Announcer: 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.
Doug Batchelor: Hello, friends, would you like to hear an amazing fact? One hundred and twelve years ago, Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning to return to the presidency when a gunman opened fire. On October 14, 1912, former saloon keeper, John Schrank attempted to assassinate former US President Roosevelt while he was campaigning for the presidency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schrank's bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page speech. It was lucky for him he actually folded it over, so it was like 100 pages. Schrank was immediately disarmed, and he might have been lynched, except Roosevelt shouted for them not to harm him. Roosevelt, an experienced hunter and anatomist, he knew he was not critically wounded, so he declined going to the hospital. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech and spoke for about 90 minutes. Afterward, doctors concluded it'd be less dangerous to leave the bullet in place than attempt to remove it. Roosevelt carried the slug with him for the rest of his life.
Well, friends, we think you may have seen the ad, this is a special edition of "Bible Answers Live," and obviously, our nation is reeling right now, as we have before, because of some senseless violence that has helped fuel the flames, for some, to further polarize people. And last night, I posted something on my Facebook page just encouraging people to pray for calm and everybody take a breath. And I was surprised that even just in mentioning the subject and asking people to pray, people began to just erupt with political bias one way or the other, and I thought, "Wow, this is not healthy." And a lot of people were actually asking questions about, "Is what happened, in this attempted assassination of former President Trump, a fulfillment of some Bible prophecy?" And others are wondering, "Was there a conspiracy?"
And we have a special guest here, he's a friend, and my mind immediately went to Eric, I'll just share his first name, but Eric doesn't mind my sharing that not only is he a Christian, he has formerly been employed by the FBI. And what was your specific specialty in that, Eric?
Eric: Yeah, I was a FBI special agent, focus was on counterterrorism, on a joint terrorism task force, it's a JTTF, they're located across the country, and the Bureau is in charge of them, and we liaison with other alphabet agencies, and also state and local law enforcement, to help thwart terrorism in the United States, and also international terrorism and just threats to the homeland, to our leadership and the American people.
Doug: So, you've been seeing a new face here, we thought that we might have him as a resource, he can stay with us for the first half of the program, and we're going to talk a little about what actually happened and what many people have already seen. But as always, we want to begin with a word of prayer, and then might go to a scripture as well. Pastor Ross, will you pray?
Jëan Ross: Absolutely. Well, let's begin with prayer. Dear Father in heaven, once again, we are grateful for the time that we have to open up your Word, your Word is truth, and especially at this time, Lord, we need the lamp of truth, the Word of God, to guide us. So, we do pray for your Spirit to be with us as we open the Word, be with those who are listening, and lead us into a clear understanding of the Bible. In Jesus's name, amen.
Doug: Amen.
Jëan: Well, you know, Pastor, it's an interesting fact you brought up, of course, talking about this attempted assassination, it's not the first attempted assassination on a US president, there were actually four successful assassination attempts, and then there were a few others that failed.
Doug: Yeah. Well, the four that, of course, were successful is Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy, and I think President Ford, there were two assassination attempts, two shots, he wasn't hit. In fact, we had a member of our church that was hit, and he ended up becoming a member of our church here in Sacramento, and took a bullet for the president and he got a letter. And then, you know, someone shot at the White House while Obama was there, and of course, Teddy Roosevelt assassination attempt, and there were others.
Jëan: Ronald Reagan.
Doug: Ronald Reagan, of course, yeah.
Jëan: That's a big one.
Doug: In 1980 or '81. And in the Bible, people might be surprised, this is nothing new, is that politics can be very divisive, and you've got a few examples in the Bible. Some of you remember that Joseph was in prison with the Pharaoh's butler and baker because, ostensibly, someone had tried to poison the Pharaoh, and he wasn't sure who it was yet. Later it was determined it was the baker, and the butler lived. And then you've got the example in the Bible in the book of Esther, someone was plotting an assassination of Ahasuerus, and that was discovered. And you've got Eglon, the king who was assassinated by Ehud. And so, this political strife, when people are in positions of visibility and power and influence, they become a target.
And you know, I just thought it was really important for us to address some of these things, a lot of people are wondering is some of this a fulfillment of prophecy. But before we get into that, you know, I noticed, Brother Eric, that a lot of people were coming on and they said, "They were sure it was conspiracy on both ends," you know? The country is somewhat polarized, now, between Democrats and Republicans, and maybe even Independents. And right away people thought that President Trump or some of his friends helped stage this, so it would look like that. Now, from your experience, what do you think the likelihood of that is?
Eric: Well, I think, in that case, you give the government or another entity too much credit. If my eyes look a little bit tired, my phone was going off nonstop last night with every idea and conspiracy theory that you can imagine, and so I had to silence it early on. But that's what happens, when you don't have facts readily available at the get-go, the mind wanders, and rightfully so, people are interested in what's going on. But if you look at it, for someone to take a bullet through the ear, I don't think anybody wants to take that chance, if that was, quote, staged. I think, you know, the facts will come out, of course, it'll be ad nauseam on Capitol Hill in going through, trying to ascertain exactly what happened. But if you look what former President Trump did, when he looked at that jumbotron and turned his head for a split second, just looking at the diagrams, that split second of him turning his head was probably a matter of between life and death and providence.
Doug: That timing couldn't have been orchestrated.
Eric: Correct.
Doug: Yeah, and then, normally, when there's going to be a high-profile figure like a president coming to a location, what do they do for security in advance?
