Hello friends, this is Doug Batchelor, how about an amazing fact? Walking Catfish are a unique species of fresh water catfish found primarily in South East Asia. As reflected in their name, they have the amazing ability to walk or to scoot across land to find food or suitable environments. While it does not truly walk as most creatures, it does have the ability to use its pectoral fins to keep it up right as it makes a sort of wiggling forward motion with snake like movements. Some of these squirming migrations span over a mile. You might be wondering, "how does this fish manage to breathe while it’s out of the water for so long”?
Walking Catfish possess a large accessory breathing organ. These tree-like respiratory structures extend above the gill chambers, enabling it to absorb atmospheric oxygen. It can survive quite a while using this form of locomotion, as long as it stays moist, that’s why most of these migrations happen during or after a rain fall. These fish normally live in slow moving and often stagnant ponds, swamps, streams, and rivers at the Mekong Basin. When these flooded rice patties or temporary pools dry up, its walking skills come in handy for moving to other pools of water. It would be interesting to be driving down the road someday and see a sign that said, “Caution, Catfish crossing”. Knowing God can design a fish to walk on land, it should not be hard for us to believe that 'He can empower a man to walk on water. Stay with us friends, we’re going to earn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of “Bible Answers Live”.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug: Life is filled with questions, most important questions, “Where did you come from, what are you doing here, and where are you going?” And the answers to all these questions, can be found in that bestselling book called, “The Bible”. Welcome friends, this is Bible Answers Live, and if you have any Bible related questions, we’d invite you to call in to this program, it’s a free phone call and we do have lines open. So pick up your phone now, give us a call. That number is “1-800-GOD-SAYS”, that’s “1-800-462-7297” and keep a pencil handy because we are going to give you and other phone number, for our resources and some other websites that will greatly enhance your knowledge of God’s word. One more time, that number for the studio is 1-800-GOD-SAYS, that’s 463-7297. And my name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross, good evening listening friends and Pastor Doug, let’s begin the program with prayer. Dear Father, we thank you again for the opportunity to do this program, we ask for your blessing to be upon it, be with those who are listening wherever they might be. We ask for wisdom here in the studio as we search to scriptures for answers. Lord we recognize that the Bible is your book and in order to correctly understand it we need your guidance, so be with us this evening, in Jesus name, amen.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Pastor Doug, that was a fascinating fact about fish or catfish that actually crawled out of the water and walked across land to find some more water. You know it must be quite an experience to see these fish, and in the description given, they have these tree like organs that sort of petrude from their head, where they’re able to take in oxygen from the air. Really a remarkable creation that God had for these things to live both in the water and out the water, but what about man walking on water? Know I think the Bible only speaks of 2 people who have ever walked on water.
Pastor Doug: Well, there’s a whole nation that kind of walked through a sea, but that’s a little different. That’s right, Jesus was walking on the water, and people thing, “Well, He’s the Son of God, of course He can walk on water”, but when Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you, bid that I come to you on the water”, Jesus said, “Come”. And then you had an ordinary man, Peter was able to walk on water for a while he started to sink after he took his eyes off of Jesus. And in the same way, how can we do the impossible? I mean, how can a fish walk on land? Fish can swim. How can a Christian live a holy life in this sinful world? That seems impossible. How can a person walk on water? That seems impossible too. But as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk as no man had walked before. And if we’re going to walk a Godly walk, a Christian walk in this sinful world, if we’re going to walk with God as Enoch did and Noah did, then the key is, we’ve got to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. You know, there’s a lot of talk these days about, “excuses that are made, for well, after all we’re all human and nobody is really expecting to stop sinning”, but we don’t say as much about, well “can we be like Christ? Can we be over comers? Can we be victorious?” We’ve really become very astute at finding excuses for sin, but we don’t provide people power, encouragement for victory. And the Bible tells us that, “Living a Godly life is possible”. You know, in the book of Jude, this is that 1 book just before Revelation, and there’s only 1 chapter, verse 24, here’s what Jude says when he closes this book, “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy”. You know, the Bible tells us that, “God promises that He can keep us from sin, that no temptation will come to us, that”, but as such is common to man, that’s 1st Corinthians chapter 10, “but God will with every temptation provide a way of escape so we can bare it”. We are able to do all things through Christ, and maybe you have some other verses pop into your mind on that subject?
Pastor Jëan Ross: That verse you just quoted, found in Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, where Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me”. The key to that of course, is keeping one’s eyes fixed upon Christ, keeping one’s mind in constant connection with heaven, that’s by faith. The (inaudible 7:23) shall live by faith in Romans chapter 1, “so it is trusting in the Lord moment by moment that we can gain the victory”.
Pastor Doug: It’s, that’s right, absolutely possible for us to live new lives and be new creatures. And anyone out there listening, if you’re a Christian and maybe you struggled with some addiction, alcohol, or drugs, or cigarettes, or whatever it is, and you’ve gained the victory, then you know what it means to be set free. And that same way that you’ve been set free in those areas, Christ is able to help you be free in any area otherwise, we make excuses for the devil being more powerful than Christ. So if you’d like some encouragement from the word of God that you can live a holy life, that you can live different from those in the world. We’ve got a special book that will show you Bible promises on “how to live a Godly life”. Pastor Ross?
Pastor Jëan Ross: The book is entitled, “Is it Possible to Live without Sinning?”, “Is it Possible to Live without Sinning?” To receive this book, call our resource line, the number is 1-800-835-6747. Again our resource line 1-800-835-6747, and ask for the book, “Is it Possible to Live without Sinning?” Pastor Doug, before we go to the phone lines here, it looks as though we have just a few more lines still open, if you’d like to get your call in this evening, this would be a good time to call. The number here to the studio is 1-800-GOD-SAYS, that 1-800-463-7297. We’re going to go to the phone lines, Winston is calling from Canada. Winston, welcome to the program.
