Fingerprints

- [Narrator] It is the best-selling book in history. No volume ever written has been more loved and quoted, and its words, sometimes simple and sometimes mysterious, should always be studied carefully. It is the Bible. The Word of God. Welcome to "Bible Answers Live." Providing accurate and practical answers to all your Bible questions. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this broadcast, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now here's your host from Amazing Facts International, pastor Doug Bachelor.

- Hello, listening friends. Would you like to hear an amazing fact? A young boy in Ontario, Canada, Riel Ginion, was camping with his parents and he decided to stay on land while they rode out into the lake for little fishing. Tragically, their boat tipped over in the water far from shore, and the boy watched as his parents drowned. Sobbing, he tried walking towards a town several miles away, but as darkness fell, he knew that he'd have to spend the night on the cold, damp ground. As the temperatures had dipped below freezing during the night, he lay their shivering and crying. He felt a warm fury body snuggle up to his back in the dark. Delirious from his ordeal and thinking the creature must be a dog, he fell asleep. When he stiffly woke in the morning, he discovered that these three beavers had curled up around him and kept him from freezing to death. As he sat up, they calmly waddled away. Pastor Ross, that makes me think about a number of stories in the Bible, a few come to mind, how God has used animals to keep people safe.

- That's right, Pastor Doug, we were just talking about this before we went on the air. There's a number of Bible examples. For example, you have the donkey in the case of Balaam or Balak, yeah, Balaam's donkey that actually protected him from an angel with the sword. And you have the whale that swallowed Jonah. And we did an amazing fact -

- And of course, didn't just swallow him, he put him back on dry land.

- Yeah. Three day journey. And then we did an amazing fact I thought of as well of a, I think it was a woman that fell overboard as she was swimming, she was surrounded by sharks and some dolphins came and they actually scared away the sharks or butted away the sharks and then they protected her.

- They buoyed her up when she was sinking. You think in the Bible about Elijah, how he was sustained by the ravens. I guess you could make an argument that Isaac was going to be sacrificed, but they found a ram to take his place. It just reminds us that God created these animals. In many ways, sometimes animals seem to be more in tune with the leading of the Spirit and God than humans do. There's an interesting passage in the book of Job, I've been reading through Job lately and it's just a fantastic book. And it says in Job 12 verse seven, "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you who among all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this." You can see the fingerprints of the Lord on all of creation and we can even learn something about God and His love through the creatures that He's made.

- We do have a book that talks about the wonders of creation. And this is our free gift. We don't always offer this book, Pastor Doug, but it is a great book, and we'll be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. The number for the book 800-835-6747. And you can ask for the book, it's called "Amazing Wonders of Creation." We'll get that in the mail, we'll send it to anyone in North America. If you're outside of North America, you can just go to the Amazing Facts website, AmazingFacts.org and you click on the free library and you'll be able to read the book right there online. Well, we've got questions lined up. If you have a question, friend, the number to call is 800-463-7297. That is our phone line here to the studio. 800-463-7297. It's a good time to pick up your phone, give us a call. But before we go to the phone lines, we always like to start with a word of prayer. So let's do that. Dear Father in heaven, again, we thank you for Your many blessings. Thank you for life and strength and the ability to study Your word. Thank you for the freedom that You have given us here in this country. And so we ask Your blessing upon the program, be with us as we search the scriptures and be with those who are listening wherever they might be. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

- Amen.

- Okay, we're ready to go to our first caller this evening. We've got Anthony listening in Michigan. Anthony, welcome to the program.

- [Anthony] Hello, Pastor Doug.

- Hi, Anthony, thank you for calling.

- [Anthony] Great to be here again. My question, I'm going to try to be as quick with my wording as I can about this. My sister, I mean, I don't think she had as many reasons as somebody say Job, but I don't think she was too far from getting there at the same time. And as far as I know, I've never once heard her, she didn't see God as her Savior. I never once even saw her actually give up just out of frustration, which I've done myself. And all this time I actually thought she had a way stronger will than me and what's ironic is when she died at the age that she did a few years before that, I picked a random number that I'd be okay with dying and it was that one. And then I just felt bad for saying I'd be okay with dying at this age.

- And so your sister took her life.

- [Anthony] Yeah. There was a bunch of times where my dad held her accountable for things that weren't her fault. He made her work off an ambulance bill for the first time she had an asthma attack.

- Well, all right. Yeah, God knows the circumstance. So is your concern, you're wondering, what does the Bible say and does this mean is there hope of salvation or does this mean she's destined to be lost? Is that what you're kind of wondering?

- [Anthony] I'm kind of hoping that there's some chance that she won't be in the great lake of fire, but that I will see her.

- All right, that's a tough, tough experience. And as pastors, Pastor Ross and I have dealt with families that have experienced suicide and yes, it even happens in Christian families. The first thing I would say is just keep in mind that God loves our friends and family loved ones infinitely more than we do. Infinitely more. He's desperate to save as many as He can. God is not willing that any should perish. Now, obviously some will be saved and some will not. And you just really can't spend time in this life wondering. Now there will be examples, I'm sure, in heaven, of people that took their own lives. We don't know the circumstances. They encountered some struggles, they had faith in God, but something happened, it could have been physical pain or chemical imbalance. God will have to judge these things. So I would never say that that's a hopeless situation. It's usually very concerning because often when a person takes their life, it means they've lost faith, they've lost hope. And those are usually not a good barometer of a person's spiritual life. But I would just say put this in the hands of Lord and do not worry. When Jesus comes, the Bible says He will wipe away all tears from our eyes. And I think we're going to be very surprised when we get to heaven; we're going to see people there we never dreamed would be there and we'll see some people missing we might thought would be there. So don't worry about it now. Trust God's goodness and His justice, and He's got plans for your life, so you live to the fullest.

