The Problem With Elephants

Scripture:
Date: 08/08/2010 
Park Rangers were bewildered how to stop the carnage in a baffling five-year rampage of uncharacteristic violence. Several adolescent bull elephants at the Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, savagely killed more than forty white rhinoceros.
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Hello friends, this is Doug Bachelor, how about an amazing fact? Park Rangers were bewildered how to stop the carnage in a baffling five-year rampage of uncharacteristic violence. Several adolescent bull elephants at the Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, savagely killed more than forty white rhinoceros. As a last resort, some of the young bull elephants closest to the scene of the crimes were killed. Yet the problem persisted. Flush with hormones, these male elephants were also making a horrible nuisance of themselves. Besides uprooting trees and snorting dust in the face of other animals, several people were attacked in their cars, threatening the park’s tourism.

Eventually, the Park Rangers realized what was the caused of this abnormal behavior. Since these elephants were all orphaned males they had missed out on the positive socialization inherent in an elephant herd. Instead of being trained by the example of the group, they had been abandoned and left to their own devices without any guidance from mature role models. The solution? The Park Rangers brought in six old bull elephants. These mature bulls modeled acceptable elephant behavior, and the harassing and the violence from the orphans stopped. So, what does this story of elephant etiquette have to do with the Bible? Well, you’re going to have to stay with us friends, and we’ll learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.

[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]

Pastor Doug: Welcome listening friends, to a fresh installment of Bible Answers Live, and we’re so thankful you’ve turned in. This program is dedicated to anybody that has a question about the Bible. If you do have a question, we have lines open, and now is a good time to pick up your phone and call in. That number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS. That’s 1-800-463-7297. And as I mentioned, we have some lines open. So if you’ve got a question about the word of God, we will search it together. And keep your pencil handy, we’ll be giving out some other free resources and some other email addresses before too long. And my name is Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross. Good evening, listening friends, and welcome. Pastor Doug, before we go to the phone lines, let’s begin as usual with prayer. Dear Father, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word. We ask your blessing upon our time together. We pray for wisdom as we search the Scriptures, and be with those who are listening, wherever they might be. We ask you would bless this time, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Doug: Amen.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Well, Pastor Doug, you opened up with an amazing fact from my homeland, from South Africa, and that’s fascinating when you, you know, look and see these elephants and the way they behave. For the most part, they behave very well, even to having tourists drive through in their cars, but this particular situation something was wrong with the elephants.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, matter of fact, I was in South Africa at the Pilanesberg Park years ago with our son Stephen and we were driving around looking at the creatures and we came upon one of these young elephants. And I thought oh, we’re, you know, used to look at them in a zoo, and all of a sudden it started coming at us, and our hosts were saying, “Back up, back up, back up, back up.” They had let me drive their car. And, you know, we’re on the wrong side of the road there in South Africa. And I couldn’t shift into reverse and these elephants started coming towards us. But I guess that they had these young male elephants that were being violent, and even a few tourists lost their lives from getting trampled, and cars getting overturned and the Park Rangers were at their wit’s end, baffled. Why are they doing this? This is not normal.

Ultimately they realized they had not learned appropriate behavior through integrating with a group and having good models before them. Now, every now and then we run into Christians, and they say, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church because I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious.” And some people think that’s a very pious thing to say, but actually, in order to be really spiritual you need to be part of a group because if a person is spiritual all by themselves, they end up becoming eccentric. We really need each other to be balanced. And this is something Jesus said that “when a person joins a church, they become part of His body.” We need to be together. We’ll learn from each other. We’ll learn to love. And you can find--especially here in the last days, you read in Hebrews chapter 10; verse 24 and 25, “And let us consider one another to provoke, or encourage, unto good love and to good works.”

We encourage, we hold each other accountable, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see that they are approaching.” We need this group interaction too and that’s why we need a church with fellowship and the modeling of Christian behavior from those of experience. And that’s how young Christians learned. I know that before I was baptized, an old missionary couple invited me to their home every week after church, and they’d study with me and I’d watch them and say, “So, this is how a Christian acts.” And I learned a lot. And maybe we’ve got friends out there that are wondering, “Does it really matter if you go to a church? And if you’re going to go to a church, there are so many different denominations, how do you know what church to go to? How do you pick a church?” We have a free offer that deals with this.

Pastor Jëan Ross: We do. It is a book entitled, “The Search for the True Church.” “The Search for the True Church.” We’d like to send this to you for free if you’d call our resource line 1-800-835-6747. That number again is 1-800-835-6747, and you can ask for the book “The Search for the True Church,” and we will be happy to get that out to you. Well, let’s go to the phone lines then, Pastor Doug.

Pastor Doug: Okay, let’s do it.

Pastor Jëan Ross: First caller is Zurich, and he is calling from Michigan. Zurich, welcome to the program.

Zurich: Oh, how are you doing, Pastor Doug?

Pastor Doug: Good. How can we help you tonight?

Zurich: I got a question I was calling and asking, could you explain to me the God’s trinity?

Pastor Doug: Explain the trinity?

Zurich: Yes.

