- [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 friends, would you like to hear an amazing fact? Only one in 10,000 diamonds found are colored and only one in every 100 diamonds is greater than 10 carets in size. Furthermore, only one out of 200 diamonds is flawless. So you can imagine the worldwide astonishment when miners in Angola, Africa discovered a 170-caret flawless pink diamond in July, 2022. Named the Lulo Rose after the mine where it was discovered, the 34-gram rock is believed to be the largest pink diamond discovered in the last 300 years. The former record holder is 182-carat Daria-i-Noor found in India the 17th century, and it now resides in the National Bank of Tehran. It's hard to say what this diamond will sell for after it's cut, but just for comparison, the Pink Star diamond shattered every price record when Sotheby's sold it in April, 2017 for a staggering 71.2 million at a Hong Kong auction. It was the single most expensive diamond or jewel sold at an auction. And catch this, it took professionals more than a year and a half just to cut and polish this Pink Star. Now the Pink Star was 59.60 carets. It's anyone's guess what the 170-caret Lulo Rose will sell for. You know, Pastor Ross, it's amazing how much a rock will sell for.
- I know, but to get something that rare, that strong, so beautiful, and apparently flawless, I mean, that's an incredible find. One wonders how many diamonds of that quality is still out there, buried under the ground that nobody knows about. But you know, talking about valuable rocks, probably the most valuable rock is not diamond or some type of emerald. It's written on stone and it's put in a golden box, and it's hidden away for many, many, many years. Of course, what we're talking about is the 10 Commandments, the most precious rocks, not because of the rock per se, but because of what's written on the rock.
- That's right. You know, I kind of like rocks. I lived in a cave and we were surrounded by rocks, and you actually get to know some of them and their shapes and their design and colors. And Christ is often compared to a rock in the Bible. He said His word, He said, "He that hears these words of mine and does them is like "a wise man building on the rock." And you can read in Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are builded together for a habitation of God through the spirit." And Peter says, "We are lively stones built "on that cornerstone of Jesus Who is the rock of ages." And that's, you know, rocks in the Bible represent something enduring and perfect. If you're going to want something to last like the pyramids or even a tombstone, you make it out of stone it so it'll last. And that's why God wrote His law on rock because of its enduring nature.
- He wrote it with His own hand because His law doesn't change. I mean, people's opinions come and go, but the word of God endures forever. You might want to know more about this very special law written on stone there in that golden box. You don't have to go find the golden box to read what's written on the stone. It's in the Bible; it's the 10 Commandments. We have a book, it's actually one of our study guides called "Written in Stone" and it's all about the 10 Commandments and the principles that we find in scripture, in that law. If you'd like to receive this free gift, all you need to do is call the number 800-835-6747 and you want to ask for offer number 111 or ask by name "Written in Stone" and we'll be happy to send that to anyone here in North America. If you're outside of North America, just go to the Amazing Facts website, just AmazingFacts.org or .com and you'll be able to read that study guide right there online. We're also going to give you a few other numbers as we work our way through the program. But if you have a Bible-related question, the number to call here to the studio is 800-463-7297, 800-463-7297. And also if you would like to email us a Bible question, you can do so at BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org, BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org. Now Pastor Doug, before we go to the phone lines as we always do, we like to start with prayer. Dear Father, we thank You for this time that we have to be able to open Your word and study. We always ask for the Spirit to come and guide us here in the studio, and be with those who are listening wherever they might be. And Lord, lead us into a clearer understanding of what the Bible teaches, for we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen.
- Well, I think we are ready for our first caller this evening. We've got Adrian listening from Texas. Adrian, welcome to the program.
- [Adrian] Hi, how's it going?
- Good, appreciate your calling.
- [Adrian] Okay, so basically the question is how do we reconcile 1 Corinthians 1 when Paul is talking about that anything, meats and stuff that are sacrificed to idols basically means nothing? And then Jesus in Revelation 2, verse 14, He's saying that He's actually admonishing the church for eating meat sacrificed idols. So I was just wondering how we can reconcile those two things.
- Yeah, well I think they're talking about two different things. First of all, Revelation is full of symbolism. And in Revelation 2, when he's talking about Balaam, well, he's clearly not talking about literal Balaam who had been dead for oh, 1400 years at that point, and later, he talks about Jezebel. He talks about these Old Testament characters because of what they represent. And the idea of eating something sacrificed to idols? It was probably also talking about eating those things that are unclean, which Daniel would not do, that were sacrificed to idols. Daniel would not be defiled because he wanted to be faithful. Paul was dealing with a different issue. There were Jewish believers that did not think that Gentiles should eat any meat, clean or unclean, sold in the Greco Roman marketplaces because whenever they butchered anything, it was butchered in front of an idol. And so Paul is saying, look, the idol is nothing. It's nothing wrong with eating clean meat. And so, I wouldn't worry about that. If your conscience bothers you, he says in Romans 14, if you're not going to eat it, don't eat it. So they're dealing with a different issue there than what you see in Revelation. And eating things sacrificed to idols in Revelation is really talking about ingesting false teachings that are contaminated by paganism. So there's a whole spiritual overtone in Revelation that you don't have there in 1 Corinthians.
- All right, thank you. Good question, Adrian. We've got James listening in Illinois. James, welcome to the program.