- Absolutely. And yeah, our heart goes out to you, Anthony. As Pastor Doug mentions, we work with families from time to time who've gone through this loss and the Bible says we can cast all of our cares upon the Lord, for He cares for us. Yeah, some of these are difficult experiences, but God knows and understands and we can trust in Him.

- Yep.

- Well, thank you for your call.

- I do have an article you'll find on the Amazing Facts website, you just type in, Doug Bachelor answers on suicide and I give more scriptures and I go to greater length in explaining that and you can look that up, Anthony, and we'll keep you in prayer. That's a tough experience.

- Our next caller that we have is Randy listening in Ohio. Randy, welcome to the program.

- [Randy] Thank you, Pastor Ross, Pastor Doug. My question is could you please explain Daniel. In particular where it talks about the God of forces and the God whom his fathers knew not? My main part is could this God of forces possibly refer to the US?

- Okay. Thank you. Your phone cutoff for a second, you're asking us to explain Daniel 11:38 if I'm not mistaken.

- [Randy] Yes.

- All right. I'm sorry, go ahead, I was just going to spell this out for some of our listeners.

- [Randy] Excuse me, in particular where it talks about the God of forces and the God whom his fathers knew not. That this could be the USA.

- All right, my initial answer will be no, I don't believe this is speaking of the USA. I believe, in Daniel 11, it's talking about a power that's also presented in Revelation chapter 17 and Revelation 13. It's this beast power that is the co-mingling of religion and Christianity and spiritualism and government. And what most Protestant theologians identify that with the papacy. I know Martin Luther and John Wesley, founders of the Methodist, Calvin, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, Charles Spurgeon, this is what they all believe when they read those prophecies.

What it's saying here in Daniel 11:38, it says, "He'll not regard the God of his fathers or the desire of women," and some have interpreted that to mean the priests do not marry. And then it says, "But in his estate he'll honor the God of forces," and that word forces or fortresses, it comes from the Hebrew word (speaking Hebrew) which means basically the gods of saints, the departed. And what you see happening in the Catholicism is they surround themselves with images and saints and they pray to these saints and they deify the dead and they make kind of mini gods out of them. And that's the way I think many of the reformers understood this passage. So no, I don't think it's talking about the United States.

- Although the Bible let's talk about the US in prophesy.

- Yeah, there's another prophecy on that.

- That's right. The second beast of Revelation 13. We do have a study guide that talks about the United States in prophecy, and you might find this interesting, Randy, or anyone willing to learn more about it. You can just call and ask. The study guide's called "The USA in Bible Prophecy." And the number for that is 800-835-6747. And we'll be happy to send that to anyone in North America. That's 800-835-6747. We've got Ken listening from New York. Ken, you're on "Bible Answers Live."

- [Ken] Good evening, gentlemen.

- Evening. Thanks for calling.

- [Ken] Thank you for having me. My question is taken from Romans chapter 16 and one. In that passage, Phoebe is referred to as a deacon or a deaconess I guess. And I was just trying to reconcile that because I've always heard that the deacon must be the husband of one wife. I wonder if you could shed some light on that for me.

- Yeah, well, the word deacon is used in a general sense. You find the word servant all through the New Testament. For our friends that are listening, the verse that we're considering is Roman 16:1. Let me read it quickly. Paul says, "I commend to you, Phoebe," we once had a pet poodle named Phoebe, my mom liked the name. Sorry. "I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant in the church of Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of saints and a sister in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper," and there you've got definition of servant. "She has been a helper of many and myself also."

So there is this dear sister in the church, and she's traveling for some reason from one church to another. Evidently she's going from Cenchrea maybe to Rome, and Paul is saying treat her well, she's got our endorsement, she's been a servant. Now keep in mind, Paul even says that the widows who were to receive sustenance from the church must be genuine widows, they must be willing to be of service in the church, he even says if they've washed the apostles' feet or disciples feet. So the word service here doesn't necessarily mean a church office, it means to be a servant.

- And the original word there in the Greek is also used, can be translated as deacon or deaconess. However, in this verse, it's interesting, it's in the feminine form. So more accurate, if you want to translate it into English, it would be a deaconess, which is a little different than the criteria that we find given for a deacon, which is in the masculine sense. So we recognize in our church, we have different positions, different responsibilities. We have deacons, we have deaconesses, and deaconesses do serve a very important role in the church, especially in the area of ministering to the needs of some of the folks in the church, they're involved in the communion, the preparation for communion, the visitation of the sick, working with the children, so there's many important roles that are fulfilled by the deaconesses. And apparently in the early Christian Church, we find this structure was already in place. And Phoebe was very much involved, maybe as a leader, amongst the deaconesses in that capacity.