Eric: Well, that's the whole key, the battle begins before the event, right? So, you want to get on-site. They have a--I'm not Secret Service, but we worked with Secret Service agents--they have an advanced team that goes in. Obviously, they're going to assess the scene, look for any threat that may be there, and then set up a action plan of how they're going to deal with it prior to. They're working with state, local law enforcement, you'll usually have the Secret Service that will have the perimeter, and due to resources, a lot of times they'll outsource things outside of the perimeter to state and local law enforcement officials.
Doug: So, there may have actually been a division of responsibility in those buildings, where the Secret Service wasn't responsible for some of the outer buildings.
Eric: Potentially, yeah. I'm just surmising with what we know so far, but that's just a very, very rough assessment.
Doug: Yeah, I appreciate that. And then there are others that are thinking that "Well, this may have been a plot on the side of the Democrats, where they were trying to understaff." And you know, when Oswald had the event with Kennedy, everyone automatically assumed that everybody from the mafia to the Russians to President Johnson was somehow behind it, but you have this one lone individual that, it's hard to mobilize a person to do something like that.
Eric: Yeah, and that will be, obviously we'll be watching hearings on Capitol Hill for, I'm sure, weeks to come, whether or not there's a paper trail of whether or not the campaign asked for staffing and they didn't receive it, but it's hard to say at this time.
Doug: Human nature is, when there's a blank, we want to fill it in.
Eric: Right away.
Doug: And that's where you get all these conspiracies.
Eric: That's right. So, from the FBI standpoint, taking over the investigation, I mean, they're going to throw everything at this case, I mean, you'll have profilers, you'll have the financial records gone through with a fine-toothed comb, everyone will be interviewed within that the sphere of influence of the shooter, his next of kin, his friends, and it'll just go out from there. They will scrub his social media accounts, his computer, everything will be gone through with a fine-toothed comb, they want to see what is, quote, the motive, is there a nexus to international terrorism or to some other agency, or was it just a lone wolf person acting on their own?
Doug: Yeah. And you know what I think it's really important to talk about at times like this, Pastor Ross, is that, you know, as Christians, what do we do? So, if we chew on and masticate all the possible conspiracies, how does that really affect the kingdom of God, how are we spreading the gospel, how are we winning souls?
Jëan: Well, you know, as you mention, Pastor Doug, this is not the first time that some national catastrophe has happened or, you know, assassination of the president. Of course, 9/11, when that happened, people were wondering, "Well, is this the end of the world, is this going to bring in final events?" When World War II broke out, or even before that, World War I, people were wondering, "Man, is this the end?" So that question is always asked, and then nuclear weapon. So, we got to be careful to, you know, interpret Bible prophecy just on headlines, we need to let the Bible interpret it itself, and see the bigger picture, and how do things tie in?
Now, I guess that'll bring us to our next question, which has a Bible answer, and that is, you know, "Is the United States in Bible prophecy, does the Bible speak of the United States as being a key player at the end?"
Doug: You know, one of the verses, we didn't actually share it yet, but connected with Bible prophecy, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, that one of the signs of the end is, "As it was in the days of Noah," and there you have it on your screen, Matthew 24:37, "So will it be when the Son of Man comes." Well, as the days of Noah before the flood, one of the characteristics and you can read there in Genesis chapter 6, it tells us that violence filled the world. And so, you know, you can see the violence. And obviously, when, you know, on the screen, at a peaceful event people are being shot like this, it's just a tragedy, it's a reminder, this is one of the signs of the end.
Jëan: And of course, the violence there, not only the attempt with Donald Trump, but of course you have a family that's lost their dad, two little girls that lost their dad as a result, and others in critical condition, a wife that's lost a husband. So, it brought a lot of pain.
Eric: To say something, if you wouldn't mind, on that. You know, just yesterday, I was out hiking with some friends out to a remote-area lake, and it just hit me hard, because my phone started to go off, and there was a group of people that maybe were 50 feet away. And someone said, "Hey, the president, former president's been shot," and one individual said, "Oh, I hope they got him, did they get him, did they get him?" And I couldn't keep silent, and I thought, "Wow, that's where we're at in society today." So, I told him, I said, "Hey, where are you from?" And the wife said, "Well, Australia, but he's from America." And I said, "I'm a former FBI agent," I said, "We're Americans here, these people you see sitting here." I said, "We don't advocate for going after our leadership on either side of the aisle, we don't condone it." And there was silence.
But what that speaks to me is, at the macro level, looking at it now, what can we do as Christians to rise above this? I can tell you this, just from the FBI standpoint, when I went to work on a daily basis, I was working with patriots, people that, we all have biases, correct? We all have political biases, we lean one way or the other, or maybe both at times, but we would check our biases at the door, and we would follow the facts where they lead, okay? We were able to rise above that, because we were serving the American people. And as Christians, we're serving mankind as well. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," He didn't have a litmus test for Republicans, for Democrats, for Libertarians, for Independents, He said, "All people." "All have fallen short of glory of God," we're all sinners. And I think if we can rise to that level and take advantage of these times of unrest and preach the gospel, like "Amazing Facts" has done, been independent, not afraid to call, to stand for truth, but to be bold and unashamed, but to do it in a tactful, dignified, right way, we can rise above it, just like Daniel did. He served, what? Multiple administrations.
Doug: Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, Daniel served in both Babylonian and Persian courts, but everyone knew that his primary service was to another kingdom.
Eric: That's right.
Doug: So, he was faithful.
Eric: And yet he was uncompromising.
