The SR-71 Blackbird Aircraft

Scripture: Daniel 9:21, Revelation 14:1-6
Date: 01/21/2007 
One of the most magnificent aircraft ever built was the supersonic reconnaissance plane, better known as the SR-71 Blackbird. After the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 spy plane back in 1960, the CIA knew they needed something to fly faster and higher.
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Hello friends, this is Doug Batchelor, how about an amazing fact? One of the most magnificent aircraft ever built was the supersonic reconnaissance plane, better known as the SR-71 Blackbird. After the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 spy plane back in 1960, the CIA knew they needed something to fly faster and higher. After years of testing, the SR-71 Blackbird made its first flight in 1964 at Palmdale, California. For the next forty years, the SR-71 remained the fastest and highest flying production aircraft in the world. This amazing aircraft is capable of cruising at altitudes of over 85,000 feet where it could photograph 100,000 square miles per hour. Because the Blackbird could fly 16 miles high up in the stratosphere, the crew members needed to wear suits similar to those worn on the space shuttle.

It acquired the name “Blackbird” for the special black paint that covered the airplane, designed to absorb radar signals and to radiate some of the 600-degree heat generated by air friction. Beginning the mission, the SR-71 would take off with a very light fuel load, then about seven minutes later it would rendezvous in the air with a refueling tanker. After this, the plane could fly up to 2,000 miles before needing a refill. The Blackbird’s two J58 Pratt & Whitney engines with afterburners have 32,500 pounds of thrust each. That’s enough power to push the largest ocean liner so fast you could probably water ski behind it. So how fast was the Blackbird? It could easily fly for long periods at speeds of Mach 3.2. In case you’re wondering, Mach equals the speed of sound, approximately 761 miles an hour at sea level.

In 1976, the SR-71 set a record of more than 2,200 miles an hour. To give you perspective, Charles Lindbergh needed over 33 1/2 hours for his epic trip across the Atlantic. Yet on September 1, 1974, the Blackbird set a record from New York to London in one hour and fifty-five minutes. Or consider that the muzzle velocity of a .30-6 rifle is about 3,000 feet per second, but the SR-71 flies at 3,100 feet per second. So Superman wasn’t the only one who traveled faster than a speeding bullet. Today, all of the grand SR-71 Blackbirds are retired but they can still be seen from time to time at air shows and museums.

But did you know the Bible talks about some beings who traveled many times faster than the Blackbird? Stay with us friends. We’re going to learn about this as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.

[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Friends, the Bible says in Romans Chapter 10, verse 17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This program is dedicated to helping people hear the word of God. If you have any Bible question, we will do our best to search the Bibles on the desk in front of us here and to find the answers together. We’ve got some high speed computers and the Bible, Bible translations, original languages, concordances; and we want to search and find the answers, what is truth. The truth will set you free friends. If you have a Bible question, call tonight’s program. Right now, we have lines open. It’s a free phone call. That number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS. We find out what the Lord says in His word, 1-800-463-7297.

Now is a good time to pick up the phone. If you’ve got something to write with, pen or pencil around your house, get that and hang on to it because we’re also giving out free resources every broadcast, but you need to be ready to jot down those email addresses or web addresses and the resource phone number, which is a little different than our studio number. But to get a question on the air, call 1-800-GOD-SAYS, 1-800-463-7297. My name is Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Jëan Ross: And my name is Jëan Ross. Pastor Doug, it’s good to be back. I’ve been gone for a few weeks.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, we know that you were suffering there on the white sands in the Caribbean for Jesus, doing a little mission project. We told people to keep you in their prayers.

Pastor Jëan Ross: [Laughing] Hard work out there in the Bahamas this time of the year. Let’s start with a word of prayer. Dear Father, once more as we open up Your Word we ask for Your Holy Spirit to be with us. Be with those who are listening, those who call in. And Father, we pray that tonight’s program will be more than just Bible facts; but most importantly, may Jesus be lifted up. For this we ask in His name, amen.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Amen.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Fascinating fact that opened the program today Pastor Doug, the Blackbird. I’ve had an opportunity of seeing one of them in a museum in Washington, D.C. and it was smaller than I anticipated. It wasn’t as big I thought it would be, but it’s remarkable; a plane that was in service for so long, an old plane, but yet did a tremendous service, tremendous work.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: I met one of the pilots for years, a gentleman who wrote a book on it by the name of Brian Shul, and he said that the amazing thing was that even twenty years, thirty years after it was built, they would be able to fly over enemy territory and none of the modern jets that the various hostile countries had built could touch it. He said it was sort of like a 1957 Chevy beating a state-of the-art Lexus. They just couldn’t catch this old plane and they would fall out of the skies, they’d just go up into the stratosphere. So it’s an amazing bit of engineering; but what it made me think of is about the fastest man could go in our atmosphere. Of course, the space shuttle goes much faster once it gets out of our atmosphere.

But the Bible talks about these beings that travel faster than Superman and faster than the Blackbird pilots. In the Bible, Daniel chapter 9 has an amazing verse where it tells us Daniel is praying an earnest prayer and towards the end of his prayer, the angel Gabriel appears. It says in verse 21 of Daniel 9, “Yes, and while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.” And then Gabriel tells Daniel, “At the beginning of your prayer, God sent me from heaven.” By the end of his prayer he’s on earth. You figure that heaven, you know, some Christian astronomers believe heaven is through the Nebula Orion, in that vicinity of the Cosmos.

