Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hello friends. This is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? In 2009, doctors in Russia thought that 28-year old Artyom Sidorkin had cancer. He was a smoker and he came to the doctors coughing up blood and complaining of incredible chest pains. An x-ray revealed a mass in one of his lungs and he was scheduled for immediate surgery to determine the severity of the issue. But as the surgeon, Vladimir Kamashev began to cut into the lung, he discovered something amazing.
In the lung tissue, he found small green tree needles. He opened the area further and to his surprise, he discovered a two-inch long spruce tree growing in Sidorkin's lung. "I blinked three times and thought I was seeing things", the doctor said, "then I called my assistant, come and see this. We've got a fir tree here." The two inch long sapling was removed and Sidorkin is now back at work and feeling much better. His doctors theorize he must have inhaled a spruce tree seed which germinated and grew into the tiny tree within his lung. While we know it's not good to have a spruce tree growing in your body, the Bible says that Christians should be like trees. Stay with us friends, we're going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
Announcer: Welcome to Bible Answers Live with Author and Evangelist, Pastor Doug Batchelor. Is understanding God's word a challenge? Are there passages or scriptures that are a mystery to you? Maybe it's difficult to reconcile what you've read in the Bible to what you've always believed. If you have Bible-related questions, stay tuned to get honest and practical answers straight from the word of God on Bible Answers Live. Bible Answers Live is a production of Amazing Facts Ministries dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. Our lines are open, so call us now at 800-GOD-SAYS. That's 800-463-7297. Now, here's your host, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug: We're back with another live edition of Bible Answers Live and if you have Bible questions friends, we have lines open. It's a free phone call. The number, 800-GOD-SAYS. That's 800-463-7297. One more time, 800-463-7297 will bring your Bible questions into our studio here in Sacramento, California. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening listening friends and Pastor Doug, it's always a joy to be able to spend some time studying the word together. But let's begin the program with the word of Prayer. Dear Father, once again we thank you that we have this time and we can study the Bible and take Bible questions. We ask your blessing upon this program. Be with our friends who are listening wherever they might be and lead us, oh Lord, into a clearer understanding of scripture, for we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Jean: Well pastor, today you opened the program by talking about a remarkable occurrence of somebody actually breathing in -- I guess there's many folks have wondered if this is possible or not. I guess it is. Breathing in what appears to be the seed of a tree only to have that seed sprout in the warmth and darkness of the lung and actually start growing into a little tree, incredible.
Pastor Doug: Yes it is very unusual because usually when you inhale something like that, your body's designed to cough those things up all that debris and your cilia in your lungs to drive it away. But one got lodged and germinated and he had a tree growing inside. Good thing the doctors found that, you wonder how far it would have gone. Then I teased everybody with something about Christians being like trees and you can read in Psalm 1 1-3. This is the first of King David's Psalms, 'Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night.' The Bible says, 'He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in the season. His leaf will not wither and whatever he does will prosper.'
Friends, would you like to be a prosperous tree? Well, the Bible says then, 'Do not be tempted to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the path of sinner or sit in the seat of the scornful.' We were saying just before we went on the air, this is a progression. People that may be raised knowing what the right thing is and gradually they start to walk with the ungodly, then they find they're not walking but they're standing in the path of sinners and eventually they get comfortable and they've sit down with the scornful and this is a dangerous progression where we drift away from God. But, those who refuse to do that and they delight in the law of the Lord, their lives will be like a tree that brings forth its fruit. Jesus said we'll have the fruits of the spirit and so we're to be trees of righteousness of the Lord's planting, the Bible tells us. Now we have a free offer that we'll talk about how we can have this experience and how we don't have to be misled by the temptations of the world.
Pastor Jean: Absolutely. To be a Christian, that's saying yes to God and no to the sinful ways of the world. We have a book called The power of a positive no. That's an interesting name, The power of a positive no. We'll be happy to send this book to anybody who gives us a call and asks. The number to call for our resource is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book called The power of a positive no. We'll be happy to send it to anybody here in North America who calls and asks.
For our international friends, you can read this book online at the Amazing Facts website at amazingfacts.org.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Jean: Pastor, just before we go to the phone lines, this has been a remarkable week with the Pope's visit here to America and sort of a whirlwind a time. He's now on his way back to the Vatican. He said one of the things he's probably doing now is sleeping after having such a busy schedule. But, people have asked, well, is there any significance to the Pope's visit to America? How does that tie in to Bible prophecy, if it does? Well, yes. We think that the people power is spoken of in Bible prophecy and we have a video that looks at this, Revelation chapter 12, Revelation chapter 17, two very important passages.
Pastor Doug: About half a million people so far have watched this video in the last month, and if you would like to see it for free, it may not always be online for free, but for right now, there's actually some sponsors that are making it available, you just go to the website, revelationmystery.com, and you'll be able to see the video. The video is called The Bride, the Beast in Babylon, and it really goes through the Christian history from the time of Christ up through the Reformation and what happened and how this fulfilled a number of prophecies and there are even prophecies being fulfilled today. If you can remember, Revelation Mystery, you can watch the video for free online at YouTube or at this website.
Pastor Jean: All right. Be ready to go to the phone lines. Our first caller this evening is Josiah and he's listening from McKinley, Texas. Josiah, welcome to the program.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Josiah: Hi. Thanks for taking my call.