Pastor Doug: Well, the word trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible. That shouldn’t concern us because of course, the word Bible doesn’t appear in the Bible either. But the word trinity simply means it’s talking about like a tricycle’s got three wheels, trinity’s talking about the three persons, the tri-entity of God, meaning God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. And you find this principle way back in the very beginning of the Bible, God refers to Himself in the plural when it says, “God said, let us make man in our image.” Well, who is the “us”? It’s God the Father, the Son and the Spirit. At the baptism of Jesus, you’ve got God the Father in heaven who speaks and He says, “This is my beloved Son.” Jesus, of course, is in the Jordan River getting baptized. And then you’ve got God the Spirit coming down from the Father to the Son. And, you know, through the Bible you’ve got a number of examples of the principle of the trinity. So I don’t know--you know, I can give you a couple of more verses if you’d like but…

Zurich: Yeah, I’d like that.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Well, you can look for instance in Revelation chapter 1; verse 4, “John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne,” “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead.” Although you’ve got God the Father, and you’ve got the Spirit and you’ve got Christ. You can look at Philippians chapter 2; verse 5, “Let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God;” “But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a born servant.” So God became a man, made Himself of no reputation and took on the form of a man to save man. So, you know, Jesus says that He and the Father are one. There’s one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. That’s John 8: 58 and 59. Christ claims that He was eternal there. A number of verses--of courses, Jesus is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that’s in Mathew 28. We have an offer that talks about this, if you’d like some more verses it’s filled with them.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Zurich, it’s a book entitled, “The Trinity: Is it Biblical?” I believe, Pastor Doug, you wrote that one. To receive a free copy of that, call our resource line 1-800-835-6747, and ask for the book on the trinity, “The Trinity: Is it Biblical?” And we’ll be able to get that out to you. Our next caller is Osman calling from Atlanta, Georgia. Osman, welcome to the program.

Osman: Hey, how are you doing?

Pastor Doug: Good. We were in Atlanta, what, a month ago.

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s right.

Osman: Yeah, for that Judo conference?

Pastor Doug: Absolutely. And your question tonight?

Osman: How have you been, Pastor Doug?

Pastor Doug: Doing well.

Osman: Okay. I don’t want to hold the line because I know so many people call, but I have three questions. The first one is going to be about Revelation chapter 1; verse 7. And it’s about like, when John said, “Look, He is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the people of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be. Amen.” But my question is on even those who pierced Him--I want to know in the first resurrection because I know chapter 3, who has brought the first resurrection? Is the people believe in Jesus Christ, I know that, but the point is in the first resurrection I want to know if those people are going to see Jesus, are going to have a chance to raise up from the dead and see Jesus, and after that back to the graves. So that’s what I want to know exactly.

Pastor Doug: Alright, well let’s start with that question. Jesus seemed to be pretty clear at His trial. And I think this is Mathew chapter 20, Pastor Ross, when Christ said to Caiaphas the high priest, “Hereafter you shall see the Son of man coming in power and great glory.” Now, Caiaphas obviously is not going to be saved; he was the high priest that was probably the most culpable in the condemning of Jesus. You have that verse?

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s Mathew chapter 26; verse 64.

Pastor Doug: And then you read in Daniel chapter 12 that “when the Lord comes Michael will stand up and there will be a great time of trouble, and many that’s sleeping in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Those who pierced Him, those who were the main instigators in the crucifixion are going to be raised to see that He is the king and that He is coming in power. And then I know that sounds strange, but then they’ll die again and then they’ll raise again.

Well, you know, there’s a few rare exceptions in the Bible. Some people that Jesus healed or that were resurrected, theoretically, can then be lost and die again. And they raise for the judgment and they die again. So, you know, once Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus or Lazarus’s no guarantee that they then could not be lost. But even if they were saved, they had to die again and be raised again. You know, it’s a point that man wants to die, but obviously that’s a general rule, in the Bible, there are a couple of exceptions. Hope that helps a little bit.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, if the high priest knew what was good for him, he probably shouldn’t have asked the question. He asked the question, “I adjure you by the most High God. Are you the Christ?” If the high priest hadn’t asked that question, he probably wouldn’t be raised too see Jesus in answer to his question coming in the clouds of heaven.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, he asked Him with an oath.

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s right.

Pastor Doug: And so, he’s going to see it. Hey, I hope that it helps a little bit. And now, we do have that book that deals with the second coming. It’s called “Anything But Secret,” and we’ll be happy to send you a free copy of that.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747; 1800-835-6747, and the book is “Anything But Secret.” If you call that number, ask for the book dealing with the second coming, “Anything But Secret,” and we’ll send that out. Stephanie is calling from North Carolina. Stephanie, welcome to the program.

Stephanie: Hi, how are you doing?

Pastor Doug: Doing well.

Stephanie: Pastor Doug?

Pastor Doug: How can we help you tonight?

Stephanie: Well, an elder told me that women should only wear knee length dresses and skirts, and that if it’s cold you can wear pants under them. But what does the Bible say? Because I now live in North Carolina.

Pastor Doug: Well, the Bible doesn’t really specify the length of a skirt. The principle in the Bible--and you find this in Deuteronomy--is that 22 where it says, “A woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man; and a man shall not wear that which pertains to a woman.” There are really three principles that are given in the Bible regarding clothing. And styles, from one culture to another, change. But the principle of modesty--you can have a woman wear a dress that’s immodest and it could reach to the floor. You know what I mean? A lady could dress up like a spider woman and have a long dress on or something. Or, you know, there is probably some pants that a woman could wear that are a little more modest. And so, the principle of modesty is one principle. Another principle dress--and this is for men and women--is that our dress should not be flamboyant or costly. Paul says, “Avoiding costly array.” It doesn’t have to be the gucci-mucci stuff that, you know, these brand names but it’s really all made in Hong Kong.