Now, just taking that as hypothesis, that is so many millions of light years away that you figure out, calculate the speed that angels fly, and it’s not the speed of sound or even the speed of light but its closer to the speed of thought, how quick they are. Then you read in Revelation just before Jesus comes back, it pictures three angels, chapter 14, verses 1 through 6, flying in the midst of heaven with special messages that go to the word just before the Lord comes. Matter of fact, in that same chapter pictures the Lord coming after these messages go to the world. Some of our friends might want to know a little more about these messages that go to the world just before Jesus comes back in prophecy. We have a free study, we don’t often offer this, that we’d send them just for the asking.

Pastor Jëan Ross: It’s an Amazing Facts' study guide and it’s entitled “Angel Messages from Space." To receive this all you’ll need to do is call the resource number, it’s 1-800-835-6747. Ask for “Angel Messages from Space” and we’ll be happy tosend that out to you. We’d like to begin the program with some internet questions. The first one says, “Pastor Doug, where will Jesus reign during the 1,000-year period, or the millennium, and will the redeemed reign with Him?”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good question. We read about this in Revelation Chapter 20. In Revelation 20, you’ll find it’s referring to it as the 1,000 years. Now, there’s one Christian group that believes that when we live and reign with Christ during that 1,000 years, it’s very clear there in Revelation 20 they’ll live and reign with Christ. That it’s here on earth. Other Christians believe that we live and reign with Him in glory, in heaven. I’m in the second group as many, I should say old-fashioned Protestants are, because Christ tells us, He says, “I go to prepare a place for you. When I come again I will receive you unto myself.”

Then you read in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, it says that the dead in Christ rise and we are caught up to meet Him in the air. The millennium begins at the resurrection. It says, “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection,” that’s in Revelation 20. The rest of the dead don’t live again until the 1,000 years are finished. So all of the pieces, when you put them together, it says that He comes, we’re raptured up, we live and reign with Him obviously in the mansions He has prepared in heaven. Some have the righteous reigning over the wicked here on earth, but I don’t know who would want to reign over the wicked. That would not be heaven for me.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Right.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: The righteous have the glorified bodies, the wicked are still growing old and dying, that just doesn’t make any sense. So I believe we’re living and reigning with Him in heaven; and then at the end of the 1,000 years the New Jerusalem descends down to earth.

Pastor Jëan Ross: So then, in other words, there are three comings of Jesus: The first, He came as a baby; the second would be at the second coming when He comes and the dead in Christ are raised and caught up to meet Him in the air. Then, there is a 1,000-year period between the second coming. And then we refer to it as the third coming where Jesus, the saints and the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21, come back down to this earth.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s right. The rest of the dead don’t live again until the 1,000 years are finished. Zachariah 14 says His feet will touch the Mount of Olives in that day, the wicked are raised, they’re judged, they’re cast in the lake of fire, and God creates a new heaven and a new earth. That’s what we would refer to as the third coming. We don’t often hear about that, but the Bible certainly does teach it.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Now, the Book of Jude actually speaks of this third coming where it says, “The Lord will come with 10,000 of His saints to execute judgment on the ungodly.”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Here’s another question that comes from the Book of Jude. It says, "Jude 7 states that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. Does this mean that the people died the second death? I know in Matthew 10:15 it mentions that Sodom will, in the Day of Judgment, stand, but why will they be resurrected? And what does it mean 'eternal fire' or 'eternal punishment'?"

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, several questions there. First of all, Christ is talking about cities suffering here, and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with an everlasting fire and did suffer the second death as cities because they were destroyed collectively. Those cities have never been rebuilt. They’re in the very desolate regions of the hottest place and lowest place on earth right now, which is the south end of the Dead Sea. But eternal fire, some people think that eternal fire means that something burns forever and ever. The results of the fire are eternal. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned up with a fire, and the results of that fire that burnt them are eternal results.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Eternal results.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah. If I was to burn a wooden box and then the box is never reassembled, never built again, it’s burnt with eternal fire. Well now you might be thinking, “Pastor Doug, how do you know that, how can you say that?” In Jeremiah chapter 17 the prophet warned the people of Jerusalem if they did not repent that he would burn the gates of Jerusalem with eternal fire and it would not be quenched, or unquenchable fire. And it wasn’t quenched, it was burnt, and those gates were never rebuilt. Now the city of Jerusalem…

Pastor Jëan Ross: So when it’s talking about eternal fire, the consequences of the fire then will be eternal.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The city won’t be rebuilt; so Sodom and Gomorrah, they were destroyed with eternal punishment or eternal fire, meaning that the cities would never be rebuilt.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s right.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Now when it talks about the second death, obviously everyone who dies now would die the first death. Has anyone other than Jesus, or has Jesus died the second death?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Jesus faced the second death for all people. In other words, when He hung on the cross, He experienced the wrath of God and the separation that the lost will feel, this total separation. That’s why that cry was wrenched from His heart, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

Pastor Jëan Ross: So no human being, then, has died--other than Christ--has died the second death?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Not yet. That’s after the Judgment, the Executive Judgment.

Pastor Jëan Ross: That's the 1,000-year period. Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Now, Lazarus died twice [laughing]. That wasn’t second death.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Right, but that wasn’t the second death. That was the first death. Friends, just another point that you might want to take note of, MostAmazingProphecies.com. We’ve been talking a little bit about some Bible prophecies, some important things, but that website has a wealth of information. It’s actually the series that Pastor Doug did last year and I believe folks can actually watch the programs online.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, they can watch them. They can look at the lessons. We’ve posted Bible symbols and their meanings, Bible numbers and their meanings. They've just got to type in MostAmazingProphecies.com.