- [James] Thank you, hi pastors. May God continue to bless you both for all that you do.
- Thank you.
- [James] My question is, do we know the original language? Was it Hebrew or Aramaic before the Tower of Babel?
- No, you know, I think everyone can speculate, but I don't think so. My guess is that when we get to heaven, if we're, you know, we are still speaking the language of Canaan or Eden, that we will find out that there are certain words in many languages that can be traced back to the original language. People that study languages today already see, around the world, as people have migrated, they've taken certain words with them. I remember living among the Navajo Indians for about a year and a half in New Mexico, and there was a tribe of Eskimos in Alaska that spoke an almost identical language, they could understand each other. But all the tribes in between could not understand each other. So, you know, it's obviously there is some migration and languages change. I mean, you look at American English compared to England English, compared to South African English, which Pastor Ross speaks, compared to Australian English, and you can see that how quickly languages adopt new words and accents.
- Although if you had to guess, Pastor Doug, I don't know, what do you think? Do you think maybe the descendants of Seth that stayed probably close to Noah after they left the arc, spoke a language closer to the language that was spoken before the flood versus those who joined in the Tower of Babel, had their languages confused, and then dispersed around the globe?
- Say something in Africans.
- In Africans? Okay, anyway.
- That was worth it. No, I think people want to know.
- For what it's worth, I think some people understood that.
- So yeah, just, it's amazing how languages change over time. But yeah, so we don't know. I think Pastor Ross is right, we might find that some of the Semitic languages that you're going to find the language of Eden had a lot of similarity. Thanks for that, appreciate it.
- Thank you, James. We've got next caller is Darrell listening in Florida. Darrell, welcome to the program.
- [Darrell] Hi pastors. My question is regarding Revelation 13, verse 17. I was just wanting to know, why does it say that no one can buy or sell unless they have either the mark of the beast, which I know that is like, if you're following the Sunday law that's passed, obeying the Sunday law, or the name of the beast, which is Vicarius Filii Dei or Vicar of the Son of God, or the number of his name, which we all know is 666. So why is it this or this, or this? It's like cash or check, or credit card. Like, why is it like that?
- Well, my guess is that here in Revelation 13, he's really saying anyone who worships the beast, and there's several ways that that might be tested, but it's all going to boil down to the same thing. When you get to chapter 14, and I think it's mentioned again in chapter 18, it just summarizes it by saying those who worship the beast and his image. And so there will be different criteria where you'll prove it. I know that like, during World War 2, there were laws made to basically eradicate the Jewish people and there were one of several ways they would identify them. It didn't have to be any one way, but they had a few different tests. And so I think it's saying here in Revelation, there's a few different ways that your worship of the beast will be measured. The buying and selling will be for everybody if they don't cooperate. There'll be economic sanctions on everybody who does not cooperate and worship the beast.
- And at the end of time there's just two groups, those that have the mark of the beast and those who have the seal of God. And I think the reason it's mentioned here, the mark, the name, the number, it's just reaffirming what this power is. There'll be many that'll go along with these laws that have to do with worship or restricting worship because they want to be able to buy and sell. They don't necessarily believe that this is what the world needs. They'll be those who really believe that this is what the world needs and be very supportive of it. But I think the vast majority will just go along so that they can buy and sell. And so there's different motivations why people will do this, but it's emphasizing this power that's described. You know, we do have a study guide called "The Mark of the Beast" and it talks about the subject. And we'll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and asks. The number to call for that is 800-835-6747. And you can ask for the study guide, it's called "The Mark of the Beast" and we'll be happy to get that in the mail to anyone here in North America.
- All right, thank you.
- Next caller that we have is Joel listening in North Carolina. Joel, welcome to the program.
- [Joel] Good evening everybody. Pastor Doug, I think I heard this in your sermons and if I didn't, if you didn't say this, please tell me so I can be corrected. But I'm trying to figure out why we as, Christianity, as a whole, separate tries to separate Christianity from the Jewish heritage. Because I think it was you that said, you know, we read a Jewish book, we worship a Jewish Savior, and when we become a Christian, we become spiritual Jews.
- Yeah, I said that word for word. So that's, yeah.
- [Joel] I don't understand why Christians try to separate, you know, like they don't want to...
- Yeah, well let me give you a few thoughts on that. First of all, if a person accepts Christ, there is a difference between a Christian, of course a Christian accepts Jesus as the Messiah. There are a lot of Jews, so a Christian can't just say, "Well, I'm now a Jew." I tell my Jewish family, I said, "Now I'm a completed Jew," because, you know, the Jews were supposed to both embrace and proclaim the Messiah. And so I think that we should embrace the Jewish heritage of the Christian Church. Way back in, oh, about 70, 80 AD, after the Jews had rebelled against the Romans and Judaism, you know, was basically frowned on and they were very upset with the Jewish nation for its rebellion against Rome. There's a lot of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Roman Empire. And so the Christians began to distance themselves a little bit from the Jews because the persecution of the Jews began to overlap, and they were persecuting Christians. They said, well, these are Jews. They worship the sabbath and they keep the same laws as the Jews. And they began to distance themselves. And so, you know, that trend has continued through history. It's just mind-boggling that during World War 2 that you had some Nazis still considered themselves Christians while they were exterminating Jews. And if you've ever read the book "The Hiding Place", this one man who is Mr. Tin Boom who is hiding Jews in his house, he had a Jewish baby and they said, "If you have that Jewish baby "and you're caught, they'll kill you." He said, "It was a Jewish baby that died for me." And so he said, "I'm willing to," and did end up dying. But you know, they had the right attitude. Anyway, we have a book on that that's called "Spiritual Israel". And if you'd like to read that, Joel or anybody, I think that's going to help you better understand that Christianity really is rooted in Judaism and there shouldn't be antisemitism in Christian's minds.
