Pastor Doug: Hello friends! This is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? On November 19, 2010, a 69-year old woman in Paris was found who had been trapped in her own bathroom for 20 days. The door lock had snapped off and there was no window in the bathroom or telephone at hand. She lived alone and so was unable to summon help. But she had a never-say-die attitude and she resorted to a practical gimmick to draw attention. She kept banging the pipes with whatever she could find. Her neighbors thought she was involved in some do-it-yourself renovation work and initially ignored the banging noises. But when the disturbances continued into the late night hours, neighbors complained that they could not sleep.
They decided to start a petition and have it stopped but some neighbors finally realized they hadn't seen the grandmother in a few weeks. That's how they eventually came to investigate the woman's apartment and rescue her. When fire fighters broke into her second floor flat, they found her lying on the ground in the bathroom, badly malnourished and in a very weakened state. She survived the ordeal with nothing but warm tap water for 20 days. The unnamed woman soon recovered in a local hospital. In a similar way, the Bible teaches we are surrounded by people that are trapped in sin and calling out for help or maybe we don't always recognized their cries.
Stay with us friends. We're going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug: Hello friends! Welcome to Bible answers Live. And we're so thankful that you have tuned in. We've hope it's by plan but if it is by providence, you just found this frequency this is a live international interactive call-in Bible Study Program. And you can call in with your Bible questions. It's a toll free number. We do have lines open right now. That number one more time is 1-800-GOD-SAYS. The Bible is our textbook in this broadcast, 1-800-463-7297. And as I said, if you wanna get your Bible question in for tonight's program, lines are open, call right now. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening friends. Pastor Doug let's begin the program with a prayer.
Dear Father, we thank you that we do have this opportunity to study your word and we ask you a special blessing upon this program, be with the listeners wherever they might be. And we pray for wisdom as we search the Bible. We know that it is Your book and we ask for Your spirit to guide us and to all truth, in Jesus name. Amen.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Jean Ross: Pastor Doug, you opened the program by telling us a fairly recent experience of this lady that was locked in a bathroom for 20 days. What an ordeal? And people heard banging but they didn't respond, at least not at first. Now what do you mean when you say there’s people that have needs but sometimes we just don't respond?
Pastor Doug: You know, a lot of folks I think kind of lashed out because they feel trapped in sin and to us it sounds like banging noise in the background. Sometimes people are, you know, they're angry or they're like, you, know seem (reclusive or occlusive?)--or some dysfunctional behavior--and I think at the heart of a lot of it, people just realized they are (absent?) in a purpose in life. Jesus tells us in Matthew 9:37, he says, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few." I think most people don't realize that so many of these behaviors that we see demonstrated in folks, a lot of the dysfunction is because people are unhappy. They're trap in sin and they're lashing out looking for a--banging the pipes, so to speak--thus, it is sounds like noise and they're saying help, help, help.
Jean Ross: You know, not only Pastor Doug do we sometimes close our ears to the needs of others but it is also possible to close one's inner ears, so to speak, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Doug: That's right. sometimes the Holy Spirit is tapping on the pipes. And He's trying to get our attention and we're closing our eyes, we're plugging our ears and trying to avoid it. And we're surrounded by people in need that are just crying out for salvation. And at the same time, some of us might be those people and the Holy Spirit is calling out to us. And we're just missing the signals. And we have a free offer we like to send to anyone that asks tonight that talks about how to have your spiritual ears open to hear both the voice of the Holy Spirit and maybe to better understand the needs of the neighbors around you.
Jean Ross: The book is entitled "Hidden Eyes and Close Ears." "Hidden Eyes and Close Ears." To receive that book, call our resource line 1-800-835-6747 that number again 1-800-835-6747, that is the resource line. Ask for the book "Hidden Eyes and Close Ears."
Pastor Doug: You know, Pastor Ross, we're getting near the Christmas time and getting real close, I suppose. Amazing Facts has something that we worked on for about a year now. That is an essence--one of our entire evangelistic meetings--and we put all 20 presentations: the books, the lessons, the radio questions on one DVD. And we had this a few years ago, it was called "Panorama of Prophecy" but that was back when it was just CDs which you can get 700 megabytes on. And now with DVD technology, we found some ways to layer that information. We have 20, probably 25 hours of presentations, what we would do when we go do an entire evangelistic program going through the Bible teaching prophecy. The whole thing now is the size of a DVD. And we packaged it all into one package that you can share within neighbors and you're really sharing the gospel when you hand this to them. And it's called "Prophecy Foundations."
Jean Ross: And not only do you have the video content, as you mentioned Pastor Doug, but you've also got a series of lessons not just one series but a number of different types of lessons that are available in PDF format that you can print off and share with a friend or a neighbor. You can go through it yourself, just one of the most comprehensive compact resources that Amazing Facts has for witnessing, for spiritual growth, for Bible Study, just a fantastic resource.
Pastor Doug: And they make great gifts. and people would be surprised when they go to the website and find out how these things are priced. we're pricing them so that they can go out like leaves of autumn. And when they see how much we're actually giving away on the program like all the lessons from the series you and I just did for kids--or actually we did that one a couple years ago--it's all there. We've got the Amazing Facts' Bible study guides are there the prophecy code, video presentations are there a number of Bible answers are there and tons of information in a format that you can share. We want to get the message out. It's called "Prophecy Foundation." Just go to the Amazing Facts website, you can type it in to the search. And we're trying to get these out before Christmas and it makes a great gift or better gift than everlasting life. Well, with that I think we probably owe our callers some Bible question.