Pastor Jëan Ross: And there’s a whole presentation there on the 1,000-year period.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Exactly.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The Millennium, it covers that. Okay, let’s go to the phone lines. Our first caller today, Antoinette is listening on the internet from Orlando, Florida. Antoinette, welcome to the program.

Antoinette: Hi Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross. I have a question on Ezekiel 40 to 42, can you explain this vision of the temple and the city for me? And if I can ask one more quick question…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, go ahead ask your second question now.

Antoinette: I know. Okay, Genesis 4:15, what was the mark that the Lord set on Cain? And I’ll take my answer off the air.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, thank you Antoinette. I just need to be honest with you. In the approximately three minutes we budget for each question, I can’t go through two chapters in Ezekiel. That is a deep book; but he talks about a measuring rod and measuring the temple of the Lord. And then when you get to Revelation, it again talks about measuring the temple of God. You can read about this in Revelation 21:12, it’s starting to give the dimensions. When God measures His people, and by the way, the temple of God in New Testament times is a symbol for the people of God. Jesus said, "Destroy this temple made with hands and in three days I will raise it up.” That’s His body, the church.

Paul said, “Don’t you know that ye are the temple of God?” So this is a prophecy that’s talking about a judgment of God’s people. Then you read in 2nd Peter, he says, “Judgment must begin at the house of God.” So there are several references about this sanctuary being a type for God’s people or God’s church being judged. Now your second question about what was the mark of Cain that was placed on him?

You know, that’s a mystery. It’s a mystery in that, the Bible does not say. It’s a very concise statement. Something distinguishing was done with Cain that made him stand out. It doesn’t mean God put a check, or one of these Charles Manson tattoos on his forehead; but in some way there was a distinguishing difference in Cain so that all his posterity that came after him knew that there would be a curse upon them if they took vengeance on Cain. I don’t know if you’ve got any thoughts on this Pastor Ross.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Well, you know, whenever we talk about a mark, the thing that comes to my mind is of course in Revelation, you got the mark of the beast, but you’ve also got the mark or the seal of God.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: And Ezekiel 9, too, has the mark of God.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You’ve got the mark of God. So here we have a mark that’s placed upon Cain that obviously wouldn’t be the seal of God, but could it be a shadow or a type of the mark of the beast that we read about in Revelation?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, it’s a mark placed on someone that was cursed.

Pastor Jëan Ross: That was cursed.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: There’s nothing in the Bible that leads us to believe that Cain ever repented. He and his offspring all lived in rebellion. They were called the “daughters of men” and they led the Sethites into apostasy. So I think it’s more like the mark of the beast.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Right. Okay, let’s go to our next caller. Jerry is listening from Garland, Texas. Welcome to the program Jerry.

Jerry: Hi Pastors.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Get real close to your phone.

Jerry: Oh, hi Pastors.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: I got you. How are you doing Jerry?

Jerry: I’m fine. I want to ask you, can you elaborate in detail what billions and billions of people around the world are going to be doing in heaven filling up the time, and is time going to be about the same as it is down here, or what’s everybody going to be doing when you’re talking about billions and billions of people for eternity you know?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, good question. First of all, we don’t know that there will be billions and billions because God doesn’t promise everybody is going to be saved. Christ actually says, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction...and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.” [Matthew 7:13-14] Now there may be a billion people or billions, I don’t know. Right now, there’s six billion on earth, I guess we’ve passed that mark, and there’s still a whole lot of uninhabited territory. You can read in Isaiah chapter 65, it says, “They will build houses and inhabit them, they’ll plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.” There will be lots of activity. It talks about children playing in the streets of the New Jerusalem and singing. It says in Isaiah 66, “We will come and worship before the Lord.”

I believe we’ll get to explore the universe. We’re not going to be quarantined to this planet. You’ve probably heard that song before, Jerry, “Rock of Ages;” and there’s one verse in there, it’s actually good theology. It says “We’ll soar to worlds unknown,” and…

Jerry: It talks about we’ll be building houses and stuff like that?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, well when God first made Adam and Eve, He had a plan for them. He told them to go forth, to subdue the earth. They were to dress the garden. The climate was a lot more temperate back then and they were building these, probably homes, from the vegetation. We can’t even imagine, God says, what He has in store. But we’re not going to just float around on clouds with harps and hover. I think that we’re going to be full of activity. God gave us brains.

Pastor Jëan Ross: I like the verse in 1 Corinthians 2:9 where it says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” We can’t even begin to imagine what God has got planned there for those that love Him. And I don’t think it’s just speaking about a mansion or a place that God is preparing, but God is also preparing things that we’re going to do to keep us busy throughout the long…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: We’ll be able to realize our greatest imaginations. What’s that now?

Jerry: About entertainment and stuff like that?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: We’ll be very entertained with God’s creation. I’ll be very entertained just talking to some of the Bible heroes for the first couple thousand years.

Jerry: Oh man.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: So there will be plenty to do, I promise you. I tell you what Jerry, you get there, you and I will meet and I’ll ask you if you’re bored.

Jerry: [Laughing]

Pastor Doug Batchelor: How does that sound?

Jerry: That sounds great.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, God bless and we hope to see you there.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Pete is listening on WMLA from Moose Lake, Minnesota. Welcome to the program Pete.

Pete: Hello, how are you doing?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good. How are you doing?

Pete: Good.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Question.

Pete: Yeah, I got a question on Leviticus 11:8.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay.

