- It is the best selling book in history. No volume ever written has been more loved and quoted. And its words, sometimes simple and sometimes mysterious, should always be studied carefully. It is the Bible, the Word of God. Welcome to "Bible Answers Live", providing accurate and practical answers to all your Bible questions. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode, to receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this broadcast, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now, here's your host from Amazing Facts International, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
- Hello, friends. Would you like to hear an amazing fact? Dragon flies are among the fastest of all insects, having been clocked at over 60 miles an hour. Fossils tell us that before the flood, some dragon flies had a wingspan of nearly three feet. Not only are they fast but they're strong too. About half of their body mass is devoted to flight muscles and they have the ability to lift more than twice their body weight, a feat that no manmade aircraft has ever come near. They can take off backwards, then accelerate at warp speed, then stop in an instant. They can also execute an unbanked turn as if on a pivot, summer salt in the heat of combat and fly virtually any maneuver using an infinite combination of its four wings. Not only can the dragonfly outmaneuver anything else on wings, it can see better too. It's wraparound compound eyes contain over 30,000 lenses, providing a 360 degree field of view. In fact, a dragon flag can see a net three feet away, dart from its nest, seize and devour the prey, and return to its perch all in about one second. In addition, the success rate when hunting is nearly a 100%, where compared to like a , Falcon or a lion it's 25%. The US Air Force has studied the amazing flight versatility of dragonflies and wind tunnels, hoping to uncover the secret of their incredible aerodynamic abilities, yet the extraordinary flying ability and seeing ability of dragonflies doesn't match up with some characters in the Bible, Pastor Ross.
- Well, I know where you're going with that Pastor Doug, talking about speed. I mean, dragonflies are fast but in comparison to other created beings they don't even come close, we're talking about angels. Angels, the Bible says, also has wings. We have a description of angels with wings in the Bible, but these amazing creations, these amazing beings, the Bible calls them ministering spirits, can travel faster than the speed of light. So, we're thinking probably the speed of thought, you'd think.
- There's something between the speed of light and how fast angels go, we don't know what that measurement is but there's an example in the Bible, I believe, in the Book of Daniel.
- Yeah, there's an interesting passage you find in Daniel chapter nine, a little bit of the background here. You have the prophet Daniel who's praying for understanding, and in response to his prayer the angel Gabriel is sent to answer Daniel's prayer. And we actually find the verse here in Daniel chapter nine, and starting in verse 21 it says, "Yes, while I was speaking in prayer," this is Daniel the prophet, "... the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering." So, Pastor Doug, here we have here Daniel, I should say, the prophet praying for understanding. And then the angel Gabriel gets the commission, go answer Daniel's request, we find in verse 23 of the same chapter, it says, now Gabriel is speaking and he says, "At the beginning of your supplication," that's the beginning of his prayer, "... the commandment went out, and I've come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision." So, you look back a little further in the chapter you probably got 10 minutes of talking, or maybe even less, where Daniel is praying, he begins his prayer confessing his sins. From that point to where Gabriel suddenly appears in front of Daniel, he flies from heaven to earth in a very short period of time.
- Yeah, it's just fractions of seconds, or minutes, going all that distance, which is encouraging to know when you're in trouble and you pray, it doesn't take very long for the paramedic to get to you, the heavenly paramedic, and, what do they call it, the 911 response time. It's pretty quick for heaven. Well, Pastor Ross, it's good to be here for the program tonight. Want to welcome you friends, if you've got Bible questions we're going to launch off, that's what this program's all about. And you can either watch on 3ABN or, I'm sorry, not three 3ABN yet, we're going on there soon; we're going to be on AFTV, Good News Network and Facebook, Amazing Facts, and... Let's see, Amazing Facts Facebook page, Doug Batchelor Facebook page, and we invite you to call in with your questions. If you have a question, number is 463-7297.
- We also have another phone number we want to tell you about, and that number is 835-6747, we'll be repeating this throughout the program, that is our free resource phone line. Again, that's 835-6747. And, Pastor Doug, we're talking about angels to begin the program. We have an Amazing Fact Study Guide that talks about a special angel born message that comes from heaven to the earth, and that study guide is called "Angel Messages from Space". It's talking about the Three Angels Messages that we find in Revelation chapter 14. We'll be happy to send this study guide to anyone who calls and asks, all you need to do is call 835-6747, and you can ask for the free offer. You can ask for offer number 137 or ask by name, Angel Messages from Space, and we'll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and asks. If you're outside of North America, please take a look at the amazing facts Facebook page and you'll be able to read that, actually the website I should say, you'll be able to read this study guide right there.
- Yes.
- Before we go to the phone lines we always like to begin with prayer, so let's do that right now. Dear Father, we thank You that we have this time, once again, where we can just gather together through media, open up Your Word and study. Father, we thank you for those who are listening and we pray Your blessing upon this program, guide us into a clearer understanding what the Bible teaches. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen.
- All right, ready to go to the phone lines. We've got April listening in Florida. April, welcome to the program.
- [April] Hi, good evening, pastor Doug. Good evening, pastor Jëan, it's good to hear you guys again.
- Thank you for calling.
- [April] Thank you for accepting my call. So, my question is, in the Book of John Jesus mentioned nobody has seen the face of God, or I think He said nobody's seen the face of God. But I believe Abraham, Moses and Elijah are in heaven. Also, when Jesus was on the mountain, and I'm sorry I don't have my Bible with me. When Jesus was on the mountain, I believe with Abraham and Elijah, James, Peter and John, I believe, saw Him. So, why would Jesus say, I think to the Pharisees, nobody has seen the face of God except for the Son of Man?