- Which is a different definition than when Paul says the deacon must be a husband of one wife.

- Right. Different responsibilities.

- That was the masculine. So I hope that helps, Ken. Does that make sense?

- [Ken] Yes, it does. I appreciate you guys.

- All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate your call.

- Next caller that we have is Ian listening in Canada. Ian, welcome to the program. You're on the air.

- [Ian] Thank you so much, Pastor Ross and Pastor Doug. And just wanted to thank you really quick because your programs are a huge blessing in my life and I love watching them.

- Oh, thank you.

- [Ian] My question is this: in watching one of your programs, I thought I heard you, Pastor Doug, mention something about in the last times that many would be called up in the spirit of Elijah. So I just wanted to clarify if I heard that correctly and if there's maybe some Bible verses that support that, or just generally what it came from if I did hear that correctly.

- Yeah, well, first of all, you find in the last chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter four. Some of the last verses Jesus said "Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I gave him in Mount Horeb for all Israel with its statutes and judgements and behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." So we know that that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but that was not before the great and terrible day of the Lord. And Jesus, speaking of John the Baptist, he said, Elijah has come, speaking of John, he said Elijah will come. So in the same way that John the Baptist came to prepare the children of Israel for the first coming of Jesus, Jesus seemed to imply that that same spirit of John the Baptist, one calling people to revival, that will say prepare the way of the Lord, make way for the Lord in the wilderness, will come again before the second coming of Jesus. And so that's an example of two of those verses. I think one is in Matthew 11 and the other I just read is Malachi chapter four. And of course the angel said to Zachariah that John the Baptist would go in the spirit and power of Elijah. And that's in the gospel of Luke, first chapter, I believe. Does that make sense or help a little?

- [Ian] Yeah. Yeah. After I heard it on the program, I tried to do some digging on my own and failed, so you gave me a great shortcut just now, thank you.

- All right. Hey, thank you so much. And let's all pray we can have that Spirit.

- [Ian] That's the plan. God bless you both.

- God bless.

- Next caller that we have is Byron listening from Canada. Byron, welcome to the program.

- [Byron] Hello, Pastor Ross and Pastor Doug. Bless your ministry, I really enjoy watching you guys and everything that you do.

- Thank you.

- [Byron] My question is what is on Daniel 12, verse 12, he's talking about blessed are those who wait to count for the 1,335 days. What is the 1,335 days represent?

- All right, to understand that, I'm going to ask Pastor Ross to answer it, but let me just set it up. To understand that there are three time periods given in Daniel chapter 12. And so, before you can cut off the 1,335, you've got to know about the 1,260 and the 1,290. So this is a complicated prophecy. We try to budget about three minutes for an answer. It's kind of hard to fit this all into a three minute answer.

- Right. You've got the 1,260 year time period, which is a very significant time period. That represents the reign of the papal power during the dark ages from 538 until 1798. So that's 1,260 years. Then you have the 1,290 years, which is when Clovis, king of the Franks, was converted to Christianity. And that opened up the way for papal power in 605. No?

- 508.

- 508, sorry. The other one. 508. Kind of opened up the way for papal supremacy in Europe. And then the 1,335, if you start with that same date, 508 and you go forward in time, you end on the date 1843. Now you might be wondering what happened in 1843? Well, there was a great revival, especially in the prophecies of Daniel that occurred around 1843, 1844. And so the verse says, "Blessed to see who waits till that time period." There was a special manifestation of the Spirit. There was revival, not only North America, but it spread to Europe and even as far away as South American missionary outposts around the world; there was a great interest in the prophecies of Daniel in particular. And so this verse is a reference to that revival that occurred around 1843. It's a very interesting time prophecy and it parallels or ties in with Revelation chapter 10, which also talks about that same experience around 1844.

- So I know that's a lot to take in, but we need to get something in writing on that, Pastor Ross. Hope that helps a little, Byron.

- We do have a study guide that's called "Right on Time." And I don't think it gets into the specifics here of the 1,335 and the 1,290, but it does talk about the 1,260. And give you the historical evidence for the start of that time period. So that might be of interest, and we'll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and asks. Number is 1-800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, it's called "Right on Time." Next caller that we have is Joel listening in North Carolina. Joel, welcome to the program.

- [Joel] Hi, pastor Doug and Pastor Ross.

- Hi. And your question?

- [Joel] My question is about Ezekiel chapter 1:26-28. Is this talking about God, the Father or God the Son?

- All right, let me read this for our listeners. We always try to be mindful that a lot of the folks listening are driving and they can't just stop and look it up. "And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was the likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearances of his waist upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around it. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." Well, I think most people reading this, or scholars anyway, they see a similarity between this passage and what you find in Revelation one where Jesus appears to John. And so we believe this would be God the Son in His glory. And keep in mind, that Bible says, "No man has seen the Father." So if Ezekiel saw this vision, he's probably seeing God the Son.

- It's also interesting you had a parallel with Revelation chapter four where it describes the heavenly throne room and some of the similarities. It's a sea. Here, it's talking about the blue, the color of the stone. It's talking about a rainbow surrounding the throne. A lot of parallels between Revelation four and what we see over here in Ezekiel.

- That's right.

- All right, thank you for your call. Next caller that we have is John listening in Washington. John, welcome to the program.

