Hello, friends, this is Doug Batchelor! How about an amazing fact! Sand Tiger Sharks, also known as ragged tooth sharks, have a deceivingly ferocious look. They are large bodied sharks, up to nine feet long that display a menacing mouthful of razor sharp teeth that protrude in all directions even when their mouth is shut. Despite their fearsome appearance they are a docile non-aggressive species, only attacking humans in self-defense. Sand sharks have another unique feature. We have all seen the ominous picture of a shark’s dorsal fin cutting the surface when on the prowl. Well, the sand sharks actually have a second or two dorsal fins on their back. So from a distance some who thought they spotted two sharks really only saw one sand shark. They also possess another highly unusual feature in sharks, it’s a rudimentary swim bladder. This enables them to have an exquisite control over their buoyancy compared with other sharks.
When hunting they will swim to the surface gulping and burping air, that they store till they achieve neutral buoyancy. This behavior allows the sand shark to be nearly motionless in the water as they hunt for prey. But the most bizarre feature of these ragged tooth sharks is how they are born. Although a dozen eggs may develop after mating, during the 9 to 12 months of gestation, the two strongest pups will kill and feed on the remaining siblings while still in the mother. This grizzly process is called intrauterine cannibalism. At birth the surviving pups are already more than 3 feet long, and you can accurately say they are born killers. Did you know the Bible talks about a breed of professed Christians that bite and devour their own siblings? Stay with us, friends, we are going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of “Bible Answers Live”.
Welcome to “Bible Answers Live” brought to you by Amazing Fact Ministries. . Are you looking for a clear, concise answer to your most challenging Bible questions? Maybe you're struggling to understand difficult passages or scripture. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Join us now as we open God’s word to discover His will and find honest, practical answers to your Bible-related questions. This broadcast is pre-recorded. If you have a Bible question, call us Sundays from 7 to 8 PM, Pacific Standard Time at 800-GOD-SAYS, that’s 800-463-7297. Now let’s join our host, author, speaker and evangelist, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug Bachelor: We are live, friends, and I believe this is one of the best uses of the miracle of radio. To broadcast the truth regarding God’s word. And if you have any Bible questions, we invite you to give us a call. There are some lines open, the number one more time is 800-GOD-SAYS, and that stands for 463-7297. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening, listening friends, and welcome again to “Bible Answers Live”. Pastor Doug, let’s start with prayer. Dear Father, we thank you again for this opportunity to study Your word. We ask your blessing upon our time together. The Bible is your book, we pray for wisdom as we open it. In Jesus name. Amen.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Amen.
Jean Ross: You opened the program with talking about sand sharks, and actually their young feed on each other prior to birth. And then you said something about Christians feeding on each other. What were you talking about?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I know the phrase “Christian cannibals” would sound like an oxymoron. But Paul addresses this in Galatians, chapter 5. He was talking to the church, and I guess they had, you could say, the liberals and the legalists attacking one another. And Paul says in Galations, 5:14 and 15: “For all of the law is fulfilled in one word, even this: You should love your neighbor as yourself, but if you bite and devour one another”, and of course, Paul was not literally talking about eating each other, he is talking about criticism, the harsh words spoken, putting one another down, gossiping about each other. They were kind of biting and devouring one another with their harsh words. It’s interesting one of the reasons that Nero was able to effect a major persecution of Christians after the burning of Rome is he accused them of cannibalism. Of course, he falsely accused them of cannibalism, because during the communion service Jesus said: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life.” So he says: “They are drinking blood, they are cannibals.” Of course, that was a false accusation. But Paul here was dealing with a true accusation that even in the church sometimes people are destroyed by what we call friendly fire.
Even in Bible history you have got where Cain killed Abel, you have where Joseph’s brother sold him, and king David’s own king tried to, before he was king, destroy him, and one of Jesus’ own disciples... The twelve were arguing among themselves who was the greatest and bickering, and then Judas, of course, sold Jesus. I like to think they were free from that trait but even in the church today, you are a pastor, I am a pastor, and one of the things that are heartbreaking is that Christians are the best witness when they love each other, and they exemplify the character of Christ, but we do more harm to the name of Christ when we bite and devour each other. We need to be more careful what we say because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. And James says that if you aren’t able control your tongue, you won’t be able to control anything. But if you can control your tongue, and that’s, of course, James, chapter 3, verse 6, you can control everything. Now my friends who are listening, my guess is everybody has been the victim of maybe some vicious gossip, or has been hurt by something someone has said. Chances are it’s also true that maybe you have said something that was inappropriate or critical, and you’d like to get a victory over that. We have a special offer that I don’t think we have offered this in… some time, but it’s a very popular book. Why don’t you tell us about that, Pastor Ross?
Jean Ross: The book is titled “Tiny Troublemakers”, and it deals with the subject of gossip, and it’s free. Anyone who would like can call our resource line 1-800-835-6747, and you can ask for that book – “Tiny Troublemakers”, dealing with gossip. Pastor Doug?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes. I occurred to me as you were giving out the phone number that someone is thinking: “Oh, I’ve got to get that book because I know someone I want to send it to.” I bet a lot of people are thinking that. But I’d like to challenge you, friends, do get the book do ask for the free offer on gossip called “Tiny Troublemakers”. Read it first before you pass it on to somebody.
Jean Ross: There might be something you can learn from the book.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: That’s right.
Jean Ross: Again, the resource line is 1-800-835-6747. Now I’m going to the phone lines. Jim is calling from Ohio. Welcome to the program, Jim.