- Yeah, I think that the key there is Jesus actually says, "No man have seen the Father." And so people have seen Jesus, the Son. Now, for an example, if you go to Exodus chapter 33, Moses says, "Lord, show me Your glory." And He said, "No man can see My glory." Matter of fact, let me see, if you look in verse 20, He said, "You cannot see My face, no man can see My face and live." And so, to see the face of God in his undiminished glory would just be too much. Now, that's because we're in our sinful condition, so once Moses and Elijah are in heaven and they've got their glorified bodies, they can endure the presence of God. Indeed, Adam and Eve used to walk with God in the garden, so they could see God. And they were probably spending time with God, the Son, in those encounters, But God, the Father in particular, in His undiminished glory, humans, especially in our lost condition, we could not bear the sight it would consume us, be like a laser. So, there's a distinction there and often when people have seen God, He's veiled His divinity in the form of a man or something, and would appear to people like Abraham and Jacob and Manoah, or Manoah and his wife.
- So, would that be Christ that appeared in the Old Testament to Abraham and...
- Yeah, those are called Christophanies, they're the pre-incarnation appearances of Jesus. Jesus appeared several times, that's why Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, "Abraham longed to see My day and he saw it." Jesus appeared to Abraham and, of course, Abraham saw Christ in the sacrifice of when he offered Isaac. He saw Him prefigured there. So, hope that makes sense, April, that it is still true, no man can see the face of God the Father, but clearly people have seen God the Son.
- All right, next caller that we have is Palmer listening from, is that Iowa? Palmer, welcome to the program.
- [Palmer] Oh, I'm glad to be here. I'm glad you guys were willing to take this question.
- Sure.
- [Palmer] The question is, in Daniel chapter two the stone that turns into a mountain and fills the whole earth, is that a literal kingdom after the millennium?
- Well, let's use some biblical hermeneutics here. When we look at Daniel two, and you see in the image their head is of gold and the arms of silver, and the belly is bronze, and the legs of iron, and the feet are iron in clay. Do those other metals represent real kingdoms, Palmer? And, obviously, Babylon really represented a literal kingdom of Babylon, the head of gold. And the silver was a literal kingdom of Persia, so when you get down to the stone, to be consistent, it must be a literal kingdom of Jesus, And not only did Christ begin preaching the spiritual kingdom when he came 2000 years ago, we're looking forward to a literal kingdom. The spiritual kingdom has always been available, it's within you, but the literal kingdom is still future because the devil is contesting this world, but Jesus is going to create a new heavens and new earth, and says the knowledge of God will fill the world. That's when that new kingdom is established on earth.
- You know, pastor Doug, there's an interesting verse that I like in Matthew 21 verse 44. And, Palmer, maybe you've never seen this verse before. It's actually Jesus, and He says, "Whoever falls upon this stone shall be broken; but on whomever it falls, it'll grind him to powder." It's kind of interesting, Christ here is referring to Daniel chapter two because the stone that comes and strikes the image upon its feet, it says it grinds all of these various metals to powder and the wind blows it away; and then the stone grows and becomes a great mountain. So, to fall upon the stone, the stone being Christ, our hearts are broken. But there is a warning, if we don't take advantage of the salvation that Jesus wants to give us, when the second coming occurs we're going to be turning to the rocks and the mountains as they fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne. So, yes, it's a very literal kingdom that'll be established. Now, there's phases of that kingdom, you have the second coming of Christ where the righteous are taken to him for 1,000 years, the wicked are destroyed. But then at the end of the 1,000 years you have the great white throne judgment and the wicked are destroyed, and then the earth is recreated, the new heavens the new earth.
- Yes.
- All right, well, thanks for your call, Palmer. We got Michael, also from Michigan. Michael, welcome to the program.
- [Michael] Yes, hello Pastor Doug, Pastor Ross. Thanks for taking my question.
- Yeah.
- [Michael] My question is, if Daniel nine, 24 through 27 is a repeat and enlargement of the kingdom of grace, where can we find that in Daniel two?
- You say Daniel nine, well it's talking about Daniel nine chapter 24 through 27 is, really, that's the prophecy of Christ's first coming from the time that He would be anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism. That's at the end of the 483 days or years, to His crucifixion in the midst of that final week when He causes a sacrifice cease, and so that's the kingdom of grace. When you're in Daniel chapter two it's talking about God's a literal kingdom, so they're covering different time periods so I'm not sure... Did we say something about the kingdom of grace and Daniel two that you're looking for?
- [Michael] Well, if Daniel nine, 24 through 27 is a repeat and enlargement of the kingdom of grace, I'm wondering where it is in Daniel two.
- Well, when Jesus comes it's... Let me say this differently. The kingdom of grace actually is available from creation. That lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, everybody saved Old Testament, New Testament, is saved by grace. So, all through Daniel two, God's people are always spared through grace, nobody is saved by law.
- Well, I think you do find an interesting feature when you look at Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven, and you get Daniel chapter eight and then Daniel chapter nine. It does cover much of the same time period, but each of the various visions amplify and give additional details. So, Daniel chapter two is focused primarily on powers, political powers, and ultimately the kingdom of God being established on earth. And then you're finding Daniel nine, the emphasis there is on the spiritual kingdom, the establishment of that kingdom that Jesus preach when He came and He said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," that's the kingdom of grace. So, Daniel is addressing both the kingdom of glory, as well as the kingdom of grace in the various visions in Daniel two, Daniel seven. You also have the judgment that's referred to in Daniel seven, and you also find that referred to in Daniel eight so there's a number of parallels between these visions.
