BAL 2025, Ep06 - Why Do Innocent People Suffer ?

Doug Batchelor: Welcome once again, friends, to "Bible Answers Live," and if you are tuning in for the first time, this is a live international Bible study. And we're going to share with you an amazing fact. Shortly after the first European settlers arrived in North America, they were stunned by the immense flocks of a unique type of pigeon found only in the New World. They were called passenger pigeons. And at one time, they were certainly the most abundant bird in North America and possibly the most numerous birds in the world. They flourished across most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. A very fast flyer, the passenger pigeon could reach speeds of 62 miles an hour. As they traveled in great flocks, they darkened the skies for hours. Estimates placed them numbering up to 5 billion. But when they descended to perch in a tree, so many of them landed, it was common for branches to break from their weight. The birds fed mainly on fruits and seeds and insects, and they could live up to 30 years. Yet, incredibly, these colossal flocks of birds disappeared in 150 years, and passenger pigeons were soon extinct. The main reason for their extinction of the species was the massive scale of unrestrained hunting. Businessmen saw them as a tremendous food source, so they killed them by the thousands and shipped them to the cities. Also, the rapid loss of habitat as forests were cut for farming and timber contributed to their demise. By the time word got out that the passenger pigeons were facing extermination, it was too late. The last known passenger pigeon, Martha, died on September 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. Can you imagine that? Going from billions, in a little more than a century, to none. And it's just people thought, "Oh, well we can just wait, you know, we'll do something later. They'll recover."

Jëan Ross: We mentioned another animal in North America that was very prevalent and almost went extinct. Of course, that's the American buffalo, and they were able to catch it in time. But just like the buffalo that would take, you know, almost a whole day to cross over the path in front of you, these pigeons would darken the sky for hours as they came over.

Doug: Yeah, Audubon, the famous naturalist, he said that he saw one flock that was a mile wide that it took several days to pass over. In other words, you'd wake up and they'd continue just migrating and it was dark in the skies. But, yeah. They--farmers didn't like them very much because they ate seeds, but they flew so low, a farmer with a long stick could kill, you know, dozens of them just by swinging a stick. And then, of course, they used nets and they use guns, and they use sulfur gas, and they said they tasted like chickens, so they just killed them all off until pretty soon there were a few in the zoos, and they, you know, they were not used to captivity. They died in captivity, and except Martha was the last one. And they got several stuffed in the museums, but that's the only place you can see one because they waited too long to do something about it. And, you know, it makes me think that there's a lot of people that they know they can't keep living a life of sin and be saved, and they think, "Well, one of these days I'm going to repent. But they wait until it's too late. And that's the most dangerous thing you can do, friend, is to play Russian roulette with eternity. If you know what God's will is for you, then the best time to listen to his voice is when you're hearing God's voice. What is it that Paul says in Hebrews, "Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart." Make a decision to follow the Lord and then stick to it. We got a free offer talks about that.

Jëan: We do, we have one of our Amazing Facts study guides, and it's talking about the subject. It's called "No Turning Back." It's making that firm commitment, and that is so important for the Christian. We'll be happy to send you one of our-- we'll send you the study guide. All you need to do is call and ask. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide by name. It's called "No Turning Back." You can also dial #250 on your smartphone and say, "Bible answers live," and you can ask for it that way as well.

Doug: You know, there's a scripture that comes to mind when we're talking about how important it is for people to make a decision. It tells us there in Hebrews 10, verse 26, and it's also in verse 27, "For if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." And that doesn't mean that if you make a mistake after you've learned the truth, it means if you continue to live a life of sin after you know what God's will is, then, you know, what else can God do? So, it's just very dangerous, you know, sometimes we're talking to people out there that have never made a decision, but now we're talking to people that have known the truth, that are postponing the decision. And we're pleading with you. Don't do that. Now, if you have any questions about that or other Bible subjects, we're going to have prayer, then give us a call. We'll do our best to answer your questions.

Jëan: Before we go to the phone lines, let's start with the word of prayer. Dear Father, we thank you that you are a God of mercy and a God of forgiveness, and thank you, Lord, that we have this opportunity to study Your Word, and we do pray that you would guide, be with those who are listening, wherever they might be. And lead us to a clear understanding of the Bible, for we ask this in Jesus's name, amen.

Doug: Amen.

Jëan: And if you have a Bible question, our phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297. Again, that's 800-463-7297. And we have Wynelle listening from Georgia. Wynelle, welcome to the program.

Wynelle: Hi. Thank you, Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross, for taking my call. I appreciate it very much.

Doug: Thanks for calling.

Wynelle: My question is how would a person know if the Holy Spirit has left them?

Doug: All right. Well, first of all, most people that worry that the Holy Spirit has left them, it's because they're not feeling any, maybe peace or they're not feeling any promptings of the Spirit, and they're thinking things have gone quiet. Does that mean that God has left me? Well, if you've made a decision to be a Christian, you're not going to always hear the Lord speaking to you directly. You may also--the voice can go quiet because God has given you some responsibility or some command, and you're ignoring that. And so, the volume can go down in your communications with God. And in a case like that, I think, first of all, anyone asking this question, the Holy Spirit's prompting them to think about it, so that's a good sign. But I'd say that if you're having doubts, and if it seems like you're wondering if you're separating from the Lord, then just humble yourself and say--claim the promise, say, "Lord, you've promised if I confess my sins you'll forgive me. If I draw near to you like the prodigal son, when he started coming home, the father, as soon as he saw him, he ran to meet him." The Lord will draw near to you if you draw near to Him. So, draw near to God through prayer, through reading His Word. Say, "Lord, speak to me," and if there's any unconfessed sin, then present that to the Lord. He promises to forgive. He wants to save you. I believe He will.