Doug: Yeah, serving the Lord, and yet he was a good administrator. Now, I guess we've had some questions that have been coming in.
Jëan: We did, and of course, maybe just mention, we do have the phone lines that are open, and if you have a Bible question, the number to call is 800-463-7297. We haven't taken any of the callers, so, if you're waiting, just wait, we'll get your call here in just a few moments, we wanted to take a few moments to visit with Eric and learn more, and then we're going to go to the phone lines.
I do want to mention, though, we do have a free offer, Pastor Doug, it is something we don't always offer, but it's one of "Amazing Facts'" more popular magazines, it's called "America in Bible Prophecy," and then we've got a couple of questions talking about that. So, we want to make this available, it's free, all you have to do is call the number, 800-835-6747, and we will send you, if you're in North America, in Canada, the US, we'll send you the magazine, "America in Bible Prophecy." If you're outside of the US, you can get that by, or at least reading it by, going to the website, the AmazingFacts.org or .com. Also, you can receive a digital copy, I believe, by just dialing #250 on your smartphone, and you'll receive it right there on your phone, you'll be able to read it right away.
But if ever there was a need for us, Pastor Doug, to understand what the Bible is saying and how America ties into Bible prophecy, I think it's now, it's an important time. Matter of fact, here's a question I'm going to ask, these are some of the questions that have come in. And this is an interesting one, it says, "Does the attempted assassination of Trump fulfill Revelation 13:6, where it says, 'The beast receives a deadly wound, but its deadly wound is healed'?" Talking about one of the heads receiving a deadly wound.
Doug: Right.
Jëan: Is that what happened yesterday?
Doug: You know, I remember when Pope John Paul II was shot, he received, he was, you know, an attempted assassination, and he survived, and everybody quoted that, and they said, "This is the fulfillment of that, and one of the heads of the beast received a deadly wound." And no, there are two beasts in Revelation 13, and Protestant Reformation theology is that the first of those two beasts would be a Catholicism based in Europe, and the second beast would be Protestantism based in the US, but that first beast that gets a deadly wound is the one in Europe. And so, no, it's not.
Jëan: And that's a historical event that occurred in 1798 with the French Revolution.
Doug: Yeah, yeah, that actually, and get this magazine, I think.
Jëan: It's all in there.
Doug: It'll talk about that. But I was surprised when I saw that question, because I thought, "Wow, that was a creative spin on what happened in the news."
Jëan: Yeah, it is. All right, here's another one, and Eric, maybe you got some insights on this. "What about Christian nationalism and the rise of that in the US today? Could that somehow be the fulfillment of prophecy, and is that connected to this Project 2025?"
Doug: Yeah, well, I'll jump in.
Eric: Yeah, I'll let you discuss 2025, what, 400 scholars, conservative scholars, and it's a massive document.
Doug: Yeah, people, it's been in the news a lot lately and I think folks are not aware that neither administration, whether it's a Democratic or Republican, is obligated to follow the recommendations of the studies of the think tanks, the Republican think tank is called The Heritage Foundation, and then there is a Democratic think tank that's got 275 employees called The Center for American Progress.
Eric: Washington is full of think tanks.
Doug: So, and they all have their recommended, and what they are is their ideals, and it's been, actually just for campaign purposes, folks have made a big deal out of one of the think tanks's recommendations, which usually are ideals. But now you asked about Christian nationalism, and that is a term, I was looking it up this week, it says it depends on what your definition is, you've got two words, Christian and nationalism, and those are pretty comprehensive terms, and it can mean something different for a lot of different people.
Eric: I think it's all depends on how it's framed. I mean, look at, let's rewind 10, 15, maybe 20 years ago, there was an element of bias on either side of the aisle in reporting the news, but now it seems we've gone to strictly, quote, opinion journalism, and things are drum-beated over and over and over again. So, you can take a buzzword like "Christian Nationalism" and turn it into anything you want, if everybody comes together and says, "Well, this is what it's going to mean, we're going to put that out there and drum beat that." So, anything could become dangerous when you have the media playing it over and over.
Doug: They create new definitions.
Eric: Exactly.
Doug: And actually, it forms the language for the country, yeah, because they repeat it. So, but just in a nutshell, when people are saying, "Christian nationalism," now, I think they're talking about Christian groups that are wanting the United States to adopt Christianity as the national religion. Now that is against what our founding fathers believed in, but you've got to be careful because then people go to the other extreme and say, "We're to become a country of no religion." Roger Williams, I think, put this as well as anybody in that he said that, "Everyone in America should be following the morals that are outlined in the Ten Commandments," in particular the second table, meaning those last six commandments between man and your fellow men, that the government must support morals, and you'd get them from the Ten Commandments, that you honor property, you honor life, you're not to covet, you honor marriage and parental authority, and all those things. But the government should not be enforcing the first four commandments that talk about, "What is the name of your God," you know, "How do you worship Him, when do you worship Him," and so forth.
So, there needs to be a distinction there, but you can't completely throw out morality and say, "Any effort to keep morality in our country is Christian nationalism." I know that they were talking about putting the Ten Commandments in some of the public schools, I think Oklahoma, and well, that shouldn't be shocking, they were in public schools when I was a kid and I don't know that it hurt anybody. And you know, they used to pray in the schools. Above the Supreme Court, the Ten Commandments are there at the pinnacle on the building. So, that's not Christian nationalism, to deny that America had Christian roots, you know, that we come from a Judeo-Christian culture, the founders, that's just history. And so, believing that and recognizing that is not Christian nationalism.