- [John] Yes, thank you for taking my call. My question is regarding use of a phrase in funerals of ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And if that comes from a scripture, I'd like to know what it is. And also any scripture that would pertain to cremation.

- Okay. The scripture and the word ashes and dust is synonymous in, I think in Hebrew. And when God said to Adam, and I believe Pastor Ross, that's Genesis three, He said, "Dust you are and to dust you will return." And then when you you're inquiring about cremation, what does the Bible say about this? It's a good question, cause something everyone deals with at some point. And I'll give you a little shameless plug here is I did a video on that, because we received that question too much and it's called "To Bury or to Burn." If you go to YouTube, you can see it for free. And I take a lot of scripture or take more time there than I would have here.

But in a quick answer, I would say predominantly in the Bible, the example you see is for burial. I don't think this is a salvation issue where if a person is cremated instead of buried they can't be saved. Because many Christians were burnt at the stake. There are two examples of people we know that were cremated in the Bible. You've got Jonathan, who is the son of King Saul, dear friend of David. And he was cremated and we fully expect to see him in the resurrection. His was not a martyr's death, he wasn't cremated by the enemy, but his own people, when his body had been mutilated in a battle, they took his remains and cremated him. And of course, well, his father, king Saul, but he's not going to make it as far as we can tell. Anyway, but I thought there was one other example. Typically in the Bible I can understand the practicality of it, I think in Tokyo right now, virtually everybody's cremated cause they just don't have space for graveyards. And in America now all the graveyard space is being taken up by golf courses, so they have very little space left for graveyards in North America. So more people are turning to cremation.

- And I think somebody said

- It's certainly cheaper.

- It is cheaper. Cremation's almost speeding up the process of burial. If somebody's buried long enough, maybe all that's left is bones, you might say, but cremation speeds up

- Accelerates the decomposition process.

- All right we've got Scott listening in Florida. Scott, we got about a minute and a half before the break.

- [Scott] Hi, how are you?

- Good. How can we help you today?

- [Scott] Pastor Bachelor, you'll be in my neighborhood this week, coming up. My question's not a good one minute question, but it was about the two witnesses and I've been studying really hard on it, and I've up with the two that I think they are and I have pretty good feelings about it praying with the Holy Spirit, it's the Jews and the Gentiles that represent the two witnesses. What do you think?

- All right. Yeah, I appreciate that. I would say that when I read it, these two witnesses that are by the throne of God is a parallel for what you find in Zachariah. It talks about the two witnesses by the throne, the candlesticks, typically they're understood to be the law and the prophets or the Word of God Jesus said, "In the mouth of two witnesses, Christ rose from the dead," and says, "speaking from the law and the prophets, He taught them that He was the Messiah." You might say Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus on the mountain. Moses represents the law. Elijah represents the prophets. And I think, Pastor Ross, we even have a book on this that we could send to Scott for free. He can actually read it online. Talks about "The Glorious Mount" who are the two witnesses.

- The number to call for that is 800-835-6747. You can just simply call and ask for the book on the two witnesses called "The Glorious Mount." We'll be happy to send it to anyone in North America.

- Yeah. Sorry to cut that question short, Scott, take a look at the book and let us know if that helps a little bit and you keep studying. Listening friends, we're not done, we're just taking a brief break. We're going to come back with more questions.

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- [Narrator] Stay tuned. "Bible Answers Live" will return shortly.

- Millions of people believe that planet earth is on the verge of some apocalypse that will plunge the world's cities into chaos. In response, thinking people everywhere are wondering if it might be a good time to locate their families outside of the congested metropolitan areas. In my new book, "Heading for the Hill? A Beginner's Guide to Country Living," I do my best to provide a biblical balance. I'd like to share with you some of the crucial things you'll need to know before you head up for the hills. I'd also like to identify some of the practical things you look for in buying a piece of country land, how to develop water, power and a garden all while still seeking to save the lost. This book has some very valuable information for anybody that's ever considering country living.

- [Narrator] Order your copy of "Heading for the Hills?" Call 800-538-7275 or visit AFBookstore.com.

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What if you could know the future? What would you do? What would you change? To see the future, you must understand the past.

- [Man 1] Alexander the Great becomes king when he is only 18, but he's a military prodigy.

- [Man 2] 150 Years in advance, Cyrus had been named. Rome was violent. They were ruthless. They were determined.

- [Narrator] This intriguing documentary, hosted by Pastor Doug Bachelor, explores the most striking Bible prophecies that have been dramatically fulfilled throughout history. "Kingdoms in Time." Are you ready?

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You're listening to "Bible Answers Live" where every question answered provides a clearer picture of God and His plan to save you. So what are you waiting for? Get practical answers about the good book for a better life today. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. If you'd like answers to your Bible related questions on the air, please call us next Sunday between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM Pacific time. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this evening's program, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now let's rejoin our hosts for more "Bible Answers Live."

- Welcome back listening friends to "Bible Answers Live" and some have tuned in along the way. This is a live international, interactive Bible study. You interact by calling in with your Bible questions. The number is 800-GodSays. That's 800-463-7297. And I am Doug Bachelor.

- My name is Jean Ross and we have a number of folks who have called in and they're ready with their Bible questions. So we'll go to Bonita. And Bonita listening in North Carolina. Bonita, you there?