Jim: Thank you, brothers. How are you today?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Very good. How are you, Jim?
Jim: Doug, I want to thank you for the little Galatians that you gave us. I’m doing a sermon this week on, being as one.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Praise the Lord.
Jim: The Galatians, 5:14 and 15, is going to be used. Thank you, quick question and a quick comment. I’ve talked to a few people, and I have heard this maybe 2 or 3 times that in the New Testament Jesus reinstated nine of the Ten Commandments. I have never heard that before. But I was reading my Bible, and to me this doesn’t make sense at all. But if you go into Matthew, 24, verse 20, where Jesus says: “Pray that your flight may be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Wouldn’t that be also reinstating the Sabbath, and also he [INAUDIBLE 08:21] uses chapter 4, I believe, talks about it. But wouldn’t that be a reinstatement of Jesus of the Sabbath commandment?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: OK. Let me see if I can rephrase something you are saying. When people learn the Sabbath truth, a lot of people have said in some ministries that all of the Ten Commandments are restated in the New Testament except the fourth commandment. That is a myth. It’s just a total urban myth, like the idea that a duck’s quack does an echo, which is a total myth. In fact there is one of the nine commandments you don’t find stated in the New Testament but it’s not the fourth commandment, it’s the third commandment that says: “Do not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain.” Nowhere in the New Testament you find the commandment “Do not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” My question for these people would be: Does that mean, for Bible Christians, for New Testament Christians, it is now okay to use God’s name in vain? It’s absolutely absurd. In regard to the Sabbath commandment, yes, it’s in the New Testament many times. And never does Jesus or any of the Apostles say: “It’s been changed, or it’s no longer valid.” It’s always mentioned in the context that it still stands along with all the others. Now there is a place where you find a list of the Ten Commandments, well, they are several.
Jesus goes through a partial list, Paul goes through a partial list, for instance, in Romans 13, or you can go in verse nine. “Thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not covet…”, and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this, namely “Thou shall love your neighbor as thyself”. So all the Ten Commandments are summarized in “love for God, and love for men”. Paul here just summarizes the commandments dealing with the second table, or men’s relationships with men. But you can find in Hebrews, chapter 4, where it says: “There remains keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God.” And you can look at Romans, chapter… I’m sorry, Acts, chapter 16. And Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man. I mean, there are so many places in the New Testament where the Sabbath is reinstated. That statement, people just assume that those listening to biblically or literally, the idea that you can’t find the Tenth Commandments in the New Testament is not true. And by the way, the third commandment: “Thou shall not take the name of God Thy Lord in vain”, when it’s said in the Lord’s prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.” I’d say that covers it. So obviously it’s in the New Testament too.
Jim: And my comment to you was… I don’t want to hold nobody else up because I know you have a lot of callers. You helped me out in a way about some unanswered questions how you study the Bible. And you brought up some of the study guides Amazing Facts has. You also mentioned about the Conflict of the Ages series.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes.
Jim: I just started reading it, I’m on the fifth chapter, and it truly helped me… I’m on my third time through the Bible when I found myself like you going back and forth through the Bible. And I just want to send little thanks your way you helped me, because now things are starting to come into a little more light.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Amen. So you’re reading Patriarchs and Prophets?
Jim: Yes, I started with the first walk.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I’d recommend that to everybody. They could probably just Google, “Patriarchs and Prophets” is a classic to just understand why there is sin in the world, and kind of trace the Bible history up to the time of king David. I sure appreciate that, Jim. Keep studying.
Jim: Thank you and God bless you and your ministry.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Thank you so much.
Jim: Thank you, pastor. Bye.
Jean Ross: Our next caller is Riad, and he’s calling from Iowa. Riad welcome to the program.
Riad: Actually that’s Indiana.
Jean Ross: Oh, it’s Indiana. Welcome. We’re glad you are there.
Riad: Thank you. I watched your program for the first time last weekend, and I was pretty interested, I made a call, and I got as a free gift one of your first books. I don’t know what… I guess it wasn’t in order but it was “God’s Free Health Plan”, and I had some questions about that. Because my upbringing was we didn’t eat swine, and I’m a baby Christian and trying to learn.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: OK, what specifically would you want to know about that?
Riad: What I specifically want to know about are which particular animals… I know the hog is one particular animal that you’re not supposed to eat. Until I saw this I wasn’t aware of shellfish and catfish and oysters.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: There are three rules, and for friends that don’t have the background of what we are saying, a lot of people are surprised to learn that both in the New and the Old Testament God says some foods are clean, and some are unclean. It’s not very popular to talk about this. And furthermore, it says in the Bible we should never eat blood, in the New and the Old Testament. But there are three rules to distinguish between a clean and an unclean animal. You’ve got your mammals, you’ve got your birds, and you’ve got your fish, or sea creatures. Among the mammals you needed to have two characteristics in order for it to be clean to eat. It needed to both have a cloven hoof and chew the cud, like the goat, the sheep and the cow. They chew their cud, they have a very complicated digestive system with several stomachs, and they have cloven feet. You can’t just have one of these characteristics. A camel chews the cud but it doesn’t have a cloven hoof, it has got a big pad paw…
Riad: I’m a little bit… I don’t want to say illiterate, I’m illiterate a little bit to the Bible, and I don’t understand some of the words, like when you say: “chew the cud”, cud is…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Cud is grass. When a grazing animal like a deer, or a cow, or a goat… They chew up grass, they actually swallow it to their first stomach, and then later, when they are kind of resting, they regurgitate it into the mouth and chew it again, and then swallow it. They do this sometimes several times, and it works its way through their system. But you’ve seen a cow or a horse, several animals, that they… Not a horse so much as a cow… They are just sitting there chewing. And you’re wondering where they are getting all that. But goats, sheep, cows, all your cloven-hoof vegetarian grazers, chew the cud. Antelope, gazelle, and there are hundreds of them that do that. So that was the criteria for clean animal to eat. Among the…
Riad: Talking about a clean animal to eat. We had a leg of lamb for dinner last night that was baked… My background is Middle Eastern. I’m actually born and raised here but my parents were from Jerusalem, so…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yeah, you would understand most of this because the Arabs and the Jews all, at least the orthodox ones, believe in the clean and the unclean foods.
