Pastor Doug: Hello friends. This is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? While exploring remote coal mines in Northeastern Columbia early in 2009, researchers led by Jonathan Bloch from the University of Florida, found fossils of the largest known snake in the world. In fact in these coal mines, surrounded by the most ancient rain forest in the America, they discovered 28 huge individual snake fossils. Scientist have named the newly identified species Titanoboa after its modern day relative, the Anaconda, but the Titanoboa greatly exceeded the largest known snake alive today such as the reticulated python that reaches 29 feet or the Anaconda at 22 feet. Like its modern cousins, the Titanoboa was probably a non-venomous snake that stalked the rivers, preying on large creatures that it crushed with its powerful muscles or drowned by pulling them underwater.
A victim was then swallowed with one long slow gulp. In fact, one backbone of the Titanoboa dwarfed the largest vertebrae of an anaconda they could find. So how big was the monster snake? By comparing the sizes and shapes of the fossilized vertebrae to those of modern snakes, researchers estimated that the Titanoboa reached a maximum length of 40 to 50 feet and a weight of about 2500 pounds. At the thickest part of its body, this crocodile consuming boa measured about 40 inches in diameter. Because snakes are cold-blooded creatures, the great size of this legalous reptile implies the pre-flood world had a more uniformly warm climate than previously thought. Its colossal size also suggests that the oxygen content of the air was higher. It's also conceivable this ancient serpent had a larger brain and greater intelligence than modern species. The Bible says it was through a crafty serpent, Satan first communicated to mankind. Stay with us friends. We’re going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
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Announcer: Welcome to Bible Answers Live brought to you by Amazing Facts 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 8PM Pacific Standard Time at 1-800- GOD-SAYS that's 1-800-463-7297. Now, let's join our host, author, speaker and evangelist Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug: We do have lines open. If you'd like to call in with a Bible question, this is a live Bible study going internationally through the internet and on about 300 radio stations around the country. If you'd like to call in, the number once again is 1-800-GOD-SAYS that's 463-7297. And tonight, we're going to be studying whatever the Lord had laid down your heart so you get to help define what the program is. Bible Answers Live. My name is Doug Batchelor. Pastor Jean Ross is on vacation tonight and we're going to be doing our best to take your Bible questions and find the answers together in the blessed book. Before we begin our broadcasts, we always start with a word of prayer.
Father in heaven as we come before You, we claim the promise of the Holy Spirit to bring to our minds the things that we read and studied in Your word. And even more than that to help us to understand what is truth. Lord, we are seeking. You promise that as we draw near to You, You will draw near to us and so Lord we ask that You will break for us the bread of life through this broadcast and we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.
Well friends, I always like hearing some of the amazing stories of the discovery they find regarding these colossal creatures that lived before the flood. And it was fascinating for me to hear about the Titanoboa. This incredible snake, Hard to believe, 50 ft long, weighing more than a ton and then you read in the Bible in Genesis chapter 3, this is verse 1, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field of the Lord God had made." And of course the serpent then begins his dialog with the woman and we believed, most scholars’ that this was when the devil first manifested himself to man by basically possessing this creature, the serpent but it says even before that that the Lord identifies the serpent as an intelligent or crafty creatures. Probably was hypnotic in the way that it moved. And other scholars have thought that there's so many legends of flying dragons all around the world that prior to the curse upon the serpent, when God said you'll go upon the ground" that it had some sort of limbs or wings. And so it's even possible that these creatures were able to fly.
They do actually have snakes today that glide in Indonesia through the air and flatten out their rib cages. Well, ever since Genesis and you get all the way down to Revelation chapter 12 verse 7, it says "The devil has become symbolized by a serpent." A serpent doesn't necessarily bad. I'm sure they creep out a lot of people. Don’t particularly bother me. You can read about this though in Revelation chapter 17 verse 7, "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. “And that great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan. So there you have it. The words: great dragon, old serpent, the devil, and Satan--all representing Lucifer in his rebellious state. Now some are wondering if God is a God of love then why would He make a devil and sent him down to this world to tempt us. Where did this serpent come from, so to speak? And we have a lesson. If you'd like to understand why there is evil in this world. If God is good and if God is all powerful and if God is love then why do the innocents suffer. Why does God tolerate the existence of this arch (theme?) the devil, that serpent of all? If you'd like to understand this, the answers are in the Bible. We have a lesson to guide you through those scriptures. It's beautifully illustrated and also filled with a number of amazing facts. Why did Jesus say as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man would be lifted up? And I can answer that question. You need to send for the study guide. It's "Did God Create the Devil?" "Did God Create the Devil?" It's free.
All you need is to make a phone call and that number is 1-800-835-6747. And they'll just take your information and send you the lesson. Once again, 1-800-835-6747, asks for tonight's free offer, "Did God Create the Devil?" And before we dive in to the program and go to the phones, I'll also want to remind everybody that a good place to explore some of these resources and a lot of things you can download for free to help you in your personal Bible study is the Amazing Facts website. It's very simple amazingfacts.org. You type Amazing Facts in to Google or Yahoo or one of those search engines we're at the top of the page. amazingfacts.org. Time to go to the phone and we're going to talk with Andy who’s calling from Wilmore, Kentucky on the internet. Welcome to the program, Andy.
Andy: Hello.
Pastor Doug: Hi. Thanks for your patience. And your question tonight.