- [Bonita] I am.

- Hi, you're on the air.

- [Bonita] Thank you. Ever since I was probably four, I came to understand that God can read our minds and knows what our thoughts are, but the devil cannot. And so I've always had a much better comfortability with praying through thought rather than verbally. Unless it's in a public setting. Is there anything wrong with that?

- No. There's examples in the Bible. I know in the book of Nehemiah, it tells us that Nehemiah, obviously he prayed in his heart, he was about to answer the king and wasn't sure what to say and he's standing there, so he prays in his heart. God tells us He knows what things we have need of before we even ask. And the Bible tells us in 1 Kings chapter eight, I think it's verse 39, that God and God only knows the thoughts of men's heart. So the devil can't read our minds. Only God can do that. People can guess what a someone else is thinking and the devil is probably very good at that looking at body language, but only God really knows the heart. But there's nothing wrong with praying out loud. I think there's power sometimes in praying out loud. We have some wonderful prayers in the Bible that are recorded from Jesus and Daniel and Mary and Abraham and others. Because they prayed out loud, they're recorded. When you pray out loud, I think angels surround you. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed not My will, Thy will be done. And then you've got that beautiful prayer in John 17 that's recorded because obviously the Lord prayed out loud. So don't be afraid to do that, I think the devil trembles when you pray out loud, but there's certainly nothing wrong with praying in your heart. I probably do most of my praying that way because you walk and talk to the Lord when you're praying in your heart.

- We got a book it's called, "Teach Us to Pray," and it lays out some of these biblical principles that talk about prayer. We'll be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. And again, just ask for the book it's called "Teach Us to Pray" and we'll send it to anyone in North America. Thank you for your call, Bonita. We've got Yolanda in Arizona. Yolanda, welcome to the program.

- [Yolanda] Hello.

- Hi. Thanks for calling.

- Hi, thank you for taking my call. My family and I have been studying the last day events, and so I have a question; in the last day events, when Satan appears as the false Christ, will that be before or after the of close of probation?

- Ah, good question. Well, first of all, once probation closes the saved are saved and the lost are lost, right? We understand that?

- [Yolanda] Right.

- I can't understand why the devil would save his masterpiece of deception for a time when it was too late to make any difference. So I think it's immediately prior to the close of probation that he pulls out his best game plan and tries to impersonate Christ. That's why Jesus warns His disciples there will be false Christs and false prophets. If their salvation is all secure before they come, then they wouldn't really need to worry about that. Of course there's been false Christs through history for that matter, but yeah, I'm talking about the ultimate deception of Satan where he impersonates Christ I think is just before the close of probation when he's hoping to accomplish the most damage.

- [Yolanda] I can see it go both ways. So you're saying it's after or before?

- I'm thinking that, and I could be wrong on this, but my understanding is that Satan is going to reserve that masterpiece of deception for a time when it's going to still have an impact. And that's why Jesus warns do not go forth if someone says here is Christ or there. So the church is being warned against that deception. If all the saved are saved and the lost are lost and probation is closed, then there's really no risk of anybody being deceived by that.

- [Yolanda] So you're saying before.

- Yeah, I think shortly before.

- [Yolanda] Because you would think if it's after that he would still try one more time cause it says that no one will know the hour, the day or the hour when he comes, but also too, he doesn't know when the close, and I'm talking about Satan, he doesn't know the moment when probation closes, so you would think at the end, after probation closes, that he would try and attempt God's people.

- Well, you see, once probation closes, I'm actually doing this study on this tomorrow morning, once probation closes, you've got the Great Tribulation, the seven last plagues are falling. And I think people are going to be so distracted by the plagues, they're going to just be cursing God. Now Jesus says that the deception in the last days will be so effective that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. So God preserves the elect from being deceived. But I think the door's probably still open, that's why the Lord is warning about that. But anyway, again, I'm speculating a little bit, cause there's no, as far as I know, there's no, what do you call it? Decisive comment on that in the Bible. You just kind of have to do some detective work and make an educated guess.

- [Yolanda] Right. Okay. I thought I heard you mention that you're doing this tomorrow?

- Yeah. We're recording tomorrow. It'll actually be on YouTube. So I'm doing a three part series on kind of the three phases of the tribulation, the Great Tribulation, that are spoken of in what do you call it, Matthew 24. So yeah, watch for that. It'll be on the YouTube, Doug Batchelor, Amazing Facts channel.

- [Yolanda] Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much.

- All right. Thank you.

- All right, next caller that we have is, we'll try Rich again in Michigan. Rich, welcome to the program.

- [Rich] Can you hear me?

- Yes.

- [Rich] You can hear me now?

- You're on.

- [Rich] All right. Yes. Yes. Hi. I've been listening to you guys for a while now. But the other day something struck me, I was listening to, I don't know if it was you guys or somebody else, but they said that when we die, we're sleeping. If we died in Christ, we're sleeping in Christ and we don't know the time or anything until He comes back the second time to collect us. But then in the Bible, it says that the rich man and Lazarus, he was at the gate begging, and they both died and Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom, but the rich man went to hell or whatever.

- Goes to Hades, yeah.