And then the third principle is, clothing, you know, it should be a quality. It can be durable. But it still doesn’t need to be flamboyant. The robe that Jesus wore was a seamless robe, and you know, it was good enough they said, “Let’s not tear it up and gamble for it; or let’s not tear it up, but let’s, you know, preserve it.” Even though it was blood stained, it was good quality. And so, a Christian, you know, they should fit in with whatever the modest styles are of the time. You don’t want to dress in such a way that you attract attention so you become a distraction from your witness. You don’t want to dress so that you’re provoking the opposite sex because Christ said that “if, you know, a man looks in lust”--and that would be true with a woman too--so, no one wants to dress in a way to deliberately arouse the opposite sex. And, you know, at the same time, we should represent Christ and get things that are a good quality so we’re not dressed in potato bags.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The verse you referred to in Deuteronomy is Deuteronomy chapter 22; verse 5.

Pastor Doug: Oh, and I forgot about that, that there should be a distinction in the style of the clothing between the men and the women. And that’s something our culture has kind of thrown out the window. But in virtually all culture for civilizations, even the primitive cultures, there were something about the clothing that men wore that was always different from what the clothing was that women wore. And so there should be a distinction in the clothing so that young people are raised with these clear general distinctions.

Stephanie: Okay, thank you.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Hey, thank you very much.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Adrian, and Adrian is calling from Oregon. Adrian, you’re on the air.

Adrian: Hi.

Pastor Doug: Hi, appreciate your call.

Adrian: I had a question about--I had try to think of the verse that use for this because it isn’t typically about a Bible verse. But First Peter 3:15 talks about having a legion for your faith, being ready to give an answer to anyone who ask you for the reason I hope. And I was just wondering how important do you think it is to study outside of the Bible, apologetics, specifically I’m thinking of things like creation science. But it could be anything. It could be an historical Jesus, it could be archeology, and these different things that are not related to Bible, that are extra ethical.

Pastor Doug: Well, I believe that believers should always be studying to sharpen their understanding and their ability to meet all kinds of people and answer their questions. Now, when a person’s a baby Christian, you don’t necessarily need to get into the deep apologetics of, you know, predestination. You know, in kindergarten you kind of paint with your fingers and then as you get a little more skilled, they may give you crayons and then eventually a brush. It’s like that with the Bible. I think you want the big picture. You want the primary colors, unlike the old Windows 3.1 where you get those sixteen colors on your screen. And then as you get more advanced, you get the sixteen million colors. And so you want to be deeper in your study. I’m reading commentaries now more than I ever did as a young Christian to better understand the nuances of our faith and to be able to understand the history and the reasons, it’s very helpful.

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s all important. But we also need to recognize where the power is. The power is in Christ. In our witness, not only do we want to be able to answer people’s objectives as to what happened to the dinosaurs, for example, but we also want to recognize that the real power of Scripture is in Jesus. I’m reminded, Pastor Doug, of the experience of Paul where he was debating the intellectuals of his day, and he was arguing on various things that are (inaudible 19:29) and finally he reached the conclusion that I need to preach Christ. So there’s that balance.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, exactly. Does that help a little, Adrian?

Adrian: Yes, it does, thank you.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Appreciate it. By the way, at the Amazing Facts website we’ve got some Bible studies that deal with the subject of creation. And, you know, this might be a good place for us to interject that we do have a website that has become very popular. Matter of fact listening friends, if you just type in the word Bible Prophecy on Google or Yahoo--I haven’t checked it on Yahoo, but I know it’s true on Google--that out of over seven hundred thousand possible websites, on the first page, in third place, you’ll find Bible Prophecy Truth. That’s the Amazing Facts website and it’s got these layers and layers of research, and it gets deeper and deeper, Adrian, if you want to get into some of the deeper theology and the history of the different prophetic interpretations that’ll talk about preterism and futurism and historicism and it’s all there, bibleprpjhecytruth.com. Thanks for your call.

Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Doris who is calling from New Jersey, listening on WMCA. Doris, welcome to the program.

Doris: Yes.

Pastor Doug: Evening.

Doris: Hello?

Pastor Doug: Hi, you’re on the air.

Doris: Yes.

Pastor Doug: And your question?

Doris: I just have this question I have often wondered. I know that it goes--going so far back. I don’t know if anybody would know that, but I often wondered do you know what language Adam and Eve spoke?

Pastor Doug: I always want to say Navajo. But I can’t prove it. No, you know, everyone will say--my Spanish friends say that was the language of heaven, he spoke Spanish, and, you know, Germans say, “No, it was German.” But my guess is that, you know, at the Tower of the Babel, when the Lord confused the languages of the world, there were certain words that many languages had in common. And I think that when we get to heaven and we find out what was that language of Eden that Adam and Eve spoke we’re going to find out there were certain words that had similarities to many languages of the world, but I don’t think there is any language in the world that is going to be, you know, identical. Some may be closer than others to what that language of Eden was.

Doris: I see.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, you wonder at the time of Tower of Babel, the other descendants of Shem that probably weren’t involved in the building of the Tower of Babel, possibly their language was not changed as…

Pastor Doug: That’s true, as much.

Pastor Jëan Ross: …did the others that gathered around the Tower of Babel, so…

Pastor Doug: Might have been a (Unintelligible)

Pastor Jëan Ross: …maybe there is something, yeah, related to what eventually developed into Hebrew. We don’t know.

Pastor Doug: That’s a good point. Good question. Appreciate that. And we do have an article at our website, Doris, talks about the “Tower of Babel,” and you can find that, it’s on the Amazing Facts articles. Just go to amazingfacts.org and you can read that for free.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Lorna, and she is listening also on WMCA from New Jersey as well. Lorna, welcome to the program.