- Yeah. So, hope that helps a little bit, Michael, and we appreciate that you can see the grace all the way through all the prophecies. But, yeah, they continue to expand not only in Daniel, in Revelation, they continue to enlarge. All right, I think we're ready for Marcus and--
- Marcus, welcome. Listening from Tennessee. Marcus, welcome to the program.
- [Marcus] Oh, hi. My question is, what is the image to the beast?
- All right, very good. When you read in revelation chapter 13, it talks about that there's two beasts in revelation 13, you got this first beast and it comes up out of the sea. And then you get the second beast that comes up out of the land, and he encourages the world to make an image to the first beast who had a wound by the sword, a deadly wound, but yet he's revived, he still lived. And the first beast was the persecuting power of the dark ages from like 538 to about 1798, that was 1,260 years when the people power was persecuting, like 50 million Christians died during that time, and Jews, and you get the Human knots and the Walden season, and many others. And this is not something original with our radio program, this is what the Protestants taught, like Luther, Wesley, Spurgeon. I mean, you can go down the line, all the puritans and the Protestants believe that. So, that would be the first beast, but then you get this other beast which we believe is the United States, which it's kind of been the beach head for Protestants, but there's going to be apostacy, which we already see in the church. And they're going to encourage the world to make an image, that means a likeness, they're going to recreate a religious political system that is very similar and that is going to be, once again, a persecuting power if you do not worship the way you're told. It's what it says, if you do not worship the image of the beast you can't buy or sell and you'll ultimately be killed. And I don't think those days are very far away. I always think it's interesting, if you look at a picture of the Vatican and then you look at a picture of the capital building, they look like they're copied after each other. And you look in front of the Vatican a great obelisk is there., and in front of the capital you've got the Washington Monument. And so, it's kind of interesting, they're both kind of based on this Greco-Roman architecture. But that's not the image, it's not the architecture it's the power, the government that it's going to be a persecuting power.
- Yeah, I think, Pastor Doug, you mentioned it a little earlier, during the dark ages you had a religious power, the church that was using the state, the political power, to enforce worship or a certain type of worship. So, an image to the beast would be when religious powers in the United States put emphasis or motivate, coerce, the government to start forcing a certain type of worship or religion. That would be an image to the first beast.
- Yeah, it's like a facsimile is making an image of something. And the second beast encourages the world, it's like a facsimile of the first beast.
- Right, right.
- We think image, we think idol, it's not like the world world's going to be told to worship a big Buddha, it's talking about it'll be a similar system.
- And then it's not only the United States, but with the support of the United States it spreads around the world.
- Right, it's global.
- We have a study guide, it's called, "The United States in Bible Prophecy," just the US in Bible prophecy, and we'll be happy to send this to anyone who wants to learn more about this, this is such an important and fascinating study. If you'd like to receive that, the number to call is 835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, it's called, "The USA in Bible Prophecy." We'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. We've got Fred listening from Connecticut. Fred, welcome to the program.
- [Fred] Yes, should a Christian be playing the stock market?
- All right, good question. Well, when you say playing the stock market, I think a Christian ought to avoid anything that borders on gambling. Now, investing in the stock market, nothing wrong with that, morally, because if you put your money in the bank, what banks do is they invest in the market. Banks just don't just sit on the money, they lend it out and they try and gain interest. And when you invest in the stock market you're basically buying part ownership of companies. Now, as a Christian, I would not recommend you buy part ownership of R.J. R Reynolds, what is it, tobacco. You might not want to buy part ownership in Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser. Those are not things that Christians should support, but there are legitimate companies, maybe are a construction company or whatever. And they're doing well and you'd like to invest in it, there's nothing wrong with that. When people start doing a lot of day trading, it's almost like they're doing speculation and that can kind of border on gambling, can be very dangerous, but there's nothing morally wrong with investing money in the stock market.
- And I think there are companies that specialize in certain companies that have a good reputation, that are not involved in tobacco, alcohol or certain forms of entertainment; and a Christian can work with those different investment companies and know that your funds are going to a good cause.
- Yeah, and when you buy a mutual fund, a mutual fund is a company that has a bouquet of stocks they've bought that are either conservative or they're aggressive, or they're overseas, or whatever. And Jesus said in that parable of the 10 talents, He condemns the lazy servant who hides his money, he buries it, says, "You could have at least given it to the bankers that I'd get interest." And so, typically, over time the stock market increases. There's an occasional crash but it usually goes up.
- All right, thank you for your call, Fred. We've got Anthony listening in New York. Anthony, welcome to the program.
- [Anthony] Hello, good evening, pastors. I have a pretty serious question. I want to know, how do we know if someone is struggling with demon possession, demonic possession and, if so, what do we do or what can we do to help, if anything?
