Doug Batchelor: Hello Friends this is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? Normally a person's core body temperature is around 97.8 degrees Fahrenheit. When exposed to cold for a prolonged period of time, hypothermia can set in. Once the body temperature hits 90 degrees, vital organs begin slowing down and death could come within minutes but not for a Wim Hoff of the Netherlands. Wim, also known as the ice man, possesses such a strong resistance to cold that scientists remain baffled how his body endures the freezing extremes that would kill most people.
For example in January 1999, he traveled 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle to run a half marathon in his bare feet. Three years later, Wim earned a Guinness World record when he dove under the ice at the North Pole dressed only in a swimsuit, he held his breath for more than six minutes while swimming 265 feet under the ice, that's almost twice the length of an Olympic size swimming pool.
Then Hoff earned even more renown for scaling Mount Everest in a short. Hoff says he discovered his ability to withstand cold temperatures more than 20 years ago. A lot of scientists are working to figure out how the 49 year old Dutchman is able to withstand freezing temperatures that could be fatal to the average person.
Wim simply describes his ability as being able to use his brain to adjust his own body thermostat. In 2008 in New York City, Wim broke his personal previous record by staying immersed in ice up to the neck for one hour and 13 minutes and 48 seconds with nothing on but a swimsuit. No one else out there seems to compete with him, he just keeps breaking his own records.
There is however one other ice lover who has baffled scientists as much as Hoff, it’s American swimmer Lynne Cox. At 15, Cox swam the English Channel in 14 hours in a Guinness world record. Like Hoff, Lynne soon discovered that she had an almost superhuman ability to survive in frigid water.
In 1987, she became the first person to swim across the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia in 38 degree water. In the Bible we're told it's better to be hot or cold than lukewarm. Stay with us friends, we're going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Doug: Hello friends, in case we have never before been formally introduced, this is Bible Answers Live. It is a live international interactive Bible study and you can participate by of course listening and hopefully we’ll learn together as we study the Word of God. If you have a Bible question you're invited to call in, it's a toll free number and that number is 800-God-Says, that's 800-463-7297.
Keep a pencil in hand because during the broadcast we’re very generous in giving away free Bible study resources. We’ll also point you to some websites that will greatly enhance your personal Bible study. My name is Doug Batchelor and Pastor John Ross who is normally our co-host is off tonight so with the help of our friends on the either side of the class and your patience, I'm going to see if I can navigate the phones and the Bible software on my computer and we will search in the word together.
Let's begin with a word of prayer. “Loving Lord, we thank you for this opportunity, again this miraculous technology where we can have a group Bible study with tens of thousands around the world and right now we would dedicate this time Lord to your glory, help us to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say to each heart individually and I ask that you take charge of the questions that come in, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.”
Well friends we began our broadcast with an amazing fact about somebody-- well actually a couple of people that have extraordinary ability to resist cold. Now I really envy them because if I get in the shower and it just starts to get a little surge of cold water, I'm ready to go through the roof but here you've got people like Wim Hoff and like Lynne Cox who are able to stay for prolong periods of time in this freezing water. And I tied off the amazing fact, pointing to a scripture that you'll find in Revelation chapter 3 when Jesus is talking to the last age of the church known as Laodicea and he says that they've got a temperature condition that could be fatal.
The Lord says there in Revelation 3:15, “I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold or hot, I will spew or spit vomit you out of my mouth.” The Lord cannot bear the incepted tepid tendencies among people in the world where they take the name of Christ, they have no remorse for their sin, that would be cold, they're not on fire and zealous working for God, that would be hot, but they're just materialistic and satisfied in between.
He says that you don't know that you're poor, and wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked. This is how he describes the materialism and the spiritual poverty or bankruptcy of the church in the last days. One of the most dangerous things that can happen is for people within the Christian church to get in the habit of going through the motions and rituals of Christianity and not have a live vital fiery relationship with the Lord. We should either be on fire working for him or if we have sinned, we should feel remorse and repent, and be cold and humble so he can then turn up the heat and get us out working for him again.
But our culture is anesthetizing the average Christian, and we've got a free offer tonight that I don't think we've offered in a long time. It's a fabulous book that we’ll send you just for asking called Culture and the Christian. Culture and the Christian,it talks a little bit about there's a danger of Christians being immune to the sensations of the Spirit because of the impressions of the world we're living in or not to love the world.
And if you like a copy of this book Culture and the Christians, you just pick up your phone right now, you'll be calling a separate number where you can tell them you're listening to Bible Answers Live and our request if we offer for tonight, that number is 800-835-6747 and to get your question on tonight's broadcast, the number is 800-463-7297 and with that and no further ado I’m going to go to the phones and we're going to begin by talking to Mario who is calling from Ultraman Florida and welcome, you’re listening to 950 AM, Mario is that right?
Mario: Yes.
Doug: You're on the air and your question tonight?