Eric: And people say we have a US Constitution, we're okay, but the Constitution is printed on a piece of paper, what gives it its authority? It's the American people, the people behind it, having a sense of morality and decency in enforcing that which gives it its power. Just like, I say, $100 bill, it's a piece of paper, but it has a perception of being the value that it is because of the Full Faith and Credit of the United States government to pay its bills. If they can't do that, that $100 bill or that dollar bill is worth nothing. And so, it takes, like you said, a level of morality and decency of the people to be able to enforce that Constitution to make it real.
Jëan: Well, that probably brings the next question, then. "As a Bible-believing Christian, what is our responsibility with reference to the government? How involved do we get in politics? What is our responsibility when it comes to voting?" What would we say, what are the principles in scripture?
Doug: Well, it's a separate book, but we do have a book at "Amazing Facts" and it says, "Should a Christian Vote?" And it basically talks about that, you know, first of all, our allegiance should be to another kingdom, let's not forget that we're preparing to live in a different kingdom, but while we're in this kingdom, you know, we want to do what we can to protect the freedom to live and proclaim the gospel. And because we are a government that is run by the people, we need to be involved to some extent in preserving that freedom. You know, for all Christians to go bury their head in the sand and say, "I'm a citizen of another kingdom, I don't care what happens now," that's really becoming detached, but you don't want to get so involved. You know, Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." So, we don't want to be where we're worshiping another god through politics, that's at least my kind of attitude on it.
Jëan: Yeah, absolutely, you know, sometimes politics can almost become a religion to people, and you know, they just can't live without it, and they got to get the latest and they're supporting whatever candidate. Is there a difference though, Pastor Doug, let me ask you, between supporting maybe an individual versus supporting issues that we as voters get to vote on?
Doug: Yeah, of course, and you're welcome to chime in, Eric. You know, when you're voting for a president, you know, as a Christian, you know you're not voting for a national pastor, so you're not looking for him to be a pastor, and you're looking for, you know, "What will the policies be and will those policies," like I said, "Free Christians to live their convictions and allow them to proclaim their convictions?" That's what it's all about. And so, you know, sometimes when you look at the people's personal lives, you sort of have to hold your nose and vote. And there may be times when you're convicted that it won't make a difference if you vote one way or the other. Our founding fathers were, many of them were Christians, and they believe in giving the government to the people.
Eric: We often hear that mantra, "For God and country," but what's the first thing that said? "For God," so we stand on our anchor, the Word of God, and the Bible advocates what? Freedom, God's government is based on freedom. So, we stand on the biblical principles, but at the same time, we live in society, and we want to perpetuate freedom, because that's what God stands for. And so, I think this is our litmus test on where we stand and how we vote, but if we just turn, like you said, put your head in the sand and do nothing, then how are we standing up for liberty, how are we standing up for freedom?
Jëan: Yeah, and a lot of the issues that really affect people's day-to-day living is dealt with more at a state level than, necessarily, a federal level. I know in California from time to time, there are different things, ballots, you know, different measures on the ballot that really could define morality in the state. You remember a number of years ago they had the marriage.
Doug: Proposition 8.
Jëan: That was on there, yeah. And at the time, California actually voted to support marriage between a man and a woman, though it eventually changed. So, I think, as Christians, we definitely have a role to play in trying to preserve what is right as long as we can.
Eric: And Pastor Doug, you can probably speak on this, but just going back to Daniel, I'm sure politics were thick in the air in Babylon, and how was he able to navigate through all that? He had to stand 100% for his belief without comprising.
Doug: Yeah, well, it tells you in Daniel 6 that, as far as possible, the king of Persia, Darius, he was going to set Daniel over everything because he was so efficient and faithful, but Daniel's prayer time with God took priority over even the king's decree.
Eric: Or Joseph.
Doug: Yeah, same thing with Joseph, good point. Well, Eric, we've got you for about another 60 seconds, and any closing thoughts in the backdrop of what's happened with this very unfortunate and sad event, an attempted assassination, just coming from a Christian perspective, if you could say anything to our viewers and listeners, what would you say?
Eric: I would say focus less on the conspiratorial ideas and get into the Word every day, have a personal relationship with the Lord, because this is going to stand the test of time. One thing that gives me hope and courage in a world of strife and confusion is the Bible says that one day every knee will bow, every tongue confess that He is Lord.
Doug: Amen.
Eric: That is comforting. Get into the Word, have a relationship with Him, because that is what's going to last, and you may be called upon, like a Daniel or a Joseph, one day.
Doug: Amen. Well, thank you, Eric, we sure appreciate you joining us and driving down to help with our presentation. We'll say goodbye to you for now, we'll be back in just a moment, friends.
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Doug: Welcome back, listening friends, to "Bible Answers Live," and if you've just tuned in, this is a live international interactive Bible study and this is a special program, we've been talking a little bit during our first half about just what should a Christian response be in the light of the tragic events of the attempted assassination attempt. And it's kind of stirred a lot of the political divide into a fury, and at the same time, other people, I think, are recognizing the madness and calming down. So we've been taking some of the questions about, "Does this event have any role in Bible prophecy?" And we do have a free offer that deals with the subject of American Bible prophecy. My name, by the way, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Jëan: And Jëan Ross. And you see that on the screen, the magazine called "America in Bible Prophecy," and this is our free gift to anyone who calls an asks, it's one of our premier gifts, just call and ask. It's 800-835-6747, you can ask for offer number 879, or you can dial #250 on your smartphone and say, "Bible Answers Live," and ask for the magazine "America in Bible Prophecy." Pastor Doug, we're going to take the phone calls, but here you have an interesting picture that you saw that came out of somebody that was, I guess, doing a TV interview at the rally there after the shooting occurred.