- To receive the book, just call the number 800-835-6747. It's called "Spiritual Israel" and we'll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and asks. If you're outside of North America, just go to the Amazing Facts website, AmazingFacts.com or .org. We've got June listening in California. June, welcome to the program.
- [June] Hello, hello, pastors. How are you?
- Good, thank you for calling.
- [June] Yeah, just a quick question on Exodus 4:24. I'm just wondering why God would want to kill Moses.
- Yeah, this is, this verse usually gets some interesting questions. People are reading through the Bible and they go through Exodus, they get to chapter four and it makes this interesting statement where Moses is on his way to Egypt and in route, it says the Lord tried to slay him. Now, just the very idea that God would try to slay somebody, it can leave you wondering, did God swing and miss? You know, if God wants to slay you, He's going to slay you. And basically it's saying that, that the wrath of God was rising up against Moses because Moses had been called to lead the people, he'd accepted the call. He had been convicted by the Holy Spirit, that as the leader he needed to embrace the covenant to Abraham. He had not had his own son or at least one of his sons circumcised. And I think maybe he had argued about this with his wife because finally his wife says okay. She circumcised the boy and she said, "You're a bloody man." Maybe she thought it was barbaric or who knows what the discussion was. But Moses had not followed through in doing what God said. And God was saying if you continue going down the road, you're in high-handed disobedience. You're going to be leading my covenant people and you're not following the covenant in your own family. So reading between the lines, most commentators think this is what was happening here.
- And I think that the verse there, at least the idea, as you mentioned, Pastor Doug, if God wanted to destroy Moses, yeah, He would've done it. But the Lord appeared in a threatening manner to Moses.
- Kinda like the angel with Balaam and his donkey.
- That's right, with the raised sword or maybe...
- He could have killed him if He wanted to.
- Right. Just to illustrate the importance of what it is that Moses had to do in being faithful to the covenant. Good question. Next caller that we have is Claudette listening from New Jersey. Claudette, welcome to the program.
- [Claudette] Good evening, Pastor Doug. Thanks for taking me. And Pastor Ross. Yes, my question is based on 1 Corinthians 11, verse five and six, and also verse 15. It says, "Whatever woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head for that is even all one as she was shaven, for if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn." And then in verse 15 it says, "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering." So if a woman has long hair and she's prophesying or praying church, should she still wear head covering over her, over her hair?
- All right, here's the big question and it's a valid question. And this, whenever we get this question we need to answer with some humility because it's a difficult verse. The big question is, was Paul addressing a custom or was he addressing a command? There's no command earlier in the Bible that women should not pray with or without their heads covered. I don't know if there's anything says anything about. The only time it talks about covering the head is sometimes if they were mourning they would cover their heads. So later in the same chapter, and Pastor Ross, you probably can find the verse that says, "For we have no such custom," I think the word custom is actually used in this passage. Let me give you an example, Claudette. When I am in, oh, Japan or some places in India, Pastor Ross and I were in a church in India where they get 18,000 people all take off their shoes and put them in cubby holes. Well, it's considered bad manners and disrespectful for you to walk in with your shoes. And Paul is saying that it was a custom that women as a sign of humility that they cover their heads, well, was that cultural? And then Paul is saying, your hair is a covering. God gives women a natural covering of hair, typically more than men. And then he later says in another place, it's a shame for men to have long hair. So he's just saying there, there ought to be this distinction, but it appears it's a custom. I have no qualms if some, if a woman says, "I'm convicted, I should cover my head "when I'm in church," I say, "praise the Lord, you follow the Holy Spirit." It certainly won't hurt anybody.
- I think the point also, Pastor Doug, is it's emphasizing reverence in the the sanctuary. And again, different customs, different ways of doing things. Back in Bible times, and again also in Middle East, even today, that is a sign of reverence. In our culture, Pastor Doug, it would be a sign of disrespect or a lack of reverence if a man walks into a church and he leaves on his big cowboy hat. I mean, you remove your hat when you're come into a church. That's a sign of respect. So I think the context there is we need to be reverent when we're entering to worship and in the presence of God, whatever that culture might be.
- Yeah and Paul was saying the women were behaving in a scandalous, disrespectful way in the Corinthian church and he was addressing that.
- You know, the verse you refer to is also 1 Corinthians 11, verse 16, where Paul says, "But if anyone seems to be contentious, "we do not have such a custom nor do the churches of God." So it's re referring to a specific situation that was taking place there.
- Yep, amen.
- All right, thank you for your call. We got Tayvision listening in Illinois. Tayvision, welcome to the program.
- [Tayvision] My question is, how do you know that the Holy Spirit's still working in you if you've been a Christian for years and you've noticed that you're not as sensitive or as passionate about Christ as you used to be?