Mario: My question is about the Sabbath and we know that the Sabbath is kept from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, but I was reading Revelation 21 where it says that there will be no sun in heaven so I’m trying to find out how that's going to go with the sabbath because we know that in order for you to keep the Sabbath you have to go with the sunset from Friday to Saturday.
Doug: Well, first of all I got to take you to Revelation and in verse 21 it says, "The city has no need of the sun." First of all does it say there is no sun in the new earth or no need of it? There is a sun, because the matter of fact Isaiah says that the sun will shine seven times brighter and the moon will be as bright as the sun in the new earth. Because the glory of God is in the city, there's no need for the sun in the city, that's what it's emphasizing. The city has no need of the sun for the glory of God lightens it, but in the new earth God's going to make a new heaven, a new earth, it's still got the sun and the moon and the stars, that was all part of God's original plan, got that?
Mario: I got you but does that mean-- because there is a song great is thy faithfulness, there is a line that says, "There will be one eternal day [unintelligible 00:09:47]."
Doug: Yes the eternal day is because in the City of God, it's illuminated by the presence of God but it doesn't mean that the earth doesn't revolve and there's no separation of day or night, because you read in Isaiah chapter 66 it says, “From one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another." Well to have a new moon that means you have months, that's where we get the word moon and to have Sabbaths you got to have weeks, that means the Earth is rotating and you've got your separate days-
[cross talk].
Doug: -here we return to his original plan.
Mario: That makes sense.
Doug: All right. Well good, I'm glad. I remember first reading that and thought no sun well then, say that and someone pointed out there’s no need of the sun. I appreciate your question Mario, and we're going to move right on and talk to Mark calling from Knoxville Tennessee listening in on WITA. Welcome Mark, you're on the air.
Mark: Hello.
Doug: Hi, you're on the air Mark and your question? Mark are you there? I can hear you.
Mark: Hello.
Doug: Yes. You’re on, can you hear me? Mark may have his mute button or something going on and Mark one more time, can you hear me? All right. Well we're going to have to move on and with that we're going to talk to Brandon who's listening on-- hang on one second here. Friends this is what happens when Pastor Ross isn't here, I end up with two or three people on the phone at the same time and all right, there we go. Brandon, you’re on?
Brandon: Yes. Pastor Doug.
Doug: [laughs] I'm sure it was the telephones fault. No, it's actually the operator, and your question?
Brandon: Well. I recently just started studying scripture with a friend. Currently we're studying the judgment and the destruction of sinners and we came across a verse in Isaiah 66:24 the latter part of the verse says, "For their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched." I was hoping maybe you could give me a little bit of clarification on the verse as well as maybe some historical context but then if you can get what I'm speaking of here.
Doug: First of all the word quenched, quenched means that there is an outside source extinguishing a flame.
Brandon: Okay.
Doug: There will be no outside source extinguishing the flames in the lake of fire. An example of how you use the word quenched in the Bible the same word is found in Jeremiah 17 where it tells us that, "If the people did not repent of their sins, the Babylon would come, destroy the city and the gates would be burned with fire that would not be quenched."
Well they didn't repent, Nebuchadnezzar did come, he did burn the city, the gates were burned up. Nehemiah talks about the gates that were burned up but they're not still burning today. It means there would be nobody to extinguish them.
Brandon: Okay.
Doug: When it says, "The worm shall not die." That means that sometimes if a carcass died out on the battlefield, the worms would begin to devour the carcass but when the sun came up it would actually mummify part of it and the worms would die. But when the worm doesn't die it means they devour everything. It's saying that the fire will consume everything, the worm will devour everything, there's nothing left. That's why you read in Malachi chapter four where it says that, "There ashes under the soles of our feet speaking of the wicked."
Brandon: Okay. I will not answer that. I appreciate it so much.
Doug: All right, thank you. Good question, I appreciate that and we lost Mark earlier if he calls back will try one more time. You have him on -- was it on line three? Line three, we're getting signals from the studio, Mark are you there?
Mark: Hello.
Doug: Hi. Sorry we lost you before, don't know what happened and your question tonight?
Mark: It's regarding corporal punishment and it's from the two passages. The reason I'm referring to Acts 16:33 is talks about the washed holy saint stripes, that to me would imply that the back was bloody from the corporal punishment, including whatever and my second passage is in Proverbs specifically like 23:13 and 14 and 26:3 where the first part talks about using the rod on children and then the second one using a rod on fools. Do you think these were bloody beatings?
Doug: No. First of all, I don't think that. What Paul is getting in Acts Chapter 16 is not from a parent to a child, what Paul is getting is from the civil authority that is whipping him and this is a Roman authority, they the same ones that whipped Christ for what they saw as a civil offense-
[cross talk]
Doug: -this is a completely different context than children.
Mark: About fools because in like three different places in Proverbs that talks about fools getting whipped.