Doug: Yeah, one of the most famous books on Bible prophecy and America in prophecy is that classic called "The Great Controversy." It's been reprinted under a number of titles, we sell that book here at "Amazing Facts" under the title, "The Rise and the Fall of Jerusalem," or "The Fall and the Rise of Jerusalem." And here this woman is being interviewed, it looks like on Fox News, and she's got the book in her hands and you can actually see it. I don't know if she was giving it away or someone had just given it to her, but I thought it was very interesting that here is somebody at this event yesterday, this historic event, they're holding a book on American Bible prophecy there. So, that was rather remarkable.
Jëan: Absolutely. All right, well, we're ready to go to the phone lines, our first caller. Thank you for your patience in holding, Gary, welcome to the program, you are on the air.
Gary: In the 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, it says, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the workings of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteousness deception among those who perish, because they love not the truth, that they might be saved. And for that reason, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie." So, my question is, with so many different faiths and so many different denominations, how do you know when you're in the truth?
Doug: Oh, good, that's a great question. You know, there's so many different denominations, I've always said the best way that you could hide a diamond is in a pile of broken glass, and the devil is wanting to hide the truth of God's church by all these, you know, imperfect examples of it. Now, I would be, I want to make sure and hasten to say I believe there are many sincere Christians that are in a number of fractured denominations, but that doesn't mean that there's no truth. Jesus said, "Thy word is truth, and the truth will set you free." And so, when you want to know what the truth is, make sure you pick a church based upon picking a church that is the closest to Bible truth. I don't think there's any, well, I think that a couple of churches claim infallibility, but most Protestant churches would not claim infallibility, we don't, but I'm a member of my church because I think it's the closest church to the Bible that I can find, and that's why I spend all this time answering Bible questions, I'm learning as I go.
Jëan: We do have a book, it talks, well, it talks about this, called "The Search for the True Church," and as you said, Pastor Doug, we giving Bible principles that you need to follow when you look for a church that's faithful to the Word of God, just call and ask, it's 800-835-6747, that is a free resource line, I should say, and as for the book, "The Search for the True Church," we'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. We got Eric, in Mississippi. Eric, welcome to the program.
Eric: Hello, Pastors, yes, good evening.
Doug: Good evening.
Eric: Don't have a prophecy question, but I do have a history question tonight, in regards to Genesis chapter 11, and the passage covering the Tower of Babel. I ran into some historical commentary that suggested that there was a remnant that remained, specifically possibly from the descendants of Seth and the sons of Eber that did not participate in or want to participate in the building of the Tower of Babel. And if so, I was wondering, "Oh, does that mean that their language was not scrambled? Or," I guess my question is, "Is there any biblical proof that Hebrew is the original language that was spoken by Adam?"
Doug: You know, that's a good question, and I'm sorry to say that's a question I probably can't answer. The reason is, I don't see anything in the text that tells us specifically that there was one of the languages of the world that was not affected or changed or altered by whatever happened at the Tower of Babel. And the other thing interesting is, over time, even just within a couple of hundred years, languages evolve. I was back in England, I know you've been there, Pastor Ross, and you probably looked like Wycliffe's Bible, and you know, he translated the Bible into English. And when I look at that original English of Wycliffe's Bible, the S's are F's, and just the wording, it's almost impossible for someone who speaks American English, even England English, to read it. So, language has evolved, so to say there's any language in the world today that is identical to what they spoke in the garden of Eden, I think that's probably remote. What language would it be the closest to? I can't wait to get to heaven, that's one of the many questions I want to find an answer to, but I don't know. You got any thoughts on that.
Jëan: No, I agree, Pastor Doug, I mean, language has changed, but it is interesting that, yeah, the descendants of Seth, at least you have Noah and Seth, and then his descendants, that didn't participate in the Tower of Babel, whatever language they spoke, that was not confused. Now, as you said, if it was Hebrew, it was a very different Hebrew than probably what's spoke of today in Israel, just because languages change over time.
Doug: Well, we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that Hebrew is even a little different today than it was, you know, 2,000 years ago. But great question, I can't know. My Spanish friends say Spanish is the language of heaven, but we'll have to wait and see.
Jëan: All right, we got Alejandro, in Kansas. Alejandro, welcome to the program.
Alejandro: Hello, my question is, why did God let Satan win?
Doug: Okay, why did God let Satan win? Thanks, we appreciate your courage in calling in with your question. Well, Satan has not won, there are battles that it looks like Satan has won because of the evil that we see in the world today, but in the end, the Bible tells us, Satan is going to lose, he is going to be cast into a lake of fire, and he is going to be punished for his sins. And the Bible tells us in Ezekiel, "Never will you be anymore." So, yeah, there's been, in a war, you have many battles, and it looks like Satan has won some battles. But when you read in Revelation 12, "Michael and his angels fought with the dragon," that's the devil and his angels, "And they were cast out." And so, yeah, ultimately, the devil is a loser.
Jëan: All right, and you know, we do have a set of lessons, Alejandro, I don't know, you know, 6-7, you might be getting close to that, we do have a set of lessons called "Amazing Adventure," and it's for kids, and it talks about that, you know, where did sin come, from where the pain and suffering come from, it's in those lessons, so you might want to have your parents check that out.