Pastor Doug: Thanks for calling, and your question.
Josiah: My question is, what coming of the Lord is 2 Peter 3:10-13 talking about when it says that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night? At first, it sounds like it's talking about the second coming, but then it sounds like when it says the heavens start to pass away with a great noise. [unintelligible 00:07:44] should be burned up. It sounds like it's talking about the third coming when he's basically executing judgment on the wicked and cleansing the earth with fire.
Pastor Doug: Well, when Jesus does come again, all those things will happen the second time. The elements will dissolve. It says he's coming with a shout. There'll be a large noise. It says he's coming to roar. The elements and the works of the earth will be burned up. You can read in Jeremiah 4, the cities are broken down. All these things will be dissolved. At the end of the 1,000 years when the wicked are judged is the final completion of these events. But this is principally, I think, talking about what's going to happen when the Lord comes because he's talking about when the Lord comes like a thief and we're redeemed at that time and the wicked are punished. That would be principally the next one and at the end when it says we look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, well, the new heavens and the new earth are -- God is going to make that at the end of the millennium. Now, we do have a we have a free lesson we can send you on that, if you like, talking about -- Is it the -
Pastor Jean: The Ultimate Deliverance. Talking about the second coming.
Pastor Doug: Well, I was thinking about thee millennium too.
Pastor Jean: Yes. Called A thousand years of peace. We'll be happy to send that to you Josiah or anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. We have two study guides, the one talking about the second coming of Christ called The Ultimate Deliverance, and one dealing with the 1,000 year period of the Millennium to read about in Revelation chapter 12 and that study guide is called A thousand years of peace. Thanks for your call, Josiah. Our next caller is Michael listening from Texas. Michael, welcome to the program.
Michael: Hello pastors.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Michael: I think they got my location wrong. I'm from South Florida. But nonetheless, I had a question stemming from the Pauline epistles. That particularly was the one where he mentions not to be -- I believe is Paul who wrote this, but not to be unequally yoked for what partnership does light have with darkness and so and so forth.
Now, I've heard a lot of people use this to discount marriage or companionship between Christians and non-Christians, or one person of one denomination versus someone of another denomination. I just want to know what this exactly means, this unequally yoked.
Pastor Doug: All right. The verse is 2 Corinthians 6:14, and it says, 'Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers,' and you've quoted it. 'For what Fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness.' Now, notice the big contrast Paul is making with righteousness and lawlessness and light and darkness. I don't think that Paul is saying that two Christians that may have some differences can't be married. I do think you have serious problems when Christians with entirely different denominations get married. If you talk to -- believe it or not, maybe this way now that the world has become so much more evangelical. But if you go back 50 years, no Methodist pastor would perform a wedding to marry a member to a Catholic.
A Catholic priest would not perform a wedding to marry a member to a Baptist, and you could go down the line like that because they thought that was being unequally yoked. Not that you're saying these people are darkness and lawlessness, but it creates real problems in the family, when you say let's get up and go to church to the children and mom says let's go north and dad said let's go south. That creates discord.
But especially Paul is talking about, getting in a relationship with the pagans in his passage here, and you've got to be careful as a believer even getting into a business venture with an unbeliever, because often they wanted incorporate principles and morals that you don't agree with and it just can be a real conflict. Getting into a business deal, a partnership with a none believer. When you're yoked to somebody, in Bible times they put two animals together and they pull a plow, they would yoke together two oxen. You don't want to yoke together a mule and an ox, you don't want to yoke together a donkey and an ox, they’re going to be like having two unequal or as they pull in a circle, they don't pull the same way. It just creates a real problem for the farmer. In the same way, you don't want people who aren't going the same direction at the same speed, you want them to be the like animals yoked together, and that's a language Paul is using. Hope that helps a little. Now, are you thinking about in the context of marriage or business?
Michael: Well, it was more in the context of relationships, marriage or girlfriend and boyfriend or just romancing cycles, because there's someone that I know who I’m very close to not like a brother, more of a fraternal relationship and he's been engaged to someone outside our common denomination and -
Pastor Doug: Yes. There can be problems.
Michael: They're all those people in our church, who were very indignant toward that. I was just wondering what that meant scripture entirely.
Pastor Doug: Well, I'll tell you what, let us send you our lesson, that talks about keys for a happy marriage and you can read that and share that with them, and it's got some of these Bible principles besides just this verse.
Pastor Jean: The number to call is 800-835-6747, and the study guide is called, keys to a happy marriage and for anybody who wants to learn more about what the Bible says, about how we can build healthy marriages, this is a great resource give us a call 800-835-6747 and we'll be happy to send that to you. Our next caller is Lee and he is listening in Greenville, North Carolina, Lee welcome to the program. Lee, you're on air.
Lea: Hi. It's Lea. I’m a girl.
Pastor Doug: Hi. Thanks for calling.
Lea: Thank you so much for taking my call. My question has to do with healing. I've heard you say before on the air, that when people pray for healing sometimes they don't receive it or they'll be healed when they get to heaven. My thing is when you read the scripture, Isaiah, and when it says that by his stripes we are healed or most people pray for healing on the inside. It's discouraging when you hear that God will heal you or you can’t be healed or He will answer your prayer and it doesn't happen. I just don't know what do you say about that, or how do you encourage a person who prays when individuals healing and the person passes away?