- Well first of all, don't get discouraged. You've just described what it says in Revelation 2, where he says the Ephesian church had lost its first love. They were still His people, they were still His church. You'll often see even in a marriage that during the time of dating and honeymoon, there's just, there's a lot of romance and excitement. And then, you know, after 10 years of marriage, things become a little more routine. Well the Lord, you know, in our marriages, we want to keep that love alive and also in your relationship with the Lord. It doesn't mean you're not a Christian anymore. You know, even Mary and Joseph, they took their eyes off Jesus when he was a young man. They lost him in Jerusalem. And Mary said, "We spent three days sorrowing "and searching for you." And if we take our eyes off Jesus, sometimes we spend some time sorrowing and searching to find Him again. But I would say seek after the Lord and He'll be found. That's the promise. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. You want to renew that relationship, that love, and the way that happens, He said, Jesus said, "Do the first works." I'm sure when you first fell in love with the Lord, you were poring over His word, you're spending time in prayer, you were thinking about His presence, you were sharing Him with your friends. Do those things again and you'll find a renewal in the Holy Spirit and the, you know, your sense of God's presence.
- You know, I'm just wondering, Pastor Doug, what book we have that might be--
- "Twelve Steps to Revival".
- There we go, that's the one. That'll be a great blessing to anyone wanting to have a deeper, fuller experience with Jesus. Read the book, we'll send it to you for free. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book "Twelve Steps for Revival" and we'll be happy to send it to you. Also, Pastor Doug, you did a series not too long ago called "The New Heart", I think it's a 10 part series, and that is available I believe on YouTube. So if you want to look that up, Doug Bachelor--
- Amazing Facts website. It's under our ministry right there.
- It's also on the Amazing Facts website. So that'll be a blessing. Next caller that we have is Daniel and he's listening from V-I. Where is that, Virginia? Daniel, welcome to the program.
- [Daniel] Thank you pastors, good evening. Yeah, calling from Virginia here. Just a question on Revelation 14:7, the first angel's message. You know, I know that the last part of the verse there is a direct reference to the fourth commandment, the sabbath commandment. I was just wondering whether commentators have said, or in general it's understood that the first three commandments can be found in that verse, as well. Fear God, would be the first commandment, give glory to Him by reflecting His image, the second commandment, for the hours judgment has come. In other words, judging between who's taking the name, the Lord's name in vain and who's not. I'm wondering if you can see, in general, the first table of the fourth, or the 10 commandments, there in that verse. And in the counterpart verse as well, in Revelation 15:2, where it talks about the victory over the beast, the first commandment over his image, the second commandment over his mark, the fourth commandment, and over the number of his name, which would be the third commandment. I don't know if you see that or if commentators have seen that, or if that's kinda a stretch.
- Well, I don't know that I view it all the same way, but it's interesting that you're saying this because just moments before the program, I was thinking about Revelation 14 and how Revelation 14 is sort of a condensed Bible. The the last message is found in there. And you're making me think as you're speaking about just seeing the other commandments in this passage. And for our friends that are listening the Bible is written in chiastic form, meaning that you've kind of got like the white bread, let's say it's whole wheat bread just for health sake, and then in the middle, you've got the substance. And it's often in the Hebrew writings that in the middle you'll find the climax. Revelation 14 is like the climax of Revelation. It's all concentrated in there. And it sort of summarizes who is saved and who is lost and why. So you can also find, I think the law of God talks about those who keep the commandments of God in verse 12. That's fascinating. I appreciate that. You're giving me some ideas.
- First angel's message actually quotes from the fourth commandment where it says, "Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea." So that's actually from part of the 10 Commandments.
- Yeah and I can see how you can see allusions to the other commandments earlier in that verse or other places. Friends, we don't have time to do another question before we finish our first half, but we've got a lot more Bible question time coming. So stay tuned, we have some important announcements for you. We're going to be back. And call in with your Bible questions, 800-God-says, 800-God-says, and we'll be back in a moment.
- [Narrator] Stay tuned. "Bible Answers Live" will return shortly.
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- The US government is drowning in debt to the tune of $22 trillion. But before you wag your finger at the government spending, the Federal Reserve says the average American household carries over $137,000 in debt. While it was never God's plan that we live with a burden of debt, Proverbs 22:7 warns us the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. Living with debt is a stressful burden that actually hurts your relationship with God. In my new pocket book, "Deliverance from Debt", I outline the Bible principles on how to properly manage your money with some practical suggestions and how you can get out and stay out of debt. If you are someone you love is drowning in debt, order a copy of "Deliverance from Debt" today. It can be a lifesaver to keep you from going under. Please call 800-538-7275 or visit AFBookstore.com.
- [Narrator] 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 if you're tuning in for the first time, this is a live international interactive Bible study and we invite people around the country and other parts of the world call in with your Bible questions. We'll do our best to give you a brief answer. Sometimes we can't give a big comprehensive answer to some of the questions, but we try to take as many questions as we can and make them understandable so that we can apply the word of God to our lives. My name is Doug Bachelor.
- My name is John Ross and we've got Braunman listening and ready with his question. Braunman from Tennessee, welcome to the program.
- [Braunman] Hello, good evening.
- Evening. And your question.
- [Braunman] If God knows the beginning to the end, why did He create Satan?