- [Randy] Hades. Let him put a drop of water on my finger and God says, no, the thing is too wide, you had your chance and blew it. Now that says right there that we didn't just go in our grave and waiting for Him to come, we're alive and going somewhere else.

- All right, let's talk about.

- [Rich] You see, I'm kind of confused on that one.

- Yeah, yeah, no problem. So when we're talking about the rich man and Lazarus, this is a passage you find in Luke chapter, I think it's 16 verse 19, and it's a parable. And you've got parables around it. And one reason we know it's a parable is there's nowhere else in the Bible that says all of those that die go to Abraham's bosom. So here's what Jesus is teaching in that parable. He's warning the Jewish nation that was rich in truth and feasting on the Word of God, they were not loving or caring about the Gentiles begging for the crumbs that fell from their table. The Gentiles, their place of punishment was called Hades. The Jews, their place of reward was to be with Abraham. And so what Jesus does is He tells this parable and he switches places. He's got the rich man going to the Gentile place of torment and He's got the poor Gentile beggar, Lazarus, he's going to the Jewish place of reward. And Christ is saying that if you do not believe Moses and the prophets, you wouldn't be persuaded that one should rise from the dead. Of course, Jesus did rise from the dead. The religious leaders did not believe He even rose someone from the dead by the name of Lazarus. And they did not believe. So this is a parable, it's not talking about the state of men and death, because think about it, will the people in heaven be able to talk to the people burning in hell?

- [Rich] No.

- Let's hope not. So you can't take that literally. Well would one drop of water really cool them?

- [Randy] No, not at all.

- Well, it's a metaphor. Yeah, so the, it's full of metaphors.

- [Rich] What about the guy on the cross that says you'll be in paradise with me today?

- Yeah, actually, if you look at that, there's no punctuation in the original. What Jesus said is, "Verily I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise." Christ could not have been with the thief in paradise that day, because you read in John chapter 20, when Christ rises from the dead, he tells Mary Magdalene, "Do not cling to me," do not touch me, "I have not yet ascended to my father." So Christ is telling Mary Sunday morning, He still hasn't ascended to the Father, how could He be with the thief in paradise Friday afternoon?

- [Randy] Right, that's what I'm having trouble with.

- So we've we got a lesson on that you'd really appreciate.

- The thief, talking about the thief, he wasn't expecting to go to paradise that day cause he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom." So he was looking forward to the second coming of Christ and saying, "Lord, remember me." And so Christ assured him that day that he would be, in the future, with Him in paradise, and that's the assurance that we can have right away when we receive Jesus.

- [Rich] So we do go to sleep then, we're just asleep there until He does come. We don't know the time passes or anything?

- For a believer, it says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If you're saved and you die, your next conscious thought is the resurrection. So there's no consciousness of time for you.

- [Randy] Right. Oh, I see what you're saying, cause we're asleep anyway, when we're asleep, we're unconscious.

- It's a totally dreamless sleep. It's not like you sleep where you roll over during the night. You have no awareness of time. Let me give you more proof of that. King David died 3,000 years ago. The Bible says David slept with his fathers. Acts chapter two, 1,000 years later, Peter says, "David is dead and buried and not ascended to heaven. His tomb is with us to this day." He couldn't be any more clear. He's dead. He's in the grave. He's not yet ascended to heaven. This is after the resurrection. But for David who died, his next conscious thought is the presence of the Lord. The resurrection. You look in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, says, "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout; then the dead in Christ will rise first." So when does that happen? When the Lord descends from heaven with a shout.

- You know, Rich, we got a study guide that, if you haven't seen, it's just packed with scripture, it's a great study. It's called "Are the Dead Really Dead?" And we'll be happy to send this to you or anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. Just call and ask. "Are the Dead Really Dead?" We'll send it to you. Again, it's 800-835-6747. And if you want to learn more about it, you can just go to the Amazing Facts website as well and we have a number of articles. Actually, Pastor Doug, we got a website that Amazing Facts has sponsored called DeathTruth.com.

- That's right.

- And it's got a lot of scriptures there and I think that study even available online for people to read, so take a look at DeathTruth.com. There's actually some videos of sermons there and I think you'll be blessed by that. Thank you for your call, Rich. We've got Hector listening in Florida. Hector, welcome to the program.

- [Hector] Thank you for taking my call. I would love to know something about Revelation 12, verse 9-13. My concern about this is how the title of Lucifer has been changed from Lucifer to Satan or devil or ancient serpent where he didn't even reach to the earth as yet to persecute the people on earth. And also the second question that I have in that reference, how could he get cast out directly to the earth?

- All right, let's talk about that. And the question is here in Revelation chapter 12, I think you said versus nine through at least 11. And it says, "So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan." So right there is a very interesting passage because it identifies the dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan. That's all talking about the same person. And then you also mentioned before his fall, he was called Lucifer, which is light bearer. He was the shining one of God before this. And it says he's cast out to the earth. So it starts out that he rebels and he's cast out of heaven. Ultimately he's cast of the earth. The reason he's cast to the earth and restricted here, and you can read in the book of Job, Satan says, "I've come from the earth. From walking to and fro and up and down in it." And so here on the earth, Satan found creatures, intelligent creatures made in God's image; a world where they were willing to listen to him instead of God. Whoever you obey, Romans chapter six, that's who servant you are. And when Adam and Eve decided to listen to the devil, when God said, "Do not eat the fruit," the devil said, "Go ahead, eat it." They listened to the devil. They basically surrendered dominion of this planet to the enemy. So he was cast out and restricted to this planet. And this world, with all its misery and suffering, is because it has been a beach head for the devil's campaign against God and the whole universe is seen and the unfallen angels what the result of Satan's government is and all the misery and the suffering in this world is a result of that. Now we have a DVD called "Cosmic Conflict" that outlines this whole battle.

