What Christians Should Know Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal

If God isn’t in charge of your salvation, then who is?That is to say, if someone were to believe that God is not sovereign in salvation, then that means God is not God. By implication that means you are in charge of your salvation, since you are the one who is in ultimate control of your eternal destiny.In this episode, Dr. Sadaphal will provide a brief explanation of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Specifically, he will exposit the Scriptures to explain that God is sovereign in salvation. Finally, he will take the idea than man is sovereign in salvation and then take that argument all the way to its natural conclusion: that idea does not lead to freedom or hope but only utter ruin and despair.

When I say “alien,” what most people tend conjure up in their heads are images of Martians, little green men or odd-looking, super-intelligent beings from another planet. Yes, aliens are far more of a cultural phenomenon than a major biblical talking point, but in this podcast Dr. Sadaphal will provide answers to two questions: One, what does the Bible have to say about aliens? Two, are they real, secular hocus-pocus, or does the Bible suggest that so-called extraterrestrials are something far more sinister than non-humans from other planets?

This episode was prompted by a listener question. Stephen actually asked three interrelated questions. The first was, “In Luke 8:12, Jesus describes a type of person who hears the Word and then the devil snatches it away so that they do not believe and are not saved. The implication seems to be that if the devil did not snatch it away, the person would believe and be saved. How do we make sense of this category of person given total depravity?” Question number two was, “An extension of this question would be: why does the devil need to do any work to prevent a person from believing, if the human heart is already predisposed against the truth?” And question number three was, “If this category of person is part of the elect, why does God allow the devil to prevent their salvation?” In this episode, Dr. Sadaphal answers all three questions. He also explains who Jesus is, what a parable is and some general principles of proper Bible interpretation.

This present spiritual war isn't new in that the struggle began in the Garden of Eden by means of a weaponized lie. Satan’s plan, of course, was to persuade Adam and Eve to believe his lie so that they would stop trusting God. His plan worked, and his strategy has remained unchanged since the Garden: to provide a deceptive alternative to God’s truth so that people can believe in something else in place of God. Hence, there has been a conspiracy against God’s truth since the beginning of time. In this episode, Dr. Sadaphal will expose three specific, modern manifestations of this conspiracy so that the people of God will be forewarned and thus forearmed. These three specific manifestations are State soteriology (or the government will save you), climate change and the digitization of life. The Scripture focus will be II Corinthians 10:3-6.

We live in an age of increasing anxiety, uncertainty and doubt. This means people are more receptive to believing in conspiracy theories because—at least superficially—said explanation provides the comfort of some mental security in an uncertain world. And, if a person can explain why bad things are happening, it outwardly gives them some sense of control over the uncontrollable.  Consequently, the question Dr. Sadaphal will answer in this episode is: How does a student of God’s Word navigate a world seemingly overflowing with so-called conspiracies and conspiracy theories? That is, at times we are bombarded with so much information, it is becoming more difficult to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. One person’s truth is another’s conspiracy theory and one person’s firmly-held belief is regarded by another as based on faulty information. So, what is child of God to do? The answer is go straight to God’s Word.

Faith becomes unbelief whenever a disastrous theological error occurs: when the doctrine of justification (how a person is saved) is confused with the doctrine of sanctification (how an already saved person matures). We are not justified by faith alone and then become more like Christ by our works; that is Roman Catholicism, not biblical Christianity. Confusion of these two doctrines can lead sincere Christians down a road of despair and doubt; it also turns the pure gospel into an anti-gospel of works.Accordingly, in this episode, Dr. Sadaphal will discuss salvation, sanctification, the difference between the two and the dangers of getting them confused. He also exposits Romans 6 in order to discern God's way of becoming more like Christ.