- That's a good question. Sometimes the Lord allows things even though He knows that it's going to cause problems. He made all of His creatures free and He even made a beautiful angel named Lucifer, very powerful angel, made him free. That means he's free to love God, to worship God, to make choices. Lucifer chose to not love God and to love himself more. And all of the sin in the universe has come from people making that choice. So before... Now, how old are you? Do you mind my asking?
- [Braunman] I will be 21 in October, so I'm 20.
- You're 20, okay. You sounded younger, forgive me. When your parents decided to have you, assuming it was a free choice, did they get any kind of written guarantee that you would always be cooperative and a good child and obedient?
- [Braunman] No.
- But they took a risk because they wanted to love you and wanted love, and that you might make other choices, right?
- [Braunman] Yes, sir.
- So God made His creatures and gave them freedom to choose knowing there was a risk, and He knew what Lucifer would do. And it's demonstrating to the whole universe what the problem of sin is and it'll never happen again. But you know, we have a DVD.
- Well we do have the "Cosmic Conflict" DVD, and Braunman or anyone listening or watching, you can just simply go to the Amazing Facts website and you'll be able to view that DVD there. Or I think it's also available on YouTube. We also have a study guide that's called "Did God Create a Devil?" and we'll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747 and ask for the book. It's called "Did God Create a Devil?". And we'll send that to anyone who calls and asks. Jose is listening in Puerto Rico. Jose, welcome to the program.
- [Jose] Hello, welcome, can you hear me?
- We can, thanks for calling.
- [Jose] Ah, sure. My question is, was Christ's suffering was a byproduct of our sin or a requirement for our salvation? I'm looking for tabernacle, and tabernacle of course, is the representation of Jesus. I mean the tabernacle, the sacrificial lamb. does not have pass for a tribulation like a suffering of Christ.
- Right. Well of course, keep in mind that the sacrificial system with lambs was symbolic. Clearly, a lamb cannot think and experience the anguish of a human of betrayal and those different things. In fact, the priest kind of went out of the way to make the sacrifice of the lamb as painless and quick as possible because it all symbolized Christ and His sacrifice. But the sacrifice of Christ, the hardest part was not actually the death, it was the suffering, the separation from God in the death that He experienced. That's like when Jonah went into the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. Jesus, when God withdrew his protection there in the Garden of Gethsemane, He went through incredible suffering and turmoil where He was weeping in the garden, perspiring blood. So the lamb, I wouldn't try and make a too strong of a comparison because the lamb was simply a symbol.
- A symbol of Jesus, and of course, the wages of sin is death, and that's what was emphasized. But along with the wages of sin, there is suffering. We know that everyone at the end will be rewarded according to their works, so that's both for the righteous and the unrighteous. There are degrees of judgment, degrees of punishment for the wicked. Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, the Bible tells us. All right.
- Thank you, Jose.
- Fred in Oregon, Fred, welcome to the program.
- [Fred] Thank you much, thanks for taking my call. My question, Matthew 25, verse 9, where the five foolish asked the five wise for some of their oil, and they said no, that they had to go to those that sell to buy their own. Now I know in Revelation 13, if you have, you can't buy or sell unless you have the mark, so is this an indication that these five foolish have the mark?
- You know, I think that the parable of the 10 virgins is not just talking about the mark of the beast and the seal of God, I think it's talking about professed Christians. And it not only applies to the last days because Jesus does make Matthew 25 is on the heels of the signs of His second coming. But I think in every age God has had His people that some that had a knowing relationship, they had the Holy Spirit, they had a reserve, and those who are careless and they were not watching and praying, they were not ready. They had not fortified their faith for times of trial and darkness, or they lost their patience. You know, the Bible talks about he that endures to the end will be saved. Certainly in the last days, those that are lost, the five foolish virgins, they would be getting the mark of the beast and the five who have it, have the oil, they're going to have the seal of God, they'll be saved. But, I don't know if I'm answering what you're asking.
- It's just been something that I've wondered about because we obviously we, in the last days, are not able to--
- Can't buy or sell.
- [Fred] Can't buy or sell. And I just didn't know with these--
- Well, with the 10 virgins--
- [Fred] With these five foolish.
- Yeah, when the wise virgins, pardon me for jumping in, but when the wise virgins tell the foolish, you must buy for yourself, we cannot take someone else's experience from them. We must have our own experience. They said you've gotta have it for yourself. And they waited too long to have that personal experience or to have that filling with the Holy Spirit. And you know, that that applies, it's a truth in every time. I don't think it's talking so much about buying and selling. Where is it, in Revelation chapter three where Jesus says to the Church of Laodicea, you know, "Buy of me gold tried in the fire." And then Isaiah says, oh everyone that there's, "Buy without money without price." And so what it says, buy doesn't always mean going to the market and pulling out your credit card. Buy means go obtain.
- And these are all profess followers of Christ. Describes them as waiting for the bridegroom.
- And they're virgins.
- That's right, they have a pure faith. They have the lamp, which represents the word of God. So even with amongst those who profess to be waiting for the coming of Jesus, you've got the wise and you've got the foolish. Now the foolish will eventually get the mark of the beast, but at that time where they're all together, they're all professing to follow Christ. So it's sort of a warning, a wake up call for the church, I think.
- Yeah, and they're all waiting for the bridegroom to come. That's right. All right, thank you for your call. We've got John listening in Nebraska. John in Nebraska, welcome.