Winston: Hi Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Winston: How are you?
Pastor Doug: And your question tonight?
Winston: My question is, if Jesus ascended, the only one that ascended into heaven, and if He is the only one that possesses immortality, Enoch, in walking with God, he was not found for God took him, and if Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, where are they gone?
Pastor Doug: Well you’re starting with a presumption based on, I think some new verses in the New Testament, or at least a verse, that Jesus is the only on that ascended. I think that Christ is talking about the only one who really lived in the presence of God. Enoch and Elijah certainly ascended to heaven God didn’t put them in some waiting room or greyhound bus station somewhere. And so, when it says, “he was not, for God took him” and Elijah was taken to heaven, they both were taken to probably the city of God, that is of in the heavens somewhere.
Winston: So.
Pastor Doug: Are you basing this on the verse in the New Testament where Jesus.
Pastor Jëan Ross: John Chapter 3.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, want to read that for us?
Pastor Jëan Ross: John 3 verse 13. Let me read it, it says, “And no man has ascended up into heaven but he that has come down, even the Son of man which is in heaven”.
Pastor Doug: Is that the verse you’re talking about Winston?
Winston: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, that verse
Winston: In order for them to be in God’s city, shouldn’t they have glorified bodies? Jesus is the only one that has a glorified body we will receive one at resurrection, right? “All the saints are sleeping, God
Pastor Doug: Correct.
Winston: (inaudible 10:42) together with my dead body, they shall arise, awake ye that sleep in the dust”, right?
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Winston: So where, I still can’t fathom where Elijah and Enoch are. The only thing that in personally come up with, is that they have been taken by God physically, yes at their time, but has been translated into resurrection with us.
Pastor Doug: Alright, let me ask you question.
Winston: (inaudible)
Pastor Doug: with Enoch and Elijah, would you agree that God did something unusual with Enoch and Elijah?
Winston: Perfectly.
Pastor Doug: Alright, then you probably, it’s shouldn’t be a leap of logic to believe, that God made an exception, He did something out the ordinary with Enoch and Elijah, it would be just as easy for Him to complete the translation and give them glorified bodies.
Winston: Yes, but Christ is the only 1st, Christ is the 1st fruit.
Pastor Doug: Well when you read, before the death and resurrection of Christ, if you read in Mark chapter 9, it talks about “Enoch, I’m sorry, Elijah and Moses appearing to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration”, and they probably had glorified bodies, otherwise Elijah’s body would have been 600 years old.
Winston: I have a problem with. Yeah, that’s something else I have a problem with too, like where Elijah and Moses come from?
Pastor Doug: Well, you know, I’ve got a book on this that I’ll be happy to send you
Winston, it’s called, “The Glorious Mount”. I think it’s also called, “The Two Witnesses”, it’s dealing with the Mount of Transfiguration, and it specifically talks about, “Why did Moses appear, and Elijah?” Moses of course died, you do read in the book of Jude, that Michael the arch angel comes and argues with the devil over the body of Moses, and it’s understood that Michael came and resurrected Moses, the very fact that he appears alive to Jesus is pretty good evidence that he was resurrected, and that’s mentioned in 3 gospels, “Matthew, Mark, and Luke”. So Elijah had a glorified body, as did Moses and the evidence for that is it says, “Christ was glorified”, Christ went from a human body, during this experience He was glorified before the disciples, Moses and Elijah were also glorified, the disciples couldn’t even bare to look at the vision, so they had to have glorified bodies, if they’re in the presence of God. And take a look at that book called, “The Two Witnesses”, we’ll send you a free copy of that. And Pastor Ross, would you please share the number?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yes, the number Winston is 1-800-835-6747, again 1-800-835-6747 and ask for the book, “The Two Witnesses”, and we’ll be happy to send that out to you. Our next caller is Ron and he is calling from North Carolina. Ron, Welcome to the program.
Ron: Thank you.
Pastor Doug: How can we help you Ron?
Ron: I’d like to say we are big fans. Enjoy everything we’ve seen from you right now and got a quick question. We’ve got a youngster, our son and we keep the Sabbath, which is Saturday, and we would like to (inaudible 13:54) but we’re wondering if that is right or not?
Pastor Doug: Well, when you look at the principles about Sabbath keeping, it says in Isaiah 58, “Not, you know, speaking the known words, or going the known way, or doing the known pleasure”. It, there was a famous story about a missionary who entered the Olympics before he became a missionary, named Eric Little. And he of course was a Sunday keeper, but he was very devote about keeping the Sabbath, and he trained for years to run in the Olympics, but when he found out his event was on Sunday, which was the Sabbath for him. He said, “You know, I’d rather honour God and disappoint my whole country”. Well it turns out, they let him run the different event, and he won because God honours those that honour Him. It’s the same principle. Sometimes we’re going to be tested, and hopefully, the, you know, we entered our kids in T-ball and sometimes the kids get involved in different games, where they’ll have meets or events and, you know, it might be on Sabbath, we just tell our kids, “Hey boys, it’s from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, we don’t do that, we honour the Lord”. And that’s you know, the kind of spirit Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had when they said, “We’re not going to bow down, we’re not going to break God’s commandments even once”. Obviously T-ball is not a holy Sabbath activity. You got a lot of parents around and it can get, it can get very interesting.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Well it sounds like you’ve read our study guide on the Sabbath called, “The Last Day of History”. You know, I think there is a section in there Pastor Doug and Ron that actually talk about, “How do you keep the Sabbath?” So that won’t be helpful as well.