Jean Ross: So we've got Carol who is listening from Pennsylvania, listening on the internet. Carol, welcome to the program
Carol: Hi.
Pastor Doug: Evening Carol. Thanks for calling and your question.
Carol: Thank you for taking my call. My question is on 1 Corinthians 11, if a woman, if you feel that a woman should cover her head.
Pastor Doug: Well, in this verse, Paul I think is talking about a practice. It was happening that was largely dealing with a custom. You know you go to different Countries and their different customs that have nothing to do with really modesty but it has to do with worship. An example would be in America, I typically wore a baseball cap everywhere I go because there's very little snow left on the mountain but when I go on the church, what do I do with my hat?
Carol: Take it off.
Pastor Doug: I take it off. But if you go to Israel, when you go in the church, you put your (Yamaka?) on. And you know in our church if someone comes without their shoes on... A lot of places say no shirt, no shoes, no service. Of course, we don’t tell people that in our church. [laughs]
Carol: Right.
Pastor Doug: It's typically considered respectful you put your shoes on. If you're in some places--I've been in the orient or in Micronesia--you take your shoes off, it's considered disrespectful if you wore your shoes in. There was a custom in Paul's time where women if they were praying in public with their heads' uncovered, it's considered disrespectful. A number of churches have taken this on and applied it today. I have no argument with churches that want to still abide by that. I think we need to be careful about making a doctrine out of one verse in the Bible. This is the only place in the Bible that says anything about women covering their heads. Paul does mention later in the verse that he says, "If anyone's contentious, we have no other custom." So he uses the word 'custom' in connection with his practice. You know there were some in the church that folks are saying "Oh, now these people accept Christ." They don’t, you know, have any respect anymore. And Paul said lets be respectful and he lays down some principles here. I don’t know if you have anything to add to that, Pastor Ross?
Jean Ross: Absolutely, Pastor Doug, you know in the Bible, we do see that Paul especially in 1 Corinthians is dealing with a number of specific issues that that church was facing. One of which has to do with this issue of showing respect in the church and how one does that.
Pastor Doug: By the way, that verse 1 Corinthians 11:16, "If any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom neither, the churches of God." So you know if somebody feels "Hey, we should really vail our heads when we go in to the church by," and I have no desire to change their mind. Or a woman shouldn't get her hair cut, some interpreted that way, that their hair is their cover.
Carol: Right.
Pastor Doug: But, you know, like I said, I don’t know if the Holy Spirit is convicting you about this, I'd say follow the spirit but I feel reluctant to teach a doctrine when you've got one verse.
Carol: Right.
Pastor Doug: You need two to three witnesses.
Carol: Okay. Well, thank you very much for your time.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Carol: God bless you.
Pastor Doug: God bless you. Thank you, Carol.
Carol: Thank you.
Jean Ross: We've got Bruce who is calling from (Pacifica?), California, also listening on the internet. Bruce, you're on the air.
Bruce: Good evening and thank you. I have a question about the first chapter of Genesis, the first verse.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Bruce: And it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Period. I mean they use punctuation on this Bible but in the only place I can find that in Jude, the only chapter, would be verse 13 where it talks about those whom black is dark and it has been reserve forever but I don’t find anywhere where God ever created hell. Does it (inaudible 12:17) the part from the heaven and the Earth?
Pastor Doug: Well just before I jump to the last part of your question, when you talked about the darkness, Jude is actually quoting Peter. And Pastor Ross might help me find that verse where Peter talks about the fallen angels where in everlasting chains of darkness. And so there's another reference there but you're asking now about hell. There are four words in the Bible that's used for hell. And in the Old Testament, principally it's ‘Sheol’ and that simply means 'the Grave.' It talks about good and bad going bad going down into Sheol, in to the Grave. Everybody who died went down there. You find that verse?
Jean Ross: Yes, 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 4.
Pastor Doug: Wanna read it for me real--
Jean Ross: It's "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down in to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment."
Pastor Doug: All right. So the place where these angels are held, it's called hell and its talk the grave but it says they're reserved for judgment so wherever they are is not the judgment because they're waiting for that. Anyway, back to the words of hell in the New Testament, you've got the word ‘Hades’ that was considered either the grave in Greek or a place of torment. It was used both ways. Then you've got the word ‘Gehenna’ which was the dump outside of Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom and it was a place where the warm does not die and the fire's not quenched. It was always full of smoldering garbage because people would dumped their coals out there that may be still were alive when they clean the ashes out of their bread furnaces. And then there were worms in there from dead animals and maggots. And Jesus used that one, he said "where the worm does not die and the fire's not quenched." As far as anyone burning in the lake of fire now, no because judgment hasn't happened yet. And you find in Revelation 20 that it is after judgment God then rains fire down upon the wicked and they're cast into the lake of fire. So am I answering what you're asking Bruce?
Bruce: Well, if you know I just picture in my own mind, the angel witnessing the creation of the heavens and the earth--if they existed before us, before the earth--but the creation of hell, I just thought possibly God would save that as a witness to His own (inaudible 14:45) on judgment day.
Pastor Doug: Well, you know what? It says that's something interesting in Revelation 20, I believe, it says "Death and hell were cast in to the lake of fire." So everything that is destroyed in the end was not part of God's perfect plans. So I don't believe that when God made the heaven and the Earth in the beginning that death and grave were part of that original plan. Now we do have a booklet that deals with what the Bible teaches about the subject of death and the subject of hell. You know I think we could recommend probably "Is the Devil In-charge of Hell?"