- Well, let's assume that you know it's demonic depression, and we'll answer the second part of the question first, what can you do to help. In the Bible there's no question that Jesus said that you will have power, you can pray and you can cast out devils. And the disciples came to Jesus once and said, "We tried to cast this devil out of this man's son and we couldn't." And He said, "Well, this kind only comes forth by prayer and fasting." So, through prayer, sometimes if it's specially serious, you'd pray and fast. In the Bible, sometimes, it's claiming the name of Jesus. Paul did it that way when the girl was following him in Philippi. Sometimes they laid hands on somebody or touched them. So, Christians should pray for others if they're grappling with demonic possession. I've done a lot of work overseas and it's more prevalent, Pastor Ross was born in Africa, it's more prevalent in some of these countries where there's a lot of spiritualism. And I've had people just go berserk during my meeting, the pastors grabbed the person, man or woman, and they prayed over them, and you'd see their sanity return. So, there's that. Now, how do you know if it's demonic possession? Well, that's a more difficult question. There are some people, they've just got a plain old medical problem that's affecting their behavior, and a doctor can sometimes help you identify something like that. There's a thin line sometimes between what may be purely demonic and spiritual and what might be physiological, and I think the devil can even combine the two. Meaning, a person might have a propensity to behave erratically, and the devil will take advantage of the chemical or biological problem; and with a spiritual push pushes 'em over the edge. So, that is difficult and sometimes it's hard to tell. I've noticed that some people that when it's satanic or it's spiritual, it's like they become preoccupied with spiritual things. Even the devils, the demons, possessed devils, they call Jesus out, "We know who You are. Jesus, Son of the most high God." They became obsessed with spiritual things.
- And, of course, I think the devil is very good in masquerading his influence over people. In Western societies it might not be that prevalent because people aren't worshiping the spirits as you might find it in some other places, but the devil's hold over the hearts and the minds of people in Western countries are just as strong, if not stronger, than some of these other places.
- Materialism and .
- Yeah, absolutely.
- I have a book that I wrote, Anthony, and it's called "Broken Chains". And it talks about when Jesus cast a devil, or a legion of devils out of a man that was desperately possessed. Now, that's not among the free books it's a little bigger book, but you can get that by just going to the Amazing Facts website, it's called "Broken Chains".
- All right, thanks for your call. We've got Eric, and he's listening in Indiana. Eric, welcome to the program.
- [Eric] Hello. There's a strong pattern in the Old Testament of all the Kings being judged in their lives, according to doing what is right in the sight of the Lord or what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and certain terms such as high places or groves, or sacred poles or ashram poles are used. And when we compare Revelation, the symbols of Jezebel being defined as one who teaches a sexual morality or Babylon spreading it throughout the whole world, or the name written on the forehead of the woman being prostitute, how strong of a case can we make that God was referring to prostitution in these King's judgements, and how seriously does God take prostitution and judge societies by the level in it?
- Well, prostitution, they call it the oldest profession, is very clearly condemned in the Bible. And it is also true that in many of the ancient religions, in these cult religions, even in just the last 70 years they still had it in India where some of the Hindu temples had what they call temple virgins, but they didn't say that way long. And it was a terrible way of abusing young girls, but a lot of the ancient idolatry involved sexual promiscuity, and they called about sacrifices on the high places to the ashram, not so much with bail worship as with some of the others but God typically calls idolatry harlotry in the Bible. And because Babylon is, there's so much idolatry in revelation 17 that that woman, she's called the harlot. So, whenever God's people went to worship idols God called it infidelity or harlotry. So, there's an overlap between the two, you can't always say that every time people worshiped idols that there was prostitution work or they had the temple prostitutes, or whatever. Not every religion had that but every time that God went after idols God called it harlotry. So, I don't know, that's kind of a vague distinction but I hope that made sense, Eric.
- Stay tuned, "Bible Answers Live" will return shortly.
- Are you wondering what lies ahead in human history or what recent world events are harbingers of the end? Are you ready for the coming crisis? "Landmarks of Prophecy" offers clear answers to your most pressing questions. Presented by Pastor Doug Batchelor, "Landmarks of Prophecy" is a contemporary video Bible study adventure designed for today's audiences, presenting the landmark themes of the Bible in a bright and compelling way, helping you understand the Bible better and giving you knowledge to face the future with confidence. "Landmarks of Prophecy" contains over 30 hours of exciting video presentations on six DVDs, plus bonus question and answer sessions, giving you keen insight into what lies next in human history. If you'd like practical tools to help you thrive and survive in the here and now, get "Landmarks of Prophecy." Start your epic Bible study adventure with "Landmarks of Prophecy" today, by calling 538-7275 or by visiting afbookstore.com. Doug Batchelor was the teenage son of a millionaire father and show business mother, yet he was living in a cave. He had everything money could buy, everything but happiness. But all of the fun and excitement he enjoyed left his life out of control. His search eventually led him to a cave above Palm Springs that became his home. while Doug scavenged for food and garbage bins, his father owned a yacht, Learjet and an airline. But in his cave home he discovered a dust covered Bible. As he began to read, he soon learned of his true purpose in life. The richest caveman is the extraordinary true story of Doug Batchelor, that tells how a rebellious teenager who once lived in a cave became a tremendous soul winner for Jesus Christ. It's a thrilling testimony of the transforming power of God's Word. To order your copy of "The Richest Caveman", call 538-7275 or visit afbookstore.com.
- In six days, God created the heavens and the earth. For thousands of years, man has worshiped God on the seventh day of the week. Now, each week, millions of people worship on the first day. What happened? Why did God create a day of rest? Does it really matter what day we worship? Who is behind this great shift? Discover the truth behind God's law and how it was changed. Visit sabbathtruth.com.