Pete: I understand that we’re not supposed to eat the unclean foods, I realize that. The question I have is, it says, “And their carcasses you shall not touch.” Is it okay to wear pigskin gloves or alligator boots, you know what I’m saying?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, that’s a good question. Well, I probably wouldn’t prefer those. If I could choose, I’d choose to wear calfskin. But I think that the main prohibition against touching their carcasses was not so much that they weren’t to touch any part of them once they had died, because the Bible tells us that camel is unclean and John the Baptist wore camel skin. He either wore camel hair, which is still technically part of a camel that’s dead, or a camel hide.

Pete: Okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: But he definitely wore camel. So the prohibition wasn’t necessarily against touching something that was made from the animal, but a decomposing carcass breeds disease; and so especially the carcasses of these dead animals, they weren’t safe.

Pete: Oh okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: So I think now, you know, a person could say, “I can’t play football because that’s made from a pigskin.” Well you’re not going to catch any disease from playing football. You know what I mean? I don’t know of anyone that has ever gotten trichina larvae from a football.

Pete: Okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright?

Pete: Alright, well thank you then.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, thank you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Derrick is listening on the internet calling from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Derrick welcome to the program.

Derrick: Hi, thanks for taking my call. I love your show. I have a quick question. It’s on Proverbs 27:26, and it’s kind of a two-fold question but the same point. It says, “The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.” I’m confused about goats. I know that it probably has a prophetic meaning in there, you know, about lamb for clothing, it’s probably about how Christ is righteousness. But I can’t figure out “...and the goats are for the price of the field.” And what I do understand is that goats, they represent Satan, and I know that, and it’s just so confusing. I don’t understand the verse and I don’t understand why goats are clean animals, but yet they represent Satan in prophecy.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, they don’t always represent Satan in prophecy because you could offer a goat even on the Passover; it would be a type of Christ. They could offer either a male lamb or a kid. A goat was an acceptable sacrifice in the temple, any of the clean animals.

Derrick: Yeah. I don’t understand why they separate the sheep from the goats, like…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well that’s the parable in Matthew 25; and I don’t think that Jesus is making a permanent symbol there, that goats everywhere else in the Bible are types of the lost or Satan. When Abraham found a substitute for Isaac--I guess it was a ram, that’s a sheep.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Ram caught in the bush.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, but on the Day of Atonement they took two goats, one was the Lord’s goat and one was the scapegoat. So obviously one of them was a symbol of the Lord. A goat was a clean animal. In Matthew 25 Jesus compares a goat to the lost because goats are definitely--I’ve had goats before--goats are definitely a lot more independent than sheep. Now in this verse here in Proverbs, the lambs are used for the clothing, goats cleared a field. They will eat anything, where sheep only eat grass. You can set goats loose and they’ll eat poison oak and poison ivy; and they’ll basically clear the fields so that the grass grows for the sheep. So I think He’s alluding to that here but…

Derrick: Do you think there’s a prophetic meaning in this?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, I have to think about that. It could be, but I’ve never applied a symbolic prophetic meaning to this verse. Now you said you had two questions, or is that both questions?

Derrick: Yeah, you kind of hit them both on there.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright. Hey, I hope that helps a little. We’re going to try and take one more call before our break.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Michael is listening on 89.3 from Minnesota. Welcome to the program Michael.

Michael: Hi.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hi, and your question?

Michael: Hey, I really enjoy your program. My family and I listen to it and it really sparks a lot of talking about the Bible, which is great.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Oh good! We like stir up your pure minds.

Michael: My question is, my 10 year old son recently read Acts chapter 5 and had some questions and had some challenges reconciling. He’s also learned about the tithe and returning the tithe. And then reading about the events in the first few verses of chapter 5 of Acts, his question was, “If you don’t give the tithe, will you still go to heaven?” And I was wondering if you could talk about what’s going on in chapter 5 there where Ananias and Sapphira died, and then talk a little bit about the tithe and how that, you know, that’s not really a salvation issue, is it?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, well I’m glad you asked that. I’ve got to rush with your question a little bit because of time. But Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5 were two Christians in the early church that their hearts weren’t totally converted. When they brought a donation to the Lord, they basically lied to the apostles and said, “We sold our land and we’re giving everything that we got from our land to the church.” Well, they lied. They kept some of it back for themselves, but they wanted to look good. And because they lied right in midst of the Holy Spirit bathing the church, they died, just in the presence of God like that, to lie to the Holy Spirit. Some might say, “Well, does that mean everybody who has failed to pay their tithe, are they automatically lost?”

We’re not saved by paying tithe. We’re not saved by doing any particular work. The only work that we’re really saved by is the work of believing. Jesus said, “This is the work that they’ll do, but to believe on the name of Him whom You have sent.” But tithing is taught in the New Testament and when a person knows the truth about tithing, as with any other area of God’s will, for us to rebel against what the Lord has revealed to us, that then becomes sin. So that’s the danger. It’s not that people are saved or lost by tithing. When we love the Lord we’re going to want to give. In the New Testament, these verses we’re looking at Michael, tithing is a very small part of it; they were giving all of their possessions.

Michael: Right.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Some have said, “Well, in the New Testament there’s nothing taught about tithing.” I say, "Well, the reason they didn’t say much about tithing in the New Testament, and there are verses about it, is because the standard was so much higher than just tithe in the New Testament." They were giving all their possessions. So tithe was like kindergarten to New Testament Christians. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus basically endorsed the tithe principle and furthermore in the Old Testament when something is established, if it is not disclaimed or abolished in the New Testament, then we are to assume it’s still intact. And since God has not said anything in the New Testament to absolve or to terminate the tithing process, we are to assume that since there’s nothing wrong with it, giving a tenth of our increase is a good plan.