Pastor Doug: Well, first of all, we do believe that God answers prayer, I've experienced it. I know millions who are listening have experienced it. God will miraculously frequently intervene and heal. He does not always and there could be a variety of reasons. One is we don't always know what God's perfect sovereign will might be, and sometimes He can be glorified in a person's death. He can work it together for good, we don't know.
When Paul was afflicted by some medical issue, he never is specific, but he says he prayed three times about it, and God said, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." In other words, Paul realized that God answers prayer, he prayed about it and God said no. Elisha, who was a prophet full of the Holy Spirit, he died from a lingering sickness even though his predecessor went to heaven in a fiery chariot.
If you live long enough, you will start to feel the effects of old age,.I remember we had a saint in our church that was in her 90s and she came to us and said, "Brother Doug, I want you to pray for my hearing." I said. "Well, I'm willing to do that sister, but do you think there's a connection between your weak hearing and your being in your 90's?" She thought and smiled at me, she said, "Are you telling me I'm getting old?"
Sometimes, eventually as our bodies age, that is part of the general curse of sin, but we should pray for healing and God so frequently does heal, and I could just go through a litany of stories on my own, of how I've experienced what I thought was divine help. When you say what do you say to a person, that prays for healing and they don't get healed.
Pastor Jean: Well, the promise that we have in James, is that God will raise them up. Now, we pray that that raising up or that healing be now. But if in God's wisdom, He chooses not to heal an individual now, we still have the promise that on the resurrection morning, there will be a glorious more than healing actually. There'll be a resurrection and no more pain, no more sorrow. We ask for the blessing now, but if God chooses to postpone that blessing until the resurrection, we should be satisfied knowing that God knows what's best.
Pastor Doug: Let me say one more thing Lea.
Lea: Thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: Yes. I just want to give you one more thought on that. Some people pray and they pray wrong. What I mean by that is of course we need to pray with faith, but I don't believe that this idea that everybody that has faith is going to always be well and never be sick. But God also wants us to cooperate with healing and some sickness is brought on by sin or for by poor living habits. If a person is eating a 50% cholesterol diet, and then they're praying that God will heal their health problems but they don't change their diet, well, the Bible calls that mocking God. You know what I'm saying?
Lea: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Sometimes a person's prior living practices -- I had one sister that was praying all the time, she said, "Please pray about my emphysema" and I'd say, "Well sister, I will but are you going throw away your cigarettes?" We need to cooperate. Those are exaggerated examples, but you see what I'm saying Lea. It’s good that we pray and say Lord is there anything I need to change in my life, whether it's morally or physically, to cooperate with your healing and He'll sometimes show us things, and that's another important point. We do have that book called Teach us to pray, we'll be happy to send you a free copy, Lea.
Pastor Jean: The number to call is 800-835-6747. The book again is called Teach us to pray. I'll be happy to send it to anybody who calls us and asks. Again, 800-835-6747. That is the resource line. If you have a Bible question, our phone lines here in the studio is 800-463-7297 with your Bible question, that's the number to call. Our next caller is Shaya listening from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Shaya, welcome to the program.
Shaya: Hi. Thank you for having me.
Pastor Doug: Now, what time is it there? It must be what? 10:30?
Shaya: Yes, around there.
Doug Well, that's why we took your call. We don't want you staying up much later.
Shaya: It’s okay.
Pastor Doug: That's all right.
Shaya: I want to sleep before.
Pastor Doug: Okay. What’s your question tonight?
Shaya: If Adam and Eve didn't sin, would we not have clothes? Would we be not wearing clothes right now?
Pastor Doug: If Adam and Eve had never sinned and they went and did with the world what God told them to do, we would not be wearing artificial clothing. Now, Adam and Eve probably had robes of light even after they sinned. When the light went out, that's when they noticed they were dark. Now, let me tell you Shaya, there’s a story in the Bible when Moses talked to God on the mountain, his face was shining so bright, people couldn't even see him, and he had to veil his face. When Adam and Eve were living holy lives and talking with God, they had robes of light, and in Revelation, it says that all the saved are wearing these beautiful white robes, and the reason that their white robes they're not made out of cotton or leather or polyester, they're made from living light somehow. Adam and Eve were not strictly naked out of the garden. But in heaven we won't have artificial clothing, we'll have light luminescent clothing. Good question. You're thinking.
Shaya: Okay. Thank you.
Pastor Doug: All right, thanks for calling.
Pastor Jean: Thanks for your call.
Shiya: I have another question.
Pastor Doug: Okay. Is it a quick one?
Shiya: Yes. Are mermaids really witches of the sea?
Pastor Doug: No. I think most of the legends about mermaids, from what I've read, came from some of the sailors when they came through the Florida Coast and they saw the sea manatees. There's some creatures that they had never seen and they just saw them and they thought, "Oh, these have been at sea long enough and anything, so it starts looking interesting." They thought these manatees were women, and so I don't think that they're witches of the sea, I just think it's a legend that grew out of seeing things that weren't real or exaggerated. Thanks for your call Shaya, and who's next pastor Ross?
Pastor Jean: We've got Sharon listening from Minnesota Springs, West Virginia. Sharon, welcome to the program.