Pastor Doug: Have you read that before Ron?
Ron: We have not, but the whole thing with (inaudible 15:44), you know, we don’t know whether keeps Saturday or Sunday is Sabbath but he’s does go out there on the field on Saturday with (inaudible 15:56) underneath his eyes. And we, you know, we just kind of threw it out there and we’re just kind of up and (inaudible 16:02) on the whole T-ball thing.
Pastor Doug: Well I would say that, that practice would not be in keeping with... 1st of all, anything that is going to interrupt your corporate worship, and that practice, I don’t think would be in keeping with the principles that the Bible lays out for, “how do you keep the Sabbath holy?” I can’t imagine a holy T-ball. So you know, if you haven’t received it yet, let us send you Ron, that study guide.
Pastor Jëan Ross: It’s called, “The Last Day of History”. And to receive it, just call our resource line, 1-800-835-6747, you can ask for the book, “The Last Day of History”. Thank you for your call Ron, we appreciate it. Next caller is Jay, and he is calling from Brooklyn, New York. Jay, welcome to the program.
Jay: How you doing? Praise the Lord.
Pastor Doug: How can we help you Jay?
Jay: I have a question. I want to paraphrase this because I don’t know the verse word for word, but it has something to do about women exerting authority over men in the last days. Could you tell me if you recognize that and where it is exactly?
Pastor Doug: You know, it’s interesting you would ask that question because 2 weeks ago, my message was on that very verse, and there’s actually several verses that you find in 1st Timothy, well you can look in 1st Timothy 2, 12, “But I suffer not a woman to teach or to usurp authority over a man but to be in silence”. And then Paul goes on to quote from Genesis. He says, “For Adam was formed 1st and not Eve”. Some people say, “Well this was a tradition”. Well if it was a tradition, Paul would not, now point back to scripture to support what he’s saying, and what he’s referring to is in scripture. After sin, God said to Eve that, you know, “Multiply your sorrow in conception and in labour you’ll bring forth children, and your desire will be to your husband and he will rule over you”. And I believe that’s Genesis chapter 3, that’s 15 I believe. So, now that, when it says here, “I suffer not a woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man”, Paul is not saying that “a woman can never teach in any capacity” because they do teach other places in the Bible. He’s talking about, “In the capacity of an ordained pastor”, because in the churches of Epiphysis and Corinth, they were doing as the pagans did, where the women were priestess. You maybe heard of the Oracle of Delphi, they had lady priests that were guiding the men. And Paul said, “No. Men should be the priest leaders in the church and in the family”, and so he was speaking against this practice, really of the ordination of women as pastors and elders, putting them in a position of authority, teaching with that authority.
Jay: Could I ask a question?
Pastor Doug: Sure.
Jay: If a woman is suddenly working as a ordained pastor or bishop, would she be considered, by scripture, walking in disobedience?
Pastor Doug: Well, I believe the practice is in disobedience, but let me hasten to say, “God often winks at our ignorance”. I don’t question that there are women out there that are involved in ministry that God is using. Let me give you an example. I’ve often used this in the Bible of King David. Did God bless King David? Gave him a lot of victories in battle, does that mean that he was supposed to have 10 wives, or Solomon to have 300? So God sometimes winks at our ignorance, and there are some churches out there that maybe don’t understand these verses but I think that they’re, I think that, that practice is a violation of scripture, which to me is very clear. Not very popular these days, but it’s pretty clear when you, there’s a lot of verses on this subject, I’m just giving you 1, or actually, you just mentioned 1 here but a lot of verses in the Bible talk about, that there’s a distinction between men and women when it comes to the family, men should be the servant leaders in the family, that’s where the word “Husband” come from, he’s the house band. Now there are women prophets in the Bible, there are women that ministers in all kinds capacities, and I always point back to, you’ve got Amram and Jochebed had 3 children, Miriam, Aaron, and Moses, all 3 of their children were prophets, but only the boys served as priests, Jesus only chose men as apostles. And when Judas hung himself, they needed to replace Judas, they picked 2 men to replace him from. They could have picked Mary Magdalene or someone else. Christ obviously used the women in His ministry but not in the capacity of ordained apostles, pastors, priests so forth. So there is a distinction right there.
Jay: Women that usually are pastors, they usually use this particular verse to confirm or to justify them being pastors, the verse that says that, “God (Inaudible)”.
Pastor Doug: I think you cut out on us Jay, but I think you’re going to quote where it says in Galatians, “There is neither male nor female. There is neither Greek nor Jew.
There is neither bond nor free for all are one in Christ”? You still there? Can you press?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Let’s see if we can get him back. Nope.
Pastor Doug: It’s not in 5. Jay, you there? Jay?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Jay?
Jay: Yup?
Pastor Doug: Yeah your, technical problems. So you’re quoting that verse that said,
Jay: Yes, yes.
Pastor Doug: “Neither male nor female in Christ”?
Jay: Yeah, that’s the one they use, that’s the one that they use. And I said that, “that’s unto salvation, not unto (inaudible 21:40)”.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, that verse, that’s being abused. It’s simply saying that, “When it comes to access to Christ and salvation, God does not discriminate based on our economy, rich or poor, He doesn’t do it based on race, Jew or Greek, and He doesn’t do it based on gender”. He not saying that, “once we accept Christ, you lose your race or you lose your economics or you lose your gender”. So those things still are established, but everybody. You know, that’s why Christ said, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”. That’s what Paul is saying, is that, “Everybody’s gotten free access”. Paul is the one who said that in Galatians, Paul was also the one who makes the strongest statements about “women not having authority over men”. So hey, you know, I have a book I just wrote on this subject, be happy to send you a free copy Jay, and it’s called, “Women in Ministry”.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747. Ask for the book “Women in Ministry”. Our next caller is James, calling from Saint Louise Missouri. James, welcome to the program.