So Abraham did it, it predates the Mosaic Law. We believe that the principle of tithing is still in effect; and matter of fact, we’ve got a lesson on that. It’s called “In God We Trust.” Michael, if you and your family there are talking about this and you want some good Scriptures and a good study on this subject, call the resource number and we’ll send you a copy of “In God We Trust” for free.

Michael: Thank you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Let me give you that resource number again Michael. Its 1-800-835-6747 and the study guide is “In God We Trust.” So if you would call that number, just ask that for that study guide, they’ll be happy to send that out.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: We’re about to take a break friends. I want to encourage you to check out the Amazing Facts' website, simply AmazingFacts.org, and you’ll see there we’ve just got a broad spectrum of resources available for your growth.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well friends, we are back from our break. If you've just joined us, you are tuned in to Bible Answers Live. This is a live, international, interactive Bible study. We get questions from people all over the world. If you have a question, we have a couple of lines open. Pick up your phone now and dial the toll-free number, 1-800-GOD-SAYS, that’s 1-800-463-7297. I’m here in the studio with--oh what’s my name--Doug Batchelor. I’m with Pastor Jëan Ross. I was going to let you introduce yourself, but I took your thunder. Sorry Pastor.

Pastor Jëan Ross: No problem. Just want to remind those listening about some of our websites…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: I just missed you and I wanted to say you…

Pastor Jëan Ross: [Laughs] I want to remind the folks about the Most Amazing Prophecy website, MostAmazingProphecies.com.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes.

Pastor Jëan Ross: I think .org--you can also do it with .org.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Both .com, .org, just type in Most Amazing Prophecies and they’ll get to see an entire prophecy series. They can watch it online. They can order the series and do the studies in their home.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Now there are also some other great websites, one is Hell Truth.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: People have a lot of questions about the punishment of the wicked and the Bible answers you find at the website called HellTruth.com. We get a lot of questions about the Sabbath truth. Just type in SabbathTruth.com. We have questions about Mary Magdalene. We’ve got one called MaryTruth.com.

Pastor Jëan Ross: So if you’re wondering, just type whatever truth and see if you find…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Almost. We’ve got one on death and we couldn’t register Death Truth, so I think it’s called “The Truth about Death.” [Laughing]

Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah, that’s a good website as well if anyone has questions on that. We’re going to go to our callers. Lorrie is listening on KLRF from Walla Walla, Washington. Lorrie, welcome to the program.

Lorrie: Thank you. My question was that I just recently started school and I just received my first financial aid check, and I didn’t know for sure what the feeling was about paying tithe on it.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, is your financial aid check something that is written in a way that you've got to signed it over to the school for tuition, or is it at your discretion how you apply it?

Lorrie: It’s to my discretion.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, that would be an easy one for me. I’d say that trust the Lord and its increase for you. Now there are two ways to do it. This is a loan, correct?

Lorrie: No, it’s a Pell Grant.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Oh it’s a Pell Grant?

Lorrie: Yes.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: A couple of ways you could do it. One way is just to pay tithe on it. The other way is--you know, hopefully this is going to get you a career that will pay better and then as you enter your career, you compensate by paying a higher percentage on your tithe when that time comes.

Lorrie: That’s a good idea.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: So there are a couple of ways of doing it. I don’t want to get you in trouble with the government if this was supposed to be applied to the school somehow, but if it’s a grant to help you go through school to help with also your living expenses, then I’d pay tithe on it and get it over with, and trust the Lord. What do you think Pastor Ross?

Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah, I agree. You can’t out-give God.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: No.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, God’s not going to say, “Well, I’m sorry. I’m not going to be able to bless you because you gave Me too much tithe.”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah.

Lorrie: Right.

Pastor Jëan Ross: But God is there wanting to help us, wanting to bless us.

Lorrie: I wanted to confirm my feeling and now I feel it in my heart now.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Praise the Lord. If you follow the word, you’re always safe. Whenever in doubt, do the safe thing and God will bless you.

Lorrie: Okay, thank you so much.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Appreciate it. Good call.

Pastor Jëan Ross: James is listening on KTIE from Anaheim, California. Welcome to the program James.

James: Hey Pastors, how are you doing tonight?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good. Thanks for calling, and your question?

James: Well thank you. Yeah, I have a question on 1 Samuel 13:1, quoting from the New American Standard Version.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes.

James: It says, “Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.” But in the New King James Version says, “Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel....” I’m confused about the…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Apparent discrepancy.

James: Right, this one says forty-two years, but this one is the King James. The New King James doesn’t give the age of his reigning. So I’ m confused by those two.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s a good question. This is one of those verses in the Bible that in the original manuscripts there’s some damage to the verse and they have to speculate. In the New American Standard Version if you look at 1 Samuel 13:1, it’ll say, “Saul was forty years old when he began to reign,” and the word forty is in italics, meaning it’s not in the original manuscripts. They’re making an assumption. Because other places in the Bible it says Saul was forty years old. In the original Hebrew, here the manuscript says, “Saul was_(blank)_ years old when he began to reign."

So the different translators, they’ve got to say, “What is that blank that we can’t read that has been damaged or it’s obscured, or it’s a smudge of ink?” So that’s just one of those places where it’s a minor discrepancy because of the manuscript; and that doesn’t shake my faith at all because you’re talking about a few places in the Bible. Someone told me one time that it’s 1/1,000th of a percent of the Bible where you find any kind of discrepancy like that of those verses, and it’s very few parts of that verse so…

James: Oh, okay, so…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: …these are just problems with the original ancient manuscripts where they just couldn’t read the word. It wasn’t that it wasn’t inspired.

James: Okay. It says, “Saul was forty years old?”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, we know there are other places where it says Saul was forty years old when he began to reign.