Andy: Yes, but first I'd like to thank you Pastor Batchelor that your ministry has been a great gift to my wife and I wanted to say thank you for that.
Pastor Doug: Well, bless your heart. thank you.
Andy: My question is in regards to the doctrine of election and how it may relate to predestination, specifically in the book f Genesis where in the story of Jacob and Esau it seems as if God that He loved Jacob and He, despite the fact that Jacob got the birth right dishonestly, it seems that God had a love for him and a hatred for Esau. I wonder if this indicates that this was that He knew their heart or Jacob is predestined to have that birth right and how does that relate to the doctrine of election as to where he was election and Esau was not elected, what do you think of that?
Pastor Doug: Well, alright, first of all, Jacob and Esau were chosen by God. Well, God knew ahead of time that the younger would be getting the birth right. It wasn’t because God arbitrarily decided that. God knew what their characters would be. He knew all things. Now, you can read in Romans chapter 9:13 as it is written, Jacob I have love and Esau I have hated." Now when people read that by itself without knowing what Paul is quoting from, they'll think "Well, there you're got it. God just sort of you know played spin the bottle, I'm gonna love Jacob and hate Esau" but you go back to what Paul is quoting. He’s quoting from Malachi chapter 1 verse 2 and God says, "I have love you says the Lord, yet you say where in have you love us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord: yet I love you Jacob and hated Esau, and laid his mountain and his heritage waist for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom,” Now Edom, the Edomites were the descendants of Esau. What God is saying here I love the Israelites and I hated the Edomites, not because God just said “Look, I decided to this Nation and hate this one."
It was because of what they did. Esau was very carnal. He came back from hunting and he said I want some beans and Jacob thought boy I would like to have the birth right. and the birth right Jacob was interested in was the spiritual birth right. He was interested in spiritual things. And so that's why he connive. He said I want that spiritual birth right. I want to have the Messiah come through my family. Esau didn't care and he sold his birth right for a pot of beans. He said “I want what I want for my body right now." Jacob said "I want the spiritual blessing for the future." God loved that about Jacob that he was interested in spiritual things. When Jacob came back from wandering in the land of Haran for I guess about 23 years of something. He didn’t take any possessions of the first born. He never did ask to collect on the physical birth right advantages. All he wanted was the promise and the blessing of the father that the Messiah would come through his descendants. He wanted the spiritual blessing. And he also, that's why he went back and married girls that believe in Jehovah, one God. Esau married the local pagan girls. And so the thing that God loved about Jacob was his interest in spiritual things. Esau just wanted to hunt and fish and chaste women.
Andy: [laughs] That's very helpful.
Pastor Doug: All right hey I sure appreciate that. and you keep praying for us and keep listening. Okay, Andy.
Andy: Okay, I appreciate your help.
Pastor Doug: God bless.
Andy: Ba-bye.
Pastor Doug: Talking next with Donna who is calling from Corning, Arkansas, listening on KOKS. Welcome, Donna, you’re on the air.
Donna: Hi
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Donna: Thank you very much for taking my call. My question is does God determined when a person dies and how they die?
Pastor Doug: Well, in most cases, you know we don’t control how we die unless a person is committing suicide. A person might control how they die and not the time. What I mean by that is some people because of bad lifestyle, they may tank up on calories and they’re deciding they’re gonna die from stroke or heart attack or diabetes by their life. They may not know when. You know what I’m saying?
Donna: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Out of a few cases of that in the news in the last few days but in the same way, you know a person might decide I’m gonna die from lung cancer because they’re smoking three packs a day.
Donna: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: But most of the time, you know, if we live right and we try and serve God, we may not know the day or the hour you know when our lives will stop. Sometimes people get a terminal illness and it’s (prostrated?) and they see it approaching. Sometimes people aged and they realized their dying from natural causes. But a lot of times, it happens when people sleep or it could happen by accident or God you know, ultimately is on the throne. He is almighty but sometimes we made choices that accelerate the way and time of our death. It’s like a slow suicide. Does that make sense?
Donna: Yes, that does.
Pastor Doug: So you know I don’t know how I’m going. I’m gonna try and hang around as long as I can. Take care of myself. I’m not gonna tempt the Lord by living recklessly but you know I figured it’s in God’s hands.
Donna: Okay. Thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: All right. I appreciate that, Donna. You take care.
Donna: Ba-bye.
Pastor Doug: Ba-bye. Gonna go next and talk with Cecilia who is calling from Seymour, Tennessee, listening on WIGA. Welcome, Cecilia, you’re on the air.
Cecilia: Hi Pastor Doug. I’m so glad I got to talk to you.
Pastor Doug: Likewise.
Cecilia: I have a quick question about the Sabbath. My coworkers and I are all, we all observed the Sabbath. And we got debate going on. WE take care of people with physical and mental challenges. They need care seven days a week. Is it okay for us to work on a Sabbath?
Pastor Doug: Well, absolutely. Somebody needs to care for those people. And Jesus, he made it very clear that healing on Sabbath day is appropriate. Now what I would say, two things though.
Cecilia: Okay.
Pastor Doug: When you’re ministering to people and you’re spending time on Sabbath, working for them. My wife use to work on a hospital on Sabbath. She’s a physical therapist. And she would choose to donate her earnings that day to God’s cause. She didn’t want to have her Sabbath labor of service be ruminative. She didn’t wanna get paid for that.
Cecilia: Oh.
Pastor Doug: So she would just say “Whatever I make that day, I’m gonna donate it.” And the other thing is she would try to make sure and schedule so she wasn’t occupied every Sabbath working cause then you’d miss Church. So you want to get on a rotating schedule and there are people who are involved in humanitarian emergency work that you know, people need care, people that feed folks in hospitals. They need to be fed and stuff like that. But what Jesus is talking about in the Bible, it’s all unnecessary labor should be done in advance so we have that holy time with God.
Cecilia: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And then Christ made an interesting statement. He said, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Be careful not to misinterpret what I just said friends. I’m glad that the telephone works on Sabbath. I’m glad there’s electricity and we’re having a heat wave here in California. I’m still thankful that the air-conditioning is running on Sabbath. I am not gonna work on the electric company. I’m not gonna work at the phone company on that day. You know what I mean?
Cecilia: I understand.
Pastor Doug: You can’t go crazy worrying about stuff like that but you do all you can do to reserve that time for God and be careful that you don’t get so wrapped up in a schedule of serving God on that day that you missed your own nurture at church.
Cecilia: Okay. Okay. So thank you—
Pastor Doug: So try and get on a rotating schedule.
Cecilia: Okay. Thank you Pastor Doug. I appreciate that.
Pastor Doug: All right. Thank you, Cecilia. Appreciate your question.
Cecilia: Okay, ba-bye.
Pastor Doug: Bye bye. Next we’re talking with Mike who’s—Let’s see here. I’m still figuring out how to use these phones without Pastor Ross here--Okay Mike, you’re on the air, calling from Staten Island, listening on 570 AM. Are you there, Mike?
Mike: Hi, Doug.
How are you?
Pastor Doug: Very well. And your question.
Mike: Yeah, my question is I’ve got a question on Hebrews 10:25 and 26. Can you read that please?
Pastor Doug: Yeah, let me just get that real quick. I almost know that from hear but I’ll mess it up just as soon as I say that. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that would devour the adversaries.” Okay. You want me to stop there?
Mike: Yes, that’s it. My question is after we sinned, we’re not supposed to sin at all. (Inaudible 17:36) would we become children of God. We’re supposed turn away from that. Pray to God fully with all our hearts.
Pastor Doug: Well, you’re talking about verse 26 where he says, “For if we sin willfully after we received knowledge of the truth?”
Mike: Right.
Pastor Doug: That word ‘sin’ there is not sin in the singular sense. That does not mean if you commit a sin after you have received the knowledge of the truth, there’s no more sacrifice. If that was true, people like the apostle like Peter who denied Christ after following him for three and a half years would be stuck in the dark. There’s a lot of people in the Bible that were God’s children that fell even after choosing to follow the Lord. The word sin there means if we continue to sin after we received the knowledge of the truth, what more is the Lord gonna send us if we decide to turn our back from the truth.
Mike: Right.
Pastor Doug: So if we’re practicing life of sin, it’s not talking about if we slip and fall. You know there’s plenty of Scriptures, for instance, in 1 John chapter 1, he says, “For if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Well, John is writing to the church. They know the truth. So the idea that once you’re a Christian, if you sin, you’re now lost. It’s not talking about that in Hebrews 10:26. It’s saying if we continue to sin against the truth, well you know what’s it like? You ever have an alarm clock go off and you really don’t wanna get up so you just kind of hit the buzzer or the pause button and let it, you still get 5 minutes, you can get to the place where you sleep and you don’t even hear the alarm going off anymore. Those that sin willingly after they know the truth, the voice of the Holy Spirit that conviction starts to get fainter and fainter and they lose their sense of conviction. And they’re at risk of committing the unpardonable sin.
Mike: Oh, so you have to stay away.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, that’s why we don’t want to continue sinning after we know what God’s will is.
Mike: Right. Right. Right but if we slip of them, we (inaudible 19:44) forgiveness. Will he still forgive for our sins if we (inaudible 19:46) in our heart and not do it again?
Pastor Doug: Exactly. If we send, whenever we genuinely repent, confess and repent our sins to God, it says he’s faithfully and just to apply the blood of his son, forgive our sins, cleanse us for all unrighteousness.
Donna: Amen.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Donna: Okay thank you very much, Doug. I appreciate it.
Pastor Doug: All right. God bless. And by the way, Mike, if you're interested, there's a book that we'll be happy to send. It's called "Is it Possible to Live without Sinning?" It's a very thought provoking book. The title scares people but it's a really good book, “Is It Possible to Live without Sinning?” If you'd like a copy of that, Mike, call our resource number. That's 1-800-835-6747. We'll send you a free copy of that. And that opens up another phone. We're gonna go talk to Robert who's on the internet calling from Palm Springs, California. Hi, Robert. Welcome to the program.
Robert: Hello, Doug.
Pastor Doug: How can we help you tonight?
Robert: Yes, my question is in Revelation, they talk about the two trees of life you know in between the river bank.
Pastor Doug: Yes. Yeah well it doesn’t really talk about two trees, it talks about the tree. Singular, but it says on either side of the river.
Robert: Okay.
Pastor Doug: That's what throws people.
Robert: Okay. Then it goes to say that they will have leaves for healing of nations.
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Robert: Well, where in the paradise is it… I’m understanding that there won’t be any sickness and need for him. Why do they have the leaves for healing of nation at that point?
Pastor Doug: All right. That's a good question. First of all my friends that are listening, this is Revelation 21 verse 1, it says in verse 2, Revelation 22:2, “In the midst of the street," speaking of the gold street,” and on either side of the river, there was the tree of life." So this one tree, evidently the branches grow together at the top and the roots go together and they maybe under the river. And the river runs through the trees. So it looks like two trees, its one tree that grows on either side of the river, big tree. Of course, all the savior beneath from this tree as 12 kinds of fruits, 12 times a year, 144 different kinds of fruit. It's better than (Baskin-Robbins?). But then it says the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. Now if you go to Ezekiel 47, this is a similar passage and it says, “Afterward he brought me again to the door of the house behold, the water issued from under the threshold eastward,” and it talks about the--let me see here--yeah, it talks about this tree of life then the leaves were from use for medicine here in Ezekiel 47, which is very similar to Revelation 22. Now, here's the two ways people understood that. I think that was Ezekiel 47:12, I was looking for. When all the different nations, you know it doesn’t say healing in of sickness, it says healing of nations.
Right now, here in this world, we are divided by different languages, different nations, different culture all over the planet. When we all as one people with our new bodies gather under that tree, we are healed from our differences. And so it's sort of a poetic way of saying the leaves are for the healing of the nations but others have said “Well, it is a type of healing because when we're resurrected, we have these glorified bodies but those bodies are not done being healed from the effects of sin meaning you know in minds. God is gonna heal the memories as eat from the tree and perhaps its leaves. So the scholars are kind of odd on this, there's no sinners sickness in the kingdom but it does say in Malachi chapter 4, they would go forth from the new Jerusalem and grow up. It's like there's more growing that happens even after we get our glorified bodies. Some have said "No, it's from the leaves of the tree." It is a bit of a mystery but I'm looking forward to finding out. I don’t know if that made any sense, Robert.
Robert: Well the healing part (inaudible 23:54) ‘cause I didn’t dwell on that part, I mean the symbolic meaning is what I’m talking about.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, healing of the nations.
Robert: Yes. Yes, I can see it clearly now.
Pastor Doug: Now we do have a lesson, we'll be happy to send you. That deals with “God's City and Space.” It talks about the New Jerusalem and it talks about the tree of life and so if you like to send for that just call the resource number, if you'd like to request it. It's 1-800-835-6747 and we'll be happy to send that to you.
Robert: Okay.
Pastor Doug: Next we're gonna talk with Mary Ann calling from Jersey City, New Jersey listening on WMCA. Welcome, Mary Ann.
Mary Ann: Hi, Pastor. I just want to ask you a question. There’s a couple of opinions. Are the true believers going through the Tribulation?
Pastor Doug: Can I answer your question with a couple of questions?
Mary Ann: Oh yes. Okay.
Pastor Doug: All right. Let me just test you and our listeners out there. The question is will true believers go through the tribulation. The children of Israel, when the plagues on the ancient Egyptians, were the Israelites still on Egypt?
Mary Ann: Lord, have mercy…
Pastor Doug: Gods people--you've probably seen the ten commandments of Charlton Heston--when the 10 plagues fell on the Egyptians, the Israelites were still in Egypt.
Mary Ann: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: He protected them through the plagues but they were there.
Mary Ann: Yes.
Pastor Doug: All right. Did God save Noah from the flood or did he save Noah through the flood? He saved him through it.
Mary Ann: Through it.
Pastor Doug: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego you know they went in to the fiery furnace.
Mary Ann: Right. Right.
Pastor Doug: God didn’t' save them from the fiery trials. He saved them through it.
Mary Ann: Through it. Right.
Pastor Doug: God says when you go through the waters, I will be with you.
Mary Ann: Right.
Pastor Doug: And even Paul says this, “Through Tribulation, we enter the kingdom of God.” So the Bible seems clear that we are here in the world during the tribulation in the amount of two main groups among Christians those who believe that we are ruptured away before the Tribulation and then there are those that believe that Rupture happens or the Second Coming happens at the end of this Tribulation. I believe that. That's actually not a new belief. It’s a very old Christian belief. That's why Jesus says, "He that endures unto the end will be saved." Endures what? Well, you know there's these plagues that have fallen on the world in the last days, the 7 last plagues, that's the Tribulation. We're here but God protects us through all that. But we don’t have to be afraid of it one bit. If you read Psalm 91, God says, “No plague will come now your dwelling but you will see it. It will happen on your right and on your left.” You don’t have to be afraid of the plagues but it will be around you. So don’t be afraid of the Tribulation but yeah, I do believe we will be here during that time. And then at the end of that time, God comes to rescue his people.
Mary Ann: God comes to get us.
Pastor Doug: So now I've got a book. I'll send you on that if you like it. It's free.
Mary Ann: Okay.
Pastor Doug: It's called "Anything but Secret." Anything but Secret" and the last half of the book dealing with this with God saving us through the tribulation. You just request that and we'll be happy to send that to you.
Mary Ann: Okay.
Pastor Doug: Thank you very much for your phone call Mary Ann and…
Mary Ann: Thank you, Pastor. Thanks for talking to you. Thank you.
Pastor Doug: Absolutely.
Mary Ann: Okay.
Pastor Doug: With that, we're gonna go to--I don't know. How much time we've got left? about a minute, huh? -- About a minute. Well you know I don’t wanna cut anybody off so those that are standing by if you'll be nice enough to hang on. that does open up a couple of phones. It's not too late to give us a call. IF you've got a Bible question, that's what this program is about. And we don’t know ahead of time what the questions are other than just that you called in with a Bible question and maybe what the category is. So pick up the phone. Dial 800-GODSAYS, 1-800-463-7297. Also if you have a pencil handy, I always like to remind our friends that so many of the resources that we have available, you can find them by going to Amazingfacts.org. Not only do we do this radio program live every week, we've got TV programs on around the world, probably 50 different satellites. We’re carrying the programs around the planet and that several different programs: Bible study programs, evangelistic programs, Bible programs, programs for children and that's amazingfacts.tv. So also while you're there, you can check out… We’ve got a special website dealing with prophecy. bibleprophecytruth.com. That's about to give a few things to look at. We've got a hundreds of website resources available. I hope you'll pass these links to your friends. Got more questions coming right back.
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Pastor Doug: Hello listening friends. If you've joined us somewhere along the way, this is a Bible answers Live. It is live international interactive Bible study that we'd like to invite you to join us. If you have a Bible question, you can call that in. The toll free number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS or 1-800-463-7297. You can also listen and pray for me as I do my best to answer the Bible questions. Pastor Jean Ross is out tonight. Actually I said he's on vacation, he's travelling and speaking during (the summer?) at a number of Christian (inaudible 31:10). Let me see... We're gonna go right back to the phones to cover as many questions as we can. I think next we're talking with Dennis who's been waiting patiently. Dennis, you're on the air listening KSOH is Seattle, Washington.
Dennis: Hello there.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Dennis: Yeah, my question is regarding the Sabbath. I'm curious to find out the significance. I understand that the Sabbath is Saturday but I'm wondering about the worship on Sunday versus the worship on Saturday. Is there a great significance? Or is there a big deception on, you know, going to church and worshipping on Sunday? Or should we worship on Saturday? Or is that a really big issue with the Lord in today's world? Is it more important that you worship or is it more important that you worship on a certain day?
Pastor Doug: All right. Well, first of all, I believe we should worship God every day. And I think the Bible tells us that you know one of the purposes of the Christian life is to worship God. The Sabbath though is not an idea that the church father's thought up. It's one of the 10 Commandments. So the idea that God has set aside a special day as a Holy day to rest. As a matter of fact, in the Sabbath commandment, it doesn’t say on the 7th day you worship me. It says on the 7th day, you won’t work and you'll rest and that is a day of worship. Leviticus says it was a day called a holy congregation. IT was holy convening where the people came together and that was what we would come and call a church service day where we study and we worship, we sing, we give. If there is a day--there's nothing wrong with going to church on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday--nothing wrong with that but if there's a day when we're going to be laying aside our work, it's the day that God has commanded us to do it. And if God says the 7th day is the Sabbath, I blessed that day and he says "I’m gonna meet with you in a special way on that day." Then for us to say well you know Lord the 7th day, it doesn’t work with my calendar this week. How about if I call a different day the Sabbath? Well, man can't change God's law. We can try to do it but God's law doesn’t change. You know if we were to say for instance regarding the 7th Commandment, well, you know the idea of just marrying one woman, I know that’s what you’re telling us but you know it would be easier for me to marry two. Of course, that would never be true.
Dennis: I disagree with that. [laughs]
Pastor Doug: Yeah, no one is ever gonna say that [laughs] if they’re thinking straight. So you know the idea of man changing God's commandments, that's sin. You know sin according to the new testament that is transgression of the law and all of the conflict that Jesus had revolving around the Sabbath never did he say "Well I come to do away with the Sabbath." He said the Sabbath was made for man and meaning mankind, it's not just for Jews or one denomination. And so we need that holy day of rest. God rest aside a day that we will remember and we just have to ask us "Do we believe he means what he says?" You know if God told Joshua to march around Jericho 7 times on the 7th day and then shout. And Joshua says "Well, I'm just gonna march one time and shout on the first time around the city.” Would God care? Is that disobedience?
Dennis: When the work is well or (inaudible 34:40).
Pastor Doug: Yeah, you know Moses didn’t make it to the promise land if God told him to speak to the rock and struck the rock twice. That may seem petty to us. God told Naaman, "And I want you to dip in the Jordan River 7 times and Naaman was not healed of his leprosy." This is 2 Kings chapter 5, "until he dipped 7 times." And so when God says, "Look, I blessed the 7th day of the week," everyone knows that's what we commonly call Saturday today, “and that's the day I want you to refrain from your labor and it is a day of special worship.” Then for us to say, “Well, you know because of my schedule Lord, I'm gonna get you to fit in with my schedule. I'm gonna change it. I'm gonna bless another day.” You see in the Commandments, as a matter of fact, it goes back to Genesis 2, the second chapter of the Bible, it says on the 7th day, God rested his work. And on 7th day, God sanctified it and he blessed it. He did that for humanity not for just the Jews. There were no Jews in the garden of Eden. And so you go all the ways back to creation, God said I've set aside the day that I have sanctified and I have blessed so we humans don’t really have the power to resanctify it or bless another day. Does that makes sense?
Dennis: It does and I’m curious just about how far does that go? Is this concerning even cooking meals that kind of rest, everything ahead of time?
Pastor Doug: Well, let me tell you what the Bible says. In the scripture, God says that the children of Israel you know to bake what they can bake and boil what they could boil. In other words if there’s anything you can do in advance to prepare, do it. there's certainly nothing wrong with heating up your food. God's not asking us to eat cold food on this special day of worship but the idea of Sabbath is to get all the work that you can possible do out of the way. I fill up my gas tank on Thursday or Friday so I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t do any buying and selling. I don’t go to the store on Sabbath cause it says in the Bible (inaudible 36:29), no buying or selling. I mean it’s hard to think about the Lord when you're wheeling and dealing with somebody for a blue light special.
Dennis: Right.
Pastor Doug: So it's you know it's a holy day and now what I'm saying for our friends that are listening, some of our older saints that are listening, it doesn’t matter what church you went to. If you're a Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, if you go back 50 to 70 years, all churches in America kept a Sabbath much more carefully than they do today. Now I believe the 7th day is the Sabbath but even Sunday-keeping Christians, used to keep Sunday a lot more particularly than they do today. The Churches have become very lax about keeping day Sabbath? Even though they may have the wrong day, they’re not even keeping the wrong day right anymore. They come on to church and they come on to football and go to the movies or go shopping at the mall and it's... You know what I'm saying?
Dennis: I'm guilty of the same thing so that’s why I’m asking.
Pastor Doug: Well that’s right. You know we wanna have time for God. God says --let me tell you why this is important. everybody listening, the devil hates the Sabbath. Here's why, very simply: you can’t obey God if you don’t love him. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments. You won’t love Him if you don’t know Him. The way you fallen in love with somebody is called time. A lot of folks listening right now having problems in their marriages and I bet you're not spending time with that person. You need quality time not just passing as you go to your different jobs during the day, quality time. And God says, "Look in order for us to have a loving relationship, I want you to lay aside your regular work and quality time with me for 24 hours once a week." And we need to make ourselves do it because we're inclined to neglect it. So I've taken more time than I usually take but it is a good question. A lot of people hear me refer to the Sabbath and I don’t often just say here's why I believe this. It's important. Dennis, would you let me send you a lesson on that subject?
Dennis: That would be great.
Pastor Doug: It's free. It's called, “The Lost Day of History." “The Lost Day of History" and if you call 1-800-835-6747, we'll send that to you or anyone listening, if you'd like to see a lot of Bible scriptures on this principle of keeping the Sabbath holy. we'll send that to you for free, "The Lost Day of History." Just call that number 1-800-835-6747 and we'll be delighted to send it to you. And now we're gonna talk to Monica who's calling from Long Island New York listening on WMCA. Welcome, Monica, you are on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Monica: Oh, yes. Hello.
Pastor Doug: Hi. Get real close to your phone. I can barely hear you.
Monica: I have a question in regards to how did all the denominations came to be. It really mystifies me that I can’t really find it physically how all the different denominations.
Pastor Doug: All right. Let me do my best to try and explain why there are so many denominations. And by the way, there's a lesson. I Just wanna tell you right now, I'd be happy to send you on that subject. It's called “The Bride of Christ." “The Bride of Christ” anyone who wants to understand how do you find the church Why are there so many different churches? Please look for ,“The Bride of Christ." In Revelations 17, it talks about this woman whose Identified as a harlot, Monica, and she's got a lot of daughters. That sort of describes what happened to the church during the dark ages. the church went from being spiritual institution to being a political one. And it was based in Rome. I think everyone knows what I'm talking about, the history there. Well, that church there then divided. Their number of churches broke away from the Roman church around the time of the Reformation and they say "Look, we got to get back to the Bible but they all began interpreted it differently." And so all these different fragmented churches started to break away from the government of the Roman catholic church and then there are even splits within the orthodox churches.
You've got the Russian orthodox and the Greek Orthodox, and the Eastern Orthodox and so you've got to split within the orthodox churches and even today. I've seen denominations that argued about some doctrinal specific and they split. You've got Free Will Baptist and you’ve got Southern Baptist. And you've got you know what they call—my mind just went blank-Primitive Baptist that still practice foot washing just over a few particular doctrines churches split. Numbers of one combination, they can draw line down the middle. They say, “Look, we just can’t get along because we don’t agree on whether during the communion, we're all supposed to drink out of one cup or everyone gets their own cup.” And so the church divides and they find a new name and they have a new branch. So here's always different variations of the churches and now within the charismatic churches of broad spectrum of denominations there. But that's not God's will, Monica. You know the Lord says...
Monica: Next question I was gonna say is if you think that God is pleased with people worship and glorifying him but in so many different formats.
Pastor Doug: Well if Jesus says, “I am the Truth." There's not 20 different truths. There's one Truth. The Bible tells us there's one faith, one Lord, one baptism and then Jesus said "all men will know you are my disciples by your love for one another. Now the devil heard Jesus say that. He figured if all people will know Christians by their unity and their love, “I'm gonna divide Christians as much as I can to try and hide the truth.” And so buried in all of the broken glass of these different denomination, there is still is a diamond. The diamond of truth is in there. And you've got to just find it based on the Bible. I know everyone says that but there really is a truth when it comes to careful study and that's why you know Amazing Facts offers these Bible study guides so people can study for themselves. And if you're interested or anyone listening, I would strongly recommend it you sign up for Amazing Facts Bible study course. It begins with the lesson "Is there Anything Left You Can Trust?" And all you got to do is call we'll send that to you. I hope that helps a little bit, Monica. And if you send for that lesson also, called "The Bride of Christ," it talks about why there’s so many churches and how do you find a Bible-based church in today's confusing assortment of churches they have.
Going next to talk to is Cindy. Cindy calling from Miami Florida and I used to go to school there, Cindy. Are you with us, Cindy, Bible Answers Live? Oh, she's been waiting patiently. I don’t wanna sign off you. Cindy, we finally took your call, are you there? Bible Answers Live, Cindy. 5 4 3 Cindy, are you there? Okay we've got to move on. And put Cindy on hold and we're gonna talk next to Mario who is calling from (Artemis?), Florida. Is that right, Mario? Are you there?
Mario: Altamonte Springs.
Pastor Doug: Oh, Altamonte Springs, okay. And your question.
Mario: Well, my question is about 1844.
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Mario: I wanted to take in you know the investigative judgment and everything.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Mario: (Jesus?), he said the most holy place in 1844 so my thing was that in the book of Acts, when Stephen was being stoned, he looked at heaven and he saw Jesus at the right hand of the Father. And that can mean that he was into (inaudible 44:12) because the father when I started to (picture?) it you know the sanctuary was the representation of the heavenly sanctuary. The (inaudible 44:22) representation of the heavenly one. I’m thinking God was in the most holy place so when Stephen saw Jesus, he saw Him at the right hand of God so that means that he was already dead in 34AD (inaudible 44:37). So why is that we believe that in 1844 is the actual day that Jesus was transferred from the holy place, the (Muslim?)?
Pastor Doug: Let me take a minute now and explain this to our listeners because I’m gonna bringing your volume down because we're getting an echo through your line. For our friends who are listening, there's a prophecy that Mario's referring to in Daniel chapter 8 verse 14 where it says "Unto two thousand three hundred days, then will the sanctuary be cleanse" and then you go to chapter 9, it says "from the going forth from the commandment to restore the Jerusalem. The only starting point of the prophecy is there in Daniel chapter 8:9 is the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem. That was in 457 BC that King (inaudible 45:24) issued that decree or King Artaxerxes. I’m sorry. And so if you go to 2300 years, a day in prophecy is a year, you come to 1844. That's when the church entered the last phase of the churches. You read in chapter 2 and 3, there are 7 ages of the church.
It starts with the age of Ephesus and it goes on through you know Ephesus and Smyrna, and Pergamos and Thyatira and Sardis. And it ends up with Laodicea. I didn’t just name those in order. Laodicea is the last church. It means the judging of the people. Christ is our high priest. You find that all through the book of Hebrews. Jesus when he ascended to heaven, he's going on with his regular work of intercession for us. But just before he comes, the Bible says judgment must begin at the house of God. and if judgment begins at us, what will be the end of them that obey not the gospel. You can also read about that in Ezekiel chapter 9, there's judgment among God's people. So many Adventist Christians, and an Adventist Christian is not necessarily a Seventh Day Adventist but Christians that are looking forward to the advent or return of Christ, believed that Jesus entered the final phase of his intercession for us in 1844. And a movement of revival began on earth there as well.
You can... there's a lesson, I'll send anybody who wants it, called "God Sets the Date for the Judgment." “God Sets the Date for the Judgment” and that number is 1-800-835-6747, we'll send that to you. So your question Mario is when Steven is being stoned, he has a vision and he looks to heaven and he sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father and says, "Behold, I see Christ at the right hand of the Father." That doesn't mean that Jesus entered to the holy of holiest in the sanctuary back in the 34 AD. For one thing, Steven's vision could be a vision of the second Coming where Christ is there coming out of the holy of holiest. Stephen's vision could be of Jesus in the first place of the heavenly sanctuary and it even says in Daniel chapter 7 through? 9, the throne has wheels. You can find that in Ezekiel too so you know to try to take what Steven sees in this final vision that he speaks off and begged Jesus geographically. I think we need more evidence from that but he was in the last phase of his priestly ministry. You see--oh, boy this is a big study--send for the lesson friends and it's hard for me to go through the study that just involves the whole chapter in the Bible in 3 minutes. Once again it's called “God sets the Date for the Judgment.” And the number to ask for that lesson is 1-800-835-6747 we'll send it to you. Mario, if you've not read that, please send for that and we'll talk again after you're done. I appreciate if you could do that.
Next, we’re gonna talk with Peter who’s calling from New Rochelle, New York in WMCA. Peter, you're on the air.
Peter: Thank you Pastor Doug. How you doing today?
Pastor Doug: Doing fine.
Peter: I wanted to ask you a question about the Sabbath. Does it mean that the whole church that worship on Sunday that they sin in the violation of God's law? It comes with keeping the Sabbath instead of on a Saturday but it’s on a Sunday. And (inaudible 49:02) to what’s the principle behind keeping the… Or let me put it this way. Some people thought that Sunday is the day since you are actually (mentioned but?) don’t you have to worship God every day but one day is especially (inaudible 49:27), you should worship for God. By that day, after six days, here on the 7th day, he rested. Now since Christ went to the cross… After Christ went to the cross, no more temple worship, no sacrifice, no (animal?) sacrifices or that, that Sunday, that’s the God’s resurrection, on Sunday. The Christians started worshipping on Sunday so if you go (inaudible 50:01) in violation…
Pastor Doug: Well, let me take a stab at answering a couple of those questions. Peter, your first question well I'm gonna answer it a little differently so it avoids misunderstanding. Is everybody going to church Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of Saturday the 7th day, are they lost? No, they're going to be millions of people in heaven that maybe kept the wrong day as the Sabbath because they didn’t know. It says in Acts chapter 17 verse 30, at the times of these ignorance, God winked at. There are gonna be people in heaven that had more than one wife like Kind David, Abraham, Jacob, they didn’t know. they lived in Egypt, polygamy and God winked at their ignorance. And so there's a number of things in the Bible. God looks at what the person knows. If we walk in the light that he has given us, we're judge according to what he gives us, to how much was given, much is required the Bible says. if a person knows what the commandment say whether regarding the Sabbath or any commandment and we choose to do what's popular, that's a sin. There'll be people in heaven who maybe go to a church where they still pray crosses and they don’t realize its idolatry. But they're gonna be in heaven because they're just living in ignorance. They don’t know.
So whatever the commandment is including the Sabbath day. Yeah, there a re a lot of Christians that are violating various commandments that they're just unaware. Some of the preachers know better, they're gonna be judge more severely. So God wants us to follow what that truth is and then you asked about when Jesus rose on the first day of the week and since all the sacrificial system was abolished, did God abolished the Sabbath. There's a difference between the annual Jewish Sabbath that was part of the ceremonial law. They're all nailed to the cross, Colossians chapter 2 but the seventh day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments, that goes all the way back to creation that was written in stones. That's part of the Ten commandments. Its part of the weekly cycle. It's not the annual Jewish Sabbath. The seventh day Sabbath was made for men so you know we've taken a lot of questions in the Sabbath tonight. We probably got to move on, Peter. Hope that helps a little bit. And were gonna talk with Vincent who’s calling from Honolulu, Hawaii. Vincent, welcome to the program, calling listening on WKGU. Are you there? Hi Vincent and your question.
Vincent: Why did God have to die for us when we're supposed to die? We're the ones that did the bad stuff.
Pastor Doug: Why did Jesus have to die for us since we're the ones that did the bad stuff? Well, he didn't have to. That's the amazing thing because he loves us so much, he chose to do it because he so loved us. We’re the ones who sinned and the penalty for sin is very serious. The Bible says the penalty for sin is death as sin is a deadly disease and God knows that if we start sinning, we just... It destroys us but God loved us so much that he sent his son and Jesus came willingly and he said "I will take their punishment and if they'd believe in me, I will forgive their sins, give them a new heart and they’ll get the gift of everlasting life.” If we believe him and we repent of our sins, we're sorry for our sins and turn away from them, he forgives us. And he gives us a new heart and eternal life. That's cause he love us, Vincent. Does that makes sense?
Vincent: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: I tell you what, I got a lesson that I will send you. How old are you?
Vincent: Eight.
Pastor Doug: Eight years old, Oh, bless your heart. I appreciate that. You know we've got a lesson that's got some very interesting pictures on it that you'll enjoy and it talks about this plan of salvation and it's called "The ultimate Deliverance" maybe you can get your mom and dad to read that to you. It's got a lot of pictures in it. And it talks about how much God loves us. Actually, the one I want to send you is "Rescue From Above." Rescue from Above." If you call this phone number, 1-800-835-6747, you’ll hear me give it out during the night 1-800-835-6747, we’ll send that to you, Vincent. Thank you for your call. Okay. All right. Bye-bye.
And with that where we got time for maybe one more question, real quick. We're gonna talk to David calling from Toronto Ontario, Canada. David, are you there?
David: Yeah. I was in a family of, okay, they keep Sunday and not the Sabbath day and they have all these other teachings and I told them about the truth that I found out from Amazing Facts. And would you give me some advices how to witness to them.
Pastor Doug: Well the first thing you wanna do is pray for your family whatever the truth is you want them to know. Be a good example and then if they'll listen, give them information. You can download things off the internet. There's a website. We had a lot of questions tonight on the subject of the Sabbath. For you, David, or anybody, we have a website called the sabbathtruth.com put the words together .com or .org. Either one will take you there. And lot of information. Maybe some of your family will look at this And find out what the Bible really says What the history is? Or how so many Christians end up going to church on Sunday? You don’t really find any command to go to church on the first day of the week in the Bible so why does so many people start doing that? It's a very interesting study. And so we'd encourage you to do that. So well I hope that helps a little bit, David.
David: Thanks.
Pastor Doug: All right. Hey, God bless you. And for our listening friends out there tonight, one more time, if you've got questions on the subject of the Sabbath. we have quite a few tonight, just go to sabbathtruth.com and there is a lesson that we offer tonight. It's called the "Lost day of History." "The Lost Day of History" and it goes on to the history of you know what's happened with one of the commandments of God. It shouldn't surprise us that the devil hates the law of God because if we look at the law of God, we see that we sin. When we realize we're sinners, then we need a savior. We run to Jesus for forgiveness. Nobody's saved by the law. We’re saved by Christ but we still need the law because it's our guide to, of course, help us recognize and understand the will of God. So listening friends, If I did not get your question tonight, I hope that you'll forgive us. Give us another chance. God willing and by his grace, we'll be together again next week. This program doesn't need to end. You can continue to broadcast by going to amazingfacts.org. We've got amazingfacts.tv also where there's television programs going 24 hours a day. When you go to the website, click on where it says 'Contact Us' We'd love to hear from you. Till then, remember Jesus is the truth that will set you free.
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