Lorna: Yes, good evening. How are you?

Pastor Doug: Very well. How are you?

Lorna: That’s good. I’m fine. How are you, Pastor Doug?

Pastor Doug: Wonderful. And your question?

Lorna: Well, my question is I’ve been born again since 1981 and I’ve been studying every (inaudible 22:47) I’ve fallen in love with Christ to the point where I minister to people and family and strangers, and they always seem to imply that I should be a minister. And I would be a minister because I love His words so much. But the Bible tells me that I should keep Sabbath in the church, and it causes me to be fearful to disobey the word of God. But they always remind me of the birth of the Scripture, that’s Saint Galatians 3:28. And my question is, is there a license to preach because I’m a woman? Because the Bible says that they’ll keep a man, no female in Christ Jesus because I understand that there would be a spiritual connection to Christ by faith, but Christ in me is female in gender. So I’m trying to find out the dilemma that the people have put me because I believe the word and I stand on it. So, you know, is there an agreement that I should stand with the word and just do what God tell me to do and just find out how He wants to go from there?

Pastor Doug: Well, I don’t see a conflict between your sensed that God has called you to ministry. I believe God calls men and women into ministry. That is a little different question than should women be ordained as a pastor. God gives gifts of teaching to women just like He gives gifts of teaching and preaching in Evangelism to men and women. And you’ve got examples in the Bible of women who served in the capacity of prophet. And so there’s no question that God can use you. I mean, I don’t know specifically what His plan might be for you. But the verses where Paul is talking about the women keeping silence in the church, that was, I think, a more specific situation that was taking place there in Corinth where they were actually, kind of shouting across the aisle, the men and women did not sit together.

And the women were kind of embarrassing their husbands by teaching them in front of everybody else that they were wrong and he said, “Look, wait until you get home and ask your husband there,” because he does talk about men should be the servant leaders in the family. And so that was really addressing a different reason than can a woman be involved in ministry. Now, we have a book, matter of fact, it’s a fairly new book that we’ll be happy to send you for free, and it’s called “Women in Ministry.” If you’d like a free copy of that, then just call the resource number Pastor Ross is going to give you. Tell them you were listening to Amazing Facts and you’re requesting the book, “Women in Ministry,” and we’ll send it to you for free.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number is…

Lorna: But I was under the impression that the Lord did not want women to speak because Eve was deceived by the devil in the Garden of Eden.

Pastor Doug: Well, obviously it was a woman that taught Jesus as a baby and it was a woman that Jesus first appeared to when He rose from the dead, Mary Magdalene, and He told Mary, “Go tell everybody I’m alive.” So the Lord has a message for women to share. That’s a little different from women serving in the capacity of a pastor. Now, you don’t find an example in the Bible, of women serving as apostle, priest, pastor, elder. You do find women--God’s speaking through women, just like I said, such as the prophetesses. Moses, Aaron and Miriam, three siblings, two brothers and a sister, all three were prophets. But only the boys served as priests and offered sacrifice. So I don’t think there’s a conflict there for you to use your gifts in teaching. What I’d do if I were you is I’d just say, “Lord, open the doors you want me to go through.” And you’ll be surprised how He’ll guide. But do ask for that book, “Women in Ministry.” And we have time for one more call, Pastor Ross?

Pastor Jëan Ross: Let me give you the number real quick, 1-800-835-6747, and ask for the book, “Women in Ministry.” Pastor Doug, we’re coming up on our half hour break here in just a couple of minutes. Before we take another call, we’ll probably need to cut that person short. There’s a few exciting things that’s happening at Amazing Facts, and I know you’re busy working on some lessons associated with that event.

Pastor Doug: That’s right. We want to tell all of our friends that if you know anybody that’s a teenager that asks some of those big questions like, you know, if there’s a God, then why is there evil in the world? If God is love, then why is there so much suffering? And where did I come from? And how can so many people talk about evolution and the Bible talk about Adam and Eve and Noah, can those things be true? And a lot of young, bright teenagers are asking some very important questions. And, you know, some questions are trivial, and some questions are the big questions. Pastor Ross and I are going to be doing a TV program that will be not only on 3ABN, but it’s going to be on the Inspiration Network all over North America. And it’ll be coming in this October.

If you want some information on this program, it’s called “The Most Important Questions.” “The Most Important Questions” is for teens, Amazing Facts for teens. Go to the website, that’s the best thing to do. Website is M-I-Q, MIQ stands for Most Important Questions, miqteens.com, miqteens, T-E-E-N-S .com. You’ll see a video there that talks about the program. It asks s some of the big questions. We’re writing a new set of lessons on the subject. And so we want you to tell all your friends and teenage friends that they should tune into this event. It’ll be on 3ABN and Inspiration Channel in October. So for the details, go to miqteens. We’re just taking a break. If you are standing by with your question, then just keep standing by, we actually have a few lines open. Give us a call at 1-800-GOD SAYS, 1-800-463-7297 with your questions. We’ll be right back.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Pastor Doug: Any of our friends that may have joined us along the way, this is Bible Answers Live. And if you have a question, we do have some lines open, and we’d invite you to pick up your phone and make that call right now--it’s a free phone call--with your Bible questions. That number 1-800-GOD SAYS, 1-800-463-7297. We’re on the air right now all the way from Hawaii. We get calls every now and then from the Caribbean Australia, all over the world across North America, I think close to four hundred channels or stations now. And so we invite our friends to call in. And one more thing before we’d go to the phones again, Pastor Ross, we’ve got a new TV program. People are always surprised to learn. Some of our friends have been listening to this broadcast for fifteen years now, and they didn’t know we’re also on television.