James: Oh, okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, not in 1st Samuel. But in this passage, in the original, the way I understand it is this was a spot where there was some discrepancy.

James: Oh, okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, let’s see, yeah. I’ve got a commentary here. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge says that this is translated in various ways. It very likely means that it was in the first year of his reign. Nothing remarkable occurred but after two years then things started to happen. That’s what my commentary says on that verse.

James: Oh, okay. Is this a good [Inaudible 0:36:48] New American Standard Version? I don’t think--it’s not probably a good one to study.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Actually the New American Standard Version is pretty good.

James: Oh, it’s pretty good?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah.

James: Okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Now, I’ve got the Hebrew here before me and I wanted to look it up for you. It says, “Saul was _(blank)_ years old when he began to reign and he reigned _(blank)_ and two years over Israel." That’s the way it is in the original. Like I said, the blanks in the original manuscript are either smudges that are unintelligible or they were damaged; so there is nothing there. But, of course, this was written back by Samuel the Prophet a thousand years before Christ so it shouldn’t surprise you if there’s a few rough spots in those old manuscripts.

James: Oh, okay. Sounds good. Thank you very much for answering my question.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, thanks a lot. Good question.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Connie is listening on KLRF from Kennewick, Washington. Welcome to the program Connie.

Connie: Thank you Pastor Jëan and Pastor Doug. My question is with regard to the apostle Peter; and I’m wondering if he was the rock upon which Christ built the church? What qualified him for that specific recognition if indeed that was so?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright, good question Connie. You find that verse in Matthew 16, verse 18. Jesus is speaking and after Peter declares, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Christ said, “I also say unto you, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Now, our Catholic friends believe that the rock upon which Jesus built the church is the rock of Peter. But when you read the New Testament, if anybody was not a substantial dependable character, it was Peter. Peter was one of the most volatile, vacillating characters in the New Testament.

He walks on water, then he takes his eyes off Jesus and he sinks. He says, “I’ll follow You to death” and then he says, “I don’t even know who You are.” So I doubt that Jesus built his church on Peter. In the original language, in Greek, Jesus actually says, “Your name is Peter,” and that word is "petros." The word "petros" means a pebble, a rolling stone, a rock that will roll back and forth in the waves. But He goes on and He says, "...but on this Petra..." and a "Petra" is a rock of immense proportions, like the Rock of Gibraltar or The Gates of Hercules.

Connie: I see.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: So when Christ said to Peter, “Peter you’re a rolling stone, but on the truth that I am the Messiah, I will build my church. On the truth that you declared that I am the Messiah, that’s the truth on which I’m going to build the church."

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know Pastor Doug, there’s also an interesting verse in Acts chapter 4. This is Peter himself speaking; and Peter recognized that he was not the rock upon which the church is built because in Acts 4:10 Peter is speaking. And he says, “Be it known unto you all and unto all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him does this man stand before you whole.” This is when Peter raised the man who was at the gate who was lame. And then verse 11, speaking of Jesus, he says, “This is the Stone which was set at nought by you builders, which has become the Head of the corner.”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good point.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Verse 12 goes one to say that that’s Jesus. So Peter himself recognized that the Rock, the Foundation, the Cornerstone of the church was Jesus, and not him.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Not him.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Not him.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: He had a prior opportunity to say, "It’s me."

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s right.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: But he didn’t. He said, “It’s not me, it’s Jesus.”

Pastor Jëan Ross: Right.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Christ is the Rock of Ages.

Connie: Yes. Well, thank you so very much Pastor Doug.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good question. Thank you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Jamal and he’s listening on KFIA from Sacramento, California. Welcome to the program Jamal.

Jamal: Yes, hi, God bless, and I had a real simple question, hopefully. In God’s word what is the true meaning of the Trinity, if you could give me some understanding on that?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, I’ll do my best. Of course, the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the teaching. Trinity is a word. It's where we get the word "Tri-" meaning three, tricycle, triangle, entity, an entity of three. It is the teaching of the three persons of the Godhead, God the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Christ said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." [Matthew 28:19] And then in Genesis, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” Now some people struggle because they say, “Doesn’t Moses say, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one?’” and that’s Deuteronomy 6:4. Well in the Hebrew mind, one didn’t mean "numerical quantity," one meant "united." A man and woman get married; they become one flesh but they’re two people.

And so our one God is united. He is comprised of three Individuals. When Jesus was baptized He was in the water, God the Son. God the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved son,” and God the Spirit came down and rested on Christ. Then, of course, you’ve got that verse that says in 1st John, “There are three that bear witness in heaven." You've got the Father, the Spirit and the Word. You know what, there is a book that I’ve written on the subject of the Trinity. Would you like a free copy of that Jamal?

Jamal: Yes, actually I would.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, it’s just the right size, easy to sit down and you can read it in probably half an hour and get a real good overview of the Bible teachings and many of the references that help support the Trinity teaching.

Pastor Jëan Ross: To get the book just call the resource number, it’s 1-800-835-6747. Ask for Pastor Doug’s book on the Trinity and they’ll be happy to send that out to you. Thanks for your call Jamal. Our next caller is Kathy and she is listening from Tallahassee, Florida on the internet. Welcome to the program Kathy.

Kathy: Hi, guys. Thanks a lot. I appreciate you guys taking my call tonight. I have a question and it’s a little bizarre.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay.

