you sir. Sir, let me explain this to you. Thank you for your honesty. If you were to compare the life of King Saul and King David, you'll find that David out sinned, saw far more sinful sins. If I could put it that way, then King Saul. But David repented. And we're told in 1st John, chapter one, eight through 10. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now here's the key. If we confess our sins, it sounds like that's what you're doing. He, Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. So first of all, I thank you for your honesty. Then the thought that comes to my mind is what prevailing sin is taking place? And then examining that prevailing sin and then working with that. In Romans chapter six, it says, whatever you yield your members servant to, that's whom you're gonna be slave to. Let me use an example. Let's say it's cigarette smoking. If it's cigarette smoking, as long as you continue to yield yourself to that, then it's gonna be Lord over you instead of you being Lord over it. So thank you for your honesty. I think you asked for some battle of scriptures. One, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive. So now there's therefore no condemnation. He's faithful and just to forgive. So it's, and then the Bible also tells us to submit ourselves to God, resist the enemy and we're told he'll flee from us. So this is some battle scripture I would tell you. Father, I submit myself to you right now. I resist the enemy. You know, don't get into this, it's not happening, it's not real. It is happening, it is real. But it's in open honesty and truth where God can really work in you and through you. I think that it really brings up the question of why do we struggle after salvation? And Ray, maybe you could speak to that. Yeah, I agree with Pete. I mean, we're always gonna sin while we're in this body. That's, I think scripture is clear. If we say, you know, we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves. And the Bible says even our good works are filthy rags in the sight of God. There's always sin mixed in. But as Pete was saying, there's a difference in sort of being a slave to sin and being a Christian who's fighting against sin. And if you're looking for spiritual growth, I think there's really no shortcut to that. I mean, you have to put in the battle and that means getting in the Word on a regular basis. That means a prayer life on a regular basis. Paul talks about in Romans to make no provision for the lust of the flesh, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a daily thing. And you're going to be assaulted daily from the world, from the flesh, from the devil. And, you know, that's life in this world. We glory that the victory is ours in Christ. We're forgiven when we go to him. But, you know, you're going to continue to sin as long as you live. The key is to bring it to the Lord and to continue to trust in him and seek to grow in him in the way he's provided through the means of grace, the word, prayer, fellowship, part of being part of a church, serving others. All those things will help you to get stronger in the spirit and to help weaken the flesh. That's right. And hopefully not to stay in that same place. We all are living in this type of flesh. Well, let me go to you, Jay. What are your thoughts on this? You know, one of the things that come to my mind is there's what's called positional sanctification and progressive. Positional sanctification is what you said, you prayed the prayer, you've accepted Christ, you're no more his son or daughter than you'll ever be the day you accept Christ. But then there's that progressive sanctification where now he's taken you out of the world, he's got to take the world out of you. And that's the process. And I think one of the lost arts in the body of Christ that I have even made more of a commitment to more now than ever, considering the day and hour that we live in is a discipleship track. It sounds like what you need is someone to grow you. And discipleship, let me say this for everybody that's watching, discipleship is not a class you take. It's a life you live. And you don't know how to live this life. So you've accepted the prayer or accepted Jesus as your savior and prayed the prayer, but now you have to learn how to get victory. So having a sit down weekly with somebody that walks with you, that invests the word in your life, prays with you, let that pastoral anointing begin to grow your life is what's gonna help you to overcome and stop those sinning gaps that you have that may be falling into from time to time. I think that's so good. And I actually grew up in a church that taught like entire sanctification. It was one of their doctrines. And except that I don't know anybody to live on exactly like that entirely sanctified. Mark, maybe you could speak to that. All of these answers were excellent. Being in the Word and prayer is so important. One thing that I think many Americans are not great at, they get isolated. And isolation is one of the enemies biggest weapons against us. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a great quote. He said, sin demands to have a man or a woman by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him. So it is so important to be amongst the gathering of the saints, not just watching on television, we love television, Cornerstone television is awesome, but we need to have flesh and blood people that speak into our lives that hold us accountable, that encourage us. So it's really important to gather together with others, be held accountable and have iron, sharp and iron. I love that. And I think, sir, that's the key there is yes, battle with those scriptures. Yes, follow a heart after the Lord, be discipled, but be part of a body that encourages you and holds you accountable. Great answers. Let's go on to our next hotline question. My question is, when a demon takes, can a demon take over your body when you have the Holy Spirit in you? All right, Jay, why don't you dive in this? Not sure that the situation, of course, but... Yeah, well, just taking the question at face value, can a demon take over your body if you have the Holy Spirit? Of course not. Matter of fact, if you can't have a demon come and take residence where God is, you know, do you have to, and for a demon to take possession of you, demons are very, very, very skilled and knowledgeable about legal right. They have to have a right that's given to them. And if Jesus Christ has bought and paid, now it doesn't mean that I personally, I'm not getting into it once they've always saved and all that, but I personally believe, you know, if somebody decides to backslide and they open up a door, you can digress. But at the same token, I don't believe that a person can be full of the Holy Spirit if you read in Romans chapter eight, tell them how the spirit of Christ is within you. You know, I mean that sin can't dwell there. So you can't have a demon operating in you and Jesus kind of saying, at the same time saying, well, I don't have any authority here. If Jesus is in you, that demon can't come in here and say get out of the way. I believe you can be oppressed. I believe you can deal with battles. I believe there can be different things that you're battling with, but there can't be a demon taking over your life because either Jesus is Lord of all or he's Lord not at all. That's right, yeah. And I would agree. I don't believe a Christian can be demon possessed, but I do believe they can be oppressed in their body, in their mind, but Acts 10 38 spoke about the ministry of Jesus and it said that Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. So the good news is, is there oppression? Yes, can we be free? Absolutely. It's not possession, it is oppression, but thank God we have freedom in the name of Jesus. Let's go over to Reif. Yeah, I would agree with the men. Demon possession is something that's different than what we face as Christians today, I think. And I think even when demons were possessing people, and I would make a distinction at that level, which really isn't worth getting into, but that when Christ was doing that, even then, if you were a believer, you had the Holy Spirit, the principle that you said, Jay, a demon can't come in and, you know, greater is he who is within you than he is within the world. But now what we have to worry about is that he is prowling about. He is seeking someone that it may devour, and I don't think that means possess. I think that means tempt into sin. I think that means hinder from growing in grace. You know, when you're alone, becoming selfish, becoming corrupt, embracing false doctrine, all the things that Satan really does do, and we are to resist him, we are to put on the whole armor of God so that we might be able to stand against the walls of Satan. So, you know, Satan, demons are very real. Christians have to face them as one of their enemies, but God is greater, and we need to trust in God and go to him. Good, that's good. Yeah, Pete, final thoughts on that? Years ago, there was a book out, Pigs of the Parlor, and oh my, this is late 70s, early 80s, and so many believers were running around thinking they had a demon. I had the joy one day of being David Duplace, I don't know if you remember him, Mr. Pentecost. I had the joy of being his chauffeur for the whole day, and we were in the car and I leaned over to him, I said, brother Duplace, explain this, because again, I just came into ministry, and he shared it with me, and it was so knowledgeable, and I'll never forget it, he said, young man, and you know, he's pat my arm, he said, young man, let me share this with you. My Bible tells me, in the Old Testament, it tells me that the blood of the lambs were able to keep the death angel away from it, and he said, how much more the blood of Jesus that has stained the door of my heart to keep me, and I've never forgotten that to this day, the blood of Jesus is more powerful than the blood of any lamb, and he's able to keep us. That is really