Sharon: Thank you. My question is, one of the special verses in the bible is John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' Within the last few months, I've been hearing when this text is quoted that a better translation in the Greek is unique, which is what the New International Version says. Well, I looked it up in the Greek and nowhere does the Greek dictionary I have say unique, it says one and only and some other things pertaining to that meaning of one and only. I think there is a world of difference between what the word 'unique' means and what the words 'only begotten' means.
Pastor Doug: Yes, I would agree.
Sharon: But I keep hearing that. I've heard it twice within two months from someone giving a sermon, and I just can't go along with that because we can say something is unique about each person is unique, each of us are unique people, there's no one like God.
Pastor Doug: Jesus was more than unique. He was the only begotten son of God.
Sharon: Yes, and that's taking something away from Jesus, I believe, to take away that He's God's only begotten son and to say He's a unique son.
Pastor Doug: I think now -- I don't know. But I think I've heard what you're saying before others have quoted that. I think what they are doing is they are trying to grapple with the idea that we are sons of God and if we're sons of God, then why, what makes Jesus different and so they are saying His unique son. He was the only begotten son of God. Now, this does not mean that God, in the remote recess of eternity, gave birth to Jesus.
Sharon: Yes, I understand that.
Pastor Doug: The only time that God became a man was in Christ, and that's what that saying. No, I would agree with you. NIV is not my favorite translation. Most people -
Sharon: No, it's not mine either. They've cut out so many things.
Pastor Doug: Yes. Some of the publishers had a special agenda. We do have a book on the Bible, it talks a little about the translations. We'll be happy to send you a free copy, Sharon, and it's called The ultimate resource.
Pastor Jean: The number to call for that is 800-835-6747. That is our resource line and you can ask for the book called The ultimate resource. Well be happy to send that to you, Sharon, or anybody who calls and asks. The number here to our studio with the old Bible question is 800-463-7297. Good time to pick up your phone and give us a call. The number again is 800-463-7297. Our next caller is David and he's listening from Jesup Georgia. David, welcome to the program.
David: Hi you all doing?
Pastor Doug: Doing well.
David: Well, my question is about mealtime. I was often told that if I have meat in my meal, I'm not supposed to have things like beans or cheese with it. Is there anywhere in the Bible that says one way or another about that?
Pastor Doug: I can't think there is a verse in the Bible that says you should not seith a kid and it's mothers milk. I don't think there is any verse in the Bible that says you can't eat beans or cheese with meat. That would describe chili, I suppose, chili con carne. [laughs]
David: And the cheese burger.
Pastor Doug: Yes, exactly. Now, I think you are better off eating the beans and leaving out the meat and the cheese. I've been a vegetarian for 30 years, or more than that, probably 39 years now, so I'm biased in that area. If you want to talk about a biblical diet, the original diet that God gave to Adam and Eve was a vegetarian diet.Then of course we know, David, when we get to heaven, that we eat from the tree of life. A man is probably not going to be butchering the chickens and cows and making burgers and chicken salad when we are there. That would be the ideal diet. But no, there's no verse that says you can't, unless pastor Ross can think of something. No. No verse here says you can't mix your cheese and your beans and your meat. Of course cheese burgers are really high in the cholesterol list.
Pastor Jean: We do have a study guide dealing with the biblical principles for healthy living called God's free health plan, and we'll be happy to send it to anybody who calls and ask, David. Just ask for that study guide called God's free health plan and we'll be happy to send it to you.
Pastor Doug: All right. Thank you for your question and we are going next to -
Pastor Jean: Next we have Richard and he is calling from Indiana. Richard, welcome to the program.
Richard: Hey.
Pastor Doug: Hey, thanks for calling.
Richard: First time caller. My question is, Well, I'm dating a woman that was married before and she got a divorce. She got a divorce because her husband cheated on her three times and I just want to know if it would be right in God's eyes if I married her?
Pastor Doug: Well, Jesus says that the only grounds for divorce, biblical grounds, would be, and this is Matthew chapter 19. You can look at verse eight. Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were heard, but it was not that way from the beginning. Anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. He goes on and says, in Matthew five, and if someone marries her that is put away, meaning put away without biblical grounds, commits adultery. If you're marrying someone that has biblical reasons for divorce, she is free to marry biblicaly. If her husband was unfaithful, she had grounds for divorce.
Pastor Jean: We do have a book dealing with the subject called Marriage, divorce and remarriage, and you'd find that interesting, Richard. If just give us a call on our resource line. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book called Marriage, divorce and remarriage. Again, if you have a Bible question, the phone line is 800-463-7297. That's right here to the studio. We'll be happy to take your call on the air this evening. We have Andrew who is listening from Asheville, North Carolina. Andrew, I'm just looking over here, pastor, I got messaged we only have about 30 seconds before our break. Andrew, if you wouldn't mind just holding on. We'll take your question right after the break, if that's all right.
Andrew: Yes, that will be fine.
Pastor Doug: Oh yes, we appreciate it. Listening friends, by the way, we did mention at the top of the program that we have a website. A lot of people been asking about the Pope's recent visit. Go take a look at revelationmystery.com. There is a free video there. It's about an hour long that covers what's been going on in prophecy in the world today. You're listening to Bible Answers Live.