We’ve been on TV twenty-five, thirty years. But in particular, in the last few months we began--I think in spring--we began broadcasting twenty-four hours a day on satellite that reaches all over North America. It’s called Amazing Facts TV, AFTV. And if you go to the Amazing Facts website, you can find out how to get the equipment to watch AFTV along with a number of other good Christian stations. And once you get this simple equipment, the programming is free, and a lot of free Christian programming at the Galaxy 19 satellite. Just go to amazingfacts.org, you’ll find out about Amazing Facts Television and all the other facets of this very busy evangelistic ministry. What am I forgetting, Pastor Ross?

Pastor Jëan Ross: We do have a few more--well, I guess it’s filling up quickly, but if you’d like to get your call in to the program this evening, the number is 1-800-463-7297. And, Pastor Doug, I think we’re read to go to the phone lines.

Pastor Doug: By the way, friends, if you do call and it’s ringing, just hang on, our operators will get to you in just a minute.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Lenora, and she is calling from Greenville, North Carolina. Lenora, welcome to the program.

Lenora: Yes, thank you very much for taking my question. I’d like you to explain to me Mathew 11; verse 12.

Pastor Doug: I’ll do my best. It is an unusual wording you find in some translations, it reads, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Well, here when he is talking about violence, he is talking about it comes with force or with power upon the souls of men. And you can see this, of course, with the demonstration of the spirit and the power that appeared both in the preaching of John the Baptist and it’s made even more clearer at Pentecost. It’s not the kind of violence where someone gets bloodied and bludgeoned on the street. It’s like storming the gates of a prison to set the captives free. The Spirit of God and the angels of God and the workers of God were sort of storming the strongholds in the territory of Satan. That’s when Jesus said, “The gates of hell will not prevail.” Satan’s got his gates to keep the righteous out, but those gates will not hold up. It’s like they tried to keep Samson in but the gates did not hold up when the Spirit of the Lord came on him. And so it’s talking about that power. Violence is a word in our culture that we often think it leaves a person beaten up.

Lenora: Okay.

Pastor Doug: So it’s not the best translation.

Lenora: Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Good question. Appreciate that.

Lenora: Alright.

Pastor Doug: Have a good evening.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Christopher, and he is calling from Oceanside, California. Christopher, welcome to the program.

Christopher: Hello Pastors.

Pastor Doug: Evening, and your question?

Christopher: My question is I have a relative that is--we have Bible study every Friday night, and there was a question that he brought up that “God will turn His back on you,” and I had to tell him, “No, it says in the Bible that God will not turn His back on you.” And I wanted to know if you can provide me with some--I know there’s a lot of Scriptures in the Bible, but, you know, if you can provide, like, maybe one or two strong Scriptures where I can show him and so forth, just it’s evident. But to me, I think he would just refuses to believe it.

Pastor Doug: Well, let me give you a principle here. And I think this is a very important question, sometimes it can confuse people. Jesus made it clear in Mathew 28 when He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age or the end of the world.” And then Paul quotes Jesus--you don’t really find where Jesus says it, but Paul quote Jesus when he said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And, Pastor Ross, I forget that reference that maybe in Hebrews. So Christ has promised, “I will never leave you.” But that doesn’t mean that we lose our freedom to walk away from Jesus, as with the rich young ruler, or Judas. Jesus didn’t leave them, it says, “Judas went out, and it was night.” Adam and Eve ran from God.

So God says, “Look, I love you and I’m here; and I accept you and I’ll never leave you.” But He doesn’t take away our freedom to leave Him which is a different issue. So in a love relationship, you need the decision of both to stay together. One can’t make that decision alone. So God has promised, “Look, from my side I’m going to keep my covenant, I’ll never leave you.”

Pastor Jëan Ross: The verse is Hebrew chapter 13; verse 5. And that’s where Paul is saying that Christ said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Pastor Doug: And I think he’s also quoting--you may have a cross reference here for that--I think that’s also Jesus was quoting an Old Testament verse--of course, in Isaiah, it said, “When you pass through the waters, I’m with you, when you go through the fire I’ll be with you,” and so, there’s a number of promises in Psalms in the Old Testament that talk about God’s presence going with us. I think He said that to Moses, to Joshua, to Gideon, “I will be with you,” “I will be with you.”

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s actually an Old Testament verse that Paul’s referring to as well as Christ, Deuteronomy chapter 31; verse 6 and verse 8.

Pastor Doug: So, are we answering what you’re really asking, Christopher?

Christopher: Yes, yes, thank you so much.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Well, God bless you. Appreciate your question.

Pastor Jëan Ross: George is listening all the way from Melbourne, Australia. George, welcome to the program.

George: Good evening, Pastors. And God bless you both.

Pastor Doug: Evening, George. We’re happy to have a call from Australia again.

George: God bless you. Pastor Doug, I’m just going to ask you a question in relation to where was this (inaudible 37:19) a bad science, and how do we as Bible Christians should view and approach this teaching of science? Because it’s really on the uproars and we’re getting all the paper (Unintelligible) around and they’re asking for science clues and science (inaudible 36), and we as Bible Christians should sort of--I don’t know (Unintelligible)--answer them in terms of how we should (Unintelligible) and what level of importance I have in a Christian world.