Jëan: You know, Pastor Doug, we have a book. We don't always offer it, but it's a great study, and it deals with the subject. It's called, "Is it Easy To Be Saved or To Be Lost?" Sometimes people wonder, you know, "What do I have to do to be saved?" And, "Am I heading down the right path?" So, call and ask for that. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book. It's called, "Is It Easier To Be Saved or To Be Lost?" And you will enjoy reading that. A lot of good scripture there. Thank you, next caller that we have is Chris in Minnesota. Chris, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Chris: How are you doing?

Doug: Doing well, thanks for calling, Chris.

Chris: Yeah, thank you. Quick question here. Is there any significance to President Trump bringing up 1798 on a somewhat regular basis here lately, including up to his election time?

Doug: Well, you know, I would have to confess that I had not heard it. I haven't heard him bring up 1798. Have you heard that?

Jëan: No, I haven't, but I haven't caught all of his speeches.

Doug: So, probably we are not experts. We can't give you an answer to that. I'd have to say, well, let me hear it and hear what the context is, and then I might find out if there's some Bible prophetic relevance to that. Of course, that is a--the date 1798, for our friends that are listening, is a prophetically relevant date in that it marks the end of this people persecution that lasted 1260 years. Started in 538 and it went 1260 years. And when Napoleon arrested-- through his general Berthier-- when Napoleon arrested the Pope, the Catholic church sort of lost its uninterrupted power over Europe that it had for 1260 years. And so, that's a significant date. I had not heard anyone mention that in a campaign, so I'll have to plead ignorance to that one.

Jëan: You know, we do have a study guide that talks about these different time prophecies that you read about in the book Revelation and in Daniel. It's called "Right on Time," and I think it refers to that 1260 year time period. We'll be able to send it to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for that study guide. It's called "Right on Time." And you'll enjoy reading that. Nadia is in Georgia. Nadia, welcome to the program.

Nadia: Hi, good evening.

Doug: Good evening.

Nadia: I was reading a text, and I had a couple questions. I'll just read part of it. "Between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east." I was wondering, could this text refer to Sunday keepers as idolaters worshiping the sun? And my second question is, do you think that worshiping on Sunday is a form of sun worship in God's eyes?

Doug: All right, well you're quoting from a prophecy in Ezekiel. Now, Ezekiel is, I don't think he's looking ahead to the time beyond Christ. I think he's looking at what was happening in Israel. One reason the judgment that Ezekiel wrote from Babylon in the Persian area. And he was living, he's a contemporary of Daniel. The Israelites had been carried off captive because of their infidelity. And while they were going through the outward forms of the sanctuary, Ezekiel said that they're still involved in sun worship, which was common among the Baal worshipers. So, he's referring to something that had happened and that was happening where they were engaging in, like, duplicitous worship. We're saying we worship the Lord but also secretly praying towards the sun, which is sun worship.

Now, you're asking is that--are people who go to church on Sunday, are they involved in sun worship? Well, it is true the name Sunday is derived from sun worship, and a lot of ancient civilizations worshiped the sun, even in the Americas, the Egyptians, the Babylonians. The sun, I think even among the Romans, was it Apollo? Was he the chief sun god? And so, that's not unusual. When the average person goes to church on Sunday, I wouldn't call them sun worshipers. I think that, you know, they believe that they're worshiping on the Sabbath day, they've just got the days wrong according to the Bible. They think that--most of them think, well because Jesus rose the first day, that the commandment was changed from the seventh day to the first day. And of course, there is no command in the Bible to worship on the first day as a holy day. We're supposed to worship God seven days a week, but there's no command to rest the first day and keep it as a new Sabbath. That's where I think they err, but I don't think any of them are praying to the sunrise.

Jëan: You know, part of the interesting passage there in Ezekiel, the prophecy, God told--when the children of Israel were to build the temple, the temple was to be laid out a certain way and it was from the plans of the one that was built in the wilderness. The door to the temple, when you came to the door to the temple, the east was to be to your back. In other words, you were facing west. The reason for that is much of the sacrifice was done early in the morning and the tendency amongst the pagans as the sun was rising, they would bow towards the east and worship the sun. God didn't want that temptation for His people. He said, "The sun needs to be behind you." But here are people inside the temple in the courtyard area, and their backs are turned. Are rather towards the most holy place of the sanctuary, and they are facing towards the east and they are worshiping the rising sun. And that was what was being condemned at that point in time.

Doug: Yeah, they basically--they're turning their back on the worship of God towards pagan worship. Good question, Nadia. Thank you so much.

Jëan: We've got Lee listening in Texas. Lee, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Lee: Yes, thank you for taking my call tonight. My question is, does the mark of the beast come out before or during church and state union?