Kathy: And I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this before. It’s kind of a strange school of thought. I have a close relative who thinks that--and is kind of locked into this belief that--when Eve was in the garden somehow, when God said, “Don’t touch the tree,” He was actually talking about something more than that. And somehow he’s under the thought that, or the belief that, Eve actually had sex with Satan and somehow that spread what’s like the bad seed.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, you know what…

Kathy: I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that before.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: I actually have. I’m surprised that you would say that because actually I ran into that and I thought, “Well, that’s bizarre.”

Kathy: It is bizarre, so I’m trying to help this person understand that that’s not what that says; but then he pulls out the concordance and traces down all these words and it gets kind of overwhelming, and then...

Pastor Doug Batchelor: There is nothing in the Bible that supports the concept that Eve had intimate relations with the devil; and that was the forbidden tree, because when you get to the New Testament, when Jesus, Paul and they all comment on the fall of Adam and Eve, they never refer to anything strange like that. They always just state as a matter of fact that Eve was tempted. She ate the forbidden fruit. It has nothing to do with any kind of sexual practice there at the tree. That actually comes from satanic cults; and if someone is doing that now in a Christian church, that originally comes from the satanic--some of these satanic cults believe that.

Kathy: Yeah. So, yeah, I don’t think that…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: I mean, I’m not even talking about it originates with cults that don’t even pretend to be Christian. They say this is the church of Satan.

Kathy: Right, right. And I don’t really know how this person kind of locked into that school of thought. So it kind of perpetuates the belief that, you know, when the Bible says, you know, it's like sowing the good seed and the bad seed, that that’s what that means, that there’s a difference between people.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: No.

Kathy: Does that make sense? Like, I know it’s totally crazy and really bizarre.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah. No, I know. You know, I don’t even think it’s edifying for you to go down that road very far because it’s a kooky thing that has absolutely no biblical support.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, we read in Genesis that “Adam knew his wife Eve.” This is after the fall; and then of course she had Cain, her first son. When a sexual relationship in Genesis is spoken of, often it’s referred to as “the man knowing the wife.” I mean, reading Genesis 6:2 that, “The sons of God," those are the descendants of Seth, "saw that the daughters of men," the descendants of Cain, "were fair and they took unto them wives,” that kind of has been suggested by some as being--you’ve probably heard this too Pastor Doug--of satanic angels coming or angels coming down and intermarrying fallen angels…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Fallen angels. Intimate relations with people, yeah.

Kathy: Yeah, fallen angels, I’ve heard it, yeah and that’s-- yeah.

Pastor Jëan Ross: And I’m wondering if that could be part of where this whole idea comes from, but it’s just not biblically sound in any way.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, you have to read the Bible for what it says. After she ate the forbidden fruit she brings it to Adam and he eats it, and then it has an effect on them; but nowhere does it imply, either implicitly or in any other way, that it was talking about sex.

Kathy: Right. Well I told him that I would call because he was like, “Well, you can call that show and you can ask and, you know,” so I told him I would call. Then, you know, later on, obviously, you know, he can hear the broadcast again. Well, that clears it up. I mean, I obviously don’t think that way, but I’m just trying to bring some clarity there and it has been a little bit confusing to try to do that.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah. Well, I thought you were going to ask me what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was, so I thought Brussels sprouts, right?

Kathy: [Laughing] Yeah, really. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks guys.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You mean it wasn’t an apple? [Laughing]

Pastor Doug Batchelor: No. You know everybody says it was an apple. Of course that's nowhere. That’s how Adam got his apple, Adam’s apple.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Adam’s apple. Velva is listening on the satellite. She’s calling from Oregon. Velva, welcome to the program.

Velva: Hello.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hi, thanks for waiting, and your question?

Velva: Thank you all for taking my call. It’s not the norm, but I need some verses out of the Bible or something. I was talking to this guy, actually we were having lunch together and he wanted this dish that had pork in it. I was going to have the same dish until I found out there was pork in it, and I said no and I got something else. Then I asked God to bless my food and stuff. He told me, he said, “Oh you don’t have faith in God?” and I told him, "Yeah." He said, “Well, if you've got faith in God and you’re talking to Him and asking Him to bless your food, why do you worry about what you eat?”

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Oh, yeah, good question. You know, some people take that verse in--is it 1st Timothy, Pastor Ross, where “every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused if it’s received with thanksgiving, for its sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Some people read that verse there, and they think that means that you can eat anything as a Christian; it doesn’t matter how much salt or sugar or cholesterol it’s got in it and you just pray over it and God will bless it. The Bible calls that tempting the Lord.

That's like Jesus saying, “I’m going to jump off this temple and You just catch me.” We’re not to tempt the Lord. I mean, we know that there are laws of cause and effect and if a person eats poorly, their health will suffer and you cannot pray over what you know is bad food and expect God to bless it, whether it’s, like I said, too much. I mean, what parent--I always like to use this illustration--what parent in their right mind would accept it if their children on the way to school are fixing their breakfast and they pour fruit loops in their bowl, and then they dump a bunch of sugar on it and they get out the chocolate syrup and then get a scoop of ice cream, and you say, “Wait a second, what in the world are you doing?”

And they say, “Don’t worry mom and dad. I’m going to ask God to bless this breakfast.” You’d never accept that because, you know, you can’t just pray--that’s tempting the Lord. “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: what you sow, you’re going to reap.” And so, Velva, you do ask God to bless what is good. See? It says there in 1st Timothy, “It is sanctified by the word of God.” What verse was that again?

Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s 1 Timothy 4:4; 4, verse 4, and then verse 5 as well.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Those things that are sanctified by the word of God you can ask Him to bless; but things that His word condemns or that we know to be harmful, that’s tempting the Lord. So hope that helps a little bit, Velva, and we appreciate your question.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Anna is listening on WROL from Boston. Welcome to the program Anna.