- [John] That's right, thank you for taking my call. Appreciate it, watch you guys all the time.
- Thank you, John. And your question.
- [John] Well it's kind of a mixed up question, but I'll try to get it out the way I want to, talking to your man beforehand. Jesus said, "If you lust after a woman "you have committed adultery in your heart." If a man is watching porn all the time and he's lusting after the women, he's committing adultery in his heart. If a wife gets a divorce, can she remarry? That'd be my question.
- Okay, what you said makes sense. First of all, I would not compare a man or a woman who's having a struggle with pornography as being the same thing as committing an actual affair. You know, in most laws, most countries, thinking about murdering someone is definitely not the same thing as murdering somebody. And so when a person is committing adultery in their heart, there's definitely sin in the heart, and Jesus says that. And there's a sin of adultery in the heart, but it's not the same as committing the act of adultery. And I think that's so important to understand because I've met men and women before that said, "Well, I'm thinking about it, I may as well do it." There's a big difference between the two. And I've talked to women before and they said, "My husband, I caught him viewing pornography "and so that's adultery and so I'm going to divorce him." I also think that's a mistake. I don't think this is what Jesus is talking about. Now, it is certainly a sin if a woman divorces a man and she does not have biblical grounds or if a man divorces his wife. Christ said they don't really have a right to remarry. And I know I'll probably get letters on this that, you know, people are going to say, "Well, it's the same thing." I actually went into depth in my book on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. I talk about this because a lot of people have asked about it. Pornography's an epidemic today. And there's a lot of people that are wondering, "Well, since my spouse has had a problem "with this is that grounds for divorce?" It becomes a really slippery slope when you say yes because some people describe pornography as the daytime soap operas, two people obviously committing adultery. And it goes from there all the way to what they call hard porn. And so where do you draw the line? If you start saying, "Thinking it is the same as doing it," then, you know, you can drive by a billboard with a girl in a bathing suit and say, "Now I can file for divorce." And so you've gotta be very careful. I hope that makes sense to everybody.
- And of course, I think you're emphasizing the fact, Pastor Doug, that it's still sin. Jesus makes it very clear. It's something that needs to be repented of. And if somebody continues down those paths, they are going to eventually harden their heart against the prompting the Holy Spirit.
- And the attitude often leads to the action.
- Exactly, exactly. But it's not necessarily the same thing. So we need to be aware of that. Good question, thank you for calling. Next caller that we have is Guy listening from California. Guy, welcome to the program.
- [Guy] Hello, thank you for taking my call. So my question is regarding Genesis 31, verse 19. And it says in that verse that Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep. So Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house. So why did Rachel steal images or of gods of Laban? Or is there some kind of a secret power to these gods or these idols? I mean, were they going to tell him or tell? Were they going to tell him where Rachel and--?
- Yeah, the word gods there, they used to have idols that were like, it was a God and it was something of like a property deed. You'll read later where, well, first of all, I highly recommend that nobody has a god that can be stolen, because if your god can be packed in someone's saddle bag and ridden off with, you got a pretty small god. So that always strikes me as funny that Laban comes, says, "You stole my gods." And she put 'em in the saddle bag and sat on them, sitting on his gods. So most commentators that I've seen, Pastor Ross, you may have seen something different in this, they say that because the daughters said to Jacob, "Our father has taken our dowry, he hasn't given everything "that we should have gotten as a dowry. "He's taken from us, he spent it." And the girls wanting to have something of value took, or at least Rachel took these gods, these idols, which were like property deeds. And they had some value attached to 'em. There were some monetary value attached to it.
- And I think it's also clear that, you know, the family, Rachel's family, Laban and alike, even though they claimed to worship the true God, the customs of those living around them, it probably crept into their understanding for that reason was important that God was to take Abraham and his descendants out from the land of Ur. So there was kind of a little bit of a mix of idolatry. And maybe that was also part of the reason, here she's leaving home, she wants to take something maybe to remind her of home.
- No, they were a little idols. But I don't know that they worshiped them. But they did have little idols, I think, that were sort of like gods.
- Carved out of stone or whatever it is. And they had value and they could be sold for something.
- Yeah.
- All right, interesting. Good question. All right, we've got Jared listening from Missouri. Jared, welcome to the program.
- [Jared] Hello, thank you.
- Yes, thank you Jared. Your question.
- [Jared] My question is, if we're supposed to judge the evil angels, doesn't that mean we were predestined to fall into temptation at the Garden of Eden since we had to know good and evil at the tree of good and evil?
- I'm not sure I understand the rational of your question. You mean that the Bible, does this. "Do you not know that you will judge angels?" I agree with that. So you're saying that that somehow is connected with predestination?
- [Jared] Yeah because we had to, to know evil, we had to eat the fruit of good and evil to judge, right?
- Yeah, well I think, let's just back up and talk about what the verse is saying. I think Paul is telling us that, when he says, "Know you not that you will judge Angels," he's talking, I think that's 1 Corinthians 7. He's saying you need to be able to judge in the smallest matters. Don't you know you're going to even judge angels? Well obviously Christians are not going to decide if angels are saved or lost. When we get to heaven, the veil's pulled aside, we're going to not only see our guardian angels, we probably are going to see the angels that were our menaces during our lives or our adversaries that Satan had appointed to tempt us. And we're going to say, "Yes, this angel was the one "that was leading me into sin "and he deserves his punishment." So we'll be affirming the judgements of God, I think, in that. But I don't know why predestination would need to fit into that scenario.