James: (Inaudible)
Pastor Doug: James, you’re on the air, you there?
James: Yes sir. I really feel like I would stick my foot in my mouth and disrespect both of you and I really wouldn’t know how say what I’m going to say so I just want to say thank you both and just keep up the work, okay?
Pastor Doug: Well thank you, bless your heart.
James: God bless you.
Pastor Doug: Appreciate your phone call. And I wouldn’t worry about putting your foot in your mouth though but, (laughing).
Pastor Jëan Ross: Thank you for your call James, appreciate it. Next caller is Adam and he is calling from Brooklyn, New York.
Pastor Doug: Adam you there?
Adam: Yes. How you doing sir?
Pastor Doug: Doing well, how can we help you tonight?
Adam: Well I actually had a question on the book of Acts.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Adam: I know the Bible says that, you know that, “nothing can be taken or added to the word of God”
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Adam: But I read the (inaudible 23:38) the new international version, and I see that chapter 8, in chapter 8, the verse 37 is missing, it’s not there. I mean, what happened to it?
Pastor Doug: Verse 37 is missing? Well, you’re using the NAV?
Adam: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Yeah. Now you’re going to find that, that’s certainly not our favourite translation here in the office. The problem is, that most of the Bibles are translated from, I shouldn’t say “Most”, but King James, the New King James, the new American standard, they incorporate the manuscripts Textus Receptus. And the NIV something called, “The Siniaticus”, which was a translation of… and we’re only talking about the New Testaments, the Old Testaments are all the same. It was missing some verses, it was a copyist version and there were some deletions and… So if they didn’t find it in there manuscript, they left it out. But the Textus Receptus is called “The Receive Text” because it was the most widely received… Even Martin Luther called the other manuscripts, he called them “illegitimate”, except he didn’t use that word, he used a stronger word. (Laughing)
Adam: (Laughing)
Pastor Doug: But… So that’s why we typically use the King James, the New King James, the New American standard. The NIV is… Several stories, it’s just a, kind of a corrupted manuscript they’ve used, I believe. They used the Vaticanus, which is a manuscript they found in the Vatican and the Siniaticus. But yeah… otherwise, you’re going to find a lot… it’s a hundred percent consistent, these other translations.
Adam: Alright. Thank you so much for your help.
Pastor Doug: I appreciate it. By the way Adam, we have a book we can send you on that, that has more information, and it’s called, “The Faithful Witness”. Deals with Bible translations, “The Faithful Witness by Sharon Cruz”.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747. And again, the book is entitled, “The Faithful Witness”, and if you’d call that number, we’ll be happy to send it out. Well let’s see, do we have time for 1 more before our break? We got Pastor Larry calling from San Diego California. Larry, welcome to the program.
Larry: Hey, thanks for taking my call. Just driving home from a feeding, I’m a Chaplin in a prison, that’s where my main work is in prison, most I run a, we have a state licensed drug rehab.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Larry: So I deal with men all the time, in very difficult situations, you know, some of the guys have life, and some of them don’t know how to live life.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Larry: And so it’s a challenge, but one of the things I’ve been doing, I run this bayou, is teaching them, like it says, what a pastor does… I’ve been a pastor for a long time… is teaching them, where it says, “To teach them the knowledge of the Son of God”.
Pastor Doug: Right.
Larry: And it says that, “All of us are supposed to do that”, the apostles… All of us did the same thing, and also says, “We all do the same thing, as far as teaching the knowledge of the Son of God until they all come into a perfect man, and that we all have the same assignment, working towards everyone”. And so, what I’ve been doing, is teaching them... because I think we do… a lot of times, with the service, when we… because at 1st John 3 says that, “We are calling as a son of God”, we’re not called not be a Christian or whatever, we’re called to be sons of God
Pastor Doug: Yeah. And is actually
Pastor Doug: And we have an identity crisis right now, that’s my problem. I got to a bunch of guys with identity crisis.
Pastor Doug: So is that your question? What does it mean when it says… what does it mean to be a son of God?
Larry: Yeah. I mean that’s it! That knowledge of the Son of God is… remember Jesus said that, “The whole operation was going to be built on that, that He as the Son of God and He is the Messiah”
Pastor Doug: Well let me.
Larry: And everything would be built on that.
Pastor Doug: Alright, let me address that for just a second there, you can read for instance, when Christ was baptized, that it said that, “He came up out of the water and there was a voice that said, this is my Son of God in whom I’m well pleased”, and what Christ experienced, all of us here to experience. We are adopted when we accept
Jesus, into His family we become sons and daughters of God. And a verse for that is 1st John 3, 1, “Behold what manner of love the Father’s bestowed on us, that we should be called sons of God”. And of course, there are a number of verses in the Bible that deal with that. You can look for instance in Isaiah 56, “Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and name a better then sons and daughters”. So we become sons and daughters of God, when we accept Him. Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”, all that are Spirit led are sons of God.