- I think the DVD's available on YouTube actually. I think somebody's put it up there and it gets into this. Just two quick things I want to add to that, Pastor Doug, if you look in verse nine, it says, "So the great dragon was cast out." And then you look a little further in verse 10 says, "He was cast down to the earth." So there's two things there's casting out and there's casting down. He's cast out of heaven. Well, that occurred before the creation of the earth. But after Adam and Eve sinned, he claimed dominion of the earth. But in a special way, he was cast down at the cross when Jesus was victorious and overcame. It was very evident that he had lost the battle. He's going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour, he knows he has a short time. So there's the casting out of heaven, then there's the casting down to the earth when Adam and Eve chose him above God. And then in a secondary sense, at the cross, Christ overcame him one more time. So there's two words that's interesting to note.

- And Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." It's no question he's been cast down.

- Yep. Great question, Hector. Thank you for your call. Next caller that we have is Jeanie listening in Kansas. Jeanie, welcome to the program.

- [Jeanie] Hi.

- Hi.

- [Jeanie] I don't know if you'd call it a question or a comment, but, Pastor Ross, I'm not trying to leave you out, but I'm going to ignore you cause I want to talk to Pastor Doug.

- That's fine.

- [Jeanie] I don't know, maybe three or four of your programs, Pastor Doug, you commented naturally people wonder about the Ark of the Covenant and you've speculated, you think that they hid it in one of the many tombs around Jerusalem. But I was just wondering; I know it doesn't say anything in the Bible about it, so I was just wondering if you had read "Early Writings" page 32?

- Yeah, about the law of God being exalted? You're talking about where the law of God is exalted. Some people are wondering if the Ark is going to be discovered. There's that verse in Revelation where it's I saw heaven open. Is that Revelation 11?

- Revelation 11. Yes. The sounding of the seventh trumpet.

- Yeah. Does that mean that the Ark's going to be discovered? I think it's saying that the law of God is going to be exalted. I don't know what you think about that, Pastor Ross. Well, first, let me back up before you answer that. So she's asking why do you think it might be in a cave around Jerusalem? Well, the reason is the Ark is still in the temple. The 10 Commandments are still in the Ark and the Ark is still in the temple prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. That's recorded. And it says nothing was in the Ark, but the tables of stone, something had happened to the pint of manna and Aaron's rod. And it never appears as one of the articles that is carried off by Nebuchadnezzar. And it never appears when Ezra brings back the articles. It's disappeared from history. The only thing that can happen is Jeremiah who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, he with some other priest, or he directed some priests, they hid it so that the Babylonians would not get their hands on it when they conquered the city. And it's never been recorded since then. And you are going to say, now what does it mean there in Revelation 11 where it talks about the Ark?

- Yeah. Here's the verse, Revelation 11, verse 19. It says, "The temple of God is opening heaven, and the Ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, earthquake and great hail." It's the elevation of God's law. That's what's so important about the Ark of the Covenant. And of course the great original of the law is in heaven, in the heavenly sanctuary, and the copy that Moses had made, or God wrote, and Moses put in the golden box and is hidden somewhere near Jerusalem, Pastor Doug, I hope, I don't know for sure, but I sure hope they do find that before Jesus comes, it would be the greatest archeological find. Could you imagine?

- That or Noah's Ark. Either Ark would be great.

- That would be great.

- But the 10 commandments, to open it and look inside and see where God wrote with His own hand. Of course movies have been made about that, but to actually see the golden box would be a glorious thing. It's quite possible it's there. We know it's there. It's hidden somewhere and maybe will be found. Some even claim they have found it.

- Yeah, that's been kind of shabby evidence.

- Yeah. (Jean chuckles) Anyway, yes, great question, thank you. Thank you, Jeanie.

- Thank you, Jeanie.

- The next caller that we have is Mary listening in Oregon. Mary, welcome to the program.

- [Mary] Thank you for taking my call and thank you so much for all the work you do for Jesus.

- Thank you.

- [Mary] My question is about idolatry. My friend was telling me that having a picture of Jesus in the sanctuary is idolatry. And she directed me to Isaiah 44, 9-19. And it does say idolatry is foolishness. So I was wondering what is it really saying? Is really having a picture of Jesus, is it idolatry?