Jean Ross: That's right. That's an Amazing Facts study guide, again the title Bruce is "The Devil In-Charge of Hell?" Just call our resource line 1-800-835-6747. Asks for that study guide, "Is the Devil In-charge of Hell?" And if you would like to do some additional research, go to helltruth.com, helltruth.com or .org.
Pastor Doug: That's right.
Jean Ross: And there's an entire website, tremendous resources dealing with this important subject. Our next caller is David. David is listening in WMCA from Queens, New York. David, welcome to Bible Answers Live.
David: Hi.
Pastor Doug: Hi. How are you doing?
David: I'm good. I'm hanging in there. I'm looking at John chapter 15.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
David: Verse 5.
Pastor Doug: You want me to read that or are you gonna read it?
Bruce: I'll read it.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Bruce: It says, "I am the vine. You are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings us forth much fruit for without me, you can do nothing." That last part right there when it says, "Without me, you can do nothing," I'm not sure what he means by that.
Pastor Doug: Well, if you take that back to its very core element 'all life comes from God,' the very first life that even Adam received came from the breath of God. If God was to withdraw that gift of life from any human right now, they'll drop like a bag of potatoes so we can't do anything. Even the wicked who curse God must draw their life from the God they're cursing. So for one thing, we can’t do anything without God but I think more specifically what Jesus is talking about bearing fruit and He's saying you can't really bear fruit unless you abide in the vine. Without me, you can't do anything. You can't bear any of the Christian fruits or spirit without Christ. We need the spirit of Christ to have the fruits of the spirit and so I think that's more specifically what he's saying.
Bruce: Okay.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Bruce: Well, thank you very much for clarifying that.
Pastor Doug: All right. Well, God bless you. by the way, we do have a book that we'll be happy to send you if you just call the number. It's called "Life in the Spirit." David, call the number and we'll send you "Life in the Spirit."
Jean Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747 and the book, "Life in the Spirit." That's 1-800-835-6747. Our next caller is Michael and he's calling from Fairfield, California. Michael, welcome to the program.
Michael: Thank you for having me and God bless. I have a question in regards to Genesis in the creation story. I don’t have my Bible with me but in the creation story in Chapter 1, it talks about vegetation and plant life--
Pastor Doug: Right.
Michael: --preceding the creation of men which was placed on the sixth day. As you read further in to chapter 2, it talks about the Lord God didn't causes it to rain, you know, so there wasn't really any vegetations while then it was on Earth. I just need some clarification on that.
Pastor Doug: Well, when it says that the Lord God had not caused it to rain yet, it goes on to say, but the way that the vegetation was watered is a mist aroused from the Earth every evening and it watered the ground. And so there was a vapor or fog that some of the rich rainforest of the world get a lot of their moisture from just the mist that comes in off the lakes and the ocean.
Michael: No, definitely understand that part but if you read before that, slightly before that, it talks about basically man was there part of (education?).
Pastor Doug: Oh, I think I know what you're talking about. You know the way that Genesis is written, first it gives you the overview of Creation and when it backs up when you get later in chapter 2 and it goes in to the specific. For instance, it tells you when you get through the first 6 days that God made man and woman. Then in backs up and tells you how God made woman and it backs up and it talks about before the, you know, the vegetation, how God watered the Earth, where the water came from so it's going in to the details but of course there was a way to water the vegetation after God made it.
Michael: Well, yeah. But what I'm getting at is the vegetation hadn't been created in that first or in that second portion. (Inaudible 20:04) was created prior, according to the Scripture, but then in the first chapter in Genesis, man wasn't made until the 6th of day.
Pastor Doug: Well, let me... I think you're reading... Let me read this first, I'm trying to figure out the verse you're talking about. I think it's Genesis 2:5 where it says, "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." Its saying back in the very beginning man was not farming God was just naturally making things grow volunteer. It has nothing--
Michael: Okay.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Michael: Okay now in regards to day, the son wasn't created until the 3rd day so do they really mean that (inaudible 20:52), do they really mean day or how we understand it or do they really just mean day as in the beginning period and an ending period?
Pastor Doug: Right. Well, actually the vegetation was made the 3rd day, the sun was made the 4th day. And so that's one reason--
Michael: When a reader... when a layman reader reads Genesis and they say, "Well, God made the earth in 7 days," 7 actual days. You know many people come in to the interpretation that he made it in 7 actual days but they're limiting the power of God in that, you know, it wasn't an actual day, a 24 hour cycle. I mean you know it. It was something more divine. It was a beginning period and an ending period.
Jean Ross: Well just...
Michael: Wouldn't you agree?
Jean Ross: No, I think--
Michael: Or now that got to be my question.
Jean Ross: --specifically in Genesis, it wants to make sure that we don't reach that conclusion that these days are more than 24 hours because the Bible says in the morning and the evening was the first day and the morning and the evening was the second, morning and the evening. Now, we know that you can only have one morning and one evening in a 24 hour period, thus these days are not figurative but they're literal.
Michael: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, I don't think they were spiritual days.