Doug: All right, great. The Bible tells us in the last days in Revelation 13 that the beast power is there--there's two beasts in Revelation 13. The first beast is the papacy based in Europe with the Orthodox, the Catholic church, and the other Orthodox churches. They're going to unite with Protestants and Evangelicals in the Americas, North America principally. That they're going to form a confederacy with church and state that is going to compel worship. Now, this is not saying there's going to be a one world government, because Daniel says there never will be. They're not going to cleave together. They'll never be a one world government, but there'll be a confederacy of church and state around the world where this religion is going to be compelled, and it probably is going to happen gradually, where first they're going to say, you know, "The world's going to Hades in a handbasket," and it's because we're not, you know, worshiping God, and not taking care of the environment might be included. And we need to, you know, start mandating laws that everybody's got to get back to church. And there's going to be laws that are going to go against the law of God. So, I think it's going to sort of happen. First, you're going to see the union and the union is going to then forge around worshiping the beast in his image and a mark of the beast.

Jëan: We do have a study guide. It's called the "Mark of The Beast." And of course, Revelation chapter 14, you have three angels' messages, and the third angel warns about the beast and about his image and worshiping the image and having the mark of the beast, so a very important study. We'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. That is our resource phone line. If you have a Bible question, the number to call is 800-463-7297. Again, that number is 800-463-7297. That'll bring you here into the studio. And we mentioned different free offers. You can also get the free offer by simply dialing #250 on your smartphone. And as for that, it's called the "Mark Of The Beast." We'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. We got Anthony in New York. Anthony, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Anthony: Yes, good evening, pastors.

Doug: Evening.

Anthony: So, as I was waiting, I actually think the Holy Spirit told me to look up this--the question I had, and I saw it on your website, Amazing Facts, that my question was actually about the book of Jasher in Joshua chapter 10, verse 13, but I saw that it says on your website that no one really knows about this book, so I don't know. I don't know if there's anything else you want to say about the question, but I did already get my answer.

Doug: Well, no. It's a good question, and, you know, sometimes we give an answer, we give an abbreviated answer because of the time. I'll say a little more about that. There are references in the Old Testament, and I think one or two in the New, to books that are not books of the Bible. You not only have the book of Jasher--by the way, the book of Jasher is mentioned in the book of Joshua, and the book of Jasher is mentioned in 2 Samuel in chapter 1, verse 18. It says, "He told them to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow; Indeed it is written in the book of Jasher." And so, Jasher may have been a prophet and he had written some inspired things, but for whatever reason, God did not see that it needed to be preserved for posterity. And so, it's not there.

I think it talks about the book of Gad, the seer also. There's one other I can't remember. But one place is the book of Nathan. Now they may be referring to 2 Samuel, which is written after Samuel dies, so he didn't write. It may have been Nathan the prophet that helped write that. So, of course, he was--he may have been dead then too. So, well, I don't know. Anyway, those three books in the Old Testament are referred to. Not every prophet wrote a book. John the Baptist was the greatest prophet, and he didn't write a book. And not every prophetic book was part of the holy canon. So, they had some books that they believe were inspired, but not necessarily part of the Bible. I think "Pilgrim's Progress" is somewhat inspired. It's not part of the Bible, though.

Jëan: Yeah, something else about the book. I'm just looking at it, a little commentary on it. It's also referred to as the Book of Praises or the Book of Hymns. So, it seemed as though it was also a collection similar to what the Psalms are, collection of sacred songs that was possibly used in worship as well.

Doug: Yeah, the two references actually are poetic references.

Jëan: Yeah, something related to that. Good, great question. All right, next caller that we have is Adriene from Tennessee. Is that right, Adriene?

Adriene: That's correct.

Jëan: Welcome.

Adriene: Thank you, thank you, Pastor Ross and Pastor Doug. I am calling because I'm stumped on Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 22. My husband and I are reading from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and of course, this is an area where God has made--He's made it very clear what types of meats we are to eat and what meats we shouldn't eat. And in this particular text, it talks about in an instance where you can't get to a certain facility in time for whatever reason, then you can have unclean or clean meats. So, could you--I'm perplexed by that, hoping you can answer it.

Doug: Yeah, let me read this for our friends that are listening. It's talking about these annual feasts that the Jews would attend, and we're in Deuteronomy chapter 12 here. And it's--let me just read it. It says in verse 20, I'll start there, "When the Lord your God enlarges your border as he's promised you, and you say, 'Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, that you may eat as much as your heart desires. If the place where the Lord God chooses to put His name," it ends up being Jerusalem, "is too far from you," where they would go and eat the sacrificial meats, okay? "If the place is too far from you, then you might slaughter from your herd and your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I've commanded you."

Now--so he's referring them back to something he's commanded earlier. That would be the clean and unclean animals. "Just as I've commanded you, you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the clean and the unclean alike may eat them." Now, what it's not saying is the clean and the unclean meats you can eat. It's saying, people who are ceremonially clean or unclean, they're all allowed to eat of this annual feast sacrifice. So, some people, because of the, you know, they had some issue or, you know, a woman during a certain time of the month, or if you had, you know, any kind of a rash, or there's a bunch of things. If you had touched a dead body because you had a burial in the family, you were spiritually unclean.