Pastor Doug: Well, this is another good question that it needs a little defining of the terms that we’re using. You’ll find the word saint or saints ninety-five times or ninety-six times in the Bible. Sometimes in Daniel, he refers to the saints; and the word saint is a general term that simply means “Holy Ones.” Sometimes it’s applied to angels. You know, it talks about the Lord coming with Him thousands and thousands of His saints, and that word saints here just means His Holy Ones, and then later it says they’re angels. Sometimes the word saints applies to believers. And King David uses it that way in some of the Psalms. And, you know, it talks about, “Let all your saints shout for joy.” And there’s quite a few Psalms that talks about the saints and it means the believers. But, you know, in our day and age, when you say the word saint, depending on if you’re coming from either a Protestant or a Catholic or Orthodox background, could have, you know, a very different view. You know, our Catholic friends, when they think of a saint, they typically think of someone who has been canonized somehow by, you know, a papal mandate.

They now have been elevated to a higher sphere than just a believer so that they are to somehow be prayed to and adored in some way. And, you know, the Bible really contradicts that because it tells us that we’re really to worship no one other than God. You find in the Bible where John the Apostle--it’s interesting--the Book of Revelation--it’s called the Revelation of Saint John, that’s the title of it, but that title is never found on the book. It’s really a revelation of Jesus. Many Bibles say the Revelation of St. John. But in Revelation, John falls at the feet of an angel to worship the angel, and the angel kind of grabs him and says, “Don’t do that.” I mean, “Here you are in heaven, we’re teaching you about God, and you’re breaking the First Commandment. Don’t have other Gods and don’t bow down to anyone but God,” he says, “Worship God.” So, you know, the idea of our praying to St. Joseph or--I can’t remember all the names of the saints right now, some, you know, put Mary in that category or others. We’re only supposed to pray to God. We’re not supposed to pray to a man. Do you have any thoughts on that, Pastor Ross?

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, it’s part of what we find when we go back in the history and when we see how a number of interesting pagan rituals slowly found their way into the Christian church. And one of the areas paganism was praying to various deity to work your way up to the main deity. In order to win His favor, you go through somebody else. I think that same idea we find in some of these praying through saints to try and work your way up to God to get His favor.

Pastor Doug: Yeah. It’s like, you know, why would God talk to me personally? First thing, we need to go through the steps of introduction from His various saints.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, the Bible says there is one medium between God and man and that’s Jesus.

Pastor Doug: That’s right. Absolutely. Thank you for your question, George. I hope that helps a little.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Stew calling from Detroit, Michigan, listening on WMUZ. Stew, welcome to the program.

Stew: Hello.

Pastor Doug: Hi. Evening.

Stew: I’m a bit reluctant to ask you this, so I’m sure you might think negative of me, but at the end of the 2 Corinthian letters and at the end the Galatians I believe Paul says those readers greet each other with a holy kiss.

Pastor Doug: Well, I don’t think less of you for asking that question.

Stew: And I’ve had some (inaudible 41:25) telling me, that’s what the meaning of that phrase is to do what the world does when it kisses. And I don’t know what it means.

Pastor Doug: Well, it’s a good question. Well, first, maybe I’ll tell you a little story. I went to visit a church one time, and I won’t mention what the name of that church is because I don’t want to despairs them, but when I got into the church and sat down we got there early and others began to arrive. I notice that the members of the church including the men were kissing men on the mouth. And I looked around I thought what’s going on here and it wasn’t a gay church. I kind of elbowed the people who invited me and said, “What’s with this?” And they said, “Well, we take this verse where it says, ‘Greet the brethren with a holy kiss.’” I said, “You men are kissing each other on the lips?” And, you know, because in the Middle East it wasn’t uncommon. And you’ll even see this in Russia.

I’ve been all over the world, and in some countries when I get off the plane they grab me and they give me a big hug, and they kind of press their cheek to my cheek and they--or even I’ve had them kiss my neck--you have that when the prodigal son came home, it says, “His father fell on him and kissed him.” Well, they didn’t kiss on the lips like a romantic kiss. They would kiss each other on the cheek and it was greeting. You see, people do that. The Hollywood people they kind of go cheek to cheek and go smoochy, smoochy. But, you know, the Christians used to do that. And you notice, it says, “A holy kiss.” That’s not talking about a romantic or passionate kiss. And so it was a greeting, we shake hands today and I’m fine with that.

Otherwise you got to take that little Purell sanitizer and rub it on your face every time you meet somebody. Hey, a good question. I bet that someone else out there, Stew, that’s wondering about that. If you’re in a number of countries in the Middle East or in Russia you might have to learn to give them a--you know, I was just in Argentina and they are little European, after the church a lot of people come up and they give me a smooch on the cheek and I had never met them before. So it’s just customs, “Custom to whom custom is due.” Hope that help a little bit, Stew.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Mark and he is calling from Lakeview, Oregon, listening on KROE. Mark, welcome to the program.

Mark: Hello, Pastor Doug. Hello, Pastor Ross.

Pastor Doug: Evening, Mark. Your question tonight?

Mark: It’s a question about marriage. And the situation here that rose basically is where there was one, for example, the husband is a Sabbath keeping Christian and the wife is a Sunday going Christian, I’m not going to say what churches they go to. But, for example, if the wife decides to leave her husband out of issues of not agreeing with doctrine, would that husband be okay to divorce her for not being equally yoked, or would it be a sin for him to divorce his wife or for both of them to agree on that?