Michael: So did you mean--
Pastor Doug: You know what I always fall back on is, Michael, I wonder if I was going to try and communicate that these are 6 literal days. What other language can I use in that which God used and I looked at it and say He spoke as plainly as He could speak to communicate that these were literal locations of the Earth, 6 literal days or 7 if you include the Sabbath in which he began creation. So you know and the very fact that the vegetation was made on the 3rd day and sun, moon and stars weren't made till the fourth day, we'll they wouldn't have lasted a thousand years or some spiritual day without the sun.
Jean Ross: You know even if you think of the 7th where God rest and ended the work and then He told Adam and Eve to do it likewise, if that's 7th day had been something more than 24 hours, it was thousands and thousands of years, that would then mean that they did work for thousands and thousands of years.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Jean Ross: It just doesn't make sense.
Pastor Doug: Now this question really begs another question. I don’t wanna be labor the call but if you say, all right, the sun is not made till the 4th day, then how do you have a day? What divides the light and the darkness? Well, the Bible tells us God is light and in Him there is no darkness and when God came--it even refers to Christ as the son of righteousness that arises with healing in His wings in Malachi--and so when God came to this chaotic orb and He began its rotation, He started the cycle of days. His very presence was the power of light until He made the other heavenly bodies. Well, I hope that helps a little, Michael. We appreciate your question.
Jean Ross: We've got Calford, listening from Brooklyn, New York listening on WMCA. Calford, welcome to the program.
Calford: Hello. Thank you for taking my call. In the Old Testament, we have from the book of Isaiah (inaudible23:48) that's one word, book that calls on the major prophets and after that, from the book of Josiah down to Malachi, they called them the 12 minor prophets, why are there major and minor?
Pastor Doug: Well, you know, I think it's a simple answer: the length of the book. If you look at the chapter size of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, and of course you can lump Jeremiah and Lamentations together because it's a same author, you've got these books that are you know 30 chapters or --Daniel's not, Daniel's 12 chapters but they're much longer than you're gonna find in Josiah, Joel and (Amos?)--and they are a little more epic in what they cover and they usually cover some history, as well. with the Minor Prophets are largely like letters, brief messages from these prophets. I realized Zachariah has got 14 chapters.
Jean Ross: Of course, many of what’s called Minor Prophets were very symbolic in their representation. It was very in many ways almost apocalyptic. Some of the description it's given.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Jean Ross: Whereas if you look more at Isaiah, Jeremiah, it's more of a thorough explanation of the gospel and God reaching out to Israel.
Calford: Okay. thank you.
Pastor Doug: It is the scope of them. Hey you know, I'll share something else with you that when I first heard it, it kind of surprise me. You know how the books of the New Testament are arranged, Paul's letters?
Calford: Yes.
Pastor Doug: I used to think there were some very important, deep, philosophical, theological methods. Well they started with the longest letters and then they went to the shortest. [laughs] They just started with Romans and then they set all these letters, shorter than that, they just lined up all Paul's letters based on their length. And I thought I can understand that. It was real simple. All right. Hey got a just in time for probably 1 more question before the break.
Jean Ross: All right. We got Alex calling from Michigan. Alex, welcome to the program.
Alex: Hi. Good evening gentlemen. Thanks for taking my call. My quick question here refers to Isaiah chapter 25 verses 6 and I'll read it there. It references a great banquet in the future when Jesus establishes His kingdom and it says, "And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wine on lees, of fat things of the marrow, of well refined wines on the lees" in NIV version, it references a banquet of aged wine. I'm curious and I have the booklet for the Christian and the alcohol. Why is there aged wine when I know... it appears that that would be alcoholic beverage which I know is not good for anyone?
Pastor Doug: Well now if you look in the New King James, now there’s a place were just plainly the king James, New King James, disagreed with the NIV. In the New King James, it reads that "a feast of wine on the lees, of the fat things, of well refined wines on the lees." You know first of all this is almost apocalyptic language or its symbolic language talking about the feast around the Lord's Table, will we be getting drunk with a drug that's addictive in Heaven?
Alex: I would hope not.
Pastor Doug: Yeah. I think not too. So I would lean towards the New King James translation here. And one more thing, in Bible times when they made wine, it was pretty crude compared to the methods today. When you drank from wine, you might actually choke a little bit on some of the skins and the pulp that had gotten through the filters. You know today we have very sophisticated filtering methods. So if you have very finely refined wine, it went down easy because you didn't have all that the pulp and material in it. It was well filtered. And so I think it's really referring to that and that was considered a delicacy, it took more work and effort to make wine like that. Anybody could have old wine right in Isaiah's time. You know there's a lot more abundance of that. To have the highly processed wine that was pure, that was the special thing. I appreciate your questions friends. That music does not mean we're going away. We're just gonna take a break and we do have some lines open. If you like to join us on the second half with your Bible questions, pick up your phone. It's a toll free phone call. it's 1-800-463-7297. Keep a pen or some writing tool, a chisel and a hammer nearby because we're gonna give you some interesting websites in just a moment. Also, you wanna just make a note of amazingfacts.org. We mentioned the prophecy foundation DVD a minute ago we'll tell you more about that. It's just a fantastic new resource that you’re gonna wanna have in your library and for sharing. So we'll be back in just a moment with more questions and Bible answers.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug: Welcome back friends and we expect some of you have come on board along the way. You're listening to Bible Answers Live. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. And, Pastor Doug, we opened the program talking a little bit about "prophecy's foundation," excellent resource that Amazing Facts has just recently released.