- Would you like to know God's plan for our troubled world and solutions for your life's challenges? Beautifully redesigned and updated, Amazing Facts' 27 Bible study guides provide straightforward Bible-based answers that are enlightening, encouraging, and easy to understand; giving you real relevant Bible answers to questions like, how can I have healthier relationships, When will Jesus come, and much more. Order yours today by visiting afbookstore.com or by calling 538-7275.
- You're listening to "Bible Answers Live", where every question answered provides a clearer picture of God and His plan to save you. So what are you waiting for? Get practical answers about the 'Good Book' for a better life today. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. If you'd like answers to your Bible related questions on the air, please call us next Sunday between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM Pacific Time. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this evening's program, call 835-6747. Once again, that's 835-6747. Now, let's rejoin our hosts for more "Bible Answers Live".
- Hi, listening friends, if you have joined us along the way, this is "Bible Answers Live" and we're here to do our best to answer your Bible questions. And if you want to call in with a question, it's GOD SAYS, that's 463-7297. And we're not going to tarry long we're going to go back to the phones. My name is Doug Batchelor.
- My name is Jëan Ross, and we have Darius listening on the phone from Oklahoma. Darius, welcome to the program.
- [Darius] Hey, pastors, goodnight, can you hear me?
- We can.
- Okay, hey, this is my question. So, I wanted to know if I should go back to my church because my pastor told me something that I know that's contrary to the Bible. He says that it's okay to go to football game on the Sabbath, and he said that I am too black and white for the Bible. And I was discouraged and I don't know what to do. I don't want to go down looking for a new church, so can you gimme some points on this?
- Yeah, all right, so the question is, if you're in a church and the pastor's telling you something that you believe is categorically untrue, well, that often will cast the other teachings under a light of suspicion, you'll wonder what else is he saying that I may not be aware of that is not biblical. And so it is cause for concern. I would not say that if people in our church, Pastor Ross and I both pastor at the same church, if they said, "If I ever hear pastor Doug say anything wrong I'm not coming back," There'd be nobody left because I'm sure I've said things wrong, because we're humans and the Bible says, what, "In the abundance of words sin is not lacking." And sometimes you just misspeak so if someone said, "As soon as he says something wrong or he mispronounces something, I'm not coming back." But then there's the other extreme where if you sit under erroneous teachings, that can affect your perspective. And you see in ancient Israel that whenever the king was not dedicated to God, gradually the whole nation seemed to slip away because it followed the leadership. So, that's something you have to pray about. I don't know, I would be surprised if a pastor tells people there's nothing wrong with going to a football game on the Sabbath day. That's holy time for worshiping God and the environment of a football game with people kind of calling out for the defeat of their enemy, the opponent, just is not the right mind and attitude, and place for worship, so that would really, really surprise me. But nothing, I guess, really surprises me anymore.
- So, in that case, pastor what you're suggesting is, if we're in a church that is clearly not preaching the Bible or advocating teachings that are not biblical, and we've said something, we've spoken to the leadership, at some point I think we want to find ourselves with those who are following the Bible as closely as they can. So, that might mean looking for another church.
- And you brought up a very good point that I just want to expand a little bit is, if you've got a pastor and he says something that is just out of left field that surprises you, respect him enough to go to him. And even for his own soul, approach him and say, "According to the Bible, that is not right." And in a loving spirit and humility, it might bring him to conviction and turn them around. And so, make at least an effort to be reconciled with your brother, so to speak, and try and drawn them back. But if they're firm in preaching error, then it's probably not healthy to continue going.
- Okay, we've got Steve listening in California. Steve, welcome to the program.
- [Steve] Hi, pastors. Thanks for taking my call.
- Sure.
- [Steve] My question is, when Cain was banished he went to the land of Nod, who lived in the land of Nod?
- Well, in the very beginning the land was talking about an area, a region, that was later named. It's just telling you where he went, there's no people there yet. And so, when Cain left he went to a part of this Virgin world, country , and developed it, and it was later named, according to what the various patriarchs named it. But when they first went it had no name because there were no aborigines or other people living there. So, I think Moses just telling us where that region is now. And there's more than one place called Nob, actually, in the Bible. David, there's a place not far from the Philistines called Nob too, but that's not the one that Cain went to.
- And of course a lot of things changed, this of course happened before the flood; and so many years passed and then you had the flood, and then you had the writing of the Bible during the time of Moses. So, it's referring to a place that was fairly well known to people at the time when Genesis was written by Moses.
- Yep.
- All right, thanks for your call Steve. We've got Daniel in Canada. Daniel, welcome to the program.
- [Daniel] Hi pastors, this is Daniel here. So, if Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and our hearts became hard, just like God said our hearts are evil. Why did God allow our hearts to become evil in the first place? Why must we suffer for the sins of Adam and Eve?
- Yeah, and you could even expand that question and say, why are some children born with birth defects because of the bad living habits of their parents? Some kids are born with the cerebral palsy because the parents had alcohol problems. And why are people in Ukraine suffering because you've got an individual that's bombing them, what did they do? Well, first of all, let me back up and go to the very heart of it. God made His intelligent creatures free, with a free will to choose to love Him or choose not to love Him. And as soon as man chose to distrust God and not to love God, his compass needle inside was broken. What I mean by that is, we're normally created to love God first. The great commandment is, love the Lord with all your heart, even more than yourself, and then love your neighbor as you love yourself. And when man fell into sin, all of a sudden Adam and Eve are blaming each other, they're not getting along and they're blaming God, they're blaming the devil and the serpent; and all of a sudden man's hearts became hard because of sin. God didn't just say, "I'm going to harden the hearts," it was what happened because of sin. But making man free to love means he's free to not love, otherwise God is forcing them to love, and that's not love.