Some people thought, "Well, if you're unclean, then you can't participate in this annual feast of food." And God is saying, yes, the clean and the unclean people are free to eat of those sacrifices. It's not saying you can eat of any animal during the feast because he made it really clear that the other things were an abomination. Why would he turn that around? Jëan: We do have a study guide that talks about that. It's called "God's Free Health Plan" and gives some good biblical principles for living a healthy life. If you'd like to receive that, the number to call is 800-835-6747. That is our resource phone line. You can ask for that. It's called "God's Free Health Plan." You can also dial #250 on your smartphone and just say Bible answers live and then ask for it by name, "God's Free Health Plan." We'll be able to send you a digital copy of that study guide. Of course, if you have a Bible question, the number is 800-463-7297. You'll probably see that on the screen if you're watching, 800-463-7297. It's a good time to call. We've got Ely in Kansas. Ely, welcome to the program.

Doug: Ellie.

Jëan: Or is it Ellie? Sorry, Ellie.

Ely: Oh, it's Ely.

Doug: Ely.

Jëan: We got the first, okay.

Ely: Yeah, yeah, it's Ely. It's always Ely. Yeah, my question for tonight is why do innocent people suffer? Because, you know, I don't understand why people are born and they are going to die, and God knows that they're going to die. But why does that happen? Like, why do they suffer if they don't have, like, a blame or something like that?

Doug: Yeah, no, there's a book in the Bible called the book of Job, and the very beginning of the book, it says, "Job is a perfect and an upright man, he's a good man, honest man, he follows the commandments of the Lord." And all of a sudden, he gets attacked by the devil. And first he gets attacked where he loses his finances, then he loses his family, then he loses his physical health. It's just one thing after another. And the Bible in this story, it pulls back the veil, and we see that the devil is the one that's bringing this.

And you might be thinking, "Well, isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does God allow suffering?" This is a question so many people don't understand is that our planet has been hijacked by a very powerful evil fiend-- he was the most powerful of God's created beings--called Lucifer, turned to Satan and the devil, and he has accused God of all kinds of malicious accusations. God had to--God could have destroyed Lucifer by the blink of an eye because he's the all powerful Creator. But he had to let Lucifer demonstrate what his--what were the results of his government. He had to give other creatures the freedom to choose whether to listen to the Word of God or the word of the devil.

In the beginning, our first parents chose to listen to the word of the devil instead of the Word of God. God said, "Do not eat the forbidden fruit. If you eat the forbidden fruit then, you know, the devil's going to move into this world, and you'll die." And the devil said, "Don't believe God. If you eat this fruit, you'll be like God, and God's afraid you're going to be like Him." See, the devil wanted to be God, so he planted his own desires in the hearts of Eve and Adam. And when our first parents chose to listen to the enemy, the devil set up his headquarters in this world, and all the misery you see in the world, instead of pointing to God and say, "Why is God doing this?"

No, instead of saying, "Why do bad things happen?" We should say, "Why are we still alive?" The penalty for sin is death, but we don't die right away because Jesus said, "I'll come to the world. I'll become a human. I'll live as an example for them. I'll show them what God is really like, that He's love. He's not what the devil says, and then I'll die for their sins." He also died to buy time for each person to make that decision. So, once people understand the cosmic conflict that's going on in the background, they can understand that good and bad happens to everybody. Even Jesus said, "Rain and sunshine falls on everybody in this world because there's a battle between good and evil." And God is going to win in the end. We know that. That's why we have prophecy, but we need to try and reach as many as we can to believe in God before it's too late.

Jëan: You know, we have a study guide and it deals with the subject of why do bad things happen to good people? It's called "Did God Create the Devil." We know the Bible speaks of the Devil. The Devil is alive and well, and he's doing his evil and bringing pain and suffering to people, but where did he come from? Well, this study guide will give you the answer. All you need to do is call and ask for it. The number is 800-835-6747. And you can ask for that study guide. It's called, "Did God Create the Devil?" And just a lot of good Bible verses in there.

Doug: Very good, we got--well let's see if we can do a quick one here.

Jëan: All right. It's James in California. James, welcome to "Bible answers Live."

James: Hey, good evening, pastors. So, my question is, where do we see the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Genesis chapter 1 in the creation story?

Doug: All right, well first of all, you're not going to find the word Trinity. Even though you're not going to find the word ascension in the Bible, we know that it's a teaching Jesus ascended to heaven. You're not going to find the word millennium in the Bible, but we know Revelation 20 talks about the millennium, the 1000 years. The Trinity is the three persons of the Godhead. When God says in Genesis, "Let us make man in Our image." And God says that the man and the woman, there's two of them, they get married, they become one. We learn right there in Genesis that one does not always mean numerical quantity. It can mean unity. Jesus prayed the 12 disciples would be one. "Father," he said, "even as you and I are one." And so, God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one. It does say, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." So, you've got the Holy Spirit there. You've got God saying, "Let us make man in Our image." God the Father and Son, it tells us how to form. Well, we could say more. We have a book on that called "Understanding the Trinity, One God or Three." Ask for a copy. Don't go away, friends. We're coming back after these important announcements to take more of your questions, so give us a call.

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Doug: Welcome back, listening friends, to "Bible Answers Live," and this is, as the title suggests, a live international Bible study. If you're hearing the program for the first time, then we encourage you to call in with your Bible questions. It is, of course, a free phone call. That number, if you want to hear the acronym, it's 1-800-God says. That translates to 1-800-463-7297. We have lines open. Give us a call, for the next half an hour, Pastor Ross and I will answer your questions as well as we can. We got our Bibles open before us. My name is Doug Batchelor.