Doug: Yes. Well have you ever seen-- they've got these Darwin Awards they give the dumb criminals, and there are some people that commit crimes that of course hurt other people or they deserve some punishment and they're just really not very smart. First of all no crime is smart but the way they punished criminals back then was they didn't always find them. Sometimes they wouldn't dare whip them. Matter of fact you probably remember when the young man in was it Singapore, he was spraying graffiti and their civil penalty for that was they would whip him with a rod and I can't remember his name but there's quite a ruckus about it-
Mark: Michael Fay.
Doug: -yes that's it, Michael Fay and-
Mark: In the Bible could like the rod break the spinal column or cause hematoma?
Doug: Well, depends on who's welding. I'm not sure, what's the point of you question because sure you could get that they would whip some people to death with the scorch, they would probably if you wanted to you could beat a person with a rod so hard that it would -- a thousand people in a crowd beat and somebody probably beat him to a pulp.
Mark: A lot of people think even spanking you shouldn't use anything stronger than your hand or maybe a paddle.
Doug: Yes. Well with anything that deals with punishment there needs to be restraint and good judgment. For instance in the Bible Hebrews 12:6 it says, “For whom the Lord loves--" This is our Father in heaven and I don't know if you believe what the Bible says?
Mark: Yes, I do.
Doug: Well it says, in Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scorges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons, for what son is there whom the Father chastens not." In other words and then he goes on to say, "If we had fathers of our flesh that corrected us and we gave him reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, for our earthly fathers chastened us after their own pleasure but He for our spiritual profit.”
There's no question that in the scripture it talks about if a father loves a son if they're going to do something that is going to endanger their lives you can correct them especially when they're young obviously when they get older you reason with them. I've had six children and when they're young and they're trying to put that screw driver out into the electric socket and you say no and they just don't listen to the words sometimes you've got to resort to something that helps them understand the danger.
Mark: What about even first of their disobedience could you break the back with the rod?
Doug: If a person wanted to break the back, there's people out there that abuse your children.
Mark: I'm talking about the way Proverbs talks about using the rod.
Doug: Well, the rod in the Bible was not a club. The rod in the Bible was like a switch and it used to be years ago. A lot of parents on the farms in North America when kids misbehave they say, "We’re going to go get the willow switch." They'd switch the kids and it would not injure them physically but it certainly got their attention because it would still sting. Hopefully that helps a little bit Mark and I apologize we lost you earlier. We're going to go on now talk to Robert who's calling from Crawfordsville Indiana on the Internet. Welcome Robert, you're on the air.
Robert: Good Evening Mr. Batchelor.
Doug: Evening, get real close to your phone because I can barely hear you.
Robert: Okay, can barely hear me now?
Doug: That's much better.
Robert: Well, first I want to thank you for the work the Lord's given you and for bringing me in the church.
Doug: Praise the Lord.
Robert: Yes, praise the Lord and he blessed you for sure with what you've done and I want to bless you as well my gift is different than yours.
Doug: Go ahead.
Robert: My question goes to you made some reference to this a few weeks ago in 2nd Chronicles 9:13 about the 666 count of gold that Solomon received, of that talents it came from everywhere and it was added up. My question is God given us the pattern how to calculate the number 666 because I’m reading too Revelation 13:18, also in Ezra 2:13.
We add up people there I do know I can, we add up and trying the 666 people. God is given also the pattern here just add the people up like the previous talents of God given to Solomon, in 13: 18 Revelation, there's been some confusion on this. My question is, I'm not trying to make this the statement when I already know the answer. Honestly, it's not the name on a hat, Mr. Batchelor. It's closer to the beast. My question is, it has something to do with the beast. It says calculate account. The pattern is given in Chronicles and Ezra. It just add up something within the beast.
Doug: Well, let me share some thoughts with you real quick. I actually did an amazing fact on 666, this has been a couple of months ago. By the way, Robert, in about a week, there's going to be a website launched that is called 666 truth. It's going to have a lot of interesting facts about the number itself and then explain what that number means, what is the beast. Obviously, if we don't know who the beast is and we want to understand the number of the beast or the mark of the beast.
Robert: Knowing of the beast.
Doug: Some interesting things I did not know about the number 666. One thing is that if you add up the first 36 normal numbers, one plus two plus three plus four-
Robert: I know it's going to 666.
Doug: When you get to 36. The Jewish year had 360 days in it. A circle's got 360 degrees. One of the other things I thought was really interesting is that the first six Roman numerals got the number six. Roman numerals across, I was one, V was five, X was ten. You add up I V X L C D, it comes to 666. Rome, that I think it's pointing us to something going on there. I'm not going to say much more about it. There's a lot of very interesting things about the number 666. It is much more than a placard on the head of a leader.
Robert: I know.
Doug: Hey, I hope you take a look at that website. For our friends, it's not up yet but if you check in about a week, 666truth.org-
Robert: Thank you Mr. Balt. God bless you.
Doug: -you'll find more. God bless you also. For our friends who may or want to know more, there is of course a study guide that we've got called The mark of the beast. You could request that at 800-835-6747. With that, we're now going to go to David, who's calling from West Warwick, Rhode Island, listening on three ABN. Welcome David, you're on the air.