Well we’re going to take a break listening friends. Thank you for your call Pastor Larry, and if you’ll check out the website, we’re going to have a few moments, just right down, “Amazingfacts.org”. We’ll be back in just a few moments with more Bible questions.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug: We are back and we are live, and listening friends, if you have not heard of Amazing Facts before, it’s going to be real easy to find out more. All you’ve got to do is type in the words, “Amazing Facts”, you can just go to Yahoo or Google or one of those search engines, or just type in “Amazingfacts.com”, or “Amazingfacts.org”, or “Amazingfacts.tv”, or “Amazingfacts.net”, and you’ll find out about this international gospel ministry. And basically, we exist to spread the good news, we do it through radio, television, publishing, live training, the internet, and every viable means we can. And we’re just trying to get the message out, that Jesus is the truth, He’ll set you free, and He’s coming back. Nothing more important friends, then knowing the Lord and learning to love Him, and love your neighbors, that’s why we answer all these Bible questions. The sum total of everything we’re talking about, can be added up in love for God and love for your fellow man. And that’s why the cross goes in 2 directions it’s the vertical love relationship and the horizontal love relationship. Hey we have a website we like to tell you more about, and we had a number of questions tonight, somewhere on the subject of the Sabbath. There’s a website simply called “Sabbathtruth.com”. This is a, it’s a Bible teaching that’s sort of been lost, you know, people argue about all kinds of different Bible doctrines, but when it comes to something as fundamental as one of the 10 commandments, something that would affect you every week. Then we Christians need to get their heads together, and what does the Bible say about this subject of resting in Christ and a day of rest? And we get a lot of questions on that, so we’ve got a website dedicated to giving the history, and the scriptures, and the references answering questions. If you’d like to know more about the truth of the Sabbath, then go to Sabbathtruth, “Sabbathtruth.com”, and you’ll find a whole bunch, a plethora, an abundance of information on that subject. We’re back with your questions, my name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross. And friends, if you like to call in your question this evening, the number to call is 1-800-GOD-SAYS, that’s 1-800-462-7297. Pastor Doug, we’re ready for the phone lines.
Pastor Doug: I’m ready, I don’t know what the question is, we’ll take our
Pastor Jëan Ross: Okay.
Pastor Doug: best shot at it.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We’ve got Tom, who is calling from Sacramento. Tom, welcome to the program.
Tom: Thank you. Good to have you pastors and God bless you for your program.
Pastor Doug: Thank you.
Tom: My question deals with the competition. We had this Super Bowl last week and it seems, in professional sports in the military and in business, there’s a element of competition that is involved, and I’m wondering what the Bible says about competition. And if there is… and the 2nd part of this question would be, is there a false competition, when did the satanic in origin, and is there a good competition with the Godly in origin? And I’m wondering if you could explain what the Bible says about that.
Pastor Doug: Well.
Tom: I’m thinking. My though process was… it seems like a lot of selfishness in competition today, needing to dominate the other person.
Pastor Doug: Yes. You know, you read in Psalm 19, verse 5, “Which is as a bride groom coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race”. And then… that’s the Old Testament that was Psalm 19, 5, if you look in the New Testament in 1stCorinthians 9, 24. Paul says, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receives the price”. I think Paul also makes another reference to one who boxes against the air. The New Testament writers were immersed. You know, right now, as the time of this recording, sometimes they rerun these, and so I like to just contextualize it. The Winter Olympics have just begun and, you know, people are immersed in that here but Paul, back in his day, they had come out of Greek occupation for 200 years. The Jews were very involved in sports at that time, there were Jews that were called “The Hellenistic Jews”, and that they have, sort of absorbed the Greek culture and there was a lot of competition. But you don’t really see an example in the Bible, of, where God is encouraging people to compete against each other so that you could win, you know, beat somebody up, or beat him in a race. Now, that’s not to say, you know, “I played my son a game of Ping-Pong today and we kept score and we laughed when we make a good hit or when someone does something funny”. You know, and so I’m not of the opinion that 2 people can’t play together and have fun, and you just measure how long you play, by score. But when it starts getting into the spirit of pride, and arrogance, and people striding, and parading when they get a touchdown, I don’t see Jesus or the apostles doing that. So you know what I’m saying Tom? It has something to do with the Spirit.
Tom: Yes, I do.
Pastor Doug: And I’m probably compromised in my comments now, because Pastor Ross and I play racket ball.
Pastor Jëan Ross: (Laughing)
Tom: (Laughing)
Pastor Doug: And so we’re, you know, everyone needs to just take… we need to confess that while we answer this question, that we probably can’t be totally objective. (Laughing)
Pastor Jëan Ross: (Laughing)
Tom: (Inaudible)
Pastor Doug: But, you know, we’re always friendly and we pray together before and after we play, don’t we?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Although the winner always prays at the end.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, the loser never feels like praying, so we asked the winner to pray. But yeah, so you know, if something’s done like that for the sake of exercise, and fellowship, and recreation, that’s one thing. When you get into these team sports, where people are, the spirit is just to dominate and crush someone else, that’s not the spirit of Christ.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, there’s also a couple passages like you mentioned, where Paul talks about running a race, and it’s interesting he uses the parallel of those who run races, and then he likens the Christian to run the race set before us, that is the race of living a Godly life. And you can read about that in 1st Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24 through to the end of the chapter, that’s verse all the way to 27. And then also, he talks about, in Hebrews 12, verse 1.
Pastor Doug: I just go in there.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You going in that pastor.
Pastor Doug: Go ahead.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Where it says, “Wherefore sing that we are compassed about for such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weights and the sin that does so easily beset us, let us run with patience, the race that is set before us”, and he says, “If people are willing to train and work as hard as they do, to obtain a corruptible crown, how much more should we strive to gain an incorruptible crown?”, and that, of course being our eternal life in heaven.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, that’s something to an effort for. People train for yours for 1 week at the Olympics. And we got to put every fiber of energy into living the Christ like life. Does that make sense Tom?
Tom: Yes it does, thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: Hey we appreciate your question.