Jëan: My name is Jëan Ross, and Pastor, we have some folks who emailed their Bible questions to us, and we're going to take one of these questions right now. And this question is, "In Romans chapter 6, verse 23, it says that, 'The wages of sin is death,' but in 1 John chapter 5:17, it says, 'There that not every sin leads to death.' Can you explain this?"

Doug: Yeah, well the penalty for all sin is death, but not every sin leads to the second death, meaning there's no forgiveness. But the unpardonable sin leads to the second death. There's no forgiveness for the unpardonable sin. And so, yeah, "All manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven," Jesus said, and this is in Matthew 12, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. We had a caller earlier in the program was asking, you know, "I wonder if I've grieved away the spirit?" We actually have a book that's dealing with what is the unpardonable sin. And if people want to know more about that, they can call the number and we'll send them a free copy.

Jëan: All right? And maybe one more question that was emailed to us. By the way, if you want to send us a question, it's just simply balquestions@amazingfacts.org. That's the email address. "In Exodus chapter 24, verse 11," the question is, "did the elders who went up with Moses on the mount, did they see God's glory, or did they see the glory of Jesus?"

Doug: Yeah, good question. It actually says that, you know, the elders went up, not to the top of the mountain, but they went to the base of the mountain, which no one else was allowed to do. And it says, "They saw God and they ate and drank." Now, that doesn't mean they saw God's face because God told Moses, "No man will see my face and live." Moses saw God from behind. The elders probably saw God's glory. I don't think that they looked directly into the unveiled face of the Almighty. But you know, even Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel, he said, "I saw God." And sometimes people see a manifestation of God or see the glory of God, and they'll say, "I saw God," or "God spoke to me." So, I don't believe they saw the unveiled glory of God. That's why Jesus came. The glory of God was veiled in humanity.

Jëan: All right, we're going to go to the phone lines then. We got Gail in Michigan. Gail, welcome to "Bible Answers Live." You're on the air.

Gail: Hello. Thank you for taking my call and thanks for--thank you for all you do. It literally saved my life.

Doug: Praise the Lord. And your question tonight, Gail?

Gail: My question is, is being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues the same thing?

Doug: No, not necessarily. You do have an example in the Bible, or a couple of them, where they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke in tongues in Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 10, and then Acts 19. But a lot of times--you can read in Acts chapter 4--they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God. You can read where the--and the Holy Spirit came upon David and the Holy Spirit came upon Samson. And when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will manifest a variety of different gifts of the Spirit. For Samson, it was a gift of physical strength when the Spirit of the Lord came on him. Holy Spirit came on David, and it gave him administrative ability. The Spirit came on him, and he wrote these Spirit-filled psalms, gift of music, you might say.

And so, you can read a list of the gifts of the Spirit you're going to find in--well, those are the fruits of the Spirit, you'll find in Galatians chapter 5, but different gifts of the Spirit you find in, I think it's 1 Corinthians 12, where it talks about, you know, some are teachers, some administrators, workers of miracles, some are apostles, some are prophets. There's a broad variety. And the lists in the Bible are probably not listing everything that God's Spirit may empower you to do. The gift of tongues is one of many of the gifts of the Spirit, but whenever you're filled with the Spirit, you don't always speak in tongues.

Jëan: And of course, you need to understand what the Bible means when it talks about the gift of tongues. It's a little different than what some people claim is the gift of tongues today. So, we do have a book. It's called "Understanding Tongues," and we'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. The number is 800-835-6747. That is the resource phone line. And you can ask for the book. It's called "Understanding Tongues." And when people receive the gift of tongues, and you read about in the book of Acts, they were able to preach or teach the gospel in languages that they hadn't learned. So, it's for the communication of the gospel. All right, thank you, Gail. We've got Glenn and Linda in Ohio. Glenn, Linda, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Glenn: Thank you. Good afternoon or evening and thank you for taking my call.

Doug: Yes, thank you.

Glenn: It's at some point in eternity, the eternal Yahweh started a time capsule with when he created the logos or the Word. And they created it together. They created everything that has been created according to the book of John chapter 1. Someplace 4,000 years down the road, there's a connection between the logos and the incarnate Yeshua.

Doug: So, how would you like to frame that into a question?

Glenn: He refers to himself as being created in the chapter 3:14 of Revelation, and also the Alpha and Omega. And the question is, the Alpha, I understand that. It is easy to understand. But what does it mean that Yeshua is the Omega, the end? What does he mean by that?

Doug: All right, well, first thing when it talks about Jesus being the beginning of the creation of God that you read in Revelation 14, I'm sorry, Revelation, I think it's 3:14, yeah. That doesn't mean that Christ was created. It says, "All things that were made were made by him." Well, if he was created before that, it would, He would say, "All things except Myself." And the Bible tells us God is love. If God the Father existed at some point in eternity before Jesus, then who did He love? You can't have love for only yourself. It's that love must be expressed. So, "Jesus is," the Bible says, "from everlasting to everlasting."

Now, the reason he uses the phrase--he says, "I am the Alpha and Omega," He's called the Word of God, and every word in the Greek alphabet, it started with alpha and the last letter was omega. Like we would say, "He is the A to Z in the Word of God." He encompasses--every Word of God is composed in Him. He's the embodiment. It doesn't mean that when you got to the word omega, that now you've got to the end of the alphabet and that Jesus is going to end. And the word alpha did not mean that he had a beginning. So, Christ is without beginning. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is eternal God. He's self-existent. He's the Creator of all things. And yeah, hope that we had that in our book, "The Trinity" talks about that, "One God or Three?" We can send you, Glenn, a free copy of that.