David: Hello.
Doug: Hi.
David: How are you?
Doug: Very well. How can I help you?
David: God bless you. I have a question, if the church today should marry the church like it was in the apostolic days, well, the early church in the book of Acts, they kept God's holy days, then why don't we, more specifically in Zachariah 14, because of the coming of the Lord those who didn't keep the Feast of Tabernacles will receive the plague.
Doug: Well, the literal laws that God wants us to still keep are going to be contained in what the Lord had people keeping before, the exodus experience. Now, the 10 commandments all existed before the Exodus experience. The 10 commandments are written in stone with God's finger. The health laws existed even before the Exodus experience.
God made a distinction between clean and unclean animals back to Noah. Noah was not a Jew, we're all related to Noah. Across certain civil laws that are practical common sense, you can find evidence of those even during the time of Abraham and in the Bible. The feast days all pointed to Christ and that's why it tells us that Christ is our Passover.
When we talk about the feast days, I think you agree that we would never keep them the same way anymore because Passover, for instance, it would be absurd to sacrifice a lamb now when Jesus is our lamb, right?
David: In Acts 27 though, didn't he, Paul was still keeping the Day of Atonement.
Doug: In Acts 27, Paul is going to Jerusalem to reach Jews. Paul said, "I have become all things to all men that I might reach some." To the Jews he became messenger to reach the Jews. These are Paul's own words. Jesus is our lamb and for us now to say we're going to go sacrifice a lamb for our sins would be a denial of the Lamb of God.
If we see that Passover has undergone a change because of Christ, it's safe to assume that the other feasts have also gone through a transition because of the sacrifice of Jesus. There's a book that we will send you for free. I don't know if you have seen it before, David. All you have do is ask for it. It's called Feast Days and Sabbaths. We'll be delighted to send you a copy of that, Feast Days and Sabbaths. If you like that, just call 800-835-6747. With that, we're going to try and get in one more call before the break. I'm going to talk with, is that Joanne, WNCA? Hi, you're on the air Joanne. Or is it Johan?
Joanne: Joanne.
Doug: Joanne, okay, I'm sorry. Your question.
Joanne: My question is where by [unintelligible 00:25:42].
Doug: Go ahead.
Joanne: One of the family members hurt you. A mother hurt you so bad. God helped you learn to forgive her. But it seems like if you become close to her, she will hurt you again, does that mean that you stop to be close to that person or would you just leave that person alone because you do not want the same thing to be repeated again.
Doug: Well, that is a very good question. If somebody hurts you, should you expose yourself to the risk of being hurt again? Well, that depends. Let's suppose for a moment that if a girl is dating a young man and he physically hits her, I would tell her to run the other direction and find someone else to date.
Don't give him another chance to hurt you like that. If he hurts your feelings because of some inconsideration, you might show mercy if he's genuinely repentant and say maybe this will still work and it's a growing process. But if it's a family member-
Joanne: What about if it's your know mom? I'm sorry, because God said honor your father and your mother. What about if it's your mom?
Doug: That's what I'm getting into. If it's a family member, you're supposed to love them. You need to maintain a relationship with them. But once you become an adult, even if your parents are meddling too much in your personal life, you might need to create some distance, but you still want to respect them. They are your parents. You should do your best to maintain a relationship with them. Sometimes those relationships you need to give it a little more space and a little more distance.
That's why God says, "A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife." Because God knows it can be problems with the father and mother meddling with the son and how he raises his family and that woman needs to start her own home. You need sometimes be able to create distance so that you have your independence but you should still respect them. Does that make sense Joanne?
Joanne: Yes.
Doug: Hey, I appreciate your question. Friends, with that we're going to take a break now. Don't go away, we are coming back in just a moment to do our best to answer your other Bible questions. If you're just taking a deep breath and listening right now, I bet you can remember it but if you jot it down better yet if you're at your computer, type it in right now. Its amazing facts, amazingfacts.org. You just type in amazing facts to Yahoo or Google and we're right there at the top on the first page.
It's a ministry, been around 42 years filled with Bible resources. We are training people in mission work and evangelism. There is a health ministry, an education ministry, publishing ministry, international evangelism, television ministry, radio ministry, Internet ministry. All of this is to spread the gospel. You learn more at amazingfacts.com. We'll be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Doug: We are back, prepare to take your Bible questions. If you’ve joined us somewhere along the way, this is Bible Answers Live. It’s a live interactive Bible study. You can call in with your Bible questions. That number is 800-463-7297. We’re going to go right to the phones and cover as many Bible questions as we can. But before we go to the first caller, I want to remind our friends sort of our modus operandis is that we try and budget two or three or four minutes per call. Then we like to refer people to the website where there’s often a lot more information.