Pastor Jëan Ross: our next caller is Jena calling from Michigan. Jena welcome to the program.
Sana: I’m Sana
Pastor Jëan Ross: Sana. Sorry about that, welcome to the program.
Sana: It’s okay. I was wondering if you can help me out with the divorce and remarriage and help me understand it better with the exceptions and anything you can tell me.
Pastor Doug: Well there, you know, Christ in His teaching, He talks about the only grounds really, biblical grounds for divorce, is when the marriage vows been violated through fornication, is a word Jesus used, and that would mean, of course “Immorality”. That’s Matthew 5:31. You’ll also find that, I believe it’s in Matthew 19.
Pastor Jëan Ross: 5
Pastor Doug: Jesus said, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts suffered (inaudible 38:28) the way your wives but from the beginning it was not so”. And so there’s a couple of examples there. Now when you do get to 1st Corinthians 7, and I always say this carefully. 1st Corinthians 7:14, it says, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, otherwise your children would be unclean but now they’re holy but if the unbeliever departs, let him depart, a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases God has called us to peace”. What was happening is, through the pagan world, when these pagans sometimes won spouse would accept Christianity and the other would not, and the husband and wife that was a pagan worshipping Apollo or Mercury or whatever the gods were, said “Look, I’m not going to accept Christianity and I didn’t bargain for this and I’m not going to be married to a Christian and I’m out of here”. Then they were going to Paul and they’re saying, “Now what do I do? My husband’s left, I got, you know, 2 children, I got no father, no means of income. Am I now never free to marry again?” And many have argued that this verse says “that if someone is abandoned because of their faith, and they converted, you know, after marriage, and their husband or wife abandoned them, they would be free to remarry in Christ”. So those the only, maybe Pastor Ross you can think of something else to add to that, those are the only 2 real exceptions I find in the scripture. Now if someone is, you know, being abused, you might need to separate, but that’s different from divorce.
Sana: Right.
Pastor Doug: Purpose of separation, of course is in the hope there could be counseling, and reform, and reconciliation.
Sana: Now, if it was a divorce due to adultery, what are the grounds for that?
Pastor Doug: Well, if a person’s been divorce because their partner was unfaithful, biblically they are free to remarry of course, someone of the same faith. But… and that’s why Jesus said, “They’re free to divorce”. See, if a person’s never going to get married again, they don’t need to worry about divorce.
Sana: Right.
Pastor Doug: And there might be some, you know, financial reasons to get the book separated but really, the reason people go through with a divorce, is they want to be “legally free to remarry”. And so, when Christ says, “Fornication is grounds for divorce”, He implies there, that means, “divorce and remarriage”.
Sana: So that would make the vows completely terminated?
Pastor Doug: Yeah well
Sana: Correct?
Pastor Doug: Yeah. When the children of Israel made a covenant with God, and when they broke the covenant, you know, then He had to make a different covenant, that’s where we get the “New Covenant”, because they broke the old one.
Sana: Okay.
Pastor Doug: So when a contract is violated, it can be terminated. You got, you hear that?
Sana: Right.
Pastor Doug: Doesn’t have to be. So sometimes, I’ve seen some marriages where one of the partners was unfaithful and others I’ve seen some where both were, and they managed to go through a conversion and reconcile and still married. So just because there’s been unfaithfulness, doesn’t mean you have to get divorced. Sometimes, it’s a moment of weakness and there’s children involved and that was never the pattern and you know, by all means, it’s a better testimony to reconcile and this may not be your situation but there’s other listening that, want to make sure they don’t say, “Oh, well good, I can run off and get divorced”, and there’s still hope for the relationship. So does that help a little bit?
Sana: It does.
Pastor Doug: Now we have study guide on this subject, would you like us to send you a copy?
Sana: Please.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call for that is 1-800-835-6747, and the study guide is simply entitled, “Keys for a Happy Marriage”, and Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: I thought of one more thing on that question, there is one other exception. Abraham was told to divorce Hagar because he had too many wives, and so I know, some people get married, it still happens today, and they find out, that rascals still married to someone else on another coast, and you have biblical grounds to divorce if you’ve been married under a false pretences like that, and they got too many wives or husbands out there.
Pastor Jëan Ross: (Laughing) Okay. Alright, next caller is Brian, calling from Turlock, California. Brian, welcome to the program.
Brian: Thank you.
Pastor Doug: How can we help you Brian?
Brian: Well, I was listening to you and as I mentioned to the gentlemen that I talked to 1st. I’ve been in the Christian community all my life and actually been involved with many different denominations through worship in the health care industry and to them, and just different things. And I was listening to you talking about the Sabbath and then, obviously that kind of related to many other things that immediately popped into my mind, with regard to what the Old Testament says versus what the New Testament says, you know, I like the eye for an eye thing and then Jesus tells you, “to turn the other cheek”. There’s also a verse that has, in the New Testament, that says, you know, “Don’t judge a weaker brother if he doesn’t, you know, behave in the way of the manner that you’re convicted to behave in manner, that you’re adopted, or that you feel is the word of God”. And it kind of came up through the Sabbath issue with, you know, the T-ball, and I was wondering, how… I’ve always had difficulty in trying to understand where, you know, you make the break from the old to the new and those types of things that has been very difficult all my life, because I’ve heard so many different opinions and so many different reasons why.