Pastor Doug: Well, I think, first of all, they are married--I mean, of course, I’m talking to you and not the couple. And what I would say to the couple is that, the only grounds really you have biblically for divorce is if one violates the marriage vows through committing adultery and if they’ve got, you know--it’s never advisable for people of different faiths to get married because sometimes there’s all kinds of problems. Not sometimes, there’s always going to be problems. But once they are married they’re married and they should stick together. We’ve got folks that come to our church that made that commitment, they got married and then one becomes, you know, the member of another church and they stick together. And I know some folks that they go to church on Sunday and they go to church on Sabbath, and to keep the family together they’re going two days a week because they’re committed to their marriage. And I really think that’s the priority. Marriage is so sacred that, you know, I don’t think God wants people going apart for that reason.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, we have a verse on that in First Corinthian chapter 7; verse 13, where Paul writes, “And if the woman has a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.”

Pastor Doug: You know, that’s right. Now if a person’s abandoned, there’s not much they can do about it. But, yeah, I would never want to encourage any Christian to initiate divorce if there’s any way at all to work it out.

Mark: I think that brings up an interesting question, when you mean abandoned, does that mean that the other spouse just leave and doesn’t want to be with that person?

Pastor Doug: Yeah. You know, even though one of the partners may be totally committed to the marriage and said, “Look I want to stick it out,” you can’t really handcuff somebody to the house. If they just say, I’m packing my bags and I’m out of here, it’s pretty hard for the other party to keep the marriage together.

Mark: Sorry for interrupt.

Pastor Doug: No, that’s okay.

Mark: So in that case, for example, if there was an abandonment issue where the wife just walked and left, would that person be allowed to marry, perhaps this time make the right choice and make a...

Pastor Doug: Well, there’s a different between divorce and separation. What you have at that first stage, you’re talking about is one has left the other, you’ve got a separation now. Divorce is nullifying of the marriage and that’s a different act. Some people remain separate till their dying day and never remarry. And the only grounds really for divorce and remarriage--and the only reason people really get divorce is just so one party can remarry. I shouldn’t say that’s the only reason. I know some couples that do it today because the other one is bankrupt.

They had some financial reasons. But, you know, biblically Jesus says, “Saving for the cause of fornication.” If you get two pagans and they’re married, and one becomes a Christian and the pagan says, “I didn’t buy into this, I’m out of here.” And they go off and they marry someone else, well, at that point then the Christian is free to remarry.

Mark: I have another question actually. It’s about reverence. What’s the word reverence? Because it says in Ephesians 5:33, it says that, “The wife see that she reverence her husband.” What does that mean exactly?

Pastor Doug: Well, that’s John, from the other verses in the bible where it talks about that there should be mutual respect in the relationship and God has called men to be the priest leaders in the family. Hey, Mark, I hope that helps a little bit. We got a few people standing by and only about ten minutes left, so I hope we can...

Pastor Jëan Ross: Try and get in a few more calls?

Pastor Doug: Yeah.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Andy is calling from Clovis, California. Andy, welcome to the program.

Andy: Yes. Hi, Pastor Doug. Thanks for taking my call. I had a question. My mom recently passed away at ninety-two. And she prayed with me several times to have Jesus into her heart. Even last three days she said, Jesus is coming to my heart (Unintelligible). My question is about heaven, is there any memory like, any conscience of memory of love ones left back on earth now that they’re in heaven?

Pastor Doug: Well, you realize that when a believer dies...

Andy: Yeah.

Pastor Doug: ...their next conscious thought is the resurrection and being with the Lord.

Andy: Right.

Pastor Doug: But it hasn’t happened yet because the Lord hasn’t come yet.

Andy: Okay.

Pastor Doug: So even though a person, you know, dies a thousand years ago, for them their next thought is to be in the presence of the Lord, right, because there’s no awareness of time. But the resurrection doesn’t take place until Jesus comes. That’s in First Thessalonians, it says, “The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout then the dead in Christ will rise.” And so people aren’t wandering around heaven on their own waiting for the rest of the world to join them. That’s really a misconception that many people have had. But, yeah, people in heaven will remember how they’ve been saved.

Andy: Yeah, people always tell me that well we see them again in heaven. They will recognize us when we get there. So that kind of tells me that they’re waiting for us, but (Unintelligible) say when we get there, so they still remember us?

Pastor Doug: Well, of course, they will. You read in First Corinthians 13, it tells us, “Then will I know even as I am known.” So when we get to heaven and we have our immortal glorified bodies we’ll also have immortal glorified brains inside those bodies. Our discernment will not be less. It’s going to be more because we’re going to be completely spirit-filled. So when we see grandma and she’s got her glorified body, are we going to know it’s a grandma? Of course, we will. We’re going to have a discernment that’s far beyond what we have now.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, Ken, we have a study guide dealing with the subject of what happens when a person dies, and we’d be happy to send that to you absolutely for free if you’d call our resource line. The number is 1-800-835-6747. Again, 1-800-835-6747, ask for the study guide, “Are the Dead Really Dead?” Deals with this subject, lot of Scripture, very important study.

Pastor Doug: Yeah. And if a person wants we also have a website that’s very popular, it’s simply called “Truth about Death.” Talks about when the resurrection happens and all the verses in the Bible that deal with this subject, it’s very, very clear, truthaboutdeath.com.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Ken. And Ken is listening in Sacramento, California. Ken, welcome to the program.

Ken: Yeah. Hi.

Pastor Doug: Hi.

Ken: Yeah, can you hear me?

Pastor Doug: Loud and clear, Ken.

Ken: Yeah, okay. I have a question on before Jesus was born, before the savior was in the world (Unintelligible) all the people, you know, from other dynasties--you know what I mean?