Also, I want to take a moment, I almost forgot, to welcome a new station that we have joining us. It’s KKSP in Little Rock, Arkansas. Welcome to our friends listening on KKSP. If you are tuned in tonight, love for someone in that listening footprint to pick up the phone and call in with your questions. Right now I think we’ve got about 300 plus stations listening on Bible Answers Live. We’re going to go and talk next with Jeff, calling from Edmonton, Alberta. Jeff, you’re on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Jeff: Hi there, pastor.
Doug: Hi and your question tonight.
Jeff: I had a question about the ideal diet. I understand that vegetables was allowed for men to eat after sin. But I’m trying to practice the ideal diet and I was wondering what do you have to say about eggs, dairy products and honey or I guess sugar intake?
Doug: Well, you’re really asking two questions. One is I think you want to know what does the Bible say and the other is you might ask what my personal opinion is. I heard you asking what I thought. In the Bible, of course, it talks about eating eggs. In Job, it says, “Is there any flavor in the white of an egg?” Obviously they ate eggs.
Deuteronomy tells us that if you’re going to eat eggs from a nest, don’t kill the hen. You’re robbing wild eggs from a nest, so that she can go have the other ones. Otherwise, they would exterminate species. So obviously they ate eggs in Bible times. They would only eat the eggs from the birds that were clean. They did not eat vulture eggs. That kind of sound sickening to me actually.
But biblically the ideal diet that God first gave to men that will be the diet in the Garden of Eden was a diet of fruits, grains, nuts, beans. After sin, you’re correct, God said you’ll also eat the herb of the field. Any part of a plant, other than the fruit, is a vegetable. If you eat the stalk like celery, if you eat the root like potatoes, if you eat the leaves like spinach, they’re vegetables. Anyhow God evidently knew it when man could no longer eat from the tree of life, he needed something that was missing to supplement his diet and He added vegetables.
If people are going to change from a diet where they eat meat and dairy and try and wean themselves, you’re always ideal if you avoid things that contain cholesterol, which would be dairy, eggs. Everybody already knows a lot better sources and myself talk about that. At least very limited, you’re better off without it. I very rarely eat eggs. Been a long time since I’ve had any dairy other than what might be snuck into my salad dressing. I feel a lot better for it. I’m pretty good shaped for an old man. Most people listening have no idea that I’m 130. But [chuckles] that’s in dog years.
In any event friends, the Bible does say that you can eat meat, but it has to be clean meat. You can eat eggs. When it talks about honey, it says, “Eat honey because it’s good, but don’t eat too much.” So some of these things that God allows, they should be done in moderation. I frankly think if you’re getting ready for heaven, you should try and get off of animal products as far as possible. Just get used to what we’ll be doing there.
Jeff: One more quick question. I have a Christiantology SAT due for final exam, coming up next weekend. I just wanted to know what the Genesis was talking about when it says waters above the firmament or above the-
Doug: Okay. Evidently, there’s been a growing body of evidence that when the Lord spoke about the waters above, there was some sort of envelope of cloud or water above the earth that was entirely around the earth. It was a lot more uniformed and this polarized the temperatures of the earth all over the globe.
Not just scientists that believe in the creation of the Bible, but even scientists that don’t believe in God in the Bible are realizing this is the only paradigm that explains why you have tropical ferns and the polar regions when you dig down. The whole planet seemed to have a much more temperate climate at some time. Cloud cover provides an even temperature.
When it says the heavens were broken up during the flood, this envelope of water that surrounded the planet, came crashing down and basically unloaded and that’s what caused the flood in the oceans and a lot of upheaval. There were waters below too. We know that the [unintelligible 00:35:59] metal plates floated on water and when the flood happened, it seems like it pressed down and the water shut up. Whole planet went through cataclysmic changes back then.
Jeff: I see. Okay, thank you pastor.
Doug: All right, thank you. Appreciate it Jeff. Going next to talk with Dona. Dona didn’t know she’s on line number nine, but that’s where she is. Listening on WMUZ from Detroit, Michigan. Welcome, Dona.
Donna: Hi, how are you? Praise the Lord.
Doug: Very well.
Donna: My question is this, if you miss your tithe, because I had a prepaid cheque and went wild with it. If you double up on your tithes, what does the Bible say? It wasn’t intentional. I just got carried away.
Doug: Of course, first of all, if you miss paying your tithe, you’re missing a blessing. There’s two things that -- tithe is a very strong principle on the Bible. For one thing, God says, “When we don’t return our tithes-” He says, “Well, you robbed me.” There’s a lot of people I don’t think I’d want to rob. You don’t want to rob a mafia Don and you don’t want to rob the judge in the county court house-
Donna: You don't want to rod God.
Doug: -and you don’t want to rob God. Of course, if you’re a Christian, you don’t want to rob anyone because it’s a principle and then you’re missing the blessing. He says, “Prove me now and I’ll open the windows of heaven and pour a lot of blessings.” So you sort of miss out coming and going when you fail to return your tithes.