good, Pete, I'm gonna remember that one. Thank you so much for the question. Well, coming up in 60 seconds, we ask, does the Bible really call us to give our neighbors a holy kiss? Stay tuned. We just need to publish the theological discussions that happen during the commercial sometimes, but anyway, today on Hard Cush, questions were taken on your hotline questions, so let's go to the next one. Ray, for healing, for an unbeliever, will God answer that prayer? Right, this is an interesting one. There's a few different facets to a simple question, but go ahead, Ray. I mean, I think God answers the prayers of believers for things that are in accordance with his will, and I think that's really the foundational answer. I don't think God's looking at whether or not the person you're praying for is a believer or not. We should be praying for all sorts of people, for kings and all in authority, you know, the Bible says. So we should be praying for people, and I think healing is one of the things that we pray for, but I don't think that God promises healing to everybody, and I think that's true even at the time of the apostles when some of them were healing people miraculously. I mean, Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4, verse 20, Arastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophemus, I left sick in myelitis. Why did he leave him sick if he could heal everyone? And so even when you had the gift of miraculous healing, we don't see it operating across the board. And he writes again about Epaphroditus being sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him. Paul looked at it as mercy when God healed someone, and I think that's one of the things we need to understand when we go to God in prayer, we don't command God. God doesn't have to do what we're saying. We have to submit our will to him, and I think we have to say as Jesus did, not my will but thy will be done. Someday, some illness or sickness is gonna take everyone out of this world if Jesus doesn't come first. So he's not gonna heal everyone all the time, but I would encourage you to pray for healing and ask God to do it. Just recognize you're asking for mercy, and there's no trick to, oh, if I do it this way, it's gonna happen. Well, I mean, that's a great point. Also, Pete, this whole thing of praying for an unbeliever, this could be a testimony to that. And Tom, I agree because I've heard people say, well, you can't pray for unbelievers, but the woman of Canaan who had a demon-possessed daughter, she came, the disciple said, Lord, will you get her out of here? She's bothering us, but she remained persistent to the point that, and Jesus gave her a little test there about, hey, I didn't come for you. I came from the lost sheep of Israel, but she remained persistent, and as a result, her daughter was set free. What was his name? Naaman in the Old Testament, full of leprosy. And one of the servant girls said, hey, if he could only get, so I want to attack this from the point of, can you pray for non-believers? I tell you what, I take every opportunity I can for non-believers for that reason, that intent, that. Naaman didn't want to do what the prophet wanted to do. Oh, he did not. Oh, he did not. I went all around the dirty river and did my son seven times. Can he just wave his hand, you know? But it was a testimony to what God wanted to do. All right. I think of the great commission command in Mark's gospel, which is the best of the four gospels. And Jesus said, go and preach the gospel to every creature. And then he mentions five signs. These signs will follow those who believe. The fifth sign, they will lay hands upon the sick and they will recover. It doesn't say just believers, it says the sick. So I believe we have that right, that authority. And we are not the healer. So our job is to pray the prayer of faith. But we have an outreach in our church called Supernatural Outreach. And we go and minister to felt needs of believers and unbelievers. Sometimes they're saved and then God cleans them up. Sometimes they're healed and then they get saved. So I think we should take every opportunity to preach the gospel and minister to the sick. Yeah, very good. I think I'll just bring more on what you said, Jesus talked about the Samaritan woman said, it's not fit to give the children's bread to the dogs, but her faith had the ability to trump Jesus' theology. If I can even go that far. I mean, so it shows you how powerful, even an unbeliever or a dog could be healed. I mean, there's a lot of things you can think of. I mean, Jesus called a woman a dog. I mean, now where I came from, that was fighting words. I'm serious. If we had a prayer meeting and everybody prayed and a voice came out of heaven, hey, a bunch of dogs, I'm not giving you anything. I mean, we'd all go change our religion or something, but you know, it's true that I think Jesus was maybe drawing her out of herself too. So I mean, if Jesus would do that there, then I believe also that He'll do it now for the unbeliever and I believe, what is this, you guys have probably heard it where it said that healing is the dinner bell for the gospel. So I believe God used that a lot of times to show people His willingness to die for them and by meeting their need as a result, He can, they can hear the gospel more clearly. Very good. Very good. Great. Thank you again for the question. Appreciate that. This next one's really interesting. So let's go to the next one. I read it a few times in the Bible, it mentions greeting one another with a holy kiss. What exactly does that mean? And is there a modern day equivalent? A modern day equivalent. All right, Mark, we're gonna let you tackle this. Well, I found out that there are four different times where that phrase is mentioned in the New Testament. First Corinthians 16, 20, for example, all the brothers and sisters here send you greetings, greet one another with a holy kiss. And I think the key word there is not kiss, it's holy. There are a lot of guys in my church that would love to do some kissing, but it wouldn't necessarily be holy with the sisters. And so to me, that was a sign of affection. I know in some cultures today we'll kiss on the cheek, something of that nature. The only thing I would say in our particular culture is right now we have a hyper-sensitive culture about things, and I know sometimes women will come and say, there's a particular man that when he hugs me or whatever, it's a little bit over the top, and I'm not comfortable with that. So if someone wants to do that, I don't have an issue with that, but I think a handshake, a hug, or a fist bump might be a little bit more appropriate in our culture. Let's have a holy fist hug. I mean, if it's guys with guys, that's a little different, but if it's a guy with a girl, sometimes you've gotta be careful with that. But the reality is, church is not just about coming, getting mind and going, it is about community, it is about fellowship, it is about connection. Well, that is a great answer. It's interesting, some of us have gone, I came up through the charismatic movement, and it was a big thing of that, you know? It was a big thing. I agree with one another with a holy kiss, Pete. There's probably experiences about that. Well, you know, I grew up in an all Sicilian family, and when we came, aunts and uncles, and I'm talking to numerous, when you walked into the house as a child, you had the grandma and grandpa first, every uncle was hugged and kissed. Hello, and when it came time. On the lips, was that the kiss on the lips? Some were lips, some were lips. That's just the way. I don't know about that, Pete. That's just the way it was in those days. Truthfully, you know, my dad and I, and every time we met when he was alive, and we hadn't seen each other for months, we'd kiss on the lips. I mean, that's just the way it was. So it was a cultural fact. But you know, I did a little deep dive, as my associate pastor likes to say, deep dive on this, and the kiss on the cheek was used for a greeting. It was implied friendship and acceptance, and implies no elite groups. I have a couple guys in my church, and going back to what you would just say, Mark, about hugging, I will not embrace a woman. If I hug a woman, I'll hug around, then you know what I mean? The shoulder. I think we need to be careful of embracing. Now, some guys, you get it. Again, in the 70s, it was like everything was like, oh, this is a new thing. It's interesting. Just a quick story before we take a break is that my dad was a steel worker. They don't greet one another with a holy kiss in the steel mill, okay? And so he would have Bible studies, different things he would invite people to church. So a friend of his from the steel mill walks into the greeter at our church in the middle of the charismatic movement. The guy gives him a big hug and kisses him on the cheek. My dad's friend turned right around and walked out of the church, okay? Now, that person came to faith in Christ, okay? But it wasn't because of the holy kiss. Holy kiss was in the way, I don't know. From a Presbyterian perspective over there, we just got a few seconds. There are different social conventions, and this is just, Christians are to love one another. And so when you see one, we greet one another in the Lord. Those conventions change. You know, I personally, I used to always hug the older ladies as I get older. I'm not sure that I can make that distinction much, but I don't go in unless the woman comes to try to hug me first and then I'll respond to it. But, and there are a few that kiss, and when we went to Mexico, the women would kiss you on the lips. And okay, that's the culture there. That's what I did, I mean, but like right smack on the lips, I was like, okay. All right, well on that though, we're gonna take a break. We'll be back right after this. So here's our last hotline question of the show. I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. So I was curious, is that, was that caused by something I did, like a shin or something like that? And secondly, everybody always says that if it's God's will to heal you, that he will heal you. But all through scripture, it says like, where people have been healed and God always tells them it's their faith that healed up. So I was curious on if it's related to God's will to heal you or if it really, God's will is to heal you, and it's your faith that prevents that healing. Thanks, bye. Well, thank you for calling in and our heart is with you and we believe for healing for you. But we wanna dive into some of the, there's kind of really two parts that I see that some sin causes problem and also about healing. Could you talk about that? Well, I'll start with the sin piece. I wanna be very careful with this because I don't wanna insinuate anything that you might be going through and that you're, cause I don't wanna put fear in you, but it's the same token, you know, like we know smoking causes cancer. We know that, you know, if you're around a lot of asbestos, it can cause cancer. Doesn't necessarily mean that asbestos cause sin, but there are natural things that cause cancer. If we smoke, if we're unhealthy, you know, you reap what you sow. So there can be things we can bring on. It's not a judgment. There are just natural laws. That's the key. It's not a judgment. We're not talking about a judgment here. We're not talking about a judgment at all. My mother smoked for many years of her life and died of breast cancer. It was in her family and she died at 59. I personally believe part of it was how she took care of her body. It's just, you know, you have one body. If it breaks, you die. I mean, just how, if you eat a lot of sugar, it's not judgment. It's just you're insulin dependent now. You know, so things begin to break, insulin resistant rather. And so that number of the things that I think we have to look at, if not, this is the reality. Even if you did, even if you smoked, even if you brought it on, he's a forgiving God. He's a graceful God. He's a merciful God. You ask him, say, Lord, I repent. And then you say, Lord, I'm gonna believe you that just as you healed me of my sin, which is the root of all sickness, you will also heal me of my sickness as well. Good, all right. I think with that, we recognize that we do live in a fallen world. So there are times that things come against us that are just because of the world we live in. But I know for myself, sometimes there can be blessing blockers, some things that block the blessing of God. And so I often say, Lord, is there anything I am doing or not doing that I need to deal with? And so it's always healthy to say, Lord, is there anything I've done or haven't done? I'll get that right with you because I don't want any blessing blocker, something that I can fix to hinder me from walking in my healing. Amen, amen, amen to that. Let's go to... Okay, real quick. Elisha Elijah, what did Elisha ask of Elisha? A double portion. And if you study all the miracles that Elisha did, but the Bible tells us, now we have Elijah who's taken up in the fiery chariot, but then we have Elisha when he dies, he dies of a sickness known of man. So for us to say that Elisha died because of sin in his life, we gotta be careful of that. So sweetheart, I just wanna encourage you, there is now therefore no condemnation. Don't let the enemy tell you you have cancer because of sin. That's right, absolutely. And I would say the same thing, and I would encourage you to pray and my heart goes out to you and God can heal and God does heal people, but I can't guarantee you that he will. And I think the Bible is clear on that. I think if you're making that distinction, say is it that I don't have enough faith? No, I don't think so. And I think when Jesus healed people and he asked them, do you believe that I am able to do this? There was a connection there with the Messiah. The Bible said the Messiah, when he came, the lame would leap like a deer. He would open the eyes of the blind. He would open the mouth of the dumb and stuff like that. So when he was saying that, that was believing in him as the Messiah. And therefore he did these signs and wonders to show who he was. And so because you're sick and you have faith and you're not healed, doesn't mean you're not trusting in Christ. He's not doing that on earth anymore. I would encourage you to pray and trust in him because he is able to heal you, but it's not because you don't have enough faith. That's absolutely true. And we just want to pray for you right now, sister, and believe in the name of Jesus for healing for you. We just trust, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus, if you would heal our sister, raise her up and give her new physical life in this life, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, we love to end with the scripture and we're going to end with this one. It says, yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. That's Romans 4, 20 and 21. Thank you so much for joining us for this edition of Hard Questions.