Riad: That’s true. And that’s why I was asking about certain things, because my mom did like catfish. I don’t think she… Since she had second grade education she probably wasn’t aware that it was one of those things that were bad but…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Let me give you… I don’t have too much time, so let me give you a quick overview. So we talked about animals. Among the birds it had to be a foraging bird. The foraging birds are like turkey, chicken, quail, even doves for that matter, they go around and they peck seeds. It’s not your birds of carrion like the owl or the raptors. They eat meat. Among the fish it had to have two characteristics. It had to have both fins and scales. Of course, the catfish has fins but it doesn’t have scales. And catfish… they are scavengers. They live on the bottom, they eat the waste, and they are the most toxic of the fish. My brother and I used to catch and eat catfish, and when removing the hook one time, and my brother got boned by a catfish’ dorsal fin, and it so infected his finger he could never bend it again. They are very, very toxic. And, of course, shrimp and lobster, crabs, they crawl around the bottom, they are scavengers. Pigs are scavengers. The animals that are scavengers God… Our bodies are the temple of the Holy spirit, we should not eat. There are a lot of dear Christians that don’t know this but the teaching is very plain in the Bible, and nothing about the sacrifice of Jesus claimed pigs. Human digestive system is the same it has always been. I hope this helps a little bit. There’s one more book we could also send you, Riad. And it talks about “Death in the Kitchen”. And if you have that first study guide on “God’s Free Health Plan”, we will send you one more to add to that if you call the resource number.
Jean Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747, and the book is “Death in the Kitchen”. John is calling from Missouri. John, welcome to the program.
John: Good evening, gentlemen. How are you doing?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Very well.
John: Quick question. Daniel, chapter 3, verse 25.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: OK.
John: This, of course, comes on the heels of king Nebuchadnezzar throwing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace. My question is in verse 25 how did Nebuchadnezzar recognize the form of the son of God?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: There must have been, first of all… When a person is in the presence of God, there is, I think, a spiritual discernment that you don’t necessarily need your eyes. God’s Spirit can exude an awareness to our spirit that He is God. For one thing, I think the Holy Spirit convicted him. There was a presence of the divine there. Keep in mind also that the years Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego lived in the temple they were little by little teaching Nebuchadnezzar about the religion of the Jews and the Messiah, the son of God that will come to the Earth. And he already had some instruction on that, and so when he saw this divine being come to the aid of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, both by the Spirit and by his eyes of what he had been taught he knew that it was the savior of the Jews that had come to them.
John: Good, and I agree with that. Could we also infer that perhaps maybe he was convicted that God is the God of gods? It’s in the end of chapter 2 where Daniel revealed the dream . Can we infer that maybe that impressed him also?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Absolutely. Daniel being able to infer… I think when Daniel interpreted his dream Nebuchadnezzar was wide open to instruction at that point. It may have cooled off a few years later but he understood who the God of the Jews was. He had been spending years fighting them, and as a shoot commander he probably wanted to know something about what they believed. Good question, John, I appreciate that, and hope that helped a little bit.
Jean Ross: Travis is calling from Marian, California. Travis, welcome to the program.
Travis: Hi, good evening.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Evening!
Travis: Mr. Batchelor, I know that you have said: Don’t be with somebody unequally [INAUDIBLE 19:49] because they can pull you from the church. And that has always resonated in my heart. And lo and behold, by God’s graces I have been able to… get my wife who wasn’t necessarily of the same belief… She knows the truth now.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Praise the Lord!
Travis: Thank you, thank you. We have been together for a while, and I have shown her the truth through you, and I really appreciate you.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Wonderful. Did you have a question tonight, Travis?
Travis: Yes, sir. I want to propose to her. And I live in Northern California, and I wanted to take her to the highest point in the Bay Area, here in Northern California. Like Moses, mountain tops closest to God. I wonder is there anything in the Bible that talks about proposing to your wife, or is there any Biblical way to go about? I want it to be very special.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Bless your heart, that’s very romantic – to look for some Biblical precedent for proposal. Let me think about it, Pastor Ross.
Jean Ross: I think that if you do, Pastor Doug, where we have a proposal in the Bible…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: We can… Of course, we have the story of Jacob. Back then they had to ask the parents’ permission, Travis. You do find that Moses met Zipporah by a well, Jacob met Rachel by a well. And there might be… And, of course, Eliezer picked a wife for Isaac at a well, when he found Rebecca. I’d find a bay or a river… and just pray that things go well. [laughter] And if you are working in an office, make sure you knew the water coolers.