- And, of course, freedom does have consequences and we need that. I mean, if you have freedom to choose to love and to be a blessing, and to be an encouragement to somebody, well, then you also have freedom to hurt and discourage others. And people make their choices, so the choices that we make does have an impact upon those around us.
- Absolutely.
- And, of course, the devil's choices made an impact upon Adam and Eve and, of course, all of their descendants. All right, thank you, Daniel. We've got Caleb listening in New York.
- Hi Caleb.
- [Caleb] Pastor Batchelor, how you doing?
- Really good, thank you for calling.
- [Caleb] I'm good, thank you. Well, by the way, I have a question. I'm reading the Bible right now and I want to know, two questions, which version is better to read? Right now I'm reading the NIV version, which is easier for me to understand than the King James version. I want to know if that's okay. And, two, I read the gospels before and not until I started watching your sermons, I started understanding more things I've missed, clearly I've missed. I was wondering, is there a way, is there a pattern I shouldn't read the Bible to get more understanding?
- Yeah, well, good questions. All right, first part of the question, and Pastor Ross might answer slightly different than I would. I think there's several good translations of the Bible you can read that they're translations from what they call the Textus Receptus, which is I think the most accurate. And that would be, of course, King James is the classic in English. And when we say translations we're talking about English translations. Right now I'm reading through the English Standard Version, which is also a translation from the Textus Receptus, That is the American standard version. The new King James version is what I usually preach from every week, is the new King James version. I don’t know, Pastor Ross, you have some other favorite?
- Yeah, maybe just to add to that, there's a difference that we need to understand between a translation and a paraphrase. Now, we're just talking about English. So, a translation is where you take the original Greek and Hebrew, little bit of Aramaic, and you translate that into English. But a paraphrase might be where you could do this, I could do this, we take an English translation and we rewrite it in other words and we bring out different ideas, it's more devotional. I'm not saying all paraphrases are wrong, but if we're going to study to find doctrinal depth we want to go with the good translation. And we also got to remember, the Bible wasn't written originally in English it was written in Greek and Hebrew, and that's where having a concordance and being able to compare scripture with scripture, and go back and look at some of the original ways the words were used, is always helpful. And that really enlarges a person's study of the Bible.
- Yeah, and let the Bible interpret itself. If you see a word and you think, "I wonder what that word means." Look at other places in the Bible where that term or that word is used, and usually through context of it you can say, "Oh, now I see what they're saying." So, that just happened to me this week when we were studying about Moses and it said, "That rock that followed them was Christ." And I was picturing this Boulder rolling around through the wilderness that kept giving him water. And then I looked up where it says rock and I said, "Oh no, Moses is talking about God." He calls God the rock many times a Deuteronomy. So, just by comparing it with other places is usually one of the best ways. And how do we study the Bible? Well, again, Pastor Ross might be a little different than me, but I'm always reading through the Bible at different points. I think you're trying to read through the whole Bible in how long?
- Yeah, well, there's different programs you can do. You can actually read through the Bible in 90 days, it's about an hour of reading every day. Didn't realize you can actually get through it that quickly. So, yeah, I try to read through the Bible at least once or twice a year. And then there's some great commentaries, as well, that you can read alongside that, that really helps to bring it to light. There's different ways of reading, pastor. You can just read it to get the big picture, which if you're going to read through the Bible in a year you're doing a lot of reading and you're getting the big picture, which is good, but there's also where you focus more on a shorter passage of scripture and really try to squeeze out everything that, that chapter or that passage has to say. And that's what takes a little more time, that's where you compare scripture with scripture. And both is good.
- Yep, absolutely. Yeah, I use the computer program, I use Logos, and also use a free one called e-Sword, and I find between the two of them I get some great commentaries and some great tools. So, that's probably more than that gets you started. Yeah, you can read through the Bible, you can start with the New Testament, read the history, meaning you go from Genesis through the Kings, and then jump to the New Testament. Thanks so much, Caleb, hope that helps a little.
- We've got Robert listening.
- We've got Robert listening from New Jersey. Robert, welcome to the program.
- [Robert] Good evening, pastors Doug and Pastor Ross.
- Evening.
- [Robert] Good evening. My question is just concerning, did it rain prior to the flood or not and is there evidence from the Bible on either? And I'll take my answer off the air.
- All right, yeah, thank you very much. I believe that the Bible's pretty clear that prior to the flood it had not rained, and you can--
- Here's the verse, Pastor Doug. I know where you're going with--
- [Pastor Doug] Yeah, go ahead.
- Genesis, I just found it on the computer, Genesis chapter two and verse six, it says, "Speaking of before the flood," oh, actually verse five. It says, "Before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground."
- Yeah. So, it appears, and not only from what you read in the Bible but just from the fossil record, that prior to the flood, that there was an envelope of water, vapor or something, that sort of surrounded the whole planet that polarized the rays and gave an even temperature around the planet. "Cause even in, what do you call it, Antarctica, up in Siberia, they find fossils of ferns, which usually grow in a tropical climate. So, the whole world was changed after the flood, and it didn't rain like it does now. I think there was just moisture and mist that kind of irrigated and watered things.
- All right, well, thank you, Richard. We've got Pat listening in Arizona. Pat, welcome to the program.