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Pastor Doug: Welcome back listening friends. This is Bible Answers Live and if you have joined us along the way, this is live international interactive Bible study and we've got the stations across North America and via the internet, around the world that join us with their Bible questions. If you have a question, we do have our lines open and that number to our studio in North America is 800-463-7297. You can listen via the internet by going to KFIA or Amazing Facts website. My name is Doug Bachelor.
Pastor Jean: My Name is Jean Ross, and listening friends, we're going to go to our call of [unintelligible 00:30:15], introduced at the beginning of the program. We have Andrew listening from Asheville, North Carolina. Andrew, you're in the air.
Andrew: Yes. Hello.
Pastor Doug: Yes, and your question tonight?
Andrew: Yes, I was wondering how Samuel got to be a priest since he wasn't from the tribe of Levi.
Pastor Doug: Are you sure that he wasn't from the tribe?
Andrew: Yes, well, it says in the beginning of Samuel that he was an Ephrathite?
Pastor Doug: Yes, there were Levites that lived in Ephrata because his father, Elkanah, would come during his course, the Bible says, to minister in the sanctuary. In other words, the Levites were stationed throughout the 12 tribes, they had cities.
Andrew: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And, when Elkanah came with his family to minister during his term, it leaves us with the impression that while he was from Ephrata, which was not the same as Ephraim. Ephrata was a place not far from Bethlehem actually, near Rhema. I think Samuel ended up living in Rhema, Ramoth-Gilead, later known as. He was from the tribe of Levi and that's why he was taken into the tabernacle. Ultimately, he was priest between the sons of Eli and the other priest. Samuel served his priest.
Andrew: Right. Okay. Well, that makes sense.
Pastor Doug: So yes, until the Kingdom split, when the kingdom split and Jeroboam became the king in the Northern Kingdom, all the Levites migrated down to the Southern Kingdom. But when they first divided the territory, Joshua intended that Levites had towns outside of all of the territories. They had cities of refuge stationed throughout Israel. The Levites were in charge of the cities of refugees, as well. So, they were spread throughout the country so they can minister to everybody.
Andrew: Right. Okay.
Pastor Doug: I appreciate your question and thanks for the patience, Andrew.
Pastor Jean: Next caller is Jerry and he's listening from Medford, Oregon. Jerry, welcome to the program.
Jerry: Good evening, Pastors Ross and Batchelor. My question pertains to divorce. It is a follow up for the one earlier. But I'm looking at Mark, let me see, 10, 11 and 12, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." Now, no exceptions are given. But as you quoted in Matthew 19:9, there's an exception which pertains to adultery. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 7:15, it talks about a believer married to a non-believer, and if the non-believer wants to leave, let him leave, which is often cited by many clergy members as being a legitimate reason for divorce. Although, that doesn't really say divorce here, it says let them leave.
Pastor Doug: Depart, yes.
Jerry: So I'm wondering why there isn't more consistency about the noted exceptions when it is discussed in the Bible.
Pastor Doug: Well, you're right. There is another exception there in 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. So far we've talked about two exceptions. One is, if you've got two believers that are married and one of them violates the marriage vows or commits adultery., the other one has grounds. They don't have to get divorced, reconciliation is better but they've got biblical grounds for divorce. The case in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is talking to people who were pagans, that were converting to Christianity. Sometimes, one member of a couple would convert and not the other. One would say, "Look, I married you and you were worshiping Jupiter like me and now you're worshiping this Jesus and I didn't sign up for that and I'm leaving". Paul was saying those people were not bound for the rest of their lives to remain unmarried because they didn't know. They didn't have the knowledge of Christ when they got married. They didn't deliberately marry unbeliever. They were unbelievers when they got married. He is talking about a whole different scenario that needs to be made clear.
Now, I've got a book. I'll send you a free copy, Jerry, where I talk about these examples, and it's called, Marriage Divorce and Remarriage. If you call the resource line, we'll be happy to send that to you.
Pastor Jean: The number to call, 800-835-6747. Again, the book is called, Marriage Divorce and Remarriage. It deals with these biblical principles. We'll be happy to send it to anybody who calls and asks. If you're outside of North America and you'd like to actually inside as well, if you'd like to read it online, you can do so at amazingfacts.org.
Pastor Doug: Yes, Jerry is right. The marriage issue, we get calls almost every week on this. It is complex. It is also omnipresent challenge people struggle with. What is the proper grounds for divorce. Something I might add is, separation is different than divorce. For some people that may have many biblical grounds for separation, that's different than divorce. So when a person gets divorced, they're really thinking about going and getting remarried again at some point. Thank you, Jerry and do send for the free book.
Pastor Jean: Our next call is Antonio listening from Georgia. Antonio, welcome to the program.
Antonio: Hello, thank you for taking my call. I have a question. In Daniel 11:40, who is the King of the South and what is the context of this?
Pastor Doug: All right, and it says here, by the way, this is leading right up to Daniel 12 when Michael stands up. These are the final verses. This is probably one of the longest running prophecies in the Bible. I can't think of one that goes any longer, Pastor Ross has sort of got his black belt in prophecy. I'm going to let him take this one.
Pastor Jean: [laughs]He came with one of the hardest passages here. What are the challenges that -- Daniel Chapter 11, the last part, especially verse 40-45, is yet in the future. We can sort of see the stage set to some degree, but if you're reading Chapter 12:1 it says, 'Michael shall stand up.' We know that standing up is the close of probation that just precedes the second coming of Christ.