Pastor Doug: Yes, we just wanted to remind our friends. Some maybe did not hear the announcement on the front end of the program that we've taken the entire video footage from our prophecy code series, all of the lessons, the questions and put it one DVD. How they do that? I don't know. It's something to do with new compression technology. And so in a person's pocket now--I don’t know what it weighs. It's less than an ounce--you've got all of the blood, sweat, tears information truth of an entire evangelistic series. You can print out the PDF's of the lessons. You can email them to your friends. You can email the MP3's. You can put them on your iPod and listen to them on your phone. So we try to make it in as easy a user-friendly format as we can for this entire series.
Jean Ross: You know what I like about this, Pastor Doug, is that each of the various topic Bible-related topic dealing with just about any Bible topic that you can find, it's all organized in this software so that you can click on a particular subject. You can watch a video related to that. you can read a book on that subject. You can even listen to answers from this program, Bible Answers Live, dealing with that particular subject. so just a great resource and I've enjoyed using it myself.
Pastor Doug: If they just go the the Amazing Facts website, real easy, amazingfacts.com or amazingfacts.org and just type in there "Prophecy Foundation" and they'll find all the information about this. We're trying to get this out where people can use them as gifts. And once you watch it, you're gonna say, "Man, I'm gonna have to get a box of load of these and share them with my friends." And this one DVD is the message of salvation and we trusted people will be greatly blessed.
Jean Ross: Well, let’s go to the phone lines. We have Chris who is calling from Pennsylvania. Chris, welcome to the program.
Chris: Good evening, Pastors.
Pastor Doug: Evening. Thanks for ringing.
Chris: And my question is about a term of security in the context of 1 Corinthians 3 chapter, 14 and 15. You can read that if you want.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Chris: Or you want me...
Pastor Doug: Well, either one. I'm lock and loaded if you want me to.
Chris: Go ahead. [laughs]
Pastor Doug: "If any man's work what he has built on, endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss: but he and himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." You know I think--
Chris: Now, I don’t... Oh, sorry.
Pastor Doug: go ahead.
Chris: I don't particularly believe in it but my friend always uses this text to try and prove that you're always going to be saved but you'll just lose your reward. But I don't know how to... I don’t understand it.
Pastor Doug: Paul is talking here about the faithful foundation of Christian that workers are (laying? and if they're not careful in laying a good foundation with the souls that they're reaching, they may find that some of these people drift away or when the storm comes, they're not built on the rock and they're faith is swept away. He's not talking about this person's commitment to Christ. Now, a perfect example of how to apply this verse in the Bible, you have Lot--L O T--will Lot be saved or will he be lost?
Chris: I believe he will be saved.
Pastor Doug: Says on the New Testament, "That righteous man living there among those wicked people, he vexed his soul (from day to day?) with all the wickedness." Well, what about Lot's family? How did they fare? because he didn’t build a good foundation.
Chris: He didn’t...
Pastor Doug: Yeah, he lost. Right. He may have lost all of them because even the daughters that survived the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah had some moral values that must have been (off a setter?) because they got their father drunk and slept with him. But (inaudible 34:34) say Lot will be saved and it tells us that he was a righteous man. He received the angels and... So there are people who you know maybe saved. I think Job uses the term 'by the skin of their teeth'--or it is a pretty thin skin--they will be saved but you know they didn't have a good foundation in their work and in their ministry. And so they're saved by fire, in other words it's like they go through a purging before they're saved, some trials. Lot certainly went through that. It must have been a terrible trial for him to walk away from everything he knew and all of his possessions and live in a cave. So he suffered lost but he was saved.
Chris: Yes, so in other words this just doesn’t mean like you're always saved--
Pastor Doug: No.
Chris: but depending on your life or just depends that you won’t get rewards but you'll still be saved in heaven.
Jean Ross: Well, even more specifically, this particular passage as Pastor Doug mentioned isn't talking about eternal salvation.
Chris: Oh...
Jean Ross: It's talking about... for example, if you're looking at verse 5, it's talking about Paul. It's talking about (apolos?). It's talking about those missionaries that share the word. And Paul says if you have a pastor or teacher and he shares the word, he might be saved but if he doesn’t do a good job in presenting the word, there might be some who are lost to whom he (taught?). So that's really the context. It's not talking about once saved always saved.
Pastor Doug: It's talking about their foundation that they're building their work on if it's not good, the people that they're reaching, the churches they're planting, may not survived.
Chris: All right.
Pastor Doug: Yup, certainly a person just can’t turn away from the Lord and live a life of sins and say "Well, I'm saved because I said a prayer once a few years ago and it doesn’t matter what I do now.” If we love the Lord, Jesus said that if you love Me, keep My Commandments. He wants us to obey Him.
Jean Ross: You know we got a book on the subject called "Can a Save Man Choose to be Lost?" or "Can a Save Man Choose to be lost?" It's free. If you call our resource line 1-800-835-6747. 1-800-835-6747. Asks for the book "Can a Save Man Choose to Be Lost." We've got David calling from Dester?, California. David, welcome to the program.
David: Hi.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
David: My question is regarding in Matthew chapter 19 verses 9--
Pastor Doug: Okay.
David: --to 12. and it reads "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries, commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. His disciple said to him if that is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry. For there are eunuchs, who are born from their mother's womb and there are eunuchs, who were made eunuchs by men and there are eunuchs who have made eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." And so I wanted to know what was the (parallel?) to verse 9 and 12?