Pastor Doug: You mean other empires that maybe hadn’t heard about Jesus?

Ken: Yeah, you know, like trying to use like Japanese or something, you know, those kinds of places.

Pastor Doug: Well, you know, Jesus said, “Many will come from the East and the West and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the fathers of the Jewish nation. So Christ is saying it’s not only Jews that are going to be in the kingdom. The Lord has His people all over the world, not only now but he’s had them all through history. The reason he called the Jewish is not because He said, “I’m just going to save one race of people.” He called them really to be the guardians of the Scriptures and to introduce the Messiah. And the Messiah would come through line of Israel and Abraham. But God has had people that have listened to His Spirit and followed the truth that they had, they may not have known everything but He’s had His people all over.

Matter of fact Jesus nearly got executed in His hometown when He talked about God’s saving Naaman, the Syrian, and this Canaanite woman, they were not Jews. He said, you know, “God’s going to save other people.”

Ken: Right.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, we have a verse in Romans chapter 1; verse 20, that kind of gives you the idea that God has not left these folks who have never had an opportunity to hear about Christianity, without an opportunity to respond to the Holy Spirit. Romans 1:20 says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.” So through the works of creation, through the moving of the Holy Spirit upon the heart God is communicating to every person on earth. Matter of fact I’m thinking of the verse in John where it speaks of Jesus and it says, “Who would bring the knowledge of truth to everyone.” The Holy Spirit is speaking to the hearts of everyone.

Pastor Doug: So hopefully that helps a little, Ken. Appreciate your call.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Jacob listening from Little Rock, Arkansas. Jacob, welcome to the program.

Jacob: Hello?

Pastor Doug: Hi, Jacob.

Jacob: I’ve heard you speak of--okay, I’m not really aware of the temperament personalities that people are usually born with, like melancholy and…

Pastor Doug: Right.

Jacob: …sanguine, choleric, but can you explain to me more about the twelve personality types of--the twelve tribes represent, and twelve apostles, and twenty-four others, and the twelve gates of the city?

Pastor Doug: Yeah, I think I know what you’re talking about, and let me just jump in here. There’s no doctrine in the Bible that talks about these different personality types. I think we all know some people are, you know, more gregarious, some are more reserved, you got some who are what they called choleric, or sanguine, or melancholy, or phlegmatic. Those are just major categories. And I’ve mentioned that before in my messages to illustrate that when you study the twelve apostles, their personalities were all very unique. When you look at the personalities of Jacob’s son and the way he blessed them, all different, the blessings that they received. He had no twins in the group.

And so, in the same way God’s the stones on the breastplate of high priest, all different, precious, but all different. So I’ve illustrated that God’s churches is made up of a lot of variety of temperaments and, you know, various few of us are all one thing. We’re all a kind of a combination of different trades and that’s what makes life interesting. And it’s interesting also, that opposites often attract. You often find that there will be one spouse that is very carbonated and bubbling and talkative, and the other one is very quiet and reserved. And it’s like they kind of compliment to each other. We have time for one more call, maybe.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Alright.

Pastor Doug: Hope that helps, Jacob.

Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Yvonne who is listening from Detroit, Michigan. Yvonne, welcome to the program.

Yvonne: Hi.

Pastor Doug: Evening.

Yvonne: God bless both of you. I’m calling because I have a question concerning cremation and how it fits in with, you know, when you die if your body’s burnt, do you still get caught up and…

Pastor Doug: Well, that’s a good question.

Yvonne: …you know, stuff like that, everything, does cremation is going to stop you from getting everything if you just get buried in the ground?

Pastor Doug: Right. That’s a good question. And a lot of people wonder when you die, does it make a difference if you’re cremated, well, you know, suppose the Lord comes back, if they’ve cremated and scattered your ashes, God may come down and He will say, “Look, I was going to resurrect him but I can’t find all the parts, what am I going to do?” You know, they are kind of scattered by the wind or washed by the tide. Keep in mind, never does the Bible tell us that God is resurrecting any of the old parts. He doesn’t need DNA to reassemble us. And so typically in the Bible when people died, they are buried. There are a couple of exceptions where we know some saved people were cremated, not only many of the martyrs during the dark ages, but you read about Jonathan, he was killed by the Philistines and later he was cremated and David thanked the people that did that because his body had been mutilated.

Well, God’s not going to have a problem resurrecting Jonathan. He’s a saved man. He was a good man. And so I think people should do whatever their conscience tells them to do, where they ought to discuss that with their family. I will probably be buried. My brother was cremated. I don’t think that’s going to be an obstacle to God resurrecting him because the Bible tells us He makes all things new, so He is not taking any old dead cells or pieces of ash. And if God made Adam bringing the dust together and made a perfectly new creature, then He can take whatever dust He wants. Somewhere up there in the mind of God he’s got a thumb drive where He has the personality of every person stored. It may not be thumb drive. But He’s got it stored. He knows who we are and He’s got to resurrect us. Good question, Yvonne.

So I’d find out where the blue-light specials are. Do that when it comes to the funeral. Listening friends, we have one again run out of time for Bible Answers Live tonight. But if you have a Bible question, you might find your answer by going to our website. It’s amazingfacts.org. By the way, we’d love to hear from you. Some of you don’t call in but you listened week after week, go to the website, it’s so easy, and just drop us a note and say, “Hey, we listen to Bible Answers Live,” tell us what station you listen on. And if you want to make a donation to keep the program going, you can do that through the website as well. We’d love to hear from you. God bless, friends. Remember, Jesus is the truth that will set you free.

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