Travis: So you suggest by a well?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: No, I don’t… I wouldn’t get to an oil well unless it’s yours. That could get a proposal. [laughter] Anyway, I appreciate that. We do have a study guide if you don’t have this yet, Travis we have a study guide that talks about keys to a happy marriage. And that would be, I think, perfect for where you are at right now. If you don’t already have it, we’d like to send to you a free copy.
Jean Ross: The number to call is 1-800-835-6747, and, Travis, again, it’s called “Keys to a Happy Marriage”. We’ll be happy to send it to you. Les is calling from Sacramento, California. Les, welcome to the program.
Les: Good evening, pastors.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Evening.
Les: I very much enjoy listening to your programs every Sunday evening.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: We are happy to help.
Les: My question has to do with Proposition 8, excuse me, and the sanctity of marriage. I had that question posed to me at work, and there are only a couple of things that come to mind as far as Scripture, and that would be like the fifth commandment and the tenth commandment. I was wondering is there anything else?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: You may mean… Even the seventh commandment on adultery, and the fifth commandment is on your father and mother, it doesn’t say your father and father. The seventh commandment is really on sanctity of marriage – “You shall not commit adultery”, and you are right about the tenth commandment – “Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife”, so there are at least 3 commandments. Then, of course, “Do not have other gods”. Some people may have made a god out of this. But for our friends who are listening, in case you are not aware what Les is referring to, here in California we are having to deal with a very volatile issue, and it’s sometimes seen as a very divisive issue. Californians voted back in 2000 that marriage should be between a man and a woman, only a man and a woman constitutes a marriage in California. Then this year some liberal judges in San Francisco, four of them, overturned the vote of millions of California citizens, opening the way for gay marriage. This outraged so many people that marriage is under attack that over a million Californians got a ballot on the election that’s in just about a month now. I think it’s exactly in a month… That is going to establish as a constitutional amendment to the California Constitution that marriage in California will only be between a man and a woman. And it’s just absolutely astounding to me that there are people out there that would oppose that. Because that has been the bedrock of our culture in America, and to overturn that is just mindboggling.
Jean Ross: Pastor Doug, we were talking a little earlier here, just before the program started. You were mentioning that there were two institutions in particular that God gave mankind prior to the entrance of sin into the world. And it seems that here we are, near the end of time, and Satan is doing everything he can to destroy those two institutions.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: That’s right. In the garden of Eden the Lord established, of course, first he made everything in six days, and then he created one more day for our relationship with Him and each other, and that’s the Sabbath. So he created the institution of the Sabbath, this time of holy rest and quality time with God and one another, and then he established the institution of marriage. Both of those institutions are under attack as we are here on the last days, and the Lord has got a counterfeit to every truth. Sorry, I said that wrong. The Devil has got a counterfeit for every truth of the Lord, is what I meant to say. So I would encourage everybody in California… Those of you, who are listening at the hundreds of stations across the country, you might be thinking: “Pastor Doug, don’t waste our time talking about a California problem.” But, friends, it seems that the fire tends to go with the wind currents from the west to the east. Things in California drift eastward, and of course, they already have this in Michigan right now. But we need to put the fire out in our yard before it gets to your yard, so we hope you pray for us in California, and that Proposition 8 will succeed and people will vote ‘yes’ on Proposition 8. I don’t often do this but I am going to give the website of another entity, and it’s called protectmarriage.com. If listeners in California or elsewhere want to know more about this issue you can go to protectmarriage.com, they have some excellent material to educate people about how important it is that marriage remains between a man and a woman, for the kids, for the community, for religious and civil reasons. Thanks, I appreciate this question, Les.
Jean Ross: Let’s see if we can squeeze one more question before the break. Glen is listening from Bronx, New York. Glen, welcome to the program.
Glen: Good evening. My question is about Christians committing suicide. Someone who has suffered from depression for a number of years, and struggled with occasional bouts of suicide, and the only thing that… I won’t say the only thing but one strong thing that prevented me from really seriously considering it was the thought of going to hell. And yet I’ve heard a number of teachers on the radio saying that Christians can commit suicide and not go to hell, even in the light of Scriptures which talk about ‘do not murder, do not kill’, and the Book of Revelations saying that murderers would end up in a lake of fire. Isn’t it a testimony that God cannot save and deliver His people, if someone, if a so called Christian takes his own life?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Well, I’m… Before we run out of time before our break, Glen, let me jump in if you don’t mind. If the last act of a person’s life is self-murder I would think that salvation would be dubious. And if a Christian is ever contemplating suicide to try to improve their circumstances, that is just crazy thinking. Because as long as there is life there’s hope. Solomon says that a living dog is better than a dead lion. If a person kills themselves trying to improve their circumstances and their next conscious thought is the resurrection in a permanently lost situation that would not improve their circumstances. So the Devil discourages people and tells them that death is a way out. Don’t ever think that, friends. That is just what the Devil wants you to think. I would not say that it’s beyond God to save somebody, He knows the circumstances who may have died by suicide, but it would be very doubtful. We are going to take a break, and we will be right back.
Jean Ross: “Bible Answers Live” returning in just a moment. Remember to tune in to Pastor Doug’s daily radio program “Wonders in the World”, and our weekly television broadcast “Amazing Facts Presents” which is aired on major networks including ABC Family, BET, The Church Channel, Vision TV and Superstation WGM. Go to www.amazingfacts.org to find a station in your area. Are you in need of additional Bible based materials for further study? Consider “Amazing Facts” as free correspondent Bible study course, or our sale catalogue featuring hundreds of inspiring books and tapes. To order call our resource line at 800-835-6747. 800-835-6747. Don’t forget, friends, “Amazing Facts” is a faith based listener-supported ministry operating only by God’s blessings through your prayers and financial gifts. We would love to hear from you. Write to us at PO box 909, Roseville, California, 95678, or online at www.amazingfacts.org.