- [Pat] Thank you.
- Thank you, Pat.
- [Pat] My question is, is gambling a sin?
- Well, first of all, the Bible says, "Do not make haste to be rich, and he that makes haste to be rich will not be without guilt." And so, the idea of getting rich quick by playing numbers, first of all, 99.9% of the people that do that lose money because the whole system is set up where the house wins. And it's anything that becomes an addiction, Christians should avoid. There are people who actually become addicted to gambling and it destroys their lives, and they can't stop, it's like a psychosis. And I remember doing a meeting in another country, and a lady came up to me just sobbing, and she says, "I'm addicted to gambling and I've mortgaged my home, I've run up our credit cards, my husband's getting ready to leave me, and I can't stop." And even before I got done counseling, she says, "But there's this one more race and I think if I win that race I can win it all back." And I couldn't believe she was thinking about the next bet, even as we talked.
- Well, there's another aspect of gambling that we need to bear in mind as a Christian is, if you do get lucky and you do win, you're winning at a lot of other people's losing. So, you're winning because of others misfortune, so you're really taking advantage of other people.
- Same thing with the lottery.
- Right.
- Yeah. So, yeah, and it's interesting, you study the history of people that have won the lottery and most of them don't do very well, if you look what happens in the next couple years.
- The money disappears real quick.
- Some even get murdered.
- Yeah.
- It's not good.
- All right, thanks your call, Pat. We got Glen listening in Ohio. Glen, welcome to the program.
- [Glen] Evening, thank you very much for taking my call. concerns misquoting of the scripture, second Corinthians five, eight. And I think it has implications right there, most people say that Paul said, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." And that's not what that says that, people misquote it. Can you help me understand what the proper understanding is?
- Yeah, we'll do our best. All right, so our friends, if you want to go to second Corinthians five, eight, and this is often quoted when it talks about people dying. And Paul says, and we'll start with verse eight, "Yes, we are confident, Yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." And then you need to read on here. It says, "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us might receive the things done in the body, according to what he's done, whether good or bad." And so, Paul, earlier in that passage he says, "because I'm kind of in a quandary between two things," he said, "On one hand," he says, "I'd love to depart and be with the Lord." Meaning when a Christian dies their next conscious thought is going to be the resurrection and the presence of the Lord. But Paul said, "It's needful for you that I stay here." Well, it is true that if we die and these bodies turn back to dust, the Bible's very clear. And for the believer their next conscious thought it's, there's no sensation of time is to be the presence of the Lord, but it doesn't happen until there's a judgment and a resurrection.
- And it also says Paul was a prophet, so he had visions. In another place he actually talks about seeing something in vision and he says, "Whether I was absent from the body or in the body, I can't quite remember," and then he tells the story. So, Paul was at times taken off in vision, that would be considered absent from the body, but I think here it's talking about when we receive our reward it's at the second coming of Christ, and we get these immortal bodies, and we get to live with Him.
- First verse in chapter five, "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed..."
- [Pastor Ross] Yeah
- That's pretty clear, he's talking about the body, when you're dead.
- [Pastor Ross] Right, right.
- Yeah, so thank you, Richard.
- Thank you. We've got Yvonne listening from Mexico. Yvonne, welcome to the program.
- [Yvonne] Hello.
- Hi.
- [Yvonne] It's an honor to talk to you, since I talked to you first in a long time ago, but you might not remember me.
- Well, thank you for calling the again, Yvonne.
- [Yvonne] By the way, I'm not that Mexican at all, I'm Espagnole-Irish, and that's my question about it. As Irish descendant, can we celebrate St, Patrick's day? My family too is Irish.
- So, there's no scripture that tells us there's anything sacred about St. Patrick's day, and I'm sure that if Patrick, Patrick was a very godly man, he was actually a Protestant and it's interesting that the Catholics made Patrick a Saint, and he was a Protestant. And Patrick was also a Sabbath keeper, some people don't know that he kept the seventh day Sabbath but nowhere are we told to worship saints in the Bible. And so, sometimes for fun in North America it's a tradition, you'll wear a green tie and people say it's St. Patrick's day, and so to just to commiserate with our Irish friends, and my family's part Irish, my brother had flaming red hair. But we'll wear something green on St. Patrick's day, but I wouldn't worship it as far as a spiritual holiday. So, hope that helps a little bit. Thank you, Yvonne, appreciate your question.
- All right, we've got Anita listening from Maryland. Anita, welcome to the program.
- [Anita] Hi, how are you, pastor?
- Yeah.
- [Anita] Can you hear me?
- We can.
- [Anita] Okay, today is the third anniversary of my 18 year old's death, we didn't know till he died that somebody was giving him medical marijuana. He was acting very aggressive and violent towards us, his personality totally changed. I called him at work, made a big mistake, not knowing much about marijuana, thinking it's a harmless drug, like everyone else I was totally wrong. He actually, after work, after I called him and I yelled at him, instead of coming straight home he used all the marijuana he had because he knew mom and dad are going to take everything away. He had a psychosis, crashed his car into a tree near our house, survived that crash, walked out onto I95 and was run over and killed. He was hit, the first person that hit him, the first car was a 28-year-old with a history of DUI, marijuana drunk driving. So, my question is kind of loaded. I feel extremely guilty because I caused his death and plus Aaron wasn't was not baptized, so I kind of I'm wondering, is there a chance that he could be in heaven and will I be forgiven for what I did?