Doug: It's called "The Devil's Egg."
Jëan: Is the lesson.
Doug: "The Dragon's Egg."
Jëan: "The Dragon's Egg," ah, good.
Doug: Yeah, right, good.
Jëan: We got Glen, listening in Ohio. Glenn, welcome to the program.
Glen: Good evening, gentlemen, and thank you very much for taking my call. About three days ago, I was tuning up Radio74 and heard them finishing up their Bible reading, and they were finishing up in the New Testament, Matthew 23:37-39. And I'll tell you, I was stunned as I heard them read that. And the thing that came to my mind was, what they read was Jerusalem got a spanking and so did the Jewish people, and the speaker said that "They would not see His face until they agreed that 'Blessed is He who come in the name of the LORD!'" I just, well, the thing that came to me, is it possible that this could be the reason for the delay in the Second Coming?
Doug: Well, first of all, let me read for our friends that are listening, a lot of friends are driving right now, and they don't have a Bible in front of them. It says there in Matthew 23:37, Christ is weeping over Jerusalem, and He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall not see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD!'" Now, probably first and foremost, Jesus is speaking to that generation He's talking to physically, because many of those people that He had been preaching to, they rejected His teaching, He walked out of the temple, and He said, "Your house is left to you desolate." Keep in mind, when Christ began his ministry, He said, "My house," "You have made My Father's house a house of thieves, it's to be a house of prayer." But He said, "My house," when they reject Him three years later, He says, "Your house." That generation that was judged by the destruction of the temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, many of them died lost, having rejected the Savior, they will not see Him again till they see Him in the Second Coming, and every knee will bow and say, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD!" Will there be a revival among the Jewish people? I don't think it means every Jew is going to convert, but I do think there's going to be a great revival. Paul talks about this in Romans 9 and 10, before Christ comes.
Jëan: You know, talking about a delay in the Second Coming, Paul addresses that, he says, you know, "Because God is long suffering, not willing that any," this is Peter, "Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Then he says, "But the day of the Lord will come," so there is a limit to how long God's going to wait before the Second Coming. All right, next caller that we have is Chloe, listening in Ohio. Chloe, welcome to the program.
Chloe: Hi, thank you for what all you do. I know, my question is, "Why do we have to have storms?" I know God promises us no more floods, but why does God make storms?
Doug: Are you scared of storms?
Chloe: Yeah.
Doug: You are? Well, when I was a little younger and there was big lightning right above the house, it was kind of scary, but sometimes I like watching the rain and the wind, and moving the trees, it's kind of fun, powerful. But you know, the storms in the world actually make the world breathe, it's the circulation of the air and the storms that waters the earth, it creates the humidity, keeps the oceans from becoming stagnant, it's because things are moving in the world. And a lot of that happens because of the moon going around the planet, it creates tides, the tides, the gravity from the moon, moves the water, moves the tides, which move the wind, and it creates a cycle of life. If something sits stagnant and it doesn't move, it starts to die. So, storms are one of the way that God lets the world breathe.
Jëan: And of course, some storms can be very destructive, hurricanes and tornadoes, and fortunately those are more the exception to the rule.
Doug: He's not going to flood the world again.
Jëan: Yeah, it's not going to be a worldwide flood. All right, next one that we have is Nick, in California. Nick, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."
Nick: Yes, thank you. My question is about Deuteronomy 23, verse 3, saying that, "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of the Lord; unto the tenth generation," and how that applies to Ruth, the Moabitess, especially in the context of Nehemiah 13, where they rediscovered this part of the law and had to separate the mixed multitude.
Doug: Yeah, well, that is a great question, I've seen that before, is, the Moabites mistreated the Israelites, and so there was a curse pronounced on them that they couldn't come into the congregation till the 10th generation. Well, Ruth appears in the story much sooner than 10 generations go by, she marries Boaz, becomes the grandmother of Jesse, great grandmother of David. And David, you might say, is kind of part Moabite. It's also interesting, when David was being hunted by Saul, to protect his parents, he sent his parents to stay in the land of Moab, because they were related through Ruth. Ruth, she was allowed in the congregation, in the sense that she was adopted, she said, "I've come to worship the God of Israel," so she really became a convert. And it's not just Ruth, you've got David's servant, called Uriah the Hittite, yeah, and he was a convert to the true God. So, people who converted and embraced the true God, I think they were allowed in.
Jëan: All right, good question, Nick, thank you. We've got Titus, listening in Virginia. Titus, welcome to the program.
Titus: Hey, my question is, "Is there a lack of sincerity when you go up every day to rededicate your life to Christ when there's an altar call each day?"
Doug: Is there a lack of sincerity? Well, far be it for me to judge what's in an individual's heart. You know, if you, I think you can rededicate your life to the Lord every day, I try to do it when I get on my knees every morning, just give my Lord my life for that day. But I know when you have an altar call, some people are, they're a little more, they're sensitive and they're emotional, and they just feel the tug of their conscience and they want to come forward. I want to know what's going on in that individual's heart. But do you think it probably not necessary every week to come forward? You'd wonder, you know, "Do you have any peace?" Theoretically, if everyone in the congregation came forward every week, it kind of defeats the purpose of an altar call.
Jëan: You know, there are other things in the church, we talk about the Communion service, that's a rededication of oneself.
Doug: Exactly, yeah.