Narrator: Welcome back to “Bible Answers Live” with Pastor Doug Batchelor. This broadcast is prerecorded. If you have a Bible related question you can call us from 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Sundays and receive clear honest answers directly from Scripture. Call 800-GOD-SAYS, that’s 800-463-7297. Now please, join us as we look to God’s word for more Bible Answers Live with author and evangelist Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Welcome back, listening friends. For those who have tuned in along the way you are listening to “Bible Answers Live”, it’s a live international interactive Bible study, and you are welcome to participate, you can listen and pray for us as we attempt to answer these live Bible questions that come in. And you may want to call in a Bible question, you’ve got the number – 800-GOD-SAYS, or 463-7297, and I’m Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: And I’m Jean Ross. Good evening again, friends. Welcome back. Pastor, we have got some great websites we’d like to share with our listeners on a variety of subjects, different Bible topics. One comes to mind, and that is on the subject of what happens when a person dies. We are getting close to Halloween. There’s a lot of confusion out there.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: You drive up and down the streets, and people are already decorating their yards with the ghosts and ghouls. One reason we have these websites is because during “Bible Answers Live” we just give a brief answer to sometimes very deep questions. And then we bounce people to the website where they can do a more thorough study. We hope you take advantage of that. And, of course, you also have the Amazing Facts website, if you want to read. A lot of the material we mentioned is free at the Free Library. We have a lot of questions this time about death. Truthaboutdeath.com. We just had a question a few minutes ago about the Sabbath. One of the most popular, if not the most popular website on the Sabbath day is called sabbathtruth.com. Then you also have got… We also have a website about Mary Magdalene, we have got a website about health, a website about hell.
People are wondering do the lost burn in hell forever and ever. Helltruth.com. And if they want to see your broadcast, you can just try right now, even clicking on amazingfacts.tv, and there is a whole lineup… Something is always playing but a whole lineup of our programs, and they are archived as well. That will give you an overview to continue studying because we can only buy one hour at a time on “Bible Answers Live”, and this will help you study through the week. We got rushed through that last question on suicide. The subject is so important that I just wanted to reassure our friends, like Glen was asking that we hope you never consider this. And we have a special offer, it’s called “When Days Are Dark”. If there’s anyone out that is discouraged, if you ever contemplated suicide, seek Christian counsel and get some professional help, and we will send you that free booklet.
Jean Ross: Again, the number to call is 1-800-835-6747, and the book is “When Days Are Dark”. And you can pass it up to anyone listening, that same number - 1-800-835-6747. There are chaplets standing by, ready to pray with you. So if you’d like just somebody to pray with you, encourage you and share some Scripture, call that number, it’s 1-800-835-6747. Just ask if there is someone you can speak with, or pray with. Let’s continue with our next caller. George is calling from the Bronx, New York. George, welcome to the program.
George: How are you doing, guys? How’s everything?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Real good. How can we help you tonight, George?
George: I have a question. What was Noah’s ethnicity, what was his racial background?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: We are all descendents from Noah. And there are at least three major races in the world. They all have obviously sprang from Noah because Noah and his wife, and their sons and their wives repopulated the whole world. So we don’t know what the background of everybody was as far as their characteristics but Noah and his sons and his daughter-in-laws were all Adamites. They weren’t Caucasian or Asian, or black, or aborigine from Australia. We all came from Noah. I don’t even know if we have got a word for what Noah was. They call them the Antediluvians, that means the people who lived before the Flood, the Deluge. And I call them Adamites, I just made that up.
Jean Ross: That’s pretty good.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I hope that helps a little bit, George.
George: Thank you very much.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Alright.
Jean Ross: Our next caller is Joshua, listening on the Internet from Rochester, New York. Joshua, welcome to the program.
Joshua: Hi.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Hi, Joshua. How can we help you?
Joshua: My question is what do you do if you want to seek stewardship and [INAUDIBLE 35:24] ties, and go to a church but you are kind of concerned about some of the beliefs in pre-ectasis of your local, you don’t know which one to go to?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: You know, we get this question a lot. People say: “I have accepted Christ”, and maybe they found the Lord through some media program but then they ask: Where do I go? There are so many different churches out there. We have a book, it’s called “The Search for the True Church”. And if a person would like to send for that, or you would like a copy, that’s one resource we can offer you. Then in addition to that we have a study guide. The first book I mentioned is “The Search for the True Church”, and it can give you criteria from the Bible to know how to pick a church, and in addition to that we have another study guide that deals with “The Other Woman”, sorry, “The Bride of Christ. It’s called “The Bride of Christ”. It goes using prophecy that tells us: how do you identify a true Biblical church. Either one of these resources – “The Bride of Christ”, or “The Search of the True Church”, and there are some great principles you can apply to know “Where do I go?”. There is a virtual kaleidoscope of options of different churches, and some of them believe in pretty strange things. And some of them are very good churches but there are differences, and you want to know how important are these differences. I think these study guides can answer that.
Jean Ross: The number again…
Joshua: Alright: thanks.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Alright, Josh, just call and we will send it to you.
Jean Ross: 1-800-835-6747. Ask for “The Bride of Christ” or…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: “Search for the True Church”.
Jean Ross: “Search for the True Church”. Our next caller is Shawn and he is calling from Fresno, California. Shawn, welcome to the program.