Jëan: The number to call is 800-835-6747. And again, you can ask for the book on the "Trinity: One God or Three?" and we'll send that to you. You can dial #250 on your smartphone and say, "Bible Answers Live," and then ask for the book that way. Thank you for calling. Next caller we have is Kate in California. Kate, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Kate: Thank you. Would you please comment on Daniel 11:45, the meaning of that text?

Doug: All right, thanks a lot. You gave us a really difficult passage, but we'll do our best. Now, it's talking about this battle. When you begin Daniel, where does it start? Daniel 10, where it talks about the North and the South, or 11?

Jëan: 11, it starts there.

Doug: Daniel 11 it starts. Pastor Ross just wrote a series of lessons on Daniel. And Daniel 11 talks about this ongoing battle between the king of the North and the South. And this starts with the generals of Alexander. Alexander's kingdom divides among four generals, and finally it melts down to two that are at war. Israel was surrounded by an ocean on the west and a great desert on the east. So, all of their invading forces came from the north of the south. Even Nebuchadnezzar was technically northeast. He came from the north. He was called a king of the north, or they'd come from Egypt or Ethiopia, they'd come from the south. And it goes back and forth between the king of the north and south. Eventually, it tells us that this king of the north, the Greeks are overcome by the Romans, and the king of the north is being run by the Roman Caesars, what we would call pagan Rome. I think in Daniel 11, it even references Augustus Caesar, a collector of taxes. Is that right? And then it goes on and it talks about it transitioning to papal Rome. So, papal Rome is the king of the north.

So, now let me go to your verse. In verse 45 it says, "He'll plant the tent," or the tabernacle, "of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; and yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him." Well, it talks about the holy mountain between the seas. Jerusalem was thought of as being between Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean, that high ground there. And waters biblically represent people. And, stop me, you may have a little different view on this, so I'll be happy to entertain that. And so, it's talking about this counterfeit power that is wanting worship. You read in 1 Thessalonians that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, wanting worship, and it's talking about planting his tabernacle there, putting himself in the place of God. And yet finally, he will come to his end.

Jëan: Yeah, absolutely, pastor. And of course, from verse 40 onwards, it talks about the time of the end and the king of the North and the South, and they'll go back and forth. We understand from verse 40 through to verse 45 has yet a future application. It hasn't met it's fulfillment, it's prophetic fulfillment because when you get to chapter 12, verse 1, you have the close of probation. That's when Michael stands up. So, yes, there is some discussion. It does appear from those verses that there's some kind of a showdown that takes place. Some have seen the king of the North, as you mentioned, representing the papal power, but the papal power with the backing of the Western nations or the Christian nations, the military of which, like NATO, for example, the king of the South, representing on a spiritual level, representing Islam as being the main religion with the backing of the so-called atheistic nations like China and Russia. And yet we are talking about something yet in the future, but it brings you right up till the very close of probation when Michael stands up and Jesus said, "He that is holy, let him be holy still."

So, I think we'll have a clear understanding of these verses as we get closer to the fulfillment of what's been described. But it does appear that there will be some kind of law or legislation passed that brings the whole world together in a certain form of worship. It talks about tidings from the east and the west trouble him. So, it's a big study, but there's a number of aspects connected with that. But I think the bulk of this is yet future in its application.

Doug: Yeah, but it's exciting to think that we're living probably between verse 42 and chapter 12.

Jëan: Yeah, we're getting right there.

Doug: We are living right near the end. That's exciting. All right, well, thank you so much. Hope that makes sense. And your lessons are going to come out fairly soon, I think, on Daniel.

Jëan: Yeah, they can check them out at Amazing Facts. I think in the next couple of months they should have them done. Elizabeth in Arizona. Elizabeth, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Elizabeth: Hi, thank you. I listen to you guys all the time.

Doug: Thanks so much.

Elizabeth: My question is, my former pastor says that when he preaches on Sundays, that's not a day of rest for him at all, and I've always been curious as to how you personally, you guys personally reconcile that. I feel for you, and I appreciate the service any pastor does on the day of the--what they, you know, how do you get a Sabbath when you work so hard?

Doug: That's a fair question. You know, Jesus addresses that too. Jesus would heal people on the Sabbath, and he'd teach on the Sabbath, and they accused him of breaking the Sabbath. He said it's okay to do good on the Sabbath. And then Christ says something that is interesting. He said, "The priests profane the Sabbath and are guiltless." Now, what he meant by that was on the Sabbath day in the temple, one of the things they did is they offered a sacrifice. Well, to have the sacrifice, the priest would sacrifice a victim. They would then butcher the victim. They had to have the fire going to put the victim on the fire, so they were hauling and stoking the fire with wood.

So, the priests had busy activities on the Sabbath, but Jesus said, "They're doing what was necessary to do that the greater group may worship." And that they profane, in other words, they're working on the Sabbath, but they are guiltless. So, there's some work that is required on the Sabbath. You know, in our church, sometimes we have several different services, and our deacons--bless their hearts-- they have to pick up chairs and put chairs down between services for different--move them to different rooms. We just don't have enough chairs, and they're not breaking the Sabbath. They're doing some of the Levitical work, you might say, on the Sabbath day. And we're doing what we have to do that the greater group might worship. Now, after, you know, church yesterday and you preach and you teach and I gave a Bible study. I go home and I eat and I take a nap. Then I came back for doing worship for the family night. And so, you know, you get rest, and—

Jëan: But it is a busy day.