- In other words, can you judge without knowing evil, between good and evil? Well I think you can. I mean, to judge is to discern and even Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it was never God's purpose or desire that they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they could choose and they could discern and say, "Nope, we don't want to eat of that, "we do want to eat of this." So it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to partake of evil to know that it's bad.
- Right. We do have a book that talks about predestination and it's called "Can A Saved Man Choose to Be Lost?"
- If you'd like receive that, the number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book, "Can A Saved Man Choose to be Lost?". We'll be happy to send that to anyone in North America. Next caller that we have, Connor, listening from Colorado. Connor, welcome to the program. Thanks for your patience.
- [Conner] Yep, thank you. How are you guys?
- Doing great.
- [Connor] Alrighty, so I've been keeping the original sabbath for a while now, and I had some friends and family that just kind of argued with the importance, of course, in a friendly way. And I just wanted to know what the importance was of keeping the original sabbath.
- Well, when you say the original sabbath, you know, the Bible tells us that God created the world in six days, that He blessed the seventh day. That was reiterated for the children of Israel. When He saved them, He said, "Remember." Now God wanted to say remember if something didn't prior exist. They had forgotten it, living among the Egyptians. He said, "Remember the," I've set aside a day for spiritual and physical rest to worship God. And God blessed that day. God rested that day. He says I've blessed a particular day, the seventh day, and I want you to remember the seventh day. And it says at three times there. He bless the seventh day, He sanctified the seventh day. And He asks us to remember that. Well, over time during the time of the Roman era, there was got a lot of compromise and they gradually switched from the seventh day to the first day, and you can read about that during the time of Constantine. He's the one who published the Edict of Milan. I would say that if it's one of the 10 Commandments, how important is one of the 10 commandments? And you know, some will argue it doesn't matter what day it is, as long as it's a seventh day. But God doesn't say keep a seventh day, He says keep the seventh day. It's a particular day. God didn't say for everybody to pick their own day. Think about the chaos that would be in the Christian Church if everyone picks their own day of worship and there's no corporate worship. So you know, the sabbath can be traced all the way back to Adam and Eve. They kept it in the Old Testament. The apostles kept it, Jesus kept it. And it says in Isaiah we're going to keep it in heaven. So that's a quick summary; it's still important. We have a lesson on that that has all these.
- We do, it's called "The Lost Day of History" and we'll be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. Ask for the Amazing Facts study guide. It's called "The Lost Day in History". We also have a website called SabbathTruth.com that's filled with great Bible studies. There's video all on the subject of the Bible sabbath. And you'll enjoy taking a look at that. We've got Bruce listening from North Carolina. Bruce, welcome to the program.
- [Bruce] Hello pastors.
- Hi, thank you for calling.
- [Bruce] I would like for you to explain time prophecy in Daniel 12.
- All right, now for our friends that are listening, the last chapter of Daniel, Daniel chapter 12 brings about a summary of the prophecies mentioned earlier in the book. Daniel outlines the history of God's people and the battle they're going to have with good and evil. And even highlights the beast's power in Daniel in chapters 7, 8, 9, 11. And so when you get to chapter 12, he backs up and he reviews those time periods. One time is 1,260 years. Then there's another time that is 1,290 years. And there's 1,335 years. And you know, I said a minute ago, we try to summarize our questions in two or three minutes. It's hard to do that with this question. But those three time prophecies, you can see that, well let's start with the 1260. 1260 is mentioned several times in the Bible. 1260 in the Jewish year, that's 1,260 days, that is three and a half years. Jesus taught for three and a half years, the famine of Elijah three and a half years, Esther's process to choose Esther began three and a half years after this feast, or after the book begins, up to the feast. And in Daniel, it talks about a time, a times and the dividing of a time. A time was a year, a times was a pair or a couple of years, so it's two and one is three, and a dividing, a half. 42 months is in Revelation, 42 months, 30 days is the Jewish month, 1,260 days. You've got that time period talks about a time of apostasy, resistance, persecution. Happens several times in the Bible. And so that is one of the principle times it's repeated in Revelation. Daniel adds the time 1290 and 1335 because he gives a starting point in Christian history when,
- Clovis.
- Yeah, Clovis, the king of the Franks, the Holy Roman Empire basically was inaugurated.
- Yeah, the date for that, 508. And what's significant about that date is Clovis, who was leader of the Franks, was in opposition at first to the Roman power, to the papacy. But when he converted to Christianity, he was a pagan, when he converted to Christianity, that really opened up the whole area known today as France to become supportive of the papal power. So 508 is considered the starting date for that 1290. And the 1335, starting at that same date in 508 brings you up to 1843, when there was a great revival that was taking place in North America and other places around the world. And they were discovering the prophecies of Daniel, in particular, the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. So just a really interesting study when you look at these different time periods. You know, Pastor Doug, we probably, I don't think we have a book specifically on Daniel 12, but maybe that's something we work on.
- We need to write one.
- Yeah.
- As you're talking. We get this question, we need to write something.
- Yeah, absolutely. All right, well thanks for your call. We've got, let's see, Jim listening in Canada. Jim, welcome to the program.
- [Jim] Thank you very much for having me on.