If you’d missed paying your tithe, of course you should, first opportunity, make it up. Now if a person has been away from the Lord for 20 years and he come to the Lord, I’m not sure that God is saying, “You’ve got to pay back tithes for all those years that you were wandering.” You might do a thank offering as God impresses you. I don’t think God charges us interest on late tithe so to speak.
There’s no evidence on the Bible of that. But they did pay a penalty when they stole in the Bible. Maybe I should correct my statement. When someone stole something, you stole a sheep you used to pay back for a sheep. If you’re going to pay back late tithe, you might pay a little thank offering to the Lord. That’s between you and Him. You know what I’m saying?
Donna: Yes, sir. I thought, because I was reading in the Bible, you had to double up on your tithes and offering. It didn’t say-
Doug: Well, there was a second tithe that they would sometimes pay when they went to the feasts in Jerusalem. That tithe could actually not be given to the Lord, it could be given to the poor. It could be used to buy provisions for the feast. It was a different kind of tithe. But there’s a book I’d like to send you that talks about tithe.
Dona, we’ll send you a free copy. It’s called In God We Trust. If you call the resource number, that number’s different from the studio. It’s 800-835-6747. 800-835-6747. Dona, tell them you’re listening into Bible Answers Live, we’ll send you a free copy of In God We Trust. It talks about the tithe principles there. Going next to talk to Monty from Shelter, Illinois. Listening on WDQN. Welcome, Monty.
Monty: Hi, I’ve got a question for you. If the guy, say in his past, was a drunkard and a brawler and whoremonger and a liar and divorced several times. Say four, five years ago, he got saved and he keeps all 10 of the commandments now and Lord gave him the gift of [unintelligible 00:39:26] like it says in John 14:26.
I can recall all things whatever God has said in the Bible in different subjects. According to what I'm reading in first Timothy chapter three, talks about the [unintelligible 00:39:41] worship, is that still applied to him as far as being a husband to one wife, a non-striker and not giving to wine and [inaudible 00:39:50]?
Doug: Good question. If you take someone like the apostle Peter, when Jesus called him, Peter fell down before Christ. He's a little- depart for me I am a sinful man, that's in Luke Chapter five and he was. Peter knew how to curse, he probably knew how to drink, he was a fisherman, he was a sailor. It doesn't say he ever get divorced but in the New Testament where it talks about the qualifications of an elder and it says husband of one wife, Paul was talking about polygamy because many people had multiple wives.
You weren't supposed to have more than one wife at a time because if we say that means you're never supposed to have -- if you've ever been divorced you can't be an elder, King David could never be an elder in your church even though he was a prophet. Abraham could never be an elder in your church because Abraham had a wife name Hagar he divorced. I believe Paul is talking about you're only supposed to have one wife, not multiple wives.
Monte: Duly noted. God used Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt and he had a speech impediment and I know he was told he used to persecute the church to write eleven books of the New Testament.
Doug: Why would he not use someone who had maybe been through a divorce?
Monte: Well not just divorce. It was all those other things too, unfortunately. I just-
Doug: Well you know if a person comes to the Lord Monte and you've experienced a dramatic conversion and you've got the, first of all, you don't really appoint yourself an elder. If the others in the church recognize the leading of the Spirit in your life, if you are a new crew creature and you've demonstrated that with a consistent life following the Lord, then if others recognize the qualifications of an elder in you, your past life should not be held against you.
Another example would be the story of the woman at the well that you find in John chapter four. She had had five husbands and she was living with a man she wasn't married to and yet Jesus revealed to her He was the Messiah and sent her off to tell everybody in her community. She became a witness for him.
You can't unscramble scrambled eggs and come to the Lord the way you are. If you've had a conversion experience and you have a consistent pattern, the Bible says someone shouldn't be exalted prematurely, I don't know why that would prevent you from being qualified as an elder. Your church family will recognize that gift and they usually vote on that.
Hope that helps a little bit Monte and with that, we're going to move on to Sheryl, I believe who is listening in from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Your question is am -- I seeing your name right Sheryl?
Sheryl: Yes My name is Sheryl I’m from Blue Bell Pennsylvania. I do a decision to make, this is tough decision on whether or not to have my ailing mother resuscitated. She suffered from a stroke back in 2005, her health is declining and she suffered from [unintelligible 00:42:58] she has breathing problems.
I guess what I need is a biblical counsel on how to make this decision. I think the hard thing about it is when I hear about what they call Code Blue, in trying to get her heart to beat again they tell me how painful that is. How harsh it is rather for a patient and I don't want her suffering anymore for something like cracked rib or -- to me just been natural for her-
Doug: Can I ask you a personal question, about how old is your mom?
Sheryl: She's 72, she soon be 73 and-
Doug: Now this is I'm sharing with you some Bible principles but I'm also mingling in my opinion and trying to reason. I certainly don't believe in physician assisted suicide that I think is a sin, that's murder. Artificially resuscitating someone after they live their three score and ten if their health is failing, to try to just keep on milking a couple more days out of them while they're suffering I also think that is an unwise decision.