- All right, let's start with the second part of that question. First of all, you know our hearts go out to you. That's a heartbreaking, that's one of the worst things that could happen, is losing a child. And my wife and I, we lost a 21 year old son, years ago, and it's just the worst news that parents can have so we empathize with you. And then the part of this I want to deal with, first of all, as you said, can I be forgiven. Be careful not to blame yourself for this, you were doing probably what any parent would do, you were concerned about your son's health and wellbeing and so you may not have reacted the way, if you could play it over again you might do it differently, but you can't beat yourself up forever about that because you certainly had no intention on doing him harm, you were worried about him. And the Bible tells us that, "Time and chance happens to all," is what Solomon says. So, be careful not to read too much meaning into it, it was an accident. And so, there was a terrible tragic accident, and then of course you're wondering now, "What does this mean, is there a chance that I'll see my son again?" This is one of those situations where you've got to know that God is good, God is love, and that God loves your son infinitely more than you do, and He will do what is good. And so, you just put this in God's hands and trust Him. We, obviously on the program we can't put ourselves in the position of the eternal and say we think you will or won't be saved. There's guidelines in the Bible for following Him but I think we're going to be surprised when we get to heaven, that there were some exceptions we didn't anticipate. And so, the Bible talks about the second coming of Jesus as the blessed hope, and so just hang on to hope and live for the Lord, trust that He forgives you. God is good and God is love, Anita. And if it's okay, Pastor Ross and I'd like to have a brief prayer with you because I know that you and others like you have lost children and your hearts are breaking. Loving Lord, we just pray that you'll be with Anita and I pray her family, her husband, and help them just to heal from this tragedy that's touched their lives. And I pray through it, You've told us that you can bring good from all things that happen to us, and that there can be redemption that will come from this story. And so, be with them and comfort and bless. We pray in Jesus name, amen. Appreciate your call, Anita. Pastor Ross, yes?
- We just want to let our friends know, we got about one minute, pastor, I don't think we have time to take one more call but the program is not over, because we are going to say goodbye to those who are joining us on satellite radio; but for the rest of those who are listening on AFTV and land-based radio stations, we're going to be coming back with a rapid fire Bible question segment where we're going to actually try and answer as many of the Bible questions that you have sent in to the ministry through Facebook or through YouTube, or if you want you can just send the question to amazingfacts.org. Matter of fact, I'm getting the address right here, BALquestions@amazingfacts.org. That's the website, if you have a Bible question that you want to submit to the program and, Pastor Doug, we'll try to answer as many of these programs as we can.
- Yeah, sometimes folks, they say, "I'd like to ask a question but I'm a little scared about getting on the air." And you can email your questions to us, and at the tail-end of the program, just after we say goodbye to the satellite listeners, we're going to be going and answering some of those questions that have come in via email. For the rest of you, keep in mind, you can continue to study and worship and enjoy the blessings and programs of Amazing Facts at amazingfacts.org.
- Thank you for listening to today's broadcast, we hope you understand your Bible even better than before. "Bible Answers Live" is produced by Amazing Facts International, a faith-based ministry located in Granite Bay, California.
- Hello, friends. Welcome back to our special bonus Bible question segment. Pastor Doug, we've got several questions that have been sent in, so we are going to see how many we can get through tonight. First question that we have is, does it really help to pray for somebody else's salvation?
- Absolutely. Now, not after they're gone. I mean, some people say, "Well, burn a candle and say a prayer after they're gone." The Bible says that, "It's appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment." The Bible says, "Where there's life there's hope." And so, you pray for their salvation, absolutely. Moses interceded for the whole nation, and you got many cases in the Bible where even Jesus said to Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith does not fail." So, if Jesus prayed for others and if Abraham interceded for Lot, and Moses for the nation, we should be praying for others as well.
- Okay, next question that we have, what is the difference between the moral law and the ceremonial law?
- Yeah, a very good question. Well, when you say moral law that's usually talking about the 10 commandments, which is a summary of the Law of God. Sometimes that's called the Decalogue, Deca meaning 10, that 10 commandments that you would find in Exodus chapter 20. But when you read in Deuteronomy chapter four, when God gives the 10 commandments, He also tells us, and I think it's in verse 13, it says, "God gave me 10 commandments which he commanded us to perform, and at that time the Lord commanded me to give you statutes and judgments." So, there were a number of laws that revolved around the sanctuary and its services, and its ceremonies, they are called the ceremonial law. Sacrificing lambs, circumcision, all nailed to the cross.
- Okay, Another question that we have, how do I determine the Will of God?
- Well, I wrote a little book called "determining The Will of God" You can download for free, but I'll give you a couple of highlights, I think I give a dozen points in the book. One is, study the word, there's guidance in the word, there's guidance through the Holy Spirit speaking to us, you'll hear a voice guiding you through your conscience. Christian counsel, look for providential openings for the Word of God and be willing to be faithful to wait until you know if it's a big decision.
- Okay, last question that we have here, Pastor Doug. If the Jews didn't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, why did they stop sacrificing lambs?
- Well, they kind of were forced to stop sacrificing lambs, They did write at the crucifixion when the veil was rent. But then when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D, that's where they had brought all their sacrifices and God told Moses, "Don't do it on your own, bring it to this place." Well, friends, we really are out of time now. We want to thank you for tuning into "Bible Answers Live", look forward to studying His Word with you again next week.
- "Bible Answers Live", honest and accurate answers to your Bible questions.