- Yeah.
- [Jim] because I do like to say you guys are my favorite pastors on TV.
- Well, thank you.
- [Jim] I've joined the Seventh Day a few years ago and it's a blessing.
- Well, bless your heart. Thank you.
- [Jim] Well, my question is, is the commandment of thou shall not kill. And I noticed that a lot of pastors are saying, "Thou shall not murder." Now to me, that's changing it and God said not to change it. So, and I've noticed, like when I watched that movie, "Hacksaw Ridge", Doss could not be swayed and he did not kill. And he performed a, to me, a super miracle, he saved all those people on that ridge.
- Yeah, it was remarkable. Well, let me talk about that. Yeah, he refused to pick up a gun and he was not going to kill. He was a fellow human. And of course, Jesus tells us to overcome evil with good. By the way, I knew Desmond Doss and just a wonderful man. His wife was, her family was at a church I pastored, so I'd see him on a regular basis. He'd come up to visit her family. Anyway, Jesus actually uses the word, and you might look this up, Pastor Ross, I think it's in Mark chapter 10, when Jesus is quoting the 10 Commandments to the rich young ruler and He quotes that commandment. He specifically says, "Thou shall not murder." Now, there is a difference between murder and killing. And I think you'll agree, Jim, that you know, if you step on a weed and you kill it, you're not going to be called a murderer, and that's not breaking that commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." Or if a mosquito's biting you and you swat it to put it out of its misery, you've technically killed the mosquito, but you've not broken the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." That commandment, and then why would God tell Moses, "Thou shalt not kill," and then tell Moses to execute and stone certain people that had broken other commandments?
- The verse referring to Matthew 19:18, which Jesus says, "Thou shalt not murder." And He uses the word murder.
- Murder is defined as a taking of innocent life and human life, in particular. So I do think that, we've got to be careful not to think of thou shalt not kill in the broad sense of killing anything. It's really talking about taking of innocent human life. If a person is defending their family and some crazed murderer comes into their home, and in the process of defending their family, they have to kill the perpetrator, they are not ever tried by any people as a killer. because they've not committed murder, it's just self-defense.
- Or if somebody, you know, an accident occurs. And accidentally, somebody gets killed, and it's just an accident. You don't hold that person accountable for murder. Matter of fact, there's even the story in the Bible and it gives the example, if you're swinging an ax and the ax head comes off and kills somebody, you know, you're not held liable for murder. You go to a city of refuge and then they find that it was an accident and you're free.
- Yeah, and even the laws today, laws about manslaughter, it's talking about unintentional. You've got premeditated murder, so forth. So yeah, I think it's closer to say thou shalt not murder, even though I know the King James and some version say, "Thou shalt not kill." I would respect that. We do have our lesson we started out with saying written in stone; talk some more about that law. Now, Pastor Ross, for our friends that are listening or watching right now, we sort of sign off in stages. We want to say goodbye to our friends that are listening on satellite radio. But the rest of you don't go anywhere because just a moment, we're going to come back. We're going to take some rapid fire Bible questions that you have sent in via email. God bless to the rest.
- [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. We have about two and a half minutes, Pastor Doug, to answer some of the email questions that have come in to the program. If you'd like to send us an email question, the email address is BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org. All right, question number one. Brittany's asking what did Jesus mean when He called the Pharisees a brood of vipers?
- Yeah, and I think that even John the Baptist uses that term. Well in the Bible, vipers are considered snakes. They're considered synonymous in many places with the devil. Where is it, Revelation chapter 12's at least one place where it calls that old serpent, the dragon Satan. And so it's calls him the devil, Satan, dragon, serpent. And so when you say a brood of vipers, He's basically saying you're a bunch of demon-led individuals, which is, you know, you think about a snake pit and they would get together and they would connive and talk about how to, you know, persecute God's prophets. And so Jesus and they led a lot of people astray. He said you rob widow's houses, so it was not a compliment.
- Okay, we have another question. Jackie is asking, do we really have to pray for those who are wicked?
- Well, you know, Jesus says love your enemies and we should be thankful that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So even in our lostness, in our wickedness, wickedness would be sort of like intentional disobedience, God is merciful to us. And I think we know there are stories in the Bible of people who are wicked. I think of Manasseh was probably the best example, you know, sacrifices children in the fire, killed Isaiah, the prophet, wicked man. He went through a dramatic conversion. So yes, even wicked people can be reached by the power of God.
- We also have the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
- [Pastor Doug] Yeah.
- All right, another question that we have. Isabelle wants to know, how can she be bold for Jesus, but in a subtle way because she's timid?
- Well, you can of course, be bold in your prayers. And the Lord can make even a timid person bold at the right time. It talks about the righteous are as bold as a lion. So I think, you know, as you just pray for opportunity to speak up, you can be bold with the words that you speak, and they don't have to be loud. You can say something profound and it'll get everyone's attention.
- Okay, well, Pastor Doug, we want to remind our friends who are listening, if you have a Bible question and you'd like to submit it to the program, just email BALQuestions@AmazingFacts.org and we will try to answer as many questions as we can before we run out of time. And you hear music in the background, so we want to thank you for joining us. And next week, we look forward to meeting you again for another program of "Bible Answers Live".
- [Narrator] "Bible Answers Live", honest and accurate answers to your Bible questions.