If someone is in good health and they have a heart attack and they are 75, by all means, zap him back. I know people that they've got pacemakers and they actually had the pacemaker kicked in a few times and bring him back and they've lived years beyond that. That’s a different thing but if someone is in declining health and they are in the stages of leaving this world, then try to use artificial means to be force them back I think that that's a mistake. That’s a personal decision, you have got to pray about.
Sheryl: Well you know what and I have been praying about it. Honestly I really wanted to call you because that's the way I was thinking. I was like you know what? I want to do God's will and I need to find, I need to talk to a pastor.
Doug: Well the criteria I would use of course you have to use some common sense, if a person is up and around and they've got an active life even if they're 90 and they had a heart attack, I'm sure the EMT would try to do everything they could resuscitate them.
If someone's in a hospital bed and they're dying of cancer, it would almost be cruel especially if they're past their prime years. It’d be cool to just try to keep on reversing the inevitable. You need to use just judgment and common sense and pray and make a decision you can have peace with.
Sheryl: Yes exactly.
Doug: Well I hope that helps a little bit Sheryl and I will be praying God gives you wisdom.
Sheryl: Thank you it helped tremendously. Thank you so much.
Doug: All right God bless you.
Sheryl: Thank you.
Doug: Tough decision but good question. Talking next with Wanda, who's calling from Brooklyn New York listening to WMCA. Welcome, Wanda you are on Bible Answers Live.
Wanda: Thank you, pastor, how are you [laughs]?
Doug: Very well.
Wanda: I'm calling up because I've been I've worked in a place for over 20 years and because of the economy, people moving their jobs and I received the severance package. Basically, my career is ending because the area that I work in there's no jobs. I was wondering if there's some kind of a Bible counseling, something that would lead me to go the right way to a new career without me emotionally going into something and then regretting it. How will I know that whatever I pick is something that God wants me at?
Doug: All right well before I even begin to answer I won't give you a complete answer because I'm going to give you a book. The book is called How to know the will of God; Understanding the will of God. I just wrote it because I get this question a lot. I took everything I could find in the Bible, some good illustrations and when I say book, it's easy reading you can read it in one day.
Call the resource number 800-835-6747 and ask for the book Understanding the will of God. Now to give you some quick answers, the biggest challenge that you're going to have during a time like this and there's a lot of people that are in your shoes right now.
Wanda: Yes and I'm young. I'm not in the retirement age.
Doug: Right, well bless your heart you are in a position where you can still launch a new direction. If you're willing to do whatever God wants you to do the first thing is you say, "Lord whatever you want me to do I'm yours." If God looks at you and sees that you're willing and you're praying, then he's going to give you direction.
Jesus said, “If any man is willing to do His will He will know of the doctrine.” In other words what God wants is a willing heart. He won't force himself on us. Then look for providential indicators. Another point then you'll find this in the book is, whatever you're doing that you can do stay busy doing the work that lies closest at hand.
We know some people here in Sacramento that today lost their jobs and amazing facts says a Bible school needs volunteers and they said you know, while I'm searching for work I'm going to spend some time each day serving God and I'm just going to volunteer in the bible school for a few hours, once or twice a week. Be active, keep a purpose there's a lot of volunteer things you can do.
I've seen many times that a person go to offer some free service because they want to volunteer and it leads to a job somehow. They meet someone else there or something happens but the last thing you want to do is just stay curled up on a couch with a remote control.
Wanda: I don’t want to do that.
Doug: Get out and meet people, do things, volunteer, spend some time take a job that pays poorly maybe pays it less and it often leads to other opportunities. People will see your skills and go, "Oh, this person really is can do much more than this." If you're faithful in that which is the least, God often open other opportunities. All right.
Wanda: Thank you.
Doug: Don't forget to send for the book, Understanding the will of God. One more time that's 835-6747. Appreciate your call, Wanda. Talking to Elaine, calling from Calgary Alberta and listening on the Internet. Elaine, you're on the air.
Elaine: Hello.
Doug: Hi.
Elaine: Hey, thank you so much for taking my call and let me just say God bless you and your family and I hope you continue doing the great work that you are doing.
Doug: Well, thank you and appreciate that.
Elaine: My question is in Revelation 20, and what I wanted to know was the sequence of events after Jesus comes back. I understand that when He comes, He saved the cord up and the dead if they called up as well and they go for the 1000 years Sabbath and the wicked dead are killed by the biker service coming. So what happens when He comes back with the Kingdom after this 1000 years?
What happens to the living dead that died when He came and the wicked dead that were in the grave that didn't come up in the first resurrection? Are they brought back to life and judged?
Doug: Yes there is a great resurrection of the wicked and they are brought forth. Now before I forget I have a lesson that answers every question you just asked in detail with scripture. I'm going to do my best to give you a quick answer.
That lesson is called A Thousand Years of Peace. Call the number we've been giving out and ask for A Thousand Years of Peace. It talks about what happens before and after the millennium of Revelation Chapter 20. Beautiful color, illustrated lesson, lots of pictures and amazing facts in Scripture.