Doug: It is a busy day, yeah. But we'll take a little more time off on a Monday or something. So, you'll get your other projects done.

Jëan: It's good to have time with the family and you can rest and do different things. But yes, being a pastor, your main priority, probably your busiest day, is on the Sabbath when you're involved in worship. All right, thank you, Elizabeth. We've got James in Arizona. James, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

James: Hey, I've got a question for you guys, and I can clarify this a little bit if you need me to, but it seems like there's a bunch, with even within people who call themselves Christian, there's a bunch of different versions like one Jesus, you have to be baptized and take sacraments, and another one, you just say a prayer, and then one turns you into a god through theosis, like, and the other one is like washing you in blood and kind of, like, making a deal with the Father to get you into heaven. Like, how do you know which interpretation is correct because they're mutually exclusive.

Doug: Yeah, well, that's all the more reason to find out--well, let me back up and say, what do you think would be the criteria that we would use to find the answer? Would it be Pastor Doug on the radio? Would it be a preacher in the pulpit? Or would it be the Bible?

James: Well, since they all appeal to the Bible, we can't use the Bible because I'm asking about how we interpret the Bible, right? So, it's--since even Muslims believe that Christ is the Messiah, and they interpret the Bible differently.

Doug: Well, they're not using the Bible to--if you use the Bible as your final authority, then the answers become very clear. And--but if you try to, and, you know, I used to do this before I was a Christian, I would try and co mingle all the holy books and it just creates chaos. You try and get the Bhagavad Gita and the Quran and the Bible and you try and make sense of it all and it's just--it's going to leave you in confusion. But if you look at the simple teachings of Jesus by yourself, you open up your Bible and you go to Matthew chapter 1. Read the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus gives about loving your enemy. It's not complicated. It's not the mysteries in the Bible that is going to cause the confusion. It's the good we know we should do that we ignore. So, it's not that complicated when you just read it for yourself.

Jëan: And, you know, I was just reading the Gospel of John, and some of the clearest statements about Christ, His mission, His life, His death, how to be saved, it's so clearly given in the Gospel of John. Even Jesus, speaking to the religious leaders of His time, and He's putting His position, His relationship to His Father clearly. He's presenting it to the religious leaders, "I and My Father one. Just I'm very powerful if--unless you believe in me, you can have life." So, we've got to let the Bible interpret itself. I think part of the problem is people listen to a lot of other people give their interpretation of the Bible instead of going to the Word itself and reading Scripture and allowing the Scripture to explain itself. You read one verse, and if you don't understand it, then look up other verses on the same topic, and it'll bring it to light.

Doug: Yeah, and you know, the bottom line is, what does the Bible say? Jesus said in John 17:17, you were just quoting the book of John, "Sanctify them by thy truth. Your word is truth." Ten percent of everything Jesus said, He's quoting from the Old Testament. He's quoting from the Bible. And then He tells us that His words are truth. The apostles said that it's--the Bible's not just normal words. Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and this book has been preserved in a special way. If you read it for yourself, you will understand. I was living in a cave 17 years old, all confused by the, you know, who was God and the different religions. Someone had left a Bible up in the cave, along with some other camping gear. And I started reading the Bible so I could argue with Christians, and that's what changed my life. So, the power is in the Word by itself. All right, thank you for your call, James. Great question. We've got Michaelyn in New Jersey. Michaelyn, welcome to the program.

Michaelyn: Hi. I want to know, was Job Jewish or Gentile?

Doug: Okay, good question. Sort of in between. He was not a Jew in that he was not from the tribe of Judah, but when you look at the other characters in the book of Job, they are descendants of Esau, which was a child of Abraham. You know, Abraham, of course, had Isaac, and Isaac had Jacob and Esau, and the descendants of Esau went to Edom, and near Edom was the land of Uz where Job lived. And matter of fact, in the genealogies of Esau, it talks about someone named Jobab and the wondering was that Job, and it talks about his friends are mentioned in that same genealogy. So, he was a child, a descendant of Abraham and Isaac, but he was not from the tribe of Judah or a descendant of Israel. Thanks, great question. Hope that helps a little bit, Michaelyn.

Jëan: We've got Joseph in Florida. Joseph, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Joseph: Hello. How are you, pastors?

Doug: We're doing great. Thanks for calling.

Joseph: Thank you. My question is, at the Second Coming, when Christ comes back, He's coming in all the glory of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the angels. And it says, "And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." Does that mean that Enoch, Elijah, and Moses will also be at the Second Coming since Moses and Elijah were at the transfiguration?

Doug: Well, it's a good question. I had not thought of that, but if I was Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, who are in heaven now, and I knew Jesus was coming back, if there was an empty seat on the plane, I'd ask if I could get a ticket. I'd sure like to be there and see that. So, I would expect, you know, Moses was extremely interested in the children of Israel making it to the Promised Land. He's probably going to want a front row seat for that. So, my guess is, yes. You want to comment on that? What's the silence in heaven?