Pastor Doug: All right. first of all, he's talking about adultery and fornication. A lot of adultery is obviously generated by the sexual drive. A number of men through the Bible--Daniel's one of them-- for various reasons--sometimes if you are in the king's palace and you are serving in the Eastern Kingdoms, they often have (herons?) were there are a lot of women, even Solomon and David were guilty of that. If you're gonna work on a regular basis in the palace, it was often required that the councilors of the king that had frequent access to the palace--they were eunuchs. The king did not want to find out that his offspring was not his offspring. And so everyone knows what a eunuch is. It's basically castrated male. Now, then Jesus goes on and he says--now some people might be saying "Look I wanna serve the Lord but I'm just struggling with the distraction of sexual temptation. for whatever reason, I don’t want to have a family. I want to be focus." They can either choose... Now some people are born maybe some defect and that's just that they don't have that desire.
That's pretty rare. Then there are people who are forced to be eunuchs like when the King of Persia or Babylon made Daniel and his friends’ eunuchs. Then there are people who might choose to live the life of a eunuch like Paul did. And then there are others that actually, they track down a doctor and have a surgery. And some people remember the heaven’s gate fiasco, those are the men in that cult, actually had that surgery. So you know Jesus is saying "He that can receive it, let him receive it," he said. He was very cautious in the way he shared this point but he said that you know some people, they just are struggling about "Can I be sexually pure?" and "Am I just gonna serve the Lord?" or "do I need to have a family?" Paul talked about that too in 1 Corinthians 7. He said I hope that all men were like me, especially when the Christians were being persecuted. that they don’t marry and they're free to be able to come and go and do (inaudible 39:45?) evangelism. But he also said it's better to marry than burn. He means burn with passion. So that was a big answer. And I think we lost our questionnaire. (inaudible 39:57).
Jean Ross: Hopefully that helps. Good question. Our next caller is Daniel calling from Vista, California. Daniel, welcome to the program. Danny, are you there?
Daniel: Yes.
Jean Ross: You're on the air.
Pastor Doug: Yes, Daniel. Your question.
Daniel: My question is how can I overcome sin?
Pastor Doug: How can you overcome sin? Well, you heard us read earlier that all things are possible with Christ. The way that Jesus overcame temptation is whenever the Devil came to Him with a temptation, He met every temptation by saying it is written. It is written. Now the best way, the best power in my experience had been love. When we love somebody, we don’t wanna hurt them and the best reason to do anything is love for God and love for your fellow men. I'll just talk something. I've often used this as an example. I struggle with years for years with smoking and I became convicted. even after I accepted Christ, I was still smoking but I say "This is not a good witness. It's slow suicide but I was addicted." and I one day said "Lord, you know, if You give me a new pickup truck, I'd quit smoking." And the Lord said "You don't love me enough. I died for you to save you and you don’t love me enough to quit smoking for me, you got to have a pickup truck also." And you know that kind of... that really touched my heart. I said you know Jesus gave his life to save me from my sins, why do I want to do that thing that hurts me so much? Why do I wanna destroy myself? you know, any parent, if you see your children's self-destructive, it hurts you. And so it was love for God that just convicted me to give that up and by his grace, I stopped 30 years ago. So with a temptation, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives. He gives us power. Some sins just fall off and the Holy Spirit comes in. And in others, there's a struggle involved. And it's very clear from the Bible that he can give you victory over everything. He's able to keep you from falling and make us new creatures. It's what mostly when we get a new heart. I don't know if you have anything to add that, Pastor Ross?
Jean Ross: You know, I'm just thinking of the verse where we have told to submit ourselves to God, resist the devil and then He will flee from us. They key to gaining victory of a sin is submitting oneself to God. That's not something that happens once in our life but it's an ongoing experience. Paul says I died daily. IT's that surrendering of self to God. That's really the key to victory.
Pastor Doug: Galatians 2:20, "I'm crucified with Christ and I lived." We take up our cross, we follow Jesus, we say I'm not gonna live for myself anymore. And He gives us a new heart. I hope that helps a little. By the way, we get several books that we could offer, Daniel, that talked about-- Oh, what about that book?
Jean Ross: “Tips for Resisting Temptation.”
Pastor Doug: That's perfect.
Jean Ross: Would that be perfect enough?
Pastor Doug: That's perfect. I was also going to say the "Is It Possible to Live Wthout Sin?" but I think your book's better. "Tips to--
Jean Ross: Okay.
Pastor Doug: --Resisting Temptation."
Jean Ross: The number is 1-800-835-6747. And you can ask for the book Steps for Resisting Temptation." That's 1-800-835-6747. Our next caller is Shay and she’s calling from Orlando, Florida. And Shay, welcome to the program.
Shay: Thank you. Hi. How are you?
Pastor Doug: Doing well. How are you doing?
Shay: Good. I just have a quick question. I know about the Sabbath. I've read several verses about how to observe the Sabbath. I just haven’t found in that specifically talks about when the Sabbath begins and ends.
Pastor Doug: Well, the Sabbath begins and ends at sun down. The Bible tells us that from even unto even, you will celebrate your Sabbath. You know in the Bible when the sun went down and the day ended. Technically, I know that now we kind of use clocks. They didn't have these digital clocks at the Bible times: where the middle of the night or they'd say the time change, now I think it's 2 in the morning, they do daylight savings time… But in the Bible, the day ended at sundown. And they figure that technically the new day began at sundown. So the Sabbath began at sundown and you've got both the Old Testament where it says from even unto even--I don’t know if you look in that one up, Pastor Ross--there's in New Testament also where it says after sundown. Go ahead.