Shawn: Hi! How are you doing?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Real good. How are you, Shawn?
Shawn: Doing great, doing great. I was calling… Actually that last question, of the last caller, it kind of spurs off my question. Originally I had one if we can eat swine or not, but I kind of have a… I guess I have a more important question. It was about… I’ve been studying a little bit about history and the Bible, and one of the things that I just read recently was in American history. There was a man called Roger Williams. He got kicked out of a Puritan community back in the late 1600s, and he actually founded Rhode Island. And one thing that he said interests me a lot about… I’m a Christian and I really wondered about what he said about the churches at that time. He was a prior minister, and he came to find in his own studies that all of the churches that were there at that time they had a lot of the truth but that they were collectively missing part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and most importantly to him the authority to act in God’s name. One thing that he said, I don’t have it verbatim, but he said: “I believe that no church upon the Earth at this time has the authority and power to act in the name of God.” You know, to baptize and do the important acts that we saw the Apostles doing. He said: “I feel that we need to awaits for God to send again apostles and prophets to the Earth, and give to them the power of the priesthood, as we read in the Bible.” So I wanted to ask your opinion tonight, maybe some Bible verses that can help on your thoughts of the importance of priesthood’s power and authority to act in God’s name, to baptize and to give the Holy Ghost. Thank you, brothers. I love your radio show.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I appreciate this, Shawn. We are just going to turn your volume down, because you may be travelling, and it cutting in now. But Roger Williams is a hero of mine, so you touched a happy nerve. I agree with so much of what he said. As a matter of fact I wish that our politicians would read some of Roger Williams. I know exactly how he would vote on this Proposition 8 in California. Roger Williams believed in separation of church and state because he had been persecuted by the church. He actually was driven into the wilderness by the church there in Massachusetts, and he founded Providence on Rhode Island. He miraculously lived through the winter, slept in a hollow log, and was saved by the Indians. It’s an incredible story but he recognized the Ten Commandments are divided, and that this new country of America should not compel people, regarding the first 4 commandments, what God to worship, when to worship Him, what His name was, how to worship Him.
He said that should be according to the dictates of your conscience. But at the same time the second table of commandments, or the last six commandments said no culture can survive unless they enforce and respect these. Like our parental authority, the institution of marriage, protection of property, honesty, these are all issues that are civil in nature, that we as a country must enforce and… Regarding this question, your question, Shawn, about the priesthood. The prophecies in the Bible does say that God’s church went underground, and it actually kind of resurfaced after the time of Roger Williams. You’d be very interested in the study that we just offered to the previous caller dealing with “The Bride of Christ”. Because it basically says the same that Roger Williams says to a great extent. God’s church went underground, and with that a lot of the public ministry, the priesthood and prophets, but there was a revival of that after a time. In fact there was a great awakening after the time of Roger Williams. And he probably contributed to it without knowing it. I appreciate that, Shawn. Good question.
Jean Ross: Yes, the number is 1-800-835-6747. And the offer is “The Bride of Christ”. Our next caller is Christopher, and he is calling from Shreveport, Louisiana. Christopher, welcome to the program.
Christopher: How are you, fellows, doing?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Very well. How can we help you?
Christopher: Listen, I have a question regarding marriage. I’m contemplating marrying this woman. And she was previously married. And I understand that the Bible only permits divorce and remarriage only in case of sexual immorality. So my question is: They were not divorced because of sexual immorality, either one from the other party, but because of irreconcilable differences. My question is the girl that I’m marrying, she is now into the word, and she recognizes that it was a mistake for what she had done and stuff, but she lives her life only for God now, and I do, and I don’t want to go contrary to God’s word, so my question is – I heard you speak about the unpardonable sin. Is this the unpardonable sin? but I know that Jesus gives a clear precedent about the only grounds for divorce and remarriage and stuff like this. I just wanted to know a very clear answer from you about that issue.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: It’s hard to give a clear answer because quite honestly the subject of divorce, marriage and remarriage is one of the muddiest issues that there is. There is a numbers of factors to consider. First of all, just to read the words of Jesus, and it sounds that you have already read them, but some of our listeners haven’t, in Matthew 5:31 Jesus said: “ It has been said ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement”. But I say to you whoever shall put away or divorce her wife, saving for the cause of fornication, that will be marital infidelity or adultery, caused her to commit adultery. And whoever marries her that is divorced commits adultery. Now it’s interesting that it says this, at the same time Jesus then met with the woman at the well who was a pagan, that didn’t know about him. She had had five husbands and she was living with a man she wasn’t married to, and yet Jesus reveals to her that he is the Messiah. Now whether she went home and kicked that fellow out, that she was living with, or married him, the Bible doesn’t say.
But my understanding, and Pastor Ross may weigh in, suppose that you have a young man and a young lady, they get married out of high school, they are just ranked pagans, they don’t know about Christianity, they divorce because they are incompatible. And then they are converted, dramatically converted. Their lives have gone in different directions, or one of them is converted. Are they now required to remain celibate the remainder of their life? Well, I would say if they divorced while they were in a lost condition, and they didn’t know the truth, God will probably wink at their ignorance, and they can begin a new life now as a Christian. Is that your understanding, Pastor Ross?
Jean Ross: Yes, when someone comes to Christ, and they commit their life to Christ, they have a new lease on life, a new start. And you do what you can to correct the past as far as possible but the awesome decision that has been made you can’t go on and undo. You move forward.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes. Not that this would necessarily dictate the answer but I’m just wondering, Christopher, is your fiancée… Does she have children from that first marriage?