Pastor Doug: Well that, you know, that is a big area of confusion. Just today, I got a number of friends on Facebook, and I get questions frequently, they say, “Pastor Doug, we’re New Testament Christians, so you know, why are you one of these Christians that endorses the 7th day Sabbath”, and I say, “Well, I really, I just believe, the big question is, do we believe God still wants us to keep the 10 commandments? Were the 10 commandments part of the ceremonial law that was nailed to the cross?” When you look through the other 9 commandments, no Christian pastor that I know, would say, “Now that Jesus has died on the cross, stealing is okay, or lying is okay, or idolatry is okay, or any of the other commandments”. So one of the 10 commandments begins with the word “Remember”, it would just seem really a stretch for me to think, that’s the 1 commandment that He wants us to forget. And do people still need a day of rest and a day of worship. And so, if all of the answers to that are “Yes of course”, then why are Christians sort of blinding their eyes to, you know, very simple principle. The Sabbath is still there, we still need it, and it’s still a command, it’s not a recommendation. So that’s in a whole different category from the ceremonial laws, Paul is very clear about things like sacrificing lambs and circumcision, those were all written on paper, but the 10 commandments spoken by God’s voice, written by His finger, they’re new and old Testament.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, it makes me think of a passage or scripture that Paul wrote to Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 2, verse 15. He says, “Study to show thy self-approved onto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth”. You know, we need to study the word so that we can distinguish what God’s will and purpose is for us today. As was mentioned by Pastor Doug, there are a number of Old Testament laws that had to do with the sacrificial system, which were a shadow and pointed forward to the coming of Christ. But the Sabbath traces its origin all the way back to creation, the 7th day of the 1st week, where God said it aside, and it was established as a memorial of His creative work.
Pastor Doug: Yes, part of God’s perfect plan. So I know that we’re probably in a minority. It’s actually a growing number of Christians from… you know, I run into Sabbath keeping Christians, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists all across the board now, because they say, “Hey, it’s in the Bible”. But I don’t know, for helping add to your question, or I don’t know if we’re making it confusing or answering anything Brian.
Brian: Well, yeah, I mean, I understand where you’re coming from. I guess the, yet then again, I hear what you’re saying and I understand the reasoning behind it, you know I… then again I still have difficulties with the other issues. I guess, like you say, I’m just going to have to, you know, for my notes, for the (inaudible 47:04) and try to separate those out or maybe, you know, like going Facebook and, you know ask my questions.
Pastor Doug: Does
Brian: It’s kind of confusing sometimes, for me because there’s so much (inaudible 47:20) given in the New Testament, where you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit will move you differently maybe, then in might move somebody, and each part of the body has different strengths and weaknesses and certain gifts.
Pastor Doug: Now would the Holy Spirit ever move a person contrary to the word of God or did the Spirit and the word move in unison?
Brian: right, I agree with you on that. So I don’t have any difficulty with what you said regarding the Sabbath and those issues. I guess, you know, then it comes with the other issues and, you know, just being part of the church, there’s some people who are gifted with their things and yet are weak in other areas, and you should support them rather than judge them, and you know, it’s just though.
Pastor Doug: Yeah it is. Hey could I send you, if it’s okay, I’d like to send you a book that talks about the subject.
Brian: Sure, that’s fine.
Pastor Doug: It’s called, “Does God’s Grace Blot Out the Law?” And the title, I’m not picking the title out just for you. In the book, it really talks about “How to divide between the old and new covenant” and, you know, and balance it with the kind of grace and spirit led life you’re talking about. So let us send you a free copy of “Does God’s Grace
Blot Out the Law?”
Pastor Jëan Ross: And the number is 1-800-835-6747. Call the number and ask for the book, “Does God’s Grace Blot Out the Law?” Again, it’s1-800-835-6747. Our next caller is Jean, calling from Chicago. Jean, welcome to Bible Answers.
Jean: Hi Pastor Doug. I have a question in Daniel chapter 8, where Daniel is having a vision, and he is talking in his vision about, “the little horn with this great power”, and particularly in verse 10, where it talks about, “cast down some of the host and some of the stars into the ground”. Can you tell me who those are?
Pastor Doug: Well in the Bible… Stars, if you look in Revelation, stars are representative of messengers, leaders they are illuminating in the darkness. And this beast power was casting down the leaders of righteousness that were helping the people. And it says, “He magnifies himself, even to the prince of the host”. Now when you go the Revelation, you’ve got the dragon, he’s cast to earth, and his tail draws a 3rd of the stars, those stars are “fallen angels”. Jesus is the Prince of the host the beast magnifies himself against Christ and His angels, and His messengers. So in Revelation 1, it says, “These angels, these stars are the 7 angels” and it says, “The 7 messengers to the 7 churches”. So, and then it says… where is that? Daniel, chapter 12, “Those that turn many to righteousness, are like the stars”.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yes. Daniel 12, verse 2.
Pastor Doug: Daniel 12, verse 2
Jean: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: So you put, do a little Sherlock Holmes work, you compare scripture with scripture, and you can kind of get a clear picture of the stars, represent the illuminated leadership that God uses. Whether they’re literal angels or people that are being messengers for God, “This beast power persecuted them, cast them down to the ground, stamped upon them”, there’s great persecution during this time.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Actually, it’s verse 3, Daniel 12:3.
Pastor Doug: Now I’m trying to think Pastor Ross, do we have a study guide on Daniel 8?
Pastor Jëan Ross: We do, talking about “the anti-Christ” it talks about “the little horn power and gives some of the descriptions of what he’ll do.
Pastor Doug: That’s right.
Pastor Jëan Ross: If you would call our resource line Jean, we’ll be able to send that out to you. Ask for the study guide, “Who is the anti-Christ?” and it deals with this power described in Daniel chapter 8.