Verse 40-45 has still some future application connection with it. But historically, the King of the South has been identified through several symbols. One as being the Ottoman Empire. That was during the Dark Ages. Others have seen it more as atheism that reached the full during the time of the French Revolution from historical perspective. Others have seen it as sort of resurgence of this Islamic agenda, this militant Jihad type attitude. Some have described as atheism. So there's several ideas as to who the King of the South is. I think as things unfold in the next few years or next few months, I think it will become very clear when these prophecies have been filled.
Pastor Doug: Yes, I think that actually some of things are happening -- I think there is something actually very prophetic about the Pope's visit this last week. It certainly was everyone kept saying, "Historic". But, there were some things that actually hearkened to Revelation 13 that were happening this week about -- Well, I'll tell you, it was quite a picture of the Pope with his Vatican flag standing with President Obama and the American flag overlooking the Washington Mall from the Capitol Building. The picture of the leader of America which has been the bastion for Protestantism and the leader of Catholicism and the Orthodox churches in Europe. It is like the old world in the new world, and that's kind of outlined there in prophecy.
You will just confess and you may be gathered this, Antonio. Daniel 11, and especially those closing verses, are difficult sometimes to decipher. I've got a lot of dear friends that think it is a resurgence of a radical version of the Islam that is going to trigger a Third World War. I don't know that I ascribe to that but it is an interesting theory and they make a strong case for it. It is interesting that some of the nations that are mentioned later; Edom, Moab, Ammon, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, are all countries that have some Islamic trappings right now. Anyway, I hope that helps a little bit and we appreciate your question.
Pastor Jean: It's one of those prophecies that we watch closely as things unfold. One of the things that Bible prophecy passing thing is not always trying to predict what's going to happen in the future. But as these things unfold and you see what the Bible said, it helps to build our faith in the scriptures to know that God is in control and that He is leading.
Pastor Doug: That is why Jesus said, "When these things come to pass, then you will know that I am He."
Pastor Jean: [unintelligible 00:39:28].
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Pastor Jean: All right, our next caller is Samantha, listening from Brooklyn, New York. Samantha, welcome to the program.
Samantha: [unintelligible 00:39:36] Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross?
Pastor Doug: Doing well, and how about you? Can we help you with your question tonight?
Samantha: Yes, Revelation Chapter 6:15-17.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Samantha: It says, "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free." It then says, "Hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains fall on us."
[unintelligible 00:40:01] on this and how that showed [unintelligible 00:40:03] with the Lamb. [unintelligible 00:40:06] actually about the kings of the earth and [unintelligible 00:40:13] now speaking about righteousness and godliness speaking about evil, wicked men, right? Ungodly men, right?
Pastor Doug: Yes, this is talking about -- When Jesus talks about his coming, he says then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Well, he's talking about the laws. He's not talking about his people, because he says he will send His angels to gather together his elect from one end of the heaven to the other. From the four corners of the earth, the elect, the saved are gathered. When the sixth seal opens, this is synonymous with the judgment that's connected with the second coming.
Because it says there's a great earthquake. Revelation also talks about a great mighty earthquakes of the mountains are swallowed up. When the Lord comes there's going to be a great earthquake. Obviously, it's the end of the world when it says the moon becomes like blood, the stars fall from heaven. By the way listening friends and Samantha, I don't know if you know, but at the moment of this live broadcast, sometimes they re-air these things, they've been talking about a Blood Moon.
There's an eclipse of the moon and it's also a Supermoon. It's one of the full moons when the earth is -- the moon is closest to the earth. It's happening right during the one hour of our radio program. I hope that's not a harbinger of anything terrible. Anyway, it says here that the earth will -- there's an earthquake. The moon becomes like blood, the stars of heaven fall to earth. That hasn't happened, but these were things that happen with the second coming.
The sky recedes as a scroll when it is rolled up. That's when the loss of the earth rich and poor everybody, they're going run, hide and call for the rocks to cover them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb.
Pastor Jean: Again, that study guide we mentioned it earlier called The Ultimate Deliverance. That talks about the second coming of Jesus, and gives you a number of Biblical principles and verses that tell us about how Jesus will come and events associated with his coming. We'll be happy to send that to you, Samantha, or anybody who calls and asks. Our resource line is 800-835-6747. Again, 800-835-6747. We'll be happy to send you that lesson.
Our next caller is Alex. He's listening from Irving, New Jersey. Irvington, New Jersey. Alex, welcome to the program.
Alex: Yes. Thank you. Thank you for having this program. Thank you for taking my call. My question is concerning the Our Father's Prayer. I believe from my study of [unintelligible 00:42:44] that is the complete prayer that covers everything. Beyond anything else anybody could pray. That's the only prayer that I pray every day. I don't say anything else. Nothing from my needs, or anything else.
When somebody ask me of something to pray [unintelligible 00:43:00] about, I say yes, I pray the Our heavenly Father prayer everyday. Don't you need to say more than that? I go, no, I'm satisfied with that because I believe [unintelligible 00:43:09] teach us how to pray, and he taught us how to pray by teaching us the Our Father Prayer. What do you think of that?