Jean Ross: The verse you're referring to is Leviticus chapter 23 verses 32, Leviticus 22--23 verses 32.
Pastor Doug: And then in the New Testament, it says that after the Sabbath when the sun had set the people all came to Jesus to be healed. So they waited till the sun had set because the Sabbath had ended at that point. And they wanted to take Christ body off the cross before the Sabbath began. And of course he was you know on the cross 6 hours. As the sun was going down, the Sabbath began. They wanted to make sure his body was sequestered in the tomb at that point. so sundown is when the Sabbath starts.
Shay: Okay. Thank you.
Pastor Doug: You’re welcome. By the way, we do have a website that we wanted to tell everyone about. it's one of the most popular websites on the subject of the Sabbath truth. And that's why it's called sabbathtruth.com, sabbathtruth.org, sabbathtruth.net. I think you'll get it anyway. Type in Sabbath truth and it will take you there on Google or Yahoo.
Jean Ross: You know, we do have a few lines still open and if you like to get your question in tonight's program, give us a call. The number is 1-800-463-7297. That's 1-800-GOD-SAYS, 463-7297. We'll try to get your question on the air. Our next caller is Lorie and Lorie is calling from Alaska. Lorie, welcome to the program.
Lorie: Good evening.
Pastor Doug: I bet its cold up there.
Lorie: It's very cold. It's about maybe 5 degrees tonight.
Pastor Doug: Oh, that's a heat wave. [laughs]
Lorie: Oh, yeah. [laughs] We're waiting for the...
Pastor Doug: The real winter to get there. [laughs]
Lorie: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: How long your days now? About 3 hours?
Lorie: Well, it's been dark for hours now. [laughs]
Pastor Doug: All right. Your question, Lorie.
Lorie: Well, my main question is--not that we don’t live in Christ--if we follow Christ but when we die physically on Earth, my question is do we go to heaven and i have a couple of examples that have kind of just made me wonder.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Lorie: The first one is about Lazarus, the beggar.
Pastor Doug: The rich man and Lazarus in Luke 19.
Lorie: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: Or is that Luke 16 and verse 19, I think.
Lorie: I have... I don’t have the...
Pastor Doug: I think its Luke 16.
Lorie: (inaudible 46:52) trying to see I've got a bunch of couple of (inaudible 46:54).
Pastor Doug: And what were... The other one is a thief on the cross?
Lorie: The other one is about Jesus when He's on the cross, when He dies, before He dies, He's talking to the thief. And He says, "Today you will be with Me in paradise."
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Lorie: And then in the story about Lazarus, the beggar, and Abraham...
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Lorie: Abraham is...
Pastor Doug: And that is Luke 16:19.
Lorie: --holding Lazarus and they're talking to the... and he's the beggar and he's the one that had begged from the rich man when he was alive. And the rich man dies. and the rich man is in hell and he's talking to Lazarus Lazarus, who is with Abraham, and he says, "Give me some water. I'm thirsty." And Abraham tells the rich man you know "No," he says, "When you were alive you had everything."
Pastor Doug: Right.
Lorie: I'm not quoting it. But Abraham says that Lazarus had nothing and besides that between us there is a great golf.
Pastor Doug: All right. Are you wondering...
Lorie: I'm wondering about if that was paradise because the way I read it, it was Jesus died and there were 3 days where He wasn't seen and in my reading--and I read the Bible from the front to the back many, many times--and I feel that Jesus's death was the fulfillment of all the prophecy of the Old Testament.
Pastor Doug: You're absolutely right. Now you see--
Lorie: But I wondered if... and he talks about if I go, I will come again and then it also talks about the dead in Christ will come first. So I've always kind of wondered when we die, do we go to heaven or are we waiting for the 2nd coming for him to take us?
Pastor Doug: All right. Good question. That's what a lot of people are wondering. First of all, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus--that's Luke 16:19-- they key is it is a parable. I mean there are a lot of symbols or I think everybody knows that the people in heaven and hell will not be able to talk to each other and that a drop of water will not cool somebody's tongue if they were in Hades. And that not everybody that's saved is squeezed in to Abraham's (inaudible 49:30). There's just a lot of symbolism there that really was talking about speaking of the Jewish nation and the Gentiles and that’s the key of the parable. It's not talking about the state of men in death. In the parable or in the experience, rather, of the thief in the cross, Jesus doesn’t actually say, "You'll be with me in paradise today." He says ‘I'm telling you, today, you will be with me in paradise.’ The translator of the King James had to figure out where to stick the comma. there is no punctuation in the Greek. And they actually got the comma in the wrong side of that verse because Jesus did not go to paradise that day. Mary goes to the tomb Sunday morning when Jesus said "Don't touch me. I've not yet ascended to my Father. Don’t cling to me." And so the core of your question is do we go right to Jesus when we die?
If you're saved, your next conscious thought is the presence of Christ but as far as those of us living in the world, it hasn't happened yet because it's you know we don’t go in to the presence of Christ until Jesus comes. It says the Lord will descends, then the dead in Christ rise, that's 1 Thessalonians 4. And it tells us very clearly in 1 Corinthians 15 that the dead in Christ will rise at His coming and so, no, they haven't risen yet. They have no consciousness of time and so as far as they're concerned, sure, they're next thought is the presence of the Lord. But people are sleeping waiting for the resurrection morning. and the other thing is the judgment day has not happened yet, that's called the last day. So for people to be in heaven and hell before the resurrection and before the judgment, that's tend about to (sync?) with everything else the Bible says. And I think we get confused because people think what they experience after death. well, they're next experience is the resurrection of the saved and the lost. So (it's near?) for them.