They're very clear Bible studies. Anyone out there if you want to understand the millennium ask for that lesson, Thousand Years of Peace will send it to you 50% off free. If you can figure that out. Now real quick, when Jesus comes down at the end of the 1000 years, you read in Revelation 21 the New Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven.
Zachary 14 says, "Christ comes from the city, his feet touch the Mount of Olives. It splits it. Forms a great valley. The New Jerusalem settles down into this valley where Christ has prepared." At that point, He raises all the lost who have ever lived. All the wicked who've ever lived and brought forth and are given bodies to somehow experience what's happened.
I don't know what kind of bodies they are, but they're not glorified bodies, atleast we know that and they launch an attack on the City of God. They're called Gog and Magog, it is the wicked, surround the earth like a cloud. The devil tries to rouse them as Satan is loosed from his prison at the end of the 1000 years. He's now got people to tempt and manipulate and they launch this all out attack on the City of God then God judges them. His Great White Throne Judgment happens. Their attack is stifled. He judges them and then ultimately fire and brimstone rain out of heaven upon them. It forms a great lake of fire. The devil is cast into that lake of fire and the Lord then purifies the earth.
But go ahead and look at that lesson, Elaine. I think you're going to find that the sequence, is just going to click in your mind. It's even got a chart. Says, "What happens before the millennium," gives all the scriptures. "What happens during the millennium. What happens after the millennium?” All the way up until we're in eternity with the new heaven and new earth.
It's a really valuable study guide. Once again that's called A Thousand Years of Peace. Going to try and get a couple more calls in talking to Shantel who is also listening in on WMCA from Baldwin New York. Welcome Shantel, you're on the air.
Shantel: Hi Pastor, how are you.
Doug: Very well thank you, and your question.
Shantel: Yes, my question is about 70 times 7. What does that mean in relation to forgiving people, does that means that we're to forgive them up into 490 times, or are we supposed to forgive them seven days a week seventy times, seven days a week if they can sin against us? That's many times or something.
Doug: Well keep in mind when Peter asks Jesus this question-- Jesus, is not telling Peter that, "You need to let people wipe their feet on you forever," because that doesn't help them. So when he is talking about forgiving people, it means, look at how patient God is with his people.
That's how patient he wants us to because we would be Christ like, because that's what a Christian is. And the reason He uses the number 70 times 7, is because in Daniel 9, when Daniel's praying, "How long lord are you going to bear with your people? Forgive us for our sins. Will the Messiah come? When will He come?" God says, "I'm giving you 70 weeks." Now how many days in a week, Shantel?
Shantel: Seven days in a week.
Doug: Seventy times seven. There's 490 years of forgiveness God gave the Jewish nation between this rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Messiah. God is using that number to remind the Jewish listeners that He was so patient with his people. Look at the history of how patient He was with Israel?
That's how He loves everybody. That's how He wants to be patient with others. But that's not the kind of love and forgiveness where He wants us to be perpetually abused by people. And if you call our resource number and you ask for--we've got a study guide that talks about the forgiveness of God.
And you request that go to-- call our resource number, 800-835-6747 and you can ask for our booklet on forgiveness. We'll send that to you. Going to try and get one more caller in here. Let's see. Going to talk to Alex he's been waiting patiently from New York, New Jersey. Alex is that you calling from WMCA? We got just two and a half minutes. Can we answer your question?
Alex: Okay, can you please just elaborate really quickly on Chapter 5 of Matthew verses 19 and it says, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these new commandments and shall teach men, so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great." Now we know that God is not a respector of person. So, if there are going to be people in mansions, there's going to be people-
Doug: Some people in the slums of heaven?
Alex: [laughs] Yes.
Doug: No, people misunderstand that verse frequently because of the way it's translated from Greek. Let me say it. I'll put it in my own words the way that it really should be translated.
"Whoever therefore shall teach others to break these commandments, whoever shall break them and teach others to break it shall be spoken of as the lowest kind of person by those who are in the kingdom of heaven." In other words those in heaven will refer to those who break the commandments and teach others to break the commandments as the least person."
It's not seen there in the kingdom. It is those in the kingdom call them the least. And so it's not like God's got the highest in the least in the kingdom. God doesn't have a special place in these heavenly slums for those that break the commandments and teach other people to break the commandments.
He's saying those in the kingdom will speak of those who break his commandments and teach people to break his commandments as the least. Hopefully that clears that up Alex. You can hear the music behind us and listen in France. I apologize if we did not get your call tonight please forgive us.
We had a good turnout and give us another chance God willing next week for Bible answers live. We're completely faith based ministry. If you've been edified or encouraged by this-- there are people out there that are impressed by the Holy Spirit to do something tangible. You probably heard appeals like this a thousand times but we'd love to hear from you. Go to amazing facts. Click, contact us and you can support the ministry till next week, God bless.