Christopher: No, there are no children involved, and she was fairly, you know… But I do know that she had glimpse of the truth then, but I know now that she is fully converted. We both discussed it very thoroughly, and I’m just trying to make sure that I’m doing the right thing. You know what I mean?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Well, you know what? I can’t be the Holy Spirit for you. So I don’t know if… I trust you’re attending a church somewhere locally, and it would be good for you to sit down with a local pastor because there are so many circumstances. I don’t know if her first husband has found a new relationship or married, then technically he has committed adultery. Which would free her.
Christopher: Would that be a precedent there?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Well, yes. If two people split up and they don’t have Biblical grounds, and then one of the party gets involved with somebody else, then they have violated the first covenant. So it gets complicated, that’s what I’m saying. It’s important you find a good pastor, a good Biblical pastor locally, and you can share this with him, but it’s… Those are very important issues. I’d offer to you also the study guide we offered earlier – “Keys to a Happy Marriage”. Maybe you already read that but we’ll send it to you free if you ask.
Jean Ross: Number is 1-800-835-6747. Robert is listening at WCM from Bronx, New York. Robert, welcome to the program.
Robert: Hello, pastor. I think my battery is just about to die so I’ll talk fast.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: OK.
Robert: Can you explain to me exactly who or what the Holy Spirit is, and has it always been in existence like God?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: OK, good question. And just in case we lose you, Robert, I’ll do my best to fill in the answer right now. The Bible never indicates that the Holy Spirit was born or created. It seems to teach that the Holy Spirit has all the characteristics of God. Indeed when Jesus sent disciples out baptizing, along with baptizing in the name of God The Father, and baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ, they were to baptize in the name of the Holy Spirit. You can see in the beginning in Creation it says right there in the first chapter – “The spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters”, and then it says: “God said: let us”, “make man in our image”, and the “us”, the “our” is God the Father, Son and Spirit. The angels, Isaiah 6, say: “Holy, holy, holy…” Once for the Father, once for the Son and once for the Holy Spirit. All through the Bible God is often referred to in a triune way, with threes. And that being God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. So God the Spirit is the hardest person to describe because he is a spirit, we live in this flesh and blood world.
But Christ said: “I will be with you through the Spirit”, and so in this invisible realm he impresses, he leads, he guides, and gives us direction, comforts, teaches. You can see what some of the characteristics of God the Spirit are in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 2. Where he talks about “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon Messiah”, and then he says “the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of strength”, and so forth… I have a book that does address it, we’ll send you a free copy, Robert, and it’s called “The Trinity”, and it’s Biblical. We’ll send you that, it has a whole section on the Holy Spirit. Is He God and who is He? Hopefully you caught that, Robert.
Jean Ross: The number again is 1-800-835-6747. “The Holy Spirit”.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Actually “The Trinity”.
Jean Ross: “The Trinity”. Is it Biblical? We are happy to send it to you. Daniel is listening from Detroit, Michigan. Daniel, welcome to the program.
Daniel: Thank you, pastor. I was calling to see if you know of any scriptures, where you can point out a few in the Bible that would explicitly defend unborn human life?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I think one would be when Bathsheba comes to David in 1, Samuel. She says: “I’m with child”. You can type in “with child”, Pastor Ross. You will probably find that. When Bathsheba finds out that she is pregnant she comes to David, she doesn’t say “I’m with fetus”, or “I’m with some cell material that is beginning to multiply”. She says “I’m with child”, and she was fairly early along in her pregnancy, because David still thought that he could hide who the father was by sending Uriah home with his wife. And so… Of course, then… Did we find the verse?
Jean Ross: 2 Samuel, 11, verse 5.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: That’s one example, and then, of course, you can look at when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and she was with child. And then when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth says that John the Baptist leaped in her womb with joy. I mean he was actually having a conscious reaction to the presence of Jesus the Messiah. These two women, it almost seems that their babies are communicating, and they are not even born yet. Everything in the Bible is consistent that unborn children were treated as humans, and not as some kind of biological impersonal growth.
Jean Ross: We also have reference to instruction that God gave mothers as far as how they have to take care of themselves, in the case of…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Samson.
Jean Ross: Samson.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Manoah’s wife, yeah.
Jean Ross: Right from the point of conception. How she was to act, what she was to eat, what she was to do. Because of the importance of the child that she is bearing.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: That’s a good point. That is in The Book of Judges.
Daniel: Also I’m from Michigan. We don’t have gay marriage here.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I said that… As soon as I said that…
Daniel: You meant Massachusetts.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I meant Massachusetts. I apologize to my friends in Michigan. Bless your hearts, I shouldn’t have said that. I misspoke. I guess I can’t run for public office now. Thank you very much, Daniel.
Daniel: Thank you.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Bye-bye.
Jean Ross: Our next caller is Aurelia, and she is calling from Tennessee. I hope I did pronounce your name…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Utowah, Tennessee. Is that right?
Aurelia: Etowah.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Is that how you say it? Etowah? I’ve been there but I can’t say it still. And your question tonight.
Aurelia: My question is to get a better understanding on jewelry. I know that Christians wouldn’t adorn themselves with jewelry but I’m a little confused with Ezekiel, chapter 16, 11 to 13.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Alright.
