Walter Martin (Bible Answer Man) Jul. 1985 Logos Part 2

Walter Martin (Bible Answer Man) Jul. 1985 “Logos” Part 2

Charisma Gifts (Part) (Continuation of the last topic in Part 1) Dr. Martin has a cassette called Charisma: Cultic, Occultic, or Christian.

The Missing Years (India—Reincarnation) Local station ran a program called “The Missing Years.” Caller had two problems with the program. One was that Jesus had gone to India, and the other was that the early church fathers had deleted any reference to reincarnation. Dr. Martin replied that there is not one shred of evidence that Jesus ever went to India. The reason we know that is because He was an orthodox Jew. He spent His life in the area of Palestine. No one ever gave any evidence that Jesus ever left this area. On the second issue, they should produce the evidence that reincarnation was deleted from the Bible. No church father ever mentioned this. Dr. Martin did his doctoral dissertation on the early church fathers (first five centuries), and he can say authoritatively that they had nothing to do with suppressing any subject like this. As a matter of fact they did their best to answer the critics, and to preserve the record of the New Testament. If the New Testament were destroyed, you could create 95% of it from the quotations of the church fathers.

Hinduism Caller said they are building a Hindu temple in the Bay Area. Dr. Martin said you can get really good information from the book “Death of a Guru.” He suggests getting permission to reproduce portions of the book and make tracts out of them, then put tracts around the temple. He said to go with other Christians, and ask the Lord to protect them.

Alleged Discrepancies in the Bible John Haley in the book “Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible” deals with these. (The caller talks about the death of Judas).

Acupuncture and Chiropractic Caller’s doctor recommended a chiropractor that does acupressure and acupuncture (does Dr. Martin approve?). Dr. Martin said acupressure is meaningless and does not do any good. Acupuncture has scientifically been validated when done properly by blocking pain to the brain when drugs do not work. It was originally based in the occult. Now as practiced by Chinese medicine it is not occult, because the Chinese communist doctors are hardly occultists. They have found out that the ancient practices have scientific validity so they have discarded the religious aspect of it. Caller asked about the general work of a chiropractor. Dr. Martin said there are some good chiropractors and some bad ones. Contact the chiropractic association and find out who they recommend.

Reorganized LDS Caller talked to someone in the Reorganized LDS, and wanted to know how it is different from the Mormon Church. Dr. Martin said there is a chapter in the Maze of Mormonism on this subject.

Lester Sumrall Caller got a booklet from Lester Sumrall predicting several things for 1984. Dr. Martin said we have to test him based on whether or not these things come to pass. He added that Lester Sumrall is into positive confession, shepherding, and the latter rain movement (his theology is off the wall anyhow, and it would not be surprising if he predicted virtually anything). Second Topic: Is it safe to live in California with the earthquakes? Dr. Martin asked if it is safe to live in the Midwest with the tornadoes. Is it safe to live in Florida with the hurricanes? Dr. Martin believes the damage done to people and property by earthquakes is far less than the damage done by tornadoes and hurricanes, so he considers it an “earthquake scare” that is greatly overdone.

Book of Mormon Translated from Funeral Papyrus Caller was raised in the Mormon Church and did not know there were so many answers to the Mormon claims. Caller asked about a passage in the book of Ether. Dr. Martin said Joseph Smith made the claim that he translated the Book of Abraham from Egyptian (this is all in Mormon books and you can read about it). The manuscript from which he allegedly translated it was found in 1967. When translated, even the Mormon Church admitted it was a funeral papyrus. It had nothing to do with black men at all, and Joseph’s translations were fraudulent, but he never expected anybody to find it. The way they found it was that the Reorganized Church in Independence, MO gave it to them.

Supernatural Experiences Caller has had supernatural experiences in his life. After describing them, Dr. Martin said he did not understand why an experience from God would make him uncomfortable and frighten him, so he did not know if it was from God or why this would happen (if it was from God).