Jëan: So we do have those opportunities, and again, you don't want to belittle, sometimes I think by just doing something over and over again that you begin to lose the power behind why you do that if you're coming up. Now, obviously, if there's a special prayer request that you have or a burden that you're bringing before the Lord, that's a little different, but if we're just responding, we want to respond, but that doesn't mean we have to come forward every time, there's a balance there. All right, next one that we have is Alan, in California. Alan, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."
Alan: Greetings, Bakersfield calling here, thank you for taking my call. I had a question regarding, it's in Revelation 7, John sees millions of people in white robes with palm branches, and he's asked who they are, and they said they are those who came out from the Tribulation. So, I assumed it was the people who were killed during the Tribulation. But somebody was telling me that it's the raptured church, and he was explaining it, and it made kind of some sense, so I just didn't know your take on it. Is it the raptured church or is it the people, the martyrs killed during the Tribulation, or is it somebody else?
Doug: Yeah, good question, and Pastor Ross may want to also jump in on this, but it talks about, first of all, it mentions 144,000, and then there's, "A great multitude that no one can number, from all nations, tribes, and people." And so, you know, the elder is asking John, you know, "Who are these arrayed in white robes?" And John says, "Well, you live here, you know." And now I'm in verse 14, he said, "These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they're before the throne of God." So, some have wondered, "Well, is this the group that comes out of the Great Tribulation spoken of in Daniel 12? Michael stands up, there's a time of trouble such as there never has been," and Jesus refers to that in Matthew 24, "Or is it speaking in more general terms of people who have gone through great tribulation like the apostles did, and in others through history?" There's a great tribulation during the Dark Ages. So, the question is, "Is it speaking more specifically about those who came out of the final Great Tribulation?" I don't think it's talking about the raptured church.
Jëan: Well, I think two things, number one, there is a Tribulation before Jesus comes, Daniel 12 makes it pretty clear, and there are a group of people that come out of the Tribulation, meaning that they're on the earth during the Tribulation, but they're delivered. And if you put all the different passages of scripture together, the Bible describes a time of trouble before Jesus comes, the seven last plagues are going to be poured out, but God will protect these people during that time just as He did the Jews when the plagues came upon Egypt, and then He will rescue them, and that's the Second Coming of Christ. Now, the group in Revelation 7 seems to indicate that they are the ones who are alive when Jesus comes, because they have the seal of God, they are caught up when Jesus comes the second time. So, these are from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, the everlasting gospel goes to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. These are the ones who responded to that last warning message, and it's describing the Second Coming of Christ.
Doug: Yep, absolutely. Hey, thank you, I appreciate you—
Jëan: You know, we do have a book, Pastor Doug, it's called "Who Will Sing the Song of the 144,000?"
Doug: Yeah, you can just say, "Who are the 144,000," and they'll send you the book.
Jëan: The number to call, 800-835-6747, ask for the book about the 144,000. All right, we got Lee, in Texas. Lee, welcome to the program.
Lee: Yes, sir. Thank you, can you hear me okay?
Doug: We can.
Lee: Okay, my question is, I have one question, I have a question about the Ten Commandments, well, one of them anyway, where it says, "Honor thy mother and thy father," which I truly believe in, but what if your father has done nothing for you to honor him about?
Doug: Yeah, well, there's two ways you might respect or honor a person, one is because of their character, and if you're saying, you know, "My father just hasn't demonstrated a very honorable character," well, that makes it tough, but then you honor a person because of their position, and you know, as your father, that's a position that nothing changes. When you interact with him, you try to be as respectful as possible. You know, the Bible tells us, Peter says that "If a believing woman is married to an unbelieving man," and he may act in, you know, a terrible way, "But by her being kind and loving, he can be converted through the behavior of the wife." Same thing with your father, if you've got a father that is dishonorable, first of all, you don't have to always interact with people. So, you know, sometimes there are cases where you need to separate from relatives because it's just an unhealthy situation, but if you're in a situation where you are interacting, as far as possible, be respectful, and your kindness can sometimes soften their heart and bring about a change. So, that doesn't mean if they ask you to do anything immoral, you don't listen to them, you don't obey when it requires you to disobey God, but respect them as far as possible because of their position.
Jëan: Okay, very good. Next call that we have is Sean, in Illinois. Sean, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."
Sean: Thank you very much. Good evening, Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross. And my question is, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 14, God spoke to the serpent, and He said, "Because you have done this," and he cursed him to the ground. My question is it sounded like the serpent had a choice.
Doug: Yeah, the Lord, when it says He spoke to the serpent, He's actually speaking to the power behind the serpent, the power that spoke through the serpent. Snakes were, you know, they kind of became the emblem of the devil because they were used by the devil. If you go to Revelation 12, it describes the devil as the devil, Satan, the dragon, and the serpent. And so that, because the devil chose the medium of a serpent to first deceive Eve, all serpents through history, they may have been able to fly at one point, so we got all these flying reptiles in the fossil record, they were then cursed to crawl upon the ground. And God wasn't taking it out on snakes, per se. I've never heard a snake complain about crawling on the ground. But it was really the devil behind the snake, so the snakes probably didn't have a choice, just like when the donkey, God spoke through the donkey, I don't know donkey had a choice.
Jëan: And the Lamb didn't have a choice to represent the sacrifices either.
Doug: That's right.
Jëan: All right, next one that we have is Jeremy, in Idaho. Jeremy, welcome to the program.
Jeremy: Hey, guys, how's it going?
Doug: Great, thanks for calling.
Jeremy: Hey, I got a quick question. Is it okay to read the book of Enoch?