Anna: Hi, thank you for taking my call.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Sure.

Anna: My question is about Genesis 4:15, the last part where it says, “Then the Lord put a mark on Cain warning anyone who met him not to kill him.” My question is about this "anyone" here. Who is it referring to? Because I was talking to someone and that person told me, “Well, there were other people than Adam and Eve on earth when God spoke to Cain at this time.” And I told him, “Well, the only people who existed were Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve,” but he disagreed with me. He believes in evolution.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Oh yeah.

Anna: He said there were other people that God was warning not to kill him.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, first of all, there were a few others, because it tells us “Cain took his wife,” and if you read in Genesis 5 it tells us not only did Adam and Eve have Cain and Abel and Seth but it says, “They also had other sons and daughters.” So at this point when Cain had killed Abel and God made these statements, he probably had other siblings that were alive. He was the oldest. Furthermore, God is also making a statement because He had told them to, “Go forth, be fruitful and multiply.” So God is looking down the road and Cain is looking down the road, they were intelligent. They knew that the world was going to quickly populate and he thought in the generations to come, because they lived hundreds of years back then, Cain said, “Those who see me will kill me.” He’s looking ahead. He’s not saying that, "People that are next door to me right now are going to kill me."

Anna: Right.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: So it was a statement made about the future, it’s all in the future tense.

Anna: Oh, great. Is there material I could get, I could order so I can give it to this person?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, I’m trying to think of any book or pamphlet that we’ve got that specifically addresses that question. The best thing I could recommend is if you could get your friend to sign up for the Amazing Facts' Bible study course, that will help clear it up for him.

Anna: Okay.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: And he can do that just by calling the toll-free number.

Anna: Okay, sounds good. Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Elaine and she’s listening on WOMC from Michigan. Welcome to the program Elaine.

Elaine: Hi there, thanks for taking my call. My question is about David. I don’t feel God was severe enough with him in His punishment for being an adulterer and a murderer. I was wondering, because he still had his woman in the end and he didn’t have to give her up, so I don’t understand how God really--I mean he was repentant, but I was just wondering if you could clarify how God really dealt with him.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, think about it for a moment, not only was he involved but Bathsheba suffered because of his sin. And so if here he kills Bathsheba’s husband, she has now got a scarlet letter on her; and then he puts her away, she can never be married again. It would have been pretty cruel to her to do that. Furthermore, David really did suffer. The first child with he and Bathsheba died.

David repented as thoroughly as any man could repent. He spent seven days on his face praying and weeping because of his sin. He lost four sons. You remember David declared to Nathan the Prophet, “Whoever stole that man’s sheep, he will pay fourfold.” And Nathan said, “You’re the man.” Well, David lost the baby with Bathsheba, Absalom, Adonijah and Amnon. He lost four sons because of his sin, and the respect of his people. So he suffered the rest of his life because of that sin tremendously.

Elaine: I just wonder why people also name their children after him and they’re so proud of the name David. I just see the biggest thing about David is that he was an adulterer and a murderer; and people are proud to name their Christian children after David.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, you have to ask yourself do you believe that God forgives? And if He forgives, do we make ourselves a higher tribunal than God? If God forgave David and if David was given a new heart and became a new creature after he was forgiven, then David’s name really is sort of a-- it’s an emblem of grace. And even after David sinned, God says, “David, a man after My own heart," "David who walked in My commandments.”

Many of David’s sons did not; and the Lord said, “You did not walk in My commandments as David did.” So here’s a man that lived seventy years. He made a terrible mistake in what he did--mistake is not the word--it was a terrible, grievous sin. But at the same time he thoroughly repented and just demonstrates God’s forgiveness.

Elaine: Okay, thank you so much.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Another point just connected with that, part of the suffering that David went through was with Absalom. When Absalom took over Jerusalem, David had to flee…

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah.

Pastor Jëan Ross: …all of that was punishment because of his sin with Bathsheba.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, that’s right.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Alright, let’s go to another caller, and a few minutes are left. Marlene is listening on WMCA from New York. Welcome to the program.

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Marlene you’re on the air. Oh, I hear myself in the background and Marlene has stepped away from the phone. Who’s next Pastor Ross?

Pastor Jëan Ross: Let’s try Mark. Mark is listening on the internet from Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome to the program.

Mark: Hey gentlemen, how are you guys doing?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good.

Mark: First time caller. I was kind of prompted to ask you this question because of a question a previous caller brought up. I suppose I should probably preface my question here real quickly. You know, given the fact that the government doesn’t sustain itself by satisfying consumer demands, i.e., earning its income that it uses compulsory taxation, i.e., violence, or the sort of violence to obtain its revenue, would it be a sin to accept? Because I know this has been something I’ve struggled with and it has put myself at a disadvantage. Would it not be a sin to accept government subsidies or money from the government?

Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s a good question; and we can’t control the music coming behind us. That’s dictated by the clock. I’m sorry Mark. But very quickly, the answer to your question is there are cases in the Bible where it talks about the “king sustaining the poor,” and that would be technically the government. So I don’t know that there is something wrong with the government investing in helping people. I think it’s much better when it’s done by the private sector because as soon as the government starts doing it, there is great potential for that money being mismanaged, or for them to forcefully extract money from the working class and give it to those who don’t want to work. I mean, you can have both extremes.

Oh friends, I’m sorry we’ve run out of time. We pray that you will take advantage of the Amazing Facts' website. Go to AmazingFacts.org. You can listen to our archives. Until next week, remember, Jesus is the Truth that will set you free.

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