Pastor Pastor Doug: Well, when Jesus says in Matthew chapter six, and he says in verse nine, they said when you pray in this manner, pray. He didn't say, repeat this prayer. It is okay to repeat the Lord's Prayer, I've done it many times. But it is an outline for what our prayers should include. There are seven petitions in the Lord's Prayer. First petitions, the first three petitions are to God, our Father hallow it is your name, your kingdom, your will.
The last petitions deal with our relationship with our fellow man. But Christ also said do not pray in vain repetition, and that means you don't want to just repeat any prayer over and over. Real prayer is going to be calling of your heart to the heart of God. When you listen, now if this was the only prayer that we were supposed to pray, then wouldn't -- you get to the book of Acts and the Apostles are praying, you would have only heard them pray the Lord's Prayer.
When you read through the letters of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the various New Testament writers, they pray many other prayers from their heart. I would hope, Alex, you should also talk to the Lord from your heart. Don't just pray in vain repetition the same prayer or it starts losing its meaning. You ought to be telling not only what your needs are, that's okay, pray the things in this prayer about your personal needs, our daily bread.
Talk about God's will in your life. If you're tempted, lead me not into temptation, but there are different ways of wording it. Because if you say the same thing every time, God knows what you need before you ask. He's not wanting to hear you just parrot a prayer. He's wanting your heart to connect with his heart through communion, through communication. I would encourage you to broaden your prayers beyond just repeating the Lord's Prayer.
I'd be happy to send you our book about Teach Us To Pray. It goes through the Lord's Prayer as well.
Pastor Jean: The number to call again is 800-835-6747. That is the resource line and you can ask for the book called Teach Us To Pray. Our next caller is Bill, and he's listening from Toronto, Canada. Bill, welcome to the program.
Bill: Yes. Thank you. Is anybody in America saved? The great humanitarian Ghandi said if you ever could find a Christian you consider becoming one. There's a program on before you we have to abide in the doctrine of Christ or we don't have a God. When we look at America today, you look at American evangelicals running the ball games, running the football games, running here, there and everywhere, is anybody saved?
Pastor Doug: Well, I tell you, I know exactly what you're talking about. There's a lot of people that are saying Lord, Lord that don't really know him. I'm very thankful that I do know and have met what I believe are very genuine, authentic bonafide Christians. They love Jesus. They are filled with a spirit. They're consistent in their lives. They have been just a wonderful example and encouragement to me. A lot of people are doing their best, were struggling and some people are, you can see that they've made dramatic changes in their life.
It's like when you go to a hospital, people in the hospital, if there's a plague that's going through the country, might be experiencing healing. They are going through various stages of healing. When we come to Jesus, he accepts us and he gives us the antidote. Well, then it takes time sometimes to be sanctified and go through the various stages of healing. People meet Christians that aren't thoroughly converted or they haven't had enough time to experience sanctification.
They say, "Oh well if that's what a Christian is like, I don't want to be a Christian." Well, be patient with them. God's not done with them yet. But you're right, a lot of people look at folks that say they're Christians and sometimes it's a laughingstock. There are some real ones out there. The devil, he knows the best way to hide a diamond is by surrounding it with broken glass. Buried in the broken glass of the Christian morass of evangelicalism, is a diamond.
There are real Christians out there that have the real thing. Don't get discouraged or give up, Bill. Does that that make sense?
Bill: But where does the line get drawn? If I meet a prostitute, and I tell her, "Look, give your life to Christ." Do I tell her she has to stop doing what she's doing?
Pastor Doug: Well, I think that if you're talking about giving her life to Christ, the first thing Jesus said, I mean he of course shared his love with people, but the first thing that Christ said is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, he told him you've got to be sorry for your sins that are making you so unhappy. Then he promised him something better. He says there's a kingdom of heaven available to you. You don't need to do this anymore.
I don't have time to tell the whole story, but I once quite accidentally picked up a prostitute who was hitchhiking with a man. He got out of the car, she stayed in. I found out what she did for a living. I led her to Christ. I said you don't have to live like this. Why are you doing this? She was just looking for love, she's 17 years old. Yes, you can just tell them that God has something so much better for them.
I don't recommend this form of witnessing for a young man. It something, it wasn't planned. Anyway, Bill, hey thank you for your question. Hope that helps a little bit. Who do we have lined up Pastor Ross?
Pastor Jean: We've got Daniel who is listening from Casper, Wyoming. Daniel, welcome to the program.
Daniel: Hey. How are you guys doing?
Pastor Doug: Better than we deserve. How can we help you today?
Daniel: I was wondering, I was just looking at the word and I was wondering, what is the best method to keep our children working in Christ? Because it seemed like the whole world is infiltrating our children's mind. Not just them and us, and some time I try to lock myself in the house and not go anywhere to try to prevent -
Pastor Doug: Yes, well you don't want to just lock yourself in the house, and I know that there's a lot of unhealthy influences out there. Probably, Daniel, one of the biggest challenges for our children is there is so much information that is unwholesome through social media right now.
If you have kids and they have a cell phone and a computer, at some point they've got to learn how to manage their time and be exposed to these things. But boy, you just need to keep an eye on your kids and help them ask good questions about what they're feeding their minds on, because it's real easy for them to get caught up in the computer and movies and social media so that their spirits and their morals and values are being shaped by the devil in the world as they watch this stuff and listen to this stuff. So you need to compensate by spending a lot of time with them, make sure you have a family worship and that you guide them on what the truths are. But I hope that helps a little, but I appreciate your question Daniel.