- Well, it could be. Whether it's a picture which is one dimensional or a statue, which is three dimensional, you can worship either. Now folks might be shocked to hear me say the 10 commandments, the second commandment does not forbid the making of a facsimile or an image, a likeness. It says you shall not make a likeness and bow down to it. An example of that would be when the children of Israel were bitten by snakes in the book of Numbers, Moses was instructed to make a bronze serpent. Well, that would be an image. But years later, when the people were praying to it, Hezekiah ground it to powder. God told Solomon and Moses in the temple, they had angels on the Ark. Well, you could say that angel's an idol. Well, it was to represent the angels of God in heaven. Nobody was praying to the angels. But if someone should start praying to a statue or a painting of an angel or a statue or painting of Jesus or Mary, that becomes idolatry. There's one church that says you're not even supposed to have a photograph of your family on the coffee table or the wall because that's an idol. Well, hopefully nobody's praying to that. So idolatry is making an image and praying to it. When you read in the Bible, "Solomon, filled with the Holy Spirit, built the temple in Jerusalem." There were 12 calves that held up the altar of water the laver, and they called it the sea because it was such a big compartment. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. Nobody prayed to them. So having a likeness of something, whether it's a fig or a pomegranate or a calf as they had there, as long as they weren't praying to it, it wasn't technically wrong. So hopefully that helps. And Isaiah of course, he's highlighting how foolish it is to make an idol and pray to it. We should not pray to or worship representations. If it's going to make somebody stumble, don't put a picture of Jesus in your house. Or a statue.

- That's right. All right, well thank you for your call, Mary. We going to go to Jose in Tennessee. Jose, welcome with the program.

- [Jose] Hey, how's it going, Pastor Doug and Ross? I just want to say thank you so much for your program. It's really helped me during some very difficult times. And yeah, my question is on 1 Timothy chapter four and verse three. Says, "Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meat which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." I know that in paradise and in the garden that nothing was created to be eaten except for the fruits or the trees and things like that, so I'm kind of confused on what Paul is talking about here. I also know that the background is a little bit on Gnosticism and that we're restricting people from eating certain things, so can you kind of clear that up for me?

- Yeah. Well, I think that what Paul is specifically talking about here is in the early church, the Jewish Christians were telling the Gentile converts to Christianity, they could not eat any of the meats, and they're talking about clean meats, that were sold in the Roman or Greek marketplaces because they used to always sacrifice them before some idle or altar. It was just typical in the butcher shops. And they said, oh, this has been sacrificed to a god. And Paul said, whatever you buy in the flea market, in the meat market, eat it, don't ask any questions for conscience sake. He says the idol is nothing. But if it bothers your conscience, don't eat it. And he says that there will be some in the last days that will be departing from the faith saying you cannot eat certain meats, which are sanctified by the Word of God. Now the Bible says there are certain clean meats you can eat. There's some churches that say you can and can't eat fish on certain days of the week. I think you know what I'm talking about. Clearly, the ideal diet for man in the beginning in heaven, and even in this life, is the diet that God gave Adam and Eve. And we've got a lesson that talks about that called

- "God's Free Health Plan." Yes, and if you'd like to receive that, the number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, it's called "God's Free Health Plan. Of course, we'll be happy to send it to anyone here in North America. If you're outside of North America, you can just go to the Amazing Facts website, just AmazingFacts.org and you'll be able to read the study guide there as well. Pastor Doug, looking at the clock, we've got a special session following; we say goodbye to our satellite radios here in just a minute. But stay around, friends, we're going to take some of your internet questions that you have emailed to us. We call it our rapid-fire Bible question section, so we'll be back in just a moment.

(driving music)

- [Narrator] Thank you for listening to today's broadcast. We hope you understand your Bible even better than before. "Bible Answers Live" is produced by Amazing Facts International, a faith-based ministry located in Granite Bay, California.

- Hello friends, welcome back to our special segment where we take your internet questions, your email questions, and we try to answer as many as we can in the time that's allotted. If you'd like to email a Bible question to "Bible Answers Live," it's just simply BALquestions@AmazingFacts.org. That's BALquestions@AmazingFacts.org. All right, pastor Doug, here's the first question that we have. Somebody's asking, "How do I convince my family members that their dead loved ones cannot talk to them?" And then as part two of that question, "Are psychics bad?"

- If you look in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter nine, and oh, you can go to verse five, it says, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hatred, their envy is now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun," that means in this life. When people die, they never come back. The Bible never says anything about living who die and come back to haunt. Job says, I think it's chapter 14, man dies, his sons come to honor and he does not know it. Psalm 146, "Put not your trust in princes or in the son of man in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth, and that very day his thoughts perish." They're not thinking anything. You need a brain to think and the brain decomposes, you don't think. And so until you get your glorified body, you're not haunting anybody, and that's at the resurrection, the second coming. So no. And psychics, if people are consulting with the dead, the Bible tells us very clearly, New and Old Testament, among the people in the lake of fire are the spiritualists. And Moses is pretty clear, have nothing to do with a medium that's communicating with the dead, it's usually satanic.

- All right, here is a question that we are hearing a lot about in the news today. And the question simply is, "Is the Bible pro-life or pro-choice?"

- Well, people like the slogans. Of course you would think God wants people to have life and of course you would think God wants people to have choice, so let's set aside the labels that are used to define these two categories. The real question is when does life begin and is human life sacred? The only place that you can say when life begins, human life, is at conception. That's why they call it conception. And in the Bible, when the Holy Spirit came on Mary, she conceived, and it says that Holy One, that is within you. So human life begins at conception. It is sacred and should be treated and protected as such. Now we're really out of time. God bless, friends. Till next week.

- [Narrator] "Bible Answers Live." Honest and accurate answers to your Bible questions.