Doug: Is it okay to read the book of Enoch? Well, the book of Enoch is what you would call an apocryphal book, it was written by a devout Jew during the Babylonian captivity, as near as we can tell, never appears in history before that. And Jude quotes from a section of the book of Enoch. Now, let me give you an example. "Pilgrim's Progress" is an allegory of salvation, "Pilgrim's Progress" is not scripture, but there are some divine statements in "Pilgrim's Progress" where John Bunyan, their author, was inspired. Quoting from those divine statements or those inspired statements does not not make the whole book scripture. So, the book of Enoch, it's got some interesting things, it's got some things that are not biblical in it, but Jude realized that it was a widely known document, and he quoted from a passage about the Lord's coming. Is it okay to read it? I don't know that there's any danger in it, just know it's not scripture. Thanks so much, appreciate that, Jeremy. We got time for one more, Pastor Ross?
Jëan: Yeah, we've got Gabby, listening in Arizona. Gabby, welcome to the program.
Gabby: Yes, good evening, gentlemen. I don't know that there is a Bible text for this, but my question is, when the world is completely destroyed and we are back in the new heaven and earth with Jesus for eternity, what happens to God the Father and the Holy Spirit, where will they reside? They are total, you know, separate entities.
Doug: All right, great, good question. You know, I think that you have a clear answer in the Bible, it tells us in Revelation, I think it's chapter 22, that God Himself will be with us and we will see His face. Right now, Jesus said, "No man can see the Father and live." And God told Moses, "No man can see My face and survive, but I'll put you in the cleft in the rock and you will see My glory and my hind parts," or "See Me from behind," in other words. But now we look through a glass darkly because of our sin, that's 1 Corinthians chapter 13, but then we will see face to face. So, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, well, God's Spirit is omnipresent, He's everywhere, so, of course He'll be in the city as well.
Jëan: And of course, the New Jerusalem comes down to earth, and earth becomes sort of the capital of the universe, it almost replaces heaven as we know it now, because God's here, the city is here, God's people are here, the earth is recreated. It's amazing, this one planet that has rebelled against God, after it's been recreated, becomes the center of the universe and God's dwelling place with man here, it's an amazing thought.
Doug: That's absolutely fantastic. Well, let me see, we got a minute left, Pastor Ross, maybe what we ought to do is just wrap this up gently. I want to explain to everybody that's listening, if you haven't heard this before, we are going to take some rapid-fire Bible questions. But basically, we have a lot of listeners listening on satellite radio, that operates on a different clock from our land-based radio stations and the other internet radio broadcasts. So, when we say goodbye to those on satellite, we stay tuned for a few minutes and we are going to do rapid-fire Bible questions, and so you can also send in your Bible questions. What's the address on that?
Jëan: Yeah, you send it to BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org, and we get it, and we'll try to answer as many of those questions as we can. Doug: That's right, and don't forget, check out everything else Amazing Facts does at our website, simply AmazingFacts.org. God bless.
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Jëan: Hello, friends, and welcome back to "Bible Answers Live," and thank you for your email questions that you sent. Again, that email address is just BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org. All right, Pastor Doug, today, we got some great questions. First one that we have here is, "Does God the Father accompany Jesus at the Second Coming?"
Doug: All right, that's a good question, Pastor Ross, and I have talked about this because there's one statement where Christ tells the high priest, He says, "You'll see Me coming in on the right hand of power," and I've always assumed that to be on the right hand of power, God being the ultimate power, you'd have to be on the right hand of God. But then it seems to state also that Jesus brings the redeemed world back to the presence of the Father, He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and I'll bring you back." And so, but God the Father, being omnipresent, well, in a sense, He is coming in the presence of the Father in that God sends His presence and power with Jesus.
Jëan: Yeah, and then you add to that the Third Coming. So, I think I think there's enough evidence to suggest that, yeah, Jesus comes, He's sort of on a rescue mission at the Second Coming to gather these saints, take them to heaven. But at the end of the 1,000 years, when the New Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven, and Jesus comes and the redeemed come and the city comes.
Doug: Everyone's together then.
Jëan: I think God the Father is going to be there too; He's not going to be alone in heaven when everything else is happening here.
Doug: That's why there's silence in heaven.
Jëan: That's right, yeah. Okay, next question we got here, Emanuel is asking, "How long should a person pray for something even if there seems no solution?"
Doug: Well, it depends on what it is. Paul said he had an ailment of sickness, and he prayed three times, that probably means he fasted and prayed three times, and God basically said, "You got to live with this, My strength is made perfect in weakness." If you're praying for the salvation of loved one, don't ever give up. The Bible says that "Where there is life, there is hope," in Ecclesiastes, so you should always continue praying for loved ones you long to see saved. And so, it depends on the issue, sometimes God might give you a nudge and say, "I've answered that prayer and the answer is, 'Not now,'" or whatever, and you want to just put it in God's hands and move on.
Jëan: Okay. "When somebody's fasting, do you have to fast for each separate individual prayer request or can you bundle them together?"
Doug: Great question, yeah. Well, I bundle mine, because fasting, I hate missing a meal, so when I fast, I put everything I can on the table as far as prayer requests go, and try to exploit that fast as much as I can. I actually had a fast before I went to a doctor's appointment one time, I said, "Lord, can I count this as a fast?" But yeah, fasting, of course, it's a great discipline just for self-control and you'll be blessed. Thank you so much, friends, for participating in "Bible Answers Live." Please pray for the country, pray for peace and calm, and God's Spirit to prevail. God bless until next week.
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