Pastor Jean: The next caller is Patrick, listening from Florida. Patrick, welcome to the program.
Patrick: Hello, yes, I was reading the Mark of the Beast study guide recently and in the guide, it mentioned that the wound of the beast was healed but I was under the assumption that it hasn't yet been healed yet. So I just wanted a little clarification on that.
Pastor Doug: All right, let me explain to our listening friends what we're talking about. If you read in Revelation 13, it talks about two beasts in Revelation 13. The first beast receives a deadly wound, but it says the deadly wound is healed. Protestants believed for centuries that the first beast in Revelation was the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church actually, and second beast is North America. But when did the Catholic Church receive a deadly wound? There was 1,260 years, tha Bible talks about three and a half years and Bible years got 360 days in it, and a day in prophecy is a year. Three and a half prophetic years is 1,260 days and a day's a year, 1,260 years.
From 538, when the Catholic Church was sort of established, by being given an army and they were empowered in that way, to 1798, when they received a deadly wound, the Pope was basically taken out of power by Napoleon's General Berthier. Up until then, they had almost uninterrupted power or influence over the kingdoms of Europe. They lost that status and many believe in 1929 with the treaty when they were reestablished, the Vatican was made as an independent country again, that the healing began to take place. I don't know that it's complete but it certainly began. So is that what you're talking about Patrick?
Patrick: Yes, that's what I am talking about.
Pastor Doug: Yes, so they're gaining influence and boy, certainly saw a lot of gained collateral this week with -- for the first time, the Pope actually speaks to the largest legislative body, not only in America with our Congress, but then he goes and he speaks to the United Nations. The Catholic Church is back in the game. They have a lot of power right now and I think you can say they've been healed. Not when the church talks about healing, they're talking about healing the wound that happened in Christianity between Protestants and Catholics, this big separation, and it-- I just read an article, I think it was Christianity Today, that 60%-70% of evangelicals in North America consider the Pope to be a brother in Christ, even though the teachings are so vastly different, that's very different from what was believed when our country was founded. So I hope that helps a little bit, Patrick. How much time we have left? Oh, one minute.
Pastor Jean: Let me just mention while we are talking about this important subject. We do have that video called the Pope American Prophecy at the website called revelationmystery.com and was mentioned earlier in the program. This is for free if you could go there and take a look at, that's just a great important study that's very timely for today.
Pastor Doug: Absolutely, go to revelationmystery.com. The video you'll be seeing there is called the Bride, the Beast and Babylon, and it's had about over 250,000 views in the last month or so. So a lot of people are wondering what's going on. Well, friends we hope everybody's going to survive the blood moon tonight and assuming the world does not implode, we will be back, God willing, next week for more Bible Answers Live.
Announcer: This has been a pre-recorded broadcast of Bible Answers Live, a production of Amazing Facts Ministries. If you would like to order the materials mentioned on this broadcast, call 800-835-6747 from 8:00 AM to midnight, Eastern Standard Time. That's 800-835-6747. If you've missed an episode of Bible Answers Live, you can find it on our website, amazingfacts.org. You'll also find our online sale catalog of books, tapes and other materials, as well as numerous free resources on nearly every Bible topic, putting the answers to your Bible questions right at your fingertips. If you've been blessed by this program, let us know. Write to us at PO Box 909, Roseville, California 95678. Be sure to tell others about the program and join us again next time for more Bible Answers Live with Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Speaker: I grew up in a church-going family. I mean, we were at every meeting. I sang in four of the choirs there, I directed three, very involved, very active. It almost seemed like busy work sometimes. I went to Sunday School, I knew about God, I knew about Jesus, but I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My senior year in high school, I got the news my father had been murdered. I played it off well. No one really saw that I was struggling with it. It just really felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled and I tried to fill it with drugs, with alcohol, with partying. After college, I just stopped going to church altogether.
One day on a Sunday, because I didn't feel like going to church with my mom, I thought, "I should get a little bit of work." She had the satellite system hooked up and I am flipping through channels and then the logo pops across, "Amazing Facts presents". I've listened to a lot of different ministries but here, this was the first time that he's actually saying something where I had to grab my Bible and actually pick it up and I've never heard this before, "Let me look through and find this." I went through all the storacles, I went through all the study guides and I just couldn’t get enough. And then the Sabbath came up, and he's going through the appeal and I am just going, "Lord, I hear you, I have to go to church."
So I show up. It was funny. I didn't feel like I was going to be judged, anything judgmental, anything, and I walked in the door and I just felt at home. But there's still a problem, I am still partying. I was still going out to the bars. At this time, I was selling cocaine to pay my rent. 16 days later, I find myself in a life or death situation. I just came back from a liquor store and I grabbed a bottle of vodka, and there I am, high off cocaine, with my Bible in hand, trying to do a Bible study. And I heard an audible voice, "Just look at yourself," and I did, and I was like, "What am I doing?" And I got on my knees, I said, "Lord, if you do not take this away from me now, I'm going to kill myself. I was going to continue this lifestyle and I was going to end up overdosing, having a heart attack, whatever it was. You have to take this away, all of it." And that day, He lifted all of it away from me. It was all gone. When God does something in your life, He does it complete.
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