Aurelia: God gave them jewelry to put on. And I’m a little confused with it.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes, God is speaking, of course, in prophetic language. These are just very vivid symbols. And it was common that during a Hebrew wedding that people would give gifts to the bride, and the gifts they gave were not usually towels for her house, they would give her money. And money back then was not printed on paper. It was in the form of jewelry. Now you can look for instance when Eliezer came to Rebecca, as a dowry for Rebecca he right away gave her a bracelet, and I believe… I don’t think it was a nose ring. I don’t remember. And it tells what the weight of them were, because of the value of that money, of gold. And so as wedding gifts, as a dowry there was money that was given. A bride on her wedding they would give her money, and she’d wear it. God is saying: “When I married you, Israel, I gave you such wealth” because the Egyptians were spoiled by the Israelites. They took their jewelry from them. And of course, then they made it into a god, and God told them “Took your jewelry off.” So they weren’t to wear this in their common adornments.
Jean Ross: I’ll just add to that, if you read on Ezekiel’s 16, he talks about her beauty, going out amongst the heathen, they know how beautiful she is. Again the woman here represents Israel. God is speaking to here, and is talking about Israel coming out of Egypt, God gave them precious gifts – gold and silver which was used for the construction of the Temple.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: That’s right.
Jean Ross: They will also use it for the Golden Calf but it was not God endorsing the wearing of these things, but rather in symbol representing Israel as a woman.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes, that’s right. Does that make sense?
Aurelia: Yes, a little bit. I need to study…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Have you seen… I have a book I have written, it’s called “Jewelry: How Much Is Too Much”.
Aurelia: OK.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: And if you like, I’ll send you a free copy of that. “Jewelry: How Much Is Too Much”.
Jean Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747. “Jewelry: How Much Is Too Much”. John is calling from Dearborn, Michigan. John, welcome to the program.
John: Hi! How are you doing?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Very good. How can we help you tonight?
John: I have got a question for you. After the Second Coming of Christ and the New Heaven on Earth, when the Devil is eradicated and all evil is gone, all the other life forms in the Universe, will they be too in the New Jerusalem, the Nwe Heaven, or they needn’t be there?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Well, all the redeemed will be in the New Heaven. The other life forms in the Universe I believe they actually live on other worlds.
John: So they needn’t come to the New Jerusalem?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: No, they can come to visit. I think that the New Jerusalem because God lives there, so God himself would be with us, the Lord is moving the capital of the entire Cosmos to our world. So…
John: So they are going to be with us then?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Just like people from all over the world go to the United Nations I think the Sons of God and creatures from all over the Universe are going to come to our world for meetings and visit. We will glorify God and how He saved us but they are still going to have their home back in these other remote planets or worlds, whatever they are.
John: OK, so they are going to come and go, sort of with airplanes? Back and forth?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes, they will probably travel a lot faster.
John: I didn’t mean by airplane. I’m saying they will travel back and forth at our discretion.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Yes.
John: They will be able to come and leave…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: I believe that. You could read in the Book of Daniel, chapter 9, where Daniel is praying, and the angel Gabriel comes all the way from heaven in a matter of seconds. So angels travel with the speed of thought. I expect we’d be going pretty quick as we fly through the galaxies those millions of light years. Do we have time for one more?
Jean Ross: We could try.
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Two minutes. Let’s try and take one more, please.
Jean Ross: Alright, Larry is listening from Fresno, California. Larry, welcome to the program. We have got about two minutes.
Larry: Hi. OK, good. I guess I was the second one from Fresno tonight. That’s great. I’ve been studying the Bible for a number of years, and this time through I’m going with the New Testament and the words of Jesus, and I remembered when I came to Mark, 16, that in many Bibles Mark, 16, ends with verse 9, and after verse 9 because, I think largely… It’s probably not because of this but…
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Some Bibles leave out the remaining verses.
Larry: Right. Or they put it as a footnote at the bottom because it’s largely believed by Bible scholars that it was put in afterwards, and not written by the apostle himself. I’m wondering… First of all, it’s a two part question. Do you believe that? And second, if you do believe that how does it affect the divine efficacy of the written word?
Pastor Doug Bachelor: Alright, real quick, I do believe that all of Mark that you find in the new King James, the New American Standard, the King James Version, it’s all there. All the verses in Mark, chapter 16. Some scholars are troubled by the miracles that are mentioned in the last part of Mark 16, and they found some manuscripts that were missing in the last chapter. It’s not uncommon for the last chapter of a book to peel off, or disappear, or the last few verses of something to be torn out. So they left it off. “We found some manuscripts, and this is missing.” And that was their way of trying to get rid of the miracles. But, friends, we believe in all the words of God, that’s why this is called “Bible Answers Live”. We hope that you have been blessed and encouraged by tonight’s program. We’d love to hear from you. Go to the Amazing Facts’ website. Amazingfacts.org. And let us know. God bless, until next week.
This is been a prerecorded broadcast of “Bible Answers Live”, a production of Amazing Facts ministries, If you’d like to order the materials mentioned on this broadcast call 800-835-6747 from 8 A.M ‘til midnight Eastern Standard time. That’s 800-835-6747. If you’ve missed an episode of “Bible Answers Live” you can find it on our website AmazingFacts.org, you’ll also find our online sale catalogue of books, tapes and other materials, as well as numerous free resources on nearly every Bible topic. Put in the answers to your Bible questions right at your fingertips. If you’re being blessed by this program, let us know, write to us at PO Box 909, Rosewood, California, 95678. Be sure to tell others about the program and join us again next time for more “Bible Answers Live” with Pastor Doug Batchelor.
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