Jëan: Yeah, the reason there's silence in heaven is because Christ and all the angels and, quite possibly, Enoch, Elijah, and Moses, they've all left. And if anyone is still in heaven--God the Father is in heaven, and of course, He can witness what's happening-- the focus is going to be on Christ and his journey to the earth to gather up the saints and take them back to the Father's house. So, that seems to be the focus. Silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour works out to about seven days of time. So, it's not that it's three and a half days for Jesus to come from heaven to earth and then three and a half days to go back. Christ can come very quickly, but it seems as though He takes the longer route back home. Maybe there's some things He wants to teach us.

Doug: How do you get seven days out of half an hour?

Jëan: Well the reason being is because you have one prophetic day is equal to 1 literal year, and they have 360 Hebrew days in a year, and there's 24 hours in the day, and one hour works out to about 15 days, and a half an hour would be half of that. So, you make up the week. Did I say—

Doug: Yeah, I want you to explain that for people.

Jëan: Yeah, hopefully they can get that seven days.

Doug: That made sense. All right, what's next?

Jëan: All right, next caller that we have is Dawn in California. Dawn, welcome to "Bible Answers Live."

Dawn: Hi, pastors, how are you tonight?

Doug: Better than we deserve.

Dawn: I have a question on when, let's see, it was John 8, verses 1 through 11 were added to the manuscripts because the earliest manuscripts I read, it was not in there.

Doug: Yeah, that's--I would just say, don't believe those commentaries. The reason they say that, and it's not just John 8, they'll also say the last few verses in Mark chapter 16, they say, "Well that's not in some manuscripts." And so, some of the modern translations just leave that out. That's very unfortunate because one of the most incredible stories in the Bible is John chapter 8, the first few verses. This woman is caught in the act of adultery. And Jesus said, "He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone." It's believed that some of the Austere church leaders, when they read that hundreds of years after Christ, it was in the Scriptures, they said, "Wow, that sounds like Jesus is forgiving adultery," and they just said, "Let's expunge that. Let's lose that first few verses there. We don't want it to make it sound like he said, I'm not going to condemn you for adultery." And so, some of the church fathers thought, "Well, let's just take that out of some of the Vaticanus or some of the other translations." But it was in the earliest.

Jëan: There's two groups of manuscripts. You have what's called the Byzantine family, which was more in modern day Turkey. And then you have the Alexandrian text, which is much smaller. There's much fewer manuscripts in Alexandria in Egypt. However, the oldest manuscripts are from the Alexandria because the temperature was dry and desert-like. But there were some questions related to those manuscripts. So, that's maybe one of the reasons people say, "Well the oldest manuscripts don't know this passage." Well, there are so many other manuscripts, part of the Byzantine family, that do have this passage, that it's pretty evident that it was in the original.

Doug: Yeah, and there are some slightly newer manuscripts that were copied from originals. So, they're actually more accurate. And--but yeah, the story, it bleeds Jesus. And so, yeah, I believe it is, it's very much like what He said. He actually says to other people, "Go and sin no more." You "know, He said, Lest the worst thing to come upon you." So, it all fits with the narrative of Christ.

Jëan: You know, we do have a book that talks about the Bible. It's called "The Ultimate Resource," and it talks about different Bible translations and manuscripts and answers a lot of these questions. If you'd like to receive it, the number to call is 800-835-6747. This is for anyone. It's just a great study. 800-835-6747. You can ask for that book. It's called "The Ultimate Resource," or you can dial #250 on your smartphone and say, "Bible answers live," and then ask for that manuscript or that book by name, and you'll learn about the manuscripts that the Bible is copied from.

Doug: Very good. You know, I wrote a book. One reason I'm also passionate about that question is I wrote a book years ago that just was near and dear to my heart, and it's talking about at Jesus's feet, the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene. And I put forth a hypothesis in that book that Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene were the same Mary, and that woman caught in the act of adultery could have been Mary Magdalene. And they didn't say her name because, well, that would obviously be an embarrassing circumstance. And so, yeah. I did a lot of research on that particular story and its origin. And I do believe that you don't have to question whether John chapter 8, verses 1 through 11 or Mark 16, I think they are. King James had it right. They were all part of the Scriptures.

Jëan: All right, Pastor Doug, we've got another email question. And this one's got two parts. So, maybe you can take them one by one. The first question is, "Does every person have a guardian angel?" And, "What Bible verse might be used?" And then the next question would be, "What do these angels do?" They guard us, but is there anything else that they do?

Doug: Yeah, well I believe that everyone does have a guardian angel. You can read that it says in Psalm 91, "The angel of the Lord encamps round about him that fears Him." And then Jesus, speaking of the children, He says, "Their angels," making it sound like every child's got an angel. "Their angels do behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." And there's so many times when someone's eyes were opened and then they see angels that are there. It was, I believe, angels that were guiding the wise men when they saw that star. This moving star was not a comet or something. Astronomers trying to say, "Oh well, I wonder what comet happened that year." I think it was a band of angels that they saw. So, when Elisha said, "Open his eyes," his servant. He was so worried about the Syrian army, and God opened the eyes of Elisha's servant. He saw the hills and the mountains were filled with chariots and horses of fire. They were surrounded by angels. So, a lot more angels out there. Good thing there's twice as many good angels as bad ones. So, you don't have to be afraid, friends. God willing, we'll talk about it again next week.

Announcer: 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.