Pastor Doug: Now we’ve also got a study guide deals with the time period but she’s really, yeah you’re giving her the right lesson.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Okay, the number there is 1-800-835-6747, ask for the study guide, “Who is the anti-Christ?” and we’ll be happy to send that out. Our next caller is Big Al, calling from Canada. Al, welcome to the program.
Big Al: Hi, how are you Pastor Doug?
Pastor Doug: Doing well, praise the Lord. How can we help you Al?
Big Al: My question is, about 2 years ago, the lady that I fell in love with broke up with me because I was told that I only have 2 years to live and I went into this tail spin and I forgot God and everything else, even… anyway, since then I rededicated my life and got back on, and got healed and bunch of stuff has happened to my life.
Pastor Doug: Well praise the Lord you’ve been healed.
Big Al: Well yeah, in several areas Diabetes and many other areas.
Pastor Doug: Wow.
Big Al: Anyway, my question is. Now she sees these things in my life, we have a fondness that’s growing back together again but she doesn’t understand from me, why she needs to be born again because she is, she’s a really nice person, she’s a really good hearted person, she gives all the time, she does like… I can’t describe how good she is, I would think she was a Christian even without questioning her, but she is not born again and she’s told me that she’s not and I know, for us to be back together, God doesn’t want us to be unequally yoked, so I’m trying to figure out how I can get more information on how to give her what she needs to know about being born again instead of just being a good person.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, there’s a lot of dear people out there that have great morals, there kind, there good people
Big Al: Oh Yes!
Pastor Doug: but we’re not saved by our goodness,
Big Al: she’s an excellent lady.
Pastor Doug: we’re saved by our faith in Christ
Big Al: Yes.
Pastor Doug: and our relationship with Him. And of course, we have a study guide that talks about “Why do we need salvation”, that we’ll be happy to send you a copy, then you can give it to your lady friend.
Big Al: Okay.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, I think one of the reasons, even though someone might not acknowledge it, but the very good that there is within a person really comes from God it’s the promptings of the Holy Spirit that guides a conscience.
Pastor Doug: That’s right.
Pastor Jëan Ross: So someone who thinks, “Well I’m doing pretty good on my own, I don’t need God”, while in reality, any good that they might have within themselves is really coming from God, they just don’t acknowledge it.
Pastor Doug: That’s a good point. Now we’ll send… we have a study guide that talks about, “His love still being there”. Is it the, “Ultimate Deliverance”?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Talking about salvation, yes! It’s “The Ultimate Del…” Well, it is “Rescue from Above”
Pastor Doug: “Recue from Above”, I do this every time. (Laughing)
Pastor Jëan Ross: We always get those two confused
Pastor Doug: “Rescue from Above”, they’re both rescues.
Pastor Jëan Ross: And the pictures look somewhat similar there.
Pastor Doug: “Rescue from Above” Big Al, we’ll send you a free copy, just call.
Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s 1-800-835-6747 ask for the study guide, “Rescue from Above”. Our next caller is Tommy, calling from New Jersey. Tommy, welcome to the program.
Tommy: God bless you, praise the Lord.
Pastor Doug: We’ve only got a couple of minutes, so your question?
Tommy: Yes, okay. Question is, I’ve read some time ago called, “23 minutes in hell”, and I wanted to get your view on this. You know, I have talked to other people about the book, and they say they “don’t believe it, they don’t believe”, I say, “I believe it”. I said, “Well, how come there are… things can happen in natural, you can’t believe things that happen in a super natural”. And I just wanted to get your view on can God take somebody out of their spirit and show up in hell?
Pastor Doug: Well 1st of all, and I’ve heard of the book Tommy. Somebody, I forget, they died in an accident and they were, you know, evidently it looked like they were dead and they had this vision where they were shown the lake of fire in hell and an angel or a spiritual being gave them a tour, something along that line. So it’s actually been several people who’ve had books like that, some have gone to heaven and they sell very well, and so, which always makes it a little dubious. But a lot of people that say, “You know, I had this experience, I died and here’s my experience and this must be the truth”. It’s always very exciting to read those, but we can’t base any of our doctrinal understanding on somebody’s dreamer apparition they may have had when their mind was robbed of oxygen because of a heart attack or an accident. And they may have been miraculously saved, I even believe some people are resurrected, I believe in the power of God to heal and to restore people, but if they’re teaching something that’s out of harmony with the Bible, we need to be very careful. Also keep in mind, sometimes God will give an individual a dream that’s really just for them, it doesn’t become scripture. He’s trying to make an impression on them, and so he gives them a specific dream for them, for specific occasion. And I’ve told people before, I’ve had all kinds of dreams, I had a dream that was very encouraging to me, “where the Lord came from heaven and took me from earth back to heaven”, and everybody thinks “that’s wonderful”, and then I say, “And Jesus, when He came, He came in a bumper car”, and, you know, those little bumper cars at the fair that had their arm went up to the electric ceiling. And obviously, Jesus is not coming in a bumper car, but that meant something to me because for me, that was the ultimate fun is a bumper car, eternity in a bumper car
Pastor Jëan Ross: (Laughing)
Pastor Jëan Ross: for me, was fun. So I’m not going to base theology on that but… Hey Tommy, I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to cut you short, and all of our listening friends, sometimes you’ll notice that you may still be talking and we’re not done and we’re just, we’re trying to budget about 3, 4 minutes per question to get as many as we can. And what we want to do is keep this program going even after we’re on, off the air by sending you the resources. Make sure and check out “Amazingfacts.org”. A lot to read there, there are a lot to watch, you can hear archives of these programs, and take a look at our T.V programs, you can simply go to “Amazingfacts.tv”, we have programs there 24 hours a day, “Amazingfacts.tv”. God bless friends, remember Jesus is the truth that will set you free.
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