Jean Ross: We have an Amazing Facts study guide dealing with the subject, Pastor Doug, and for anyone who's listening. Lorie, you want to give us a call at 1-800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide "Are the Dead Really Dead?" That's 1-800-835-6747.
Pastor Doug: And website deathtruth.com, just type in deathtruth.com, it has a whole section on "The Rich Man and Lazarus," "The Thief on the Cross." All those explanations are there for anyone that wants those studies, deathtruth.com.
Jean Ross: Pastor Doug, we're gonna go from a very cold place to a beautifully warm place. We have Ines who is listening from Honolulu, Hawaii. Ines, welcome to the program.
Ines: Thank you for taking my call.
Pastor Doug: Thank you.
Ines: My question is on the apostles. Now, Jesus had his apostles. Did John the Baptist... And also (why's?) Paul was sometimes with some of the apostles and then sometimes by himself?
Pastor Doug: Well, Paul did travel with a couple of different partners. At one point, he traveled with Barnabas. They had a little falling out and then Paul paired up with Silas and then later on, he was with Luke. He was with Aquilla and Prisca. So Paul did have a little entourage or friends that he worked with that were experience in planting churches in Asia. Paul really was an apostle of Jesus. He refers to himself as an apostle. Paul was not an apostle of the apostles. He was an apostle of Christ. And then John the Baptist did have some disciples that followed him that were his close associates that probably listened to his teachings and so forth, and the Bible speaks of them. But I think all of the apostles of John, that were faithful, transitioned in to becoming disciples of Jesus and, of course, when John was beheaded.
Jean Ross: Actually just a point of interest, one of John the Baptist's disciples became--more than one actually, two, at least two--that been off of John's disciples became disciples of Jesus.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Jean Ross: The one who wrote the book "John" was, at one point in time, a disciple of John the Baptist.
Pastor Doug: And you'll find that in John chapter 1. They also did the (hand?) off there. Good question. Appreciate that Ines. Do we have another time for another call, Pastor Ross?
Jean Ross: All right. Let's go to Steven who is calling from Brooklyn, New York. Steven, welcome to the program.
Steven: Hello.
Pastor Doug: Hi. You're on the air, Steven.
Steven: Hi. How are you, Pastor Doug?
Pastor Doug: Doing well.
Steven: All right. I have a question concerning the book of Galatians. The Book of Galatians chapter 6 says in verse 2 that "We're to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." But then Paul goes on in verse 5 and says, "For every man shall bear his own burden." I just wanted to know if that why would he say one thing in one verse: to bear one another's burden and then you shall bear your own burden?
Pastor Doug: I think Paul is doing a deliberate play on words here. In verse 2, he's talking of course, we carry one another's burden: the sorrows, the troubles that we deal within life. We pray for one another. And then Paul is reminding them that, ultimately, when it comes to their work, it says in verse 4, "Let every man prove his own work, then he'll have rejoice in himself and not another, for every man will bear his own burden." You know while we're saved by grace, some people have been just totally confounded by the truth. It says we're also judged by our works because our works are evidence of the saving grace in our lives. But Jesus is very clear, "Everyone one will be rewarded according to his works." And that's repeated also in Revelation. So Paul is basically, he's doing a play on word. We should carry one another's burdens. Pray for one another. Encourage one another but when the Lord comes, we're gonna be bearing our own burden. And if we have not cast our sins on the Lord, then we've got them.
Steven: I see. All right. That's...
Pastor Doug: Yeah, I hope that helps a little bit.
Steven: Yes, it does.
Pastor Doug: I'm wondering... We have a resource. Okay. (Go ahead?). Pastor Ross, you have a thought?
Jean Ross: I'm just gonna add a little bit to that part of the burden that Paul's referring to when he says each one bears his own burden, in essence based upon what Paul just said "The Christian, part of his burden is to bear the burdens of others." That's our work. That's what God has called us to do.
Pastor Doug: Good point.
Jean Ross: Sometimes we might not wanna do that but if we are a Christian, our burden, our work is to bear one another’s burdens as well.
Pastor Doug: That's a good point. You know they're telling us that we got like 90 seconds left and I know that if someone's gonna ask us to explain the 7 trumpets of Revelation or something, [Jean Ross laughs] if we take another call now.... And I just hate doing that to people. We like to budget at least 3 minutes for each question. Friends, if we did not get your question tonight, then God’s will and we will be back again next Sunday. But I just wanted to remind you that this program is entirely supported by listeners. Amazing Facts' now just by God's grace 45 years from day to day week to week, we have no subsidy, no organization that under rights us or denomination but it's you. And if you've been blessed by the program and you've not ever made a donation to keep us going, we sure would appreciate. We are already a non-profitable organization, we would be very grateful for that. And we've got a lot that we wanna give you that's free. You'll find all kinds of resources that you can download at the Amazing Facts website. some other things you could get purchased there make great Christmas gifts. Go to Amazing Facts.org and you'll find a lot of soul witness? in resource there. Things that will help you in your own private devotions as well. And don't forget about the prophecy foundation DVD. We mentioned tonight. We want you all to be blessed by that new resource as well. God bless you friends and remember Jesus is the truth that will set you free.
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