Henry Ford's mansion - Fair Lane

Fifty-six rooms spread over three floors for a total of 31,000 square feet eight fire places, one of marble, thirteen feet high stood ready to warm the inhabitants. The impression throughout is still that of magnificent design, exquisite taste and perfect workmanship. The price for constructing and furnishing this exceptional house was about two million dollars, and that was back in 1915, when a loaf of bread cost a nickel.

In addition to the residence, the estate included a summer house, man-made lake, boathouse, staff cottages, gatehouse, pony barn, skating house, green house, root cellar, vegetable garden, a thousand-plant flower garden, 10,000-plant rose garden, a maple sugar shack, Santa's workshop for Christmas celebrations, a working farm built to the scale of Ford's grandchildren, agricultural research facilities and 500 bird houses to satisfy Mr. Ford's interest in ornithology.

Henry Ford's ingenuity even reached to the power supply. Determined to be independent of public utilities, he built his own power plant, connected to the home by a 300-foot, underground tunnel. The finely machine turbines fed electricity to the entire estate, with 550 switches provided light and power at the flick of a finger. There was even enough extra power to sell back to the utility company.

However, in April 1947, when torrential rains lashed the Detroit area, the river Rouge was on a rampage. It smothered the fire under the power house boilers and caused the electricity to fail for the only time in over 30 years. Paradoxically, that was the night Henry Ford laid dying in his bedroom. Though surrounded by engineering marvels, he left the world as he had entered it 87 years earlier, in a cold house lit by candles only two miles from the farm where he was born.

Friends, you know the Bible teaches when Jesus died outside Jerusalem, four miles from the place of His birth, the sky went dark and the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom. Stay with us. We're going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.

[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]

Pastor Doug: Welcome again listening friends to another fresh edition of Bible Answers Live. If you'd like some fresh Bible bread, then stay tuned. This program is designed for anybody who has a curiosity about the truth regarding God's Word. We invite you to call in your Bible questions.

It's a live, interactive program. It's a free phone call, and that number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS. We're going to search and find together what God says in His book 1-800-463-7297 brings you into the studio. My name is Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Dick: My name is Dick Devitt. Good evening Doug.

Pastor Doug: Good evening, welcome back. We missed you last week Pastor Dick.

Pastor Dick: Thanks. Good to be here. We have several lines still open. If our listeners want to get a question in, now would be the time to call. But we normally start with a word of prayer, so why don't we do that?

Father in heaven, we thank You for Your love and Your grace and Your mercy, for the privilege of using the airwaves. And Lord, we thank You and praise You for the Presence of Your Holy Spirit to guide us. I pray, Lord, that You will clear Doug's mind. Empty him of self and give him clarity of thought, a discernment, and help him to remember just what he needs to know in order to answer questions as we share with people from the Word of God. We thank You and we praise You for the privilege Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Pastor Doug: Amen

Pastor Dick: I spent ten years living in the Detroit area Pastor Doug. I visited the Fairlane mansion. It is a magnificent, magnificent home, or mansion, where Henry Ford built this specimen of opulence. Just incredible!

Pastor Doug: I guess it's a national monument now too, - -

Pastor Dick: I think so.

Pastor Doug: - - what I've read.

Pastor Dick: Yeah, yeah, and beautiful, beautiful gardens. The gardens just overshadow everything in this place. But you must have a spiritual application. Why would you bring up Henry Ford and Fairlane?

Pastor Doug: Well you know, I thought it was very interesting, this man who so revolutionized, not just the invention of the modern automobile as we know it, but the assembly line and a number of other inventions went to him. He was a little eccentric. But the way he died, it struck me as unusual, almost as though there was some divine message in the fact that the power went out for the only time in the history of his mansion, the very day he died.

Pastor Dick: Um m

Pastor Doug: And it made me think about when Christ died on the Cross, how the sky went dark, and the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom.

Pastor Dick: Well now, what was the significance of that veil ripping Doug? I think I have an idea, but what do you think?

Pastor Doug: Well, of course, you've got the statement of Jesus, where He said, "Destroy this temple made with hands and I will make one without hands."

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: And the death of Christ on the Cross right at the time of the Passover sacrifice, which had incredible significance for the Jewish nation, He was the Passover Lamb. John the Baptist said, "This is the Lamb of God." All of the ceremonies in the sanctuary services that pointed to the Messiah had met their fulfillment.

When Christ began His ministry, He chased out the moneychangers and He said, "You have made my Father's house a den of thieves. It's supposed to be a house of prayer." At the conclusion of His ministry, He said there would not be left one stone upon another in the temple and He said, "Your house is left unto you desolate."

When He died on the Cross, all of the types and the shadows that pointed to the Messiah were fulfilled. And the importance, now, went to the heavenly temple, where Christ is our High Priest and He's pleading His blood, rather than the blood of lambs. And, of course, the book of Hebrews speaks a great deal about the whole process of Atonement and Redemption that was signified by this sanctuary is now being acted out for us.

Pastor Dick: Now, two parts of the sanctuary, right? There was the outer room and the inner room, and the veil separated those two.

Pastor Doug: Right. The inner sanctuary, two parts. The whole temple really had three, the courtyard, Holy Place and then the third, the Most Holy Place, which signifies the three parts of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification. There were three areas for the Exodus: Egypt, wilderness, Promised Land.

There are three steps in salvation and most of us are in the process of sanctification right now. When we get to heaven, that's glorification!

Pastor Dick: So what took place behind the veil?

Pastor Doug: Well, in the Holy of Holies, where no man could look, once a year the high priest brought a lamb and he cleansed the people from their sins and there was great significance to this. It's really a broad study. Rather than us try to explain the whole thing it always cuts into our phone time. We have a free offer I don't believe we've ever offered that we're going to make available for free tonight.

Pastor Dick: I think you're right. It's called, Blood Behind the Veil. This is one of the books in the Amazing Facts' library that we would like to make available to our listeners, written by Joe Crews. This is a powerful book that will help you to understand what took place in the

heavenly sanctuary and what took place in the earthly sanctuary, and what is Jesus Christ doing for us right now in heaven.

It's called, Blood Behind the Veil, and we'll make it available to anyone who will call our resource operators, 1-800-835-6747, which will put you in touch with our resource operators. Ask for a copy of Blood Behind the Veil and we'll send it out to you tonight.

Pastor Doug, we take a couple of Internet questions before we go to our phone calls, so let's quickly go to these. The first question tonight deals with prehistoric age. The person would like to know, "When did the prehistoric age occur in the Bible, and who created the prehistoric creatures and what was their purpose?"

Pastor Doug: Well for Christians, the very phrase "prehistoric" is a misnomer. It implies that it was before there was any written history. We don't believe that. We believe that there was a written history prior to the destruction of many of these primitive, we call them dinosaurs and other creatures.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm, um-hmm

Pastor Doug: We readily admit that there were many, many species of animals that have been altered, or have been rendered extinct, that lived prior to the flood. And one of the things that people should take note of is how radically paleontologists and archaeologists have altered their theories. It used to be they said these animals died over millions of years.

Now they believe they died in some cataclysmic upheaval, because they're all found piled up in these massive sediments, that imply it was some sort of a flood or they say an asteroid hit the ocean and buried them in silt and it was a very quick extinction. Well, the Bible says that it was a flood.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: And they're finding that the fossil record bears that out. The main point of contention is the dating method. I mean, you just have to take a few zeros off of the dates they often mention. Instead of multiple millions, it's multiple thousands. So, they existed and most of them we would call the antediluvians, the people and the creatures that existed before the flood.

Pastor Dick: Pre-flood.

Pastor Doug: Right.

Pastor Dick: Okay, very good. Second question, this is kind of intriguing. We've had this question a couple of times in the past. It simply says, "How do I reconcile a man raised from the dead and the Bible saying, 'It's appointed unto man once to die'?"

Pastor Doug: A number of people have wondered about that verse and they say, "Well what do you do with somebody like Enoch or Elijah that never did die if it says, 'It's appointed unto man once to die'?" Well, I don't think that we should be concerned. God tells us if there's an exception.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: And He tells us who those exceptions are. Not only did Enoch not die and Elijah not die. They went to heaven in a supernatural way, but you have all the people who will be alive when Jesus comes. Paul says, "Those of us," in 1st Thessalonians 4, "who are alive and remain will be transformed." We get our glorified bodies and we're caught up to meet Him in the air.

Pastor Dick: Amen!

Pastor Doug: But technically, that phrase is true. Everybody has to die. We must die to self.

Pastor Dick: Self.

Pastor Doug: We must be crucified with Christ, if we are going to go to heaven.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: And so, from the spiritual point of view, yes, it is absolutely true, we almost die if we would get that second life, that new life.

Pastor Doug: Let's go to the phones.

Pastor Doug: Okay I'm ready. I think I am, we'll see.

Pastor Dick: Okay, okay. Well let's take our first caller. We want to go to Poplar Bluff, Missouri and talk with Paul who's listening on KOKS. Hello Paul.

Paul: Yes, good evening.

Pastor Doug: Good evening, thanks for waiting.

Paul: You're welcome. I've got a question tonight about the state of the dead.

Pastor Doug: Okay

Paul: And it seems though there's a lot of debate lately about a verse in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 8.

Pastor Doug: Okay

Paul: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." The debate I hear, it seems like a lot of people want to--instead of

saying "and," they want to say "is to be present with the Lord." I'm wondering if that makes a whole lot of difference between the "and" and the "is to be present with the Lord"?

Pastor Doug: Alright, well I don't know that the truth will be affected one way or the other by that word. Very simply, when a Christian dies, their next conscious thought is the resurrection of the dead, the dead in Christ rising, which we find in mentioned several times in Scripture. That hasn't happened yet.

It is so exceedingly clear from the words of Jesus. He said, "They will be raised up the last day." And again, Paul says that at the Lord's coming, the dead in Christ will rise. And again, Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15, "The dead in Christ will rise at his coming." So, obviously, they haven't risen yet.

But for those who are sleeping in the Lord, their next conscious thought is the presence of the Lord. The sleep that the dead sleep is a totally unconscious experience. It's a dreamless sleep, so that the next--it's a twinkling of an eye. So as far as our loved ones are concerned, when they die, their next conscious thought is the Presence of the Lord. What messes us up, if I can word it that way Paul, we live in a dimension of time that God is not confined to.

I think you'd agree that God can go into the future and see it perfectly. He can take prophets and into the future and shown them with great detail exactly what's going to happen. God can take a prophet back in time, which might be even easier, and show them exactly what's going to happen.

So, what we need to understand is that the Judgment, as far as the time we live in, the Judgment and the Resurrection has not happened yet. It doesn't make sense to give people their rewards before they are raised and before they are judged. So Paul, I think, is just saying, "If I am absent from the body, my next conscious thought is the Presence of the Lord."

Paul: Okay. You know, there's another word in that same verse that has me puzzled, that's the word "absent." The Greek definition of that word "absent" seems to say more of an absence in the form of a waiting absence, rather than it would be an absence from, like being absent from school. Have you ever found out anything about that?

Pastor Doug: Well you're ahead of me there. I've never looked into that specific word. We do have a Bible study guide that deals specifically with this. Have you ever read that?

Paul: Yes, I have.

Pastor Doug: "Are the Dead Really Dead?"

Paul: Yes

Pastor Doug: Okay. There's a lot more information there than you'll find in just the few thoughts I'm able to give over the phone in the radio program. We always encourage people to look into the Bible study guides and the sermon booklets we offer because there's a lot more information.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: And we try and cover as many as we can. Hope that helps a little bit.

Paul: It does, thank you Doug.

Pastor Doug: Okay thank you.

Pastor Dick: To Sun Valley, California. Joaquin is a first-time caller. Welcome Joaquin.

Joaquin: Thank you, nice to talk to you.

Pastor Dick: And your question please?

Joaquin: Yes, in Deuteronomy 22:11 Moses says the law, "Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen." And in Leviticus God, Himself, repeats it. I was wondering if that law is obsolete or if that still applies to us?

Pastor Doug: Well, I think we're always better off if we observe the things that God mandates in His Word. Whenever you're in doubt, do what He says. I think one of the principles, Joaquin, that God is teaching here is something called amalgamation. In and around Deuteronomy 22 the Lord talks about co-mingling of seed - -

Joaquin: Right

Pastor Doug: - - co-mingling of man and beast sexually co-mingling of man with man and then out of the middle of that, He says you're not to wear a garment of divers sorts. In other words, He's saying keep things pure. Keep in mind, woolen and linen, one comes from an animal, the other comes from the ground. One is a plant fiber and the other is an animal fiber.

Joaquin: Uh-huh

Pastor Doug: And it is also a fact that if you were to weave woolen and linen together, when you wash them, they shrink at different speeds. It destroys the garment.

Joaquin: Right

Pastor Doug: They age differently too. So for practical purposes, it's a manufacturing mistake to make something that's a combination of woolen and linen - -

Joaquin: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: - - because the fibers in the plant and the animal fibers react differently.

Joaquin: Okay. So that law still does apply?

Pastor Doug: Yeah. I think that there's practical, and even spiritual, relevance to it. [Cross talk] I don't know of any fabric--there may be some out there--cotton and polyester are mixed, but one is not plant and the other is not animal.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: So I can't think of a modern example of that. I don't think it's saying don't wear a linen shirt and woolen pants.

Joaquin: Right

Pastor Doug: I think it's talking about mixing the fibers together in cloth.

Joaquin: Okay. So it actually really only pertains to, like, plant and animal, not necessarily, just like you said, like cotton and polyester?

Pastor Doug: Oh yeah, polyester is actually a petroleum product.

Joaquin: So that too, huh?

Pastor Doug: There's no mandate against that.

Joaquin: Oh okay. Okay, thank you so much for your help.

Pastor Doug: Alright. I hope it helps a little.

Joaquin: It does. Thank you so much.

Pastor Doug: Thank you

Pastor Dick: To Rathburn, Idaho. Susanne is listening on KEEH. Hello Susanne.

Susanne: Hello

Pastor Doug: Hi, how can we help you tonight?

Susanne: I had a question about, basically, secular reading. I like to read fantasy books. I don't believe in anything that's in there because, obviously, it's not real. But as long as I don't neglect, you know, the Bible reading that I do and stuff like that, would it be okay to read them? Or, like the Harry Potter books that came out recently. I don't believe--I mean, I believe it happens out there, but I don't believe it.

Pastor Doug: I'm glad you asked. I'm going to send you something for free. You want to hear the title of a new book we're just carrying at Amazing Facts? We just started talking about it this month.

Susanne: Okay

Pastor Doug: You're ready? I'll send it to you for free. Can you beat that? It's called, Hidden Dangers in Harry Potter, by our friend Steve Wohlberg. Steve Wohlberg actually was an Amazing Facts evangelist. I think this book is being carried by Christian bookstores across the country. I'll answer your question, but I'll send you that for free if you call the resource number when we're done with the call, okay?

Susanne: Okay

Pastor Doug: There's no real sin in reading something other than the Bible, as long as it passes the test of whatever things are true and whatever things are pure. Now, you might read something that has a little fiction in it, an allegory, like Pilgrim's Progress. There's, at least, some spiritual value in it.

Susanne: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: But I think that we ought to stay away from just empty calories when we read.

Susanne: Okay

Pastor Doug: I mean, there's so little time for us to fill our minds in preparation for the end of the world, why would we want to waste our minds with empty calories? There's no value in it. The other thing that might happen, I'm always on to my kids because they over-spice their food so that they don't enjoy plain food, you know what I'm talking about?

They can't eat it unless there's lots of spice and sugar, and I say, "You guys are losing your appreciation because your tongues are so over-stimulated with this other food that the real good stuff has lost its appeal." We can lose our appeal for the pure bread of God when we stimulate and fever our minds with lots of science fiction and fables and things that are over-stimulating, you know what I'm saying?

Susanne: Yeah, it makes sense. What about classic books, like the Picture of Dorian Gray, or like [cross talk]

Pastor Doug: Well I would avoid reading Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde was an admitted homosexual. I'd be real reluctant to read him. I know the book, I know the story, wasn't raised a Christian, but I wouldn't recommend him. There are some literary books that, I think, have got some historical value.

Matter of fact, the book, Ben Hur, for instance, is called historical fiction because it's built around the time of Christ and there's some good history in there. Read in Philippians 4 where it talks about evaluating things for their purity, their honesty, does it build up, is it good. If it takes away from Christ, then avoid it, okay?

Susanne: Okay

Pastor Doug: Just because the world calls something a classic doesn't make it great.

Susanne: True [chuckles]. Alright, well thank you.

Pastor Doug: Alright, thanks a lot.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Susanne.

Pastor Doug: Good question.

Pastor Dick: Let's go to Brooklyn, New York. Jeanine is listening on WMCA. Hello Jeanine.

Jeanine: Hi, good night

Pastor Doug: Good evening

Jeanine: My question relates to the original diet in Genesis 1:29. As I do understand it, it consists of fruit, grains and nuts, right?

Pastor Doug: Yes

Jeanine: And I'd like to find out to meet our daily requirement, if we need to eat vegetables and I'd like to find out if you have any resource material on food, as it relates to the sanctuary. That's my question. Thank you.

Pastor Doug: Okay, good question. First of all, you're asking a good question. In the original diet for man, it was a vegetarian diet, but that included fruits, grains, nuts, beans. And after sin, God said to man, "You will eat the herb of the field," meaning a vegetable. A vegetable is any part of a plant other than the fruit, the root, the stalk, the - -

Pastor Dick: Leaves.

Pastor Doug: - - the leaves, exactly but you're asking about the diet and the sanctuary. I believe the sanctuary, in the three parts of the sanctuary, tells something about the body. The Bible says our bodies are the temple, and the sanctuary had one entrance and there's really one entrance for food, at least, one natural entrance.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: Then, it was consumed on an altar. Our bodies consume the energy. The sanctuary had a light. Our bodies have a light, the eye. Jesus said the light of the body is the eye. They stored food in the sanctuary. Our bodies store food. There was a cleansing system in the sanctuary, and the laver our bodies have a circulatory system.

And every cell of life is made of three main parts, and the sanctuary had three main parts. So in that sense, there are some comparisons. But we also have a book that tells a little more about diet, not specifically what you asked, but it's called, Death in the Kitchen, and you'd be surprised that--by Joe Crews--has a lot of good information on what the Bible says about healthful eating. So we'll send that to you for free, if you'd like Jeanine, okay?

Jeanine: Alright, thank you.

Pastor Doug: I hope that helps, God bless.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Jeanine. 1-800-835-6747, if you'd like a copy of that resource or the one that Pastor Doug just mentioned about Harry Potter, or any of the resources that we mention on the program, 1-800-835-6747. The operators are standing by.

Pastor Doug, we also have about three or four lines open if anyone would like to call with a Bible-related question, now would be a good time to call. Let's go to Dallas, Texas and talk with James, who's listening on KSKY. Hello James.

James: Hi

Pastor Doug: Hi, thanks for calling.

James: Yes sir

Pastor Doug: And your question?

James: My question was how can you discuss intelligently the question it's okay to smoke marijuana and be a Christian, in light of the fact that I know of Christians that say it's okay to drink alcohol?

Pastor Doug: Well, it's not hard for me to discuss it, because I used to do both and now I firmly believe that Christians shouldn't do either. I do think it's a great hypocrisy for Christians to say out of one side of their mouth, "You shouldn't use drugs," and at the other hand, be drinking a little bit of wine, which is the most destructive drug in North America, is alcohol.

James: Right, I agree.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, no question. I've written a book. I'll send you a free copy James. It's called, The Christian and Alcohol.

James: Okay

Pastor Doug: Would you like that?

James: Yes, please.

Pastor Doug: Alright, well you get the phone number. It'll be repeated several times during the broadcast. Call, tell them you're listening to Amazing Facts and ask for the book called, The Christian and Alcohol, and we'll send it to you, okay?

James: Alright, will do.

Pastor Doug: Thanks a lot.

Pastor Dick: James, it's the number that I just gave a moment ago, 1-800-835-6747. Ask for, The Christian and Alcohol. Pastor Doug, let's try to get one more in before break time.

Pastor Doug: Okay

Pastor Dick: We'll go to Fresno, California. Charlie is listening on KARM. Hello Charlie.

Charlie: Hello

Pastor Doug: Hi, how are you doing Charlie?

Charlie: Pretty good Doug. I've been enjoying your show immensely and I enjoy, you know, 3ABN also as well when you're on. My question is my father got me involved in this thing here where he talks about in Ezekiel 1, a wheel within a wheel.

Pastor Doug: Yes

Charlie: Now what, exactly, does that mean, a wheel within a wheel?

Pastor Doug: It's one of the most mysterious prophecies in the Bible and a lot of people would like to say that they know what it means. That's Ezekiel 1:16 for our friends who are listening.

Charlie: Right

Pastor Doug: The closest that I've got is, I think that God somehow pulled aside the veil and gave Ezekiel an understanding of the mystery of life itself, and here's what I mean by that. Every single particle of life, or matter for that matter, is made up of atoms, electrons, neutrons, which are orbs that are circling one another, wheels within a wheel.

Every cell of life is a nucleus inside a wall, a wheel within a wheel. And not only through the microscope, but even when you go, Charlie, through the telescope, our earth is being revolved by the moon and we're revolving around the sun and our solar system is revolving around the Milky Way Galaxy, which is in a cluster of galaxies.

So all of life in the universe is made up of wheels within a wheel. It's just telling us that God is in all that, that He is Author of life.

Charlie: Because my father seems to think that represents a spaceship of some kind, you know, like - -

Pastor Doug: Yeah. There are people out there that want to believe that that is a flying saucer. I've run into that and I would just respectfully disagree. I think that's sort of an elementary interpretation. Listening friends, we're going to take a break for a few minutes. Check out the Amazing Facts' website. That is AmazingFacts.org. We'll be right back.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Pastor Doug: Welcome back. For those who have just tuned in, this is Bible Answers Live, a live, interactive program. We're so glad that you have found your way to this frequency. If you have any Bible question and you'd like to participate in the last half of our program, then pick up your phone and dial this free number, 1-800-GOD-SAYS. That's 1-800-463-7297. My name is Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Dick: And my name is Dick Devitt. We sure appreciate the calls that have been coming in tonight. This is an excellent program Pastor Doug, with great questions. We want to talk next with Cassidy who's listening on WMCA in Staten Island, New York. Hello Cassidy.

Cassidy: Hi

Pastor Doug: Hi, thanks for calling.

Cassidy: Thank you. My question is, is there any place in the Bible that says that Satan will impersonate Jesus towards the end?

Pastor Doug: Well, you have in Matthew 24 when the disciples asked Jesus to give them the signs of the end. The first thing He said was that, "Beware, many will come in My name saying, 'I am Christ' and there will arise false Christs." So it may be Satan appearing in multiple ways through different individuals.

But, you can also look in 2nd Corinthians 11:14, "And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." And then, of course, 2nd Thessalonians 2:4, it tells us about the devil sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Cassidy: There will also be great miracles performed too, correct, that are not suppose to be believed?

Pastor Doug: Yes. You can read in Revelation chapter 16 where it talks about the spirits of devils working miracles. That's plain enough and they deceive the leaders of the world by the miracles which they have power to do. So, we know Satan has power to do signs and wonders. That's what he did with the magicians of Pharaoh in Egypt.

Cassidy: Alright

Pastor Doug: So yes, I do believe Satan is going to seek to impersonate Christ. God can - -

Cassidy: So how do you - -

Pastor Doug: - - go ahead.

Cassidy: How do you keep from being deceived?

Pastor Doug: Ah! That's the best question. Through knowing the Word, knowing the Lord, and a relationship with Him, through prayer. Jesus said if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived, and that's Matthew 24. So if you know the Word, you'll be able to identify when something is wrong and measure all things by the Word of God.

So the more you know the Lord and pray for discernment, God will help you to be able to distinguish the true from the false.

Cassidy: Okay, alright. Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Alright, thank you, good question.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Cassidy. Good question, yes. Let's go to Belleville, New Jersey. Shawndell is listening on the Internet. Welcome Shawndell.

Shawndell: Hi, good evening Pastor Doug and Pastor Dick.

Pastor Doug and Pastor Dick: Good evening

Shawndell: My question is from Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 11.

Pastor Doug: Okay

Shawndell: I'm trying to understand what the meaning of that is and how it applies to us today?

Pastor Doug: You know if I'm not mistaken we've already had that question tonight.

Shawndell: You did?

Pastor Doug: Were you tuning in for the whole program?

Shawndell: Yes I did.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, we had a question where someone was asking that tonight about what's wrong with wearing woolen and linen together.

Shawndell: Right

Pastor Doug: Uh, I don't know if I want to answer it again right now [chuckles]

Shawndell: [Laughs] I'm sorry.

Pastor Doug: Well, very quickly, I think it's really a prohibition about mixing cloth and fiber together. If you mix an animal fiber with a plant fiber, they don't wear the same, they don't shrink the same and it destroys it. And also, it's surrounded by other prohibitions about mixing