Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hello, listening friends. Would you like to hear an amazing fact? Back in 1999, a small black and white kitten appeared in the backyard of Ann and Wally Collito. The elderly couple believe that someone had thrown the unwanted kitten over the fence into their mobile home park and they worried about its welfare. That was until they noticed the kitten's unlikely caretaker, an American crow. Day after day, the Collitos watched in amazement as the crow took care of the kitten given the name, Cassie. Under its wings, it began feeding it worms and insects.
They couldn't believe their eyes as they watched the crow they have named Moses feeding Cassie and protecting her from other animals. Moses would claw and fat and flap wildly to keep her out of the street. They knew no one would believe their remarkable tale unless they had proof. Over a period of five years, they began filming and photographing the kitten playing with its watchful winged guardian. Friend, the Bible says that God has used crows before to even care for people. Stay with us. We're going to learn more on this edition of Bible Answers Live.
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Advertiser: You are listening to Bible Answers Live. Honest answers to your Bible questions. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this evening's program, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now, let's join our host, Pastor Doug Batchelor, and our co-host, Pastor Jean Ross.
Doug: Welcome listening friends to Bible Answers Live and as the title suggests if you have a Bible question, we're live. We welcome you to call in with your questions. Plenty of phones open right now and the number is, God, says that's 800-463-7297. We know there's a lot of people that are out on the road tonight traveling, returning home after the holidays that maybe haven't heard the program before. We'd invite you to call in with your questions. We'll get priority to first-time callers. Again, the number, free phone call, Bible questions 800-463-7297. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening, listening friends and Pastor Doug. As always, let's start the program with a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to study your word together. Tonight as we open up the Bible, we do pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our hearts, our minds, to those listening wherever they might be. For we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Doug: Amen.
Jean: Pastor, that you open the program but talking about a crow that showed that remarkable concern for a kitten. Now, of course, cats have a history of eating birds. If things seem to be the other way around. The bird is providing food for this little kitten which eventually became a cat because you mentioned in the fact that this had gone on for several months.
Doug: Several years, actually.
Jean: Several years?
Doug: Eventually, I think after five years of recording one day, Moses, the crow did not show up and they didn't know something happened. The kitten was adopted by the family and he's still alive today when I last read up on this. It didn't really surprise me for a couple of reasons. The Bible talks about ravens that took care of one of God's prophets. Now, ravens, crows are all in what they call the Corvidae family which is a group of birds that are among the most intelligent, not just birds, the most intelligent creatures.
In fact, scientists believe that the intelligence of ravens and crows is right up there next to apes. They have the largest brain capacity of any bird for its size. They're very intelligent, they use tools, they learned quickly that one of the few animals that they say they've spotted crows in England where one will hold up a garbage can lid for the others to eat and then take turns while the others hold it up.
Almost no animals show that kind of sharing capacity. Making them intelligent sacrificing, now it's my turn you hold the can open and I'll eat. They're very, very smart creatures. They're listed in the Bible as unclean as far as food but God used crows to bring the food to one of their prophets that was hungry. Now, you read this interesting story in 1 Kings 17:2. Then the word of the Lord came to him to Elijah saying, “Get away from here and turn Eastward and hide by the Brook Kerith which flows into the Jordan. It will be that you'll drink from the Brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there”. He went and did according to the word of the Lord.
He went and he stayed by the Brook Kerith which flows by the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and food in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the Brook. For a period of months evidently, God had these ravens just twice a day feeding him with food that they've collected somewhere else. Now, this has been observed many times. The ravens is grabbing food and flying off with it. I think you said one time you had a seagull stole some of your food?
Jean: Yes. Just before I had a chance to bite down the seagull came in and grab the sandwich where I had on my hand.
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Doug: The ravens will do that. Somewhere they were sniping food and bring it to Elijah. Of course, Noah, he even used the raven that must have been somewhat tame to go and see if the waters had gone off the earth. It basically reminds us of a couple of things. God's provision and the incredible interacting symbiotic relationships in God's creation. As we look in the world around as you just see the intelligence of these creatures and you start to realize how this isn't something that evolved accidentally that God has built to something into his creation that can be seen.
We've got a free offer tonight that I think will inspire you with God's power in his creative ability. Why don't you tell us about that Pastor, Ross?
Jean: Yes, it's a book that Amazing Facts has entitled, Amazing Wonders of Creation. Yes, it is amazing. We are talking about these incredible creatures that God has made. We'll be happy to send this book to anybody who calls on us. Again, it's called, Amazing Wonders of Creation. That is the free offer this evening. To receive it, call us on our resource phone line. That's 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book called, Amazing Wonders of Creation. The number one more time is 800-835-6747.
You have a Bible question, our phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297. We do have phone lines open. It's a good time to pick up your phone. Give us a call. We'll get your Bible question on the air this evening. It's 800-463-7297. We'll mention that number several times throughout the program. We're ready to go to our first caller this evening. Let's see, we have Gavino listening from Texas. Gavino, welcome to the program.
Gavino: Thank you.
Jean: Thanks for calling. Your question?
Gavino: I just experienced the death of my beloved aunt. She needs a surreal experience as I saw the breath of life leave her body. It seemed like her head vibrated as her spirit left. My question is, you say that the breath of life goes back to God. You say the spirit goes to sleep. I'm confused--
Jean: Well, actually, all right, go ahead. I'm sorry, finish your question.
Gavino: I'm confused. Is the breath of life that is personally hers. Is it with God or is it her on the earth?
Doug: Based on a verse that you find in Ecclesiastes 12, it tells us that when a creature dies, not just a human and it's not even saying the good or the bad, it doesn't say just the good or just the bad. It just says when someone dies, that the body returns to the earth. God told Adam, “Ashes you are and then the ashes you'll return”. The body of everybody that dies we know what happens it decomposes. Even those who are saved, they get new resurrected bodies, Paul says. It says the Spirit and that word there in Hebrew is raw.
The verse, by the way, is--
Jean: Ecclesiastes 12:7.
Doug: The breath of life that's what the word spirit means returns to God who gave it. This passage is not talking about the soul of the essence of who the person is. It's just simply saying that the power of life returns to God, the body returns to the dust. That's all Solomon is saying there. You're asking where is the essence of who that person is? When we start to talk about a person, the soul of who they are, I'm using that word in the classic sense, we do something everyday with computers that gives you a crude idea. I might have all kinds of things that I've written, books and documents and all this personal information, I put it on a jump drive and I pull it out of the computer.
It can sit on that jump drive for a hundred years and it doesn't do anything until I plug it back into the computer. God has stored or saved-- We talk about Cloud services, God has stored or backed up whoever your aunt is, all of his loved ones that have passed away, he knows who they are. He's got the info on who they are. At the resurrection, they are placed within the new body he gives, they come to life. It's like at the beginning, it says, "God breathed into Adam the breath of life." God made Adam's form but he wasn't alive yet. His body was there, it's all perfect but he's dead. God breathed into him the breath of life and Adam became a living soul.
Jean: In the Bible, we also see death illustrated as a sleep. In one way, when a person goes to sleep, especially if they're sleeping a deep sleep without dreams, they are unconscious of their surroundings. Yet when they wake up in the morning, it's the same person that went to sleep the night before. Likewise, the [unintelligible 00:11:34] Christ, when they breathed their last breath and they are dead, they're in that unconscious sleep as the Bible describes it.
When Jesus comes again and there is the resurrection, it's the same person coming up from the grave but with a glorified body. How exactly that works? Well the Bible does call it a mystery. Paul talks about the mystery of the resurrection.
Doug: For them it doesn't seem like, let's say it's 10 years until the lord comes. We don't know. For your aunt, whenever a believer dies, for them it's instantaneous, their next conscious thought is the resurrection. If you have a rough night and you don't sleep well, you know it's been a long night. If you sleep well, it seems like a moment, right?
Gavin: Yes.
Doug: For believers, their next conscious thought is absent from the body is the resurrection and the presence of the lord.
Gavin: That was my next question, she wasn't a church-going person, she wasn't Biblical teacher person but I would tell her, "Before you close your eyes, please ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness and he will give you a new body the next time you wake up." Of course, after she passed away, a nurse came up to me out of the blue and told me, "I spoke to your aunt about salvation. She told me yes she would accept." I'm hoping that with that comfort of her saying yes, she will be awake in a brand new body and she of course see the face of God.
Doug: First of all, that's good news and that gives you hope. The Bible says that we're treasuring that blessed hope that the lord gives us and that we don't sorrow as others that do not have hope. That's 1 Corinthians- I'm sorry 1 Thessalonians 4. We do have a special offer I think you'll find some encouragement in, Gavin. It's study guide that we'll send you that's got all the scriptures on the subject of death and how you can have hope and encouragement.
Jean: The study guide is called Are the Dead Really Dead? We'll be happy to send it to anybody who calls and asks, the resource phone line is 800 835 7647. Again, you can ask for the study guide called, Are the Dead Really Dead? We also have a website called deathtruth.com, you can go to it right away and you can actually read this lesson right there online along with a lot of other scriptural references. There are actually sermons available, just a great study resource. Again that website is called deathtruth.com. Our next caller that we have is Alan listening from Ohio. Alan, welcome to the program.
Alan: Hi.
Doug: Hey, thanks for calling.
Alan: Yes, all right. My question is about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. First, I'd like to outline a hypothetical situation. Suppose a man gets married to a woman who's a virgin and they have yet to have any sexual intercourse. Then a second man comes along and has sexual intercourse with the woman. It's consensual and the woman becomes pregnant. Wouldn't that be adultery on the part of the second man and the woman?
Doug: Are you wondering if because Joseph and Mary were engaged, for her to be artificially inseminated by the Holy Spirit would be as though God was breaking his own law?
Alan: I didn't know they were just engaged, I thought they were married but then they became married later anyway, weren't they?
Doug: Yes. You'll remember it says in the Bible that they were engaged to be married, the wedding hadn't happen yet because it says before they came together. Obviously, after a person's been fully married, they almost immediately consummate the marriage. Before Joseph and Mary came together, she was found to be with child. The marriage had not happened yet. Nonetheless, I guess you're saying that here--
Alan: If a human man was involved instead of the Holy Spirit, wouldn't that be adultery?
Doug: Let me put the question to you in a different way, and I appreciate your question. Let's suppose a man and a woman are engaged and they cannot have children. The woman says, "If I could be inseminated somehow, if we could get medical help to take your sperm connected with my egg implanted in me and we'll have a baby," there would be nothing with that, right? You do understand my question? What the Bible tells us is that she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. She was conceived by the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say there was nothing of Joseph that was in Mary. Matter of fact, it goes through great lengths-
Alan: No, of course not. See, I said before the first man and the virgin woman had any sexual intercourse.
Doug: I know. What is your concern? That God somehow was doing something wrong by impregnating Mary?
Alan: Yes, it seems like it.
Doug: Who made man in the beginning?
Alan: Of course God.
Doug: What would be wrong with God saying, "I'm the author of life, I'm going to give you a child that is going to actually have part of me in it, the savior of the world?" There were no complaints from Joseph and I don't think Joseph were jealous.
Alan: No.
Doug: They hear the privilege of raising the son of God.
Alan: Yes.
Doug: Any thoughts on this, Pastor Ross?
Jean: I think the illustration you use is good. You wouldn't classify adultery if a spouse can't have a child for some reason and they talk about it and an egg is donated or whatever, sperm is donated. You wouldn't call that adultery.
Alan: In this case, that doesn't apply to, I don't think to Virgin Mary. Isn't it true that she wasn't like Sarah who couldn't have children? Does it say in the Gospel that the Virgin Mary could not have children like say Sarah.
Doug: A number of the Hebrew women were barren. It's interesting, actually about seven of them were barren.
Alan: I don't think Virgin Mary was barren.
Doug: No, she was probably extremely fertile.
Alan: It's different. It's different.
Doug: The similarity between Sarah and Mary is that they were both miraculous. For Sarah, at 90 years old to get pregnant after she's already gone through menopause was miraculous. Of course, for Mary--
Alan: They're both miraculous.
Doug: Exactly.
Alan: I don't question it.
Doug: Are you wondering why God really do that?
Alan: I'm wondering why wouldn't it be adultery, if a human did that--
Doug: Well that's the key right there, it wasn't a human. It was the author of all life.
Alan: I don't know if it is.
Doug: You have to admit that every life is a miracle. Whenever anybody has a baby, it's a gift of God. Children are the heritage of the lord, the Bible says. It's God that blesses the fruit of the womb. If God told Mary in advance, "Look, I'm going to actually show you that this child is special in the very way that the whole conception takes place." To have the Holy Spirit involved in that is just a wonderful miraculous thing. I don't think anybody thought that, "God cheated on Joseph." I understand, it's a valid question. I could see where if it was a man, yes but it was the Holy Spirit, it was God creating, giving a gift every Jewish mother wished she could have the messiah. I appreciate your question, thank you very much, Alan. I'm trying to think if we have anything special. Nothing particularly on that.
Jean: No, we don't. We do have a website called marytruth.com.
DougDoug: There you go.
Jean: That talks a little bit about this miraculous birth and I think you'd find that interesting. Just type in marytruth.com. If you have a Bible question, our phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297. That's 800-463-7297 with your Bible question. Next call is a Catherine, listening in Illinois. Catherine, welcome to the program.
Catherine: Hi.
Doug: Hi, thanks for calling.
Catherine: My question is about Genesis 8:13. I was reading, trying to understand why everyone thinks that Noah didn't tear the ark apart and live it, make a Noah town with the ark or the remnants of the ark. Then I noticed in Genesis 8:13, that it said, he was on the ark for 601 years--
Doug: No, it's in the 601st year of Noah's life. Yes, it's not that he was on the ark 600 years. That'd be a long cruise.
Catherine: Yes. [chuckles]
Doug: Your second question was, could they have used the ark as many times, captains have landed and the ship was damaged and they basically disassemble everything good out of the ship. It's like the story of Pit Karen, they took the bounty and they tore apart whatever they could use and use the pieces to construct stuff on the island. They burned the rest.
Catherine: In my understanding, there was nothing, right?
Doug: After the flood, most of the raw materials were probably in pretty bad shape after the whole world had been waterlogged for months. I have no problem believing that they had taken some parts of the ark may be and used them in construction. I don't think they stayed in the area of Ararat for very long because right after the flood they were up high in the mountains. They probably went down into the valley for a more temperate climate.
They may have taken some of the materials or things down the hill. The Bible doesn't say. We could speculate and I don't see any reason to think they didn't use anything other than it would be quite a trek if they're carrying the beams down to the valleys. It does tell us Noah planted a vineyard and at the very high altitudes, the vineyard won't do good. He probably moved down until more temperate climate.
Catherine: Okay. That was my--
Doug: Good question. Never heard that one before. Thank you very much, Catherine.
Catherine: Thank you.
Doug: Bye-bye.
Jean: If you have a Bible question, our phone line is 800-463-7297. We do have some lines open. Good time to give us a call. 800-463-7297. Our next caller is Danny, listening in Tennessee. Danny, welcome to the program.
Danny: Thank you, Pastor Ross and Pastor Doug. I enjoy your show.
Doug: Thank you so much for calling.
Danny: You're welcome. The question I got is not much. It's in John 5:28-29.
Jean: "Do not marvel at this." Jesus speaking. "For the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation."
Danny: I was comparing that to Thessalonians 4:16. That had me messed up a little bit. It says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with a voice of an archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first."
Doug: When Jesus said all that are in the grave will come forth, the good and the bad, and then the 1 Thessalonians says the dead in Christ rise first, you'll notice at both John 5 and 1 Thessalonians 4, list the good first.
Danny: List the good first.
Doug: See, Jesus said, "All that are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. They that have done good, the resurrection of life--" Notice, when you've got two resurrections, one is called the resurrection of life. That's the first resurrection. Those that have done evil, they come later. The resurrection of condemnation. Jesus even mentions in both passages, they're two different resurrections.
Danny: Two different resurrections?
Doug: The author of John also writes another book called Revelation. If you go to John or Revelation 20, he talks about two resurrections there.
Danny: Yes, I've read that.
Doug: He says, "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection." Then he says, the rest of the dead-- If the dead in Christ rise first, the rest of the dead are the wicked. The rest of the dead as they come forth at the end of the 1000 years. If that's very perceptive though you're right. There are two resurrections and Jesus just mentions both resurrections together in chapter five, but he doesn't say they happen together. He separates them in a sentence.
Danny: Yes, I see where it says where the good is at the first. That they shall come first.
Doug: Yes.
Jean: We do with a study guide dealing with the 1000 years, which begins with the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. We'll be happy to send this to you for free, Danny or anybody wanting to learn more about this. It's called a 1000 Years of Peace. It talks about Revelation 20 and the number to call for that is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide a 1000 Years of Peace. Of course, if you have a Bible question, our phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297. That's 800-463-7297.
Doug: We got all our lines open. People are recovering from their Turkey coma or something.
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If you want to give us a call, get a good chance of getting your question on tonight's program. Have you ever had a question about the Bible or living the Christian life that's puzzled you? We don't claim to have all the answers, but we will do our best with what we know and the Bible resources at our fingertips. Free phone call. God says, it's 800-463-7297. You can say 463-7297, also. Give us a call. All right, who's up next, pastor? We can start on our next question, and then after the break, we'll maybe take the second half of it.
Jean: We got JJ listening in Kentucky. JJ, welcome to the program. You're on the air.
JJ: Hi. I just appreciate all that you all do with the ministry here. I had a question in regard to Daniel 7:7-8. Here, Daniel's talking about a dream with the four beasts. In reference to the fourth beast, he mentioned that it has 10 horns. I was just curious what those 10 horns are referring to, what they might correspond to.
Doug: Yes, I tell you what. Pastor Ross just finished a seminar on Daniel. I'll let him answer that question. You can hear from the elevator music in the background. We're getting ready to have just a brief break for station identification, but hey friends, we do have lines open. If you have a question, go ahead, give us a call. Great chance to get your question on the air tonight. Here's the number again, 800-463-7297 with your Bible questions. Any question about living the Christian life? We love to talk about the word of God. 800-463-7297. We will be right back.
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[music] Every Bible question you have answered moves you one step closer to the fullness of God's will for your life. What are you waiting for? Get the answers you need for a fuller, richer, more confident life. You're listening to Bible Answers Live. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode, if you'd like answers to your Bible-related questions on the air, please call us next Sunday between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM Pacific time. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this evening's program, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now, let's join Pastors Doug Batchelor and Jean Ross for more Bible Answers Live.
Doug: Welcome back listening friends to Bible Answers Live and if you have a Bible question, lines are wide open. Give us a call. We have one or two people standing by but about seven lines open right now. All you've got to do is make that free phone call with your Bible questions, 800-463-7297. I know it almost sounds like I'm begging, we don't want to beg. I just I think people want to talk about the word of God they think. Well, we'll never get on they're on all over the country, we're on satellite radio. All the lines are all backed up. No. They're not. Give us a call. Bible question and we'll be happy to answer. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean: My name is Jean Ross and just before the break we were talking to J.J. in Kentucky. J.J. are you still there?
J.J: Yes. Sir.
Jean: Yes. Thanks for holding. You had a question about the 10 horns of Daniel 7?
J.J: Yes sir. There's mention here in verse 8 that there are 10 horns on the fourth beast and then that another horn came up after them. Then I was also looking ahead in verse 24 it was mentioning that the 10 horns were 10 Kings that would arise out of the fourth beast. I was just curious what those 10 horns might correspond to if we had any idea.
Jean: Well, yes we do. Actually, a good question. To help identify who the horns are, you're going to have to look first of all at the beast and you have Daniel 7, a series of beasts which parallel Daniel 2, we have different kingdoms. Babylon was ruling when Daniel wrote the book of Daniel, followed by [unintelligible 00:32:24] Persia that conquered Babylon, and then you have the Kingdom of Greece with Alexander the Great.
That kingdom was eventually conquered by Rome. Rome is this fourth beast, but Rome was not conquered by one other power but rather its territory was divided up amongst the 10 Germanic invading tribes that came down from northeastern Europe and carved up the territory that was Rome's territory and became the modern nations of Western Europe. The Franks ended up settling in France, the Anglo-Saxons in England and so on and so forth.
There were three tribes, the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, and the Heruli, which were completely uprooted and destroyed. We have no modern nations of Western Europe that can trace directly back to one of those three tribes. Then, of course, Daniel 7 does talk about a little horn qrising amongst these 10 horns. These horns represent kingdoms and that really is the introduction of the people power that ruled for 1,260 years in Europe from 538 all the way through to 1798. That's just a quick overview of what we see in Daniel 7, with reference to those horns.
J.J: Oh, fantastic. I'm definitely into Roman-Greco history here and so just getting specifics on each of those 10 tribes and so forth. I'm going to look into more of that. I also had another quick question, if you don't mind that a line has been open. Genesis 6 referred to the Nephilim and I was just curious what exactly they were?
Doug: You're talking about where it says the Sons of God married the daughters of men?
J.J: Yes. Then after that in Genesis 6:4, I think referring to them being mighty men and the earth and just curious I guess about that whole passage. Well, what--
Doug: Yes. The word Nephilim is great ones are giants. Just so everyone gets the background of what's happening here because this is a verse that is much discussed and misunderstood. Matter of fact, I wrote a booklet on it that we'll send you a free copy of. After Cain killed Abel, Cain took his wife, one of his sisters and he went eastward and he built the city and he turned his back on God and the worship of God and all of his descendants remain separate from Adam and Eve and their other children. They had another boy named Seth, they had other sons and daughters you read in Genesis 5.
As long as they remain separate and for hundreds of years they probably remain separate, they continue to worship Jehovah. They were told not to intermarry with the descendants of Cain that it turned their back on God. What happened is the sons of God, the children of Seth and that were faithful, they saw the daughters of Cain that they were beautiful and they began to intermarry. As a result, it's something called genetic vitality. They ended up having these children that were giants, that were just very healthy, very big.
It doesn't mean they were part alien or part demon. I've heard all kinds of strange theories. They were giants even in the time of Abraham and David and Moses. It talks about giants in the land and we have giants in the world today. Not that many but they're out there. There is a whole race of them back then. That's the Nephilim. They're not part angel, they're not part demon or alien.
I've heard very interesting things, but yes. Just the descendants of Cain began to intermarry the descendants of Seth and it says you're not supposed to have believers marry with unbelievers. The result was right after it says this God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that's verse five. Through the intermarriage, they lost their distinctive faithfulness. Sin took over, violence filled the earth and God said I'm going to destroy the world with a flood. Now, we have a booklet on that we'll be happy to give you a free copy if you'd like that and it's called, "Who are the sons of God?"
J.J: Oh, thank you. Yes. I'll definitely appreciate all the help. I guess.
Jean: All right. Thanks for calling, J.J. One of the quick thing Pastor Doug we were talking a little bit earlier about Daniel 7. Just before the program, you sent me an email of some Greek coins that were on earth that has the inscription of Alexander the Great, it's got his picture on there. In Daniel 11, you have different empires represented by different beasts, ram and he-goat-- Daniel 8, sorry.
Daniel 8 you have these different beasts who are showing me on the coin there that was on earth, you have this picture of Alexander the Great and there are what looks like ram's horns depicted coming out of his head. Even back in those days, they recognized that beast would represent powers and they also recognized that horns in Bible prophecy represent kings. It's interesting.
Doug: That's right.Yes. The 10 horns and the beast in Revelation 13, coincide with the 10 toes and the 10 powers in Daniel. Thank you, J.J for your question. That does open the line. If you have a Bible question, one more time, 800-463-7297 brings you to the studio.
Jean: Next caller is Denise listening in Rhode Island. Denise, welcome to the program.
Denise: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call and I appreciate your ministries so much. My question is I was driving home from work today and I felt like the Holy Spirit was with me and then I said to myself, "Well, I have angels with me too." Is God sending the Holy Spirit for my mind's protection and the Angels for my physical protection or it just struck me as odd that I'm getting both. I didn't know what you thought about that and I just-- Well, I'll just listen?
Doug: Does God send angels for your protection or for the protection of the Holy Spirit within you?
Denise: Oh, no. No. No. I felt like Holy Spirit was with me, but then I said, "Oh, I've got angels too." I guess I must need both. I need extra protection, I don't know.
Doug: Well, the Spirit works through the angel. Yes. That's a good question. The Holy Spirit works through angels. The Bible tells us the angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him and he delivers them. Then you can read and Psalm 91, He will give his Angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways and they will bear you up in your hands lest you dash your foot against the stone. You can see where the angel of the Lord came and let the apostles out of prison. Angels came and delivered Paul.
Angel came to Paul in a storm and said-- Well, actually Paul said, "An angel of the Lord stood by beside me tonight." Often in the Bible you see angels that God uses to protect. The Holy Spirit is in angels like the Holy Spirit's in us. God's spirit may be guarding us but he still operates through his ministry in spirits, he's created agencies.
Jean: That was the verse I was going to reference in 2 Corinthians 3:7 where angels are referred to as ministering spirits from God for the purpose of ministering to us, those who will inherit a life.
Doug: The Holy Spirit often uses the angels to speak to us. You've probably seen these old cartoons where you've got a person struggling with temptation that looks like he's kind of a good little angel in one area. [crosstalk] There's more truth to that. I don't think we've got little cherubs on our shoulders, but there's more true to the concept that there are people get tempted by the devil and his angels and we are delivered in guided by God's good angels. There is some truth to that. Here we appreciate that.
We do have a study guide that you'd enjoy and it's called, "Angel messages from space." The number to call is 800-835-6747 that is our resource phone line. You can ask for the study guy called, "Angel messages from space." It's 800-835-6747. If you have a Bible question, a phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297, 800-463-7297. Our next caller is David listening in Sacramento. Hi David, welcome to the program.
David: Hey guys, how are you doing?
Doug: Doing good. Thank you for calling.
David: Good, good. I have a question for you guys. It also talks about clean and the unclean meat to eat. It also talks about the swines gizzards, not even clean touch. Is that correct?
Doug: It does say that.
David: If I have clothing, let's say that's made of, I don't know, pigs belt pigs tissues or something, would that be wrong to wear?
Doug: I would have enjoy knowing that I was wearing pig skin. I think that-- [unintelligible 00:41:37] football used to be called a pig skin because I think it was made out of the pig skin. I'm going to probably shake a lot of people up right now, but there are actually a number of leather Bibles out there and it doesn't tell you what the leather is, but we found out at amazing facts once that a lot of Bibles there, they use pig leather because it's very tough and it's inexpensive. It just seems like a little bit of a paradox to have pig leather on the Bible. Here, when the Bible says you're not to touch their carcass, of course, it doesn't just say don't touch anything from the pig.
It says don't touch their carcass. Obviously, decomposing carcass can bear contagious diseases and a number of plagues had been caused because of that. Certainly, we're not supposed to be ingesting the foods that God declared to be an abomination. Muslims, they read the same passages and they feel very strongly developed Muslims about not coming near anything that is connected with a pig. Now, Jay, I don't want to belittle this, but I know I'm going to probably wig out some people.
Most soap that people buy, if you just buy your on the shelf and it says in the ingredients, tallow weight or sodium tallow weight. Whenever you see the word tallow, that's often made from fat and they are not particular about whether it's cow fat or pig fat. What happens though is by the time it gets to be soap, it has gone through such a chemical purging and separation that you're really dealing with basic elements at that point. I don't worry about if I grabbed the hotel soap, where it came from. Anyway, I don't know if I helped or made it more confusing, David.
David: No, you got it [unintelligible 00:43:40] Would that be wrong then?
Doug: No, I don't think so. That stuff has been purified. If a person uses a bores hair brush to put on their savings cream, I don't think you're going to be rendered unclean. I think Jesus said it's not what goes in your mouth that defiles you. Of course, he's talking about eating with unwashed hands, but certainly if you're just touching the scrubbed and washed hears of a pig, I don't think it's going to render you unclean.
Jean: We do have a study guide that deals with the subject of at least eating unclean things. What does the Bible say is good to eat? We'll be happy to send you this study guide called, "God's free health plan." Anybody who is listening, if you'd like to receive that, just call 800-835-6747 and we'll send you the study guide called, "God's free health plan." One more time. That number is 800-835-6747 and the phone line here to the studio with your Bible question is 800-463-7297, 800-463-7297. Our next caller is Liz listening from Maryland. Liz, welcome to the program.
Liz: Hi, good evening.
Doug: Good evening. Thanks for calling.
Liz: Yes. My question is, if we are suppose to tithe from more net income or gross income?
Doug: All right. That's a good question. The tithe, biblically, a person was to take a 10th of their increase and they would set it aside and [unintelligible 00:45:10] or turning that to God and his service. Do you wait until you get your net income, which means after the government's gone through and taken out taxes and social security, your health benefits and a number of things might be deducted before you get your paycheck. You just pay on what you get or do you pay on the gross? Let's think about that. The principal of tithe is that when you've received income for your work and you've got increased from it, by whatever means you've gained, you pay tithe on that.
Now, my understanding is because the government might take out a percentage for taxes, that's still a benefit for you because that's paying for the roads we drive on. That's for the garbage pickup or whatever it is that the taxes are paying for. That's an expense just like your groceries. It's one of the expenses of life is you need to pay your rent, you need to pay for groceries, you need to pay your electric bill and you need to pay for the roads. The difference is that the government takes it out of your check. They don't just send you a bill, but it's still just a regular living expense. See what I'm saying?
Liz: Yes.
Doug: Now the difference would be if they take out social security, that's money they're going to send you later when you retire. You can either pay the tithe on your social security when you get old and you finally start getting the checks back or if you pay tithe on your income, you pay tithe on your gross, then when you finally get your social security check, you've already paid tithe on it. You see what I'm saying?
Liz: Yes.
Doug: I know it gets a little confusing.
Liz: Another question on top of that, when we get our income tax return, do we have to tithe on that or no?
Doug: If you've been paying tithe on your gross, no you don't because you've already paid tax on that income. The government does ran it through their books. They're just giving you back money you already earned. It's your money and you've already paid tax on it when you paid on your gross income. If you only paid on the net that you took home, then if you get a tax return, you should pay tithes on that. I really think that tithe is sort of like kindergarten for a new testament Christian.
Tithe was what God gave his people in the Old Testament. When we fall in love with the Lord and we give him 100% of our hearts, you look in the New Testament and they were saying, "No man said that author that he had was his own," but people were selling houses and lands and giving them to the preaching of the Gospel. You don't see less sacrifice in the new testament. You see more. Tithe as a starting point. Something I've discovered as you can't out give God, I've never experienced loss because I responsibly gave to God's work.
Now there are-- and you don't ever hear us doing this on this program, but there are some bamboozling pastors and televangelists out there, we all know about. All they do is they beg for money and they say, if you send money, you're going to be healthy, wealthy and wise and just send it to me. They rob people and they built people. I think Christians need to be responsible about their giving, that they know they're giving it to a reputable denomination that preaches the word that is doing a mission work.
They need to support their local church with their offerings. When you're faithful in your giving, God says, I'll open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so you don't have room enough to receive it. If you accidentally give a little too much and you're doing it from your heart, God knows how to competency. Does that make sense?
Liz: Yes, it did.
Doug: I can just tell over and over through my life that when we stepped out in faith and we gave a little extra God's some surprises us with what he does for us. It may be financially or it might be that some expense we thought we were going to have. We didn't have that. There's a lot of ways that God can bless you.
Liz: Thank you.
Jean: We have a study guide. We'll send you a study guide we've got that goes into detail on this and it's really-- It's fun to read. Believe it or not, it's illustrated and got a lot of scriptures in it. Study guide is called, "It is in God we trust." That's the name of study guide. Talking about the Bible and finances. The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask the study guide called, "It is in God we trust." and also read that for free online at the amazing facts website, theamazingfacts.org. Our next caller is, Christopher listening in San Francisco. Christopher, welcome in the program, you're on the air.
Christopher: Thank you for having me guys. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I got a couple of questions. Number one is how do we know we have the Holy Spirit with us?
Doug: All right, well, first of all, if you've come to the Lord and you surrender to him, have you made a decision to and you've been baptized?
Christopher: Yes, I have.
Doug: Let me quote you a verse. Peter said, "Repent and be baptized--" By the way, this is Acts 2, and Pastor Ross, I forget the verse number, it might be 33. He said that, "Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises unto you and your children as many as the Lord will call." Now, when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on him in a special way. Jesus said, "Go, teach, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." It connects then baptism with the Spirit again also.
Ross: Yes, that Acts 2:38.
Doug: 38.
Christopher: Verse 38?
Doug: Yes, there's a promise made that you may not feel a buzzing in electricity go up and down your spine when you get baptized. Let me explain the Holy Spirit, he is a person. He comes into your life before you're even a Christian to lead you to Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and he convicts you of your sin. That's not because he doesn't love you, it's because God does love you. He impresses you that you need to repent for your sins. When you do, he can be the same one who brings you power, he brings you peace.
Revelation the Holy Spirit is depicted as seven candlesticks, a lamb with seven eyes and talks about the seven Spirits of God because the work and the facets of the Holy Spirit are multiple, they're manifold. The Holy Spirit leads you. He comforts, he convicts, he empowers. Now, the Spirit of God came on David and he's saying, "Spirit of God came on Samson and he flew." It's the same Holy Spirit. You may not always feel God's spirit with you, but if you're continuing to humble yourself and empty yourself, God's Spirit will fill you.
Christopher: Okay. Thank you. Another question--
Doug: Okay, before I forget though, I want to tell you, Chris, I've got a book. I'll send you after your call. You can read it for free and ask for it. It talks about the Holy Spirit and how to receive the Holy Spirit, so just remember that. Your next question.
Christopher: My next question was spiritual tongues. I go to church and the pastor told me just exercise them as healthy to exercise. I exercise them and sometimes I feel that I just want to don't let him out. You know what I mean? When I do let him out, I feel like people looking at me weird.
Doug: You're talking about speaking in tongues?
Christopher: Yes.
Doug: The pastor is encouraging you to just when you feel an impulse to let out some ecstatic utterance?
Christopher: Yes.
Doug: All right, even more important than the book I just mentioned. I've got a book-- We're going to bring your volume down a little bit because there's a beeping. I've got a book I've written and it's called Understanding Tongues. Now, Christopher, we believe in all the gifts of the Spirit, but the gift of tongues is often misunderstood. You don't see anywhere in the Bible where Jesus and the Apostles were encouraged or they encouraged others to just blurt out ecstatic utterances. At Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke other tongues, everybody listening from other countries understood what they were saying.
They were speaking in tongues that had formerly been unknown to them, but they weren't known to somebody. It says there were 16 different language groups. The purpose of the gift of tongues is that you might communicate the Gospel in languages, maybe you had not formally known or studied and not everybody has that gift of tongues. Paul says in two different books, "Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are not." Some get different gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes to different believers, different gifts. The idea that every believer is supposed to speak in tongues is not Biblical. Are you still there, Chris?
Christopher: Yes, I'm here.
Doug: I hope you'll study that carefully because I know there's a lot of lovely people that love the Lord, that may believe differently, but the gifts of the Spirit including the gift of tongues when God lists the gifts tongues is one of the lowest gifts. Some churches make it one of the most important gifts. I think we need to keep it in a biblical balance. The Bible says, "Do not speak in tongues if there is nobody to translate," and that's 1 Corinthians 14.
He also says that, "I'd rather speak five words with my understanding that I might instruct others than 10,000 in an unknown tongue." God wants us to give a certain sound. Paul says, "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound if there's no distinction in the sound, nobody knows what song the trumpeter is playing or how to prepare for battle." He's saying, "When you speak, speaks of somebody listening and understands."
Ross: You just want to mention that book before we forget, it's called Understanding Tongues. It's a very important subject, and we'll be happy to send this to you. Christopher, I hope you'll call and ask for it. The book given is called Understanding Tongues. I would be happy to send it to you free. The number is 800-835-6747 and ask for the book called Understanding Tongues. Our next caller is-- She's listening from California. We have Elimo.
Doug: Elimo, welcome to the program.
Emilio: It's Emilio.
Doug: Emilio. Thank you. Emilio, we've got about 45 seconds. Can we do a quick question?
Emilio: Yes, I'm calling from Colorado California. My question is on Genesis 1:3, 2 through 5 and 1:14 and 15, which he says, "And God say, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that light that was good. God divided the light from the darkness." It talks about light and darkness.
Doug: Quickly.
Emilio: Early, then, later on, it says, "God created the sun, the moon, and the star.
Doug: Okay. Quick answer to that. God was the light, in the beginning. Says, "God is light, in him is no darkness at all." The first light you see in Genesis is God's presence. The sun was made on the fourth-day, vegetation made on the third day. These must have been a literal days. Sorry to rush you off the air, Emilio. Thank you for calling friends. God willing, we'll be back next week.
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