This week, well, this is part two of a session with a Bible translator, and this man has translated the Bible into Arabic. And as we mentioned last week, and I encourage you, if you haven’t heard part one, you need to go there, because our guest, Tom – and we’re only using his first name because of the safety factor; Islam, especially terrorism, it can strike anywhere, and we just want to be prudent. We want to deal with this in as safe a way as possible, always looking to the Lord for protection, but the Lord wants us to use our head in this and do things that are…where we don’t get in our own way. Would you say that, Tom?

This week, well, this is part two of a session with a Bible translator, and this man has translated the Bible into Arabic. And as we mentioned last week, and I encourage you, if you haven’t heard part one, you need to go there, because our guest, Tom – and we’re only using his first name because of the safety factor; Islam, especially terrorism, it can strike anywhere, and we just want to be prudent. We want to deal with this in as safe a way as possible, always looking to the Lord for protection, but the Lord wants us to use our head in this and do things that are…where we don’t get in our own way. Would you say that, Tom?

This week and next week we’re going to talk about Bible translations with a man who has been directly involved in translating the Bible. And this will not be a promotion for any Bible in particular, any version, unless you speak Arabic, but we will be discussing things regarding translations that can alter what God has communicated in His Word. The name of the gentleman I’ll be talking with is Tom, and that’s as much personal information about him as I will give you. Why is that? Well, Tom, as I indicated, has been involved in translating the Bible into Arabic, and that in this day of sadly, tragically, widespread Islamic terrorism puts him in harm’s way. So, for his safety, we’ll go by his first name only. Tom, welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7.

We’re dealing with New Apostolic Reformation, and my guest has been Chris Quintana, and Chris is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Cypress, which is located in Orange County, as I mentioned, and Chris has been featured in the video series Wide Is the Gate, which is an apologetic documentary that deals with trends in the church that have undermined the biblical faith and have drawn many Christians away from the Word of God. So, Chris, welcome back to Search the Scriptures 24/7.

Chris: Well, thank you, Tom. It’s great to be back!

Our topic for this week and next is the development in Christendom called the New Apostolic Reformation. We’ll also refer to it by its initials, NAR, as we discuss, again, this New Apostolic Reformation movement.

Joining me to talk about this widespread movement within Christianity is Chris Quintana. Chris is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Cypress, which is located in Orange County, California. And Chris has been featured in the video series Wide Is the Gate, which is an apologetic documentary that deals with trends in the church that have undermined biblical faith and have drawn many Christians away from the Word of God. Chris, welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7.

Chris: Well, thank you. It’s great to be on the show again. I enjoy the time with you!

Our topic is Calvinism. But we’re approaching it a little differently. This is not an apologetics thing. We’re not arguing back and forth about Calvinism. What Jim is helping me with is over the years, Calvinism is one of the most puzzling belief systems, and if you’re familiar with The Berean Call, you know we’ve looked at quite a few things. But my concern here is that we’re talking about something within the church. We’re not talking about Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witnesses or whatever it might be, in a cultic fashion. We’re talking about a belief system that has greatly influenced Christianity – Christendom – in the last 500 years. And it’s growing stronger. I could say, I think, and back it up, that today – or at least within the last ten years – it has become militant, aggressive; it has split churches. It’s just a burden for me and a concern that I have. Why? Because, number one, I have family members who are Calvinists. Number two, I have great friends – and I really mean good friends. We probably don’t go to this issue, although I would like to, from time to time, address these things because I’m concerned about the teachings and all of that.

Gary: Welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7, a radio ministry of The Berean Call with T. A. McMahon. I’m Gary Carmichael. Thanks for being here! In today’s program, Tom begins a two-part series with guest Jim McCarthy. Here’s TBC executive director, Tom McMahon.

Tom: Thanks, Gary. As Gary mentioned, our topic for today is Calvinism. It’s a theology, a belief system, that’s had an impact on Christianity for about 500 years, depending who’s credited for starting it off. Since the theology is named after John Calvin, and based upon much of his writing, few would argue against starting with him. And of course, he lived from 1509-1564. Our guest, who will discuss the subject, is Jim McCarthy. He’s the author of a number of books including John Calvin Goes to Berkeley. His other books include: The Gospel according to Rome, which, in my view - and I’ve told you this many times, Jim - in my view it’s the best book out there for a view on Catholicism from a biblical perspective. And Jim, like myself, grew up in a Roman Catholic family, and, I should add, an extended Catholic family that included aunts who were nuns and uncles who were priests. Now I mention that because Jim’s books supply information regarding the experiential side of his former faith, which to me is a major part of the practice of Roman Catholicism. Jim’s ministry is Good News for Catholics. He’s also very much involved in a discipleship program, primarily for young adult Christians.

Jim, welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7.

Jim: Thank you, Tom, it’s always good being with you.

If you’ve followed our discussion, the discussion with Ed Newby that I’m going to reintroduce in a minute, but we’re dealing with things like the influence of evangelical Christians – or Christians per se – Christendom, because of our affinity for conservatism. And we are conservative, especially in comparison to the liberal ideas and views that are out there. But our concern is how influential are entities, whether they be talk show hosts, columnists, whatever they might be, how are they influencing us with regard to their conservative worldview – political? Social? Even moral, in some cases. How are they influencing those who claim to go by the Bible? And what we’ve seen, many have an affinity for conservative views to the point of making it part of their religious worldview. And that’s not good…from our perspective.

Today we’re going to address more of the same. Last week, if you’ll check out part one, we dealt with things like Glenn Beck and his influence as a conservative – not just talk show host but columnist – and his views and how he has intermixed his religious worldviews, whether it be Mormonism, New Age ideas; we talked about his book with the psychiatrist, and how he presents - and folks, you can check us out on this – his book Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life, coauthored with psychiatrist Keith Ablow, so you not only have psychobabble there, but you have New Age ideas and concepts, and he specifically lays out what his theology is, even though he tries to play to a wider group of people.

Today, however – well, first of all my associate in the studio today is Ed Newby. He’s a TBC staff member. He handles most of our correspondence, Q&As; he produces our online updates, and again, he’s a researcher and contributor to TBC’s newsletter. So, again, Ed, welcome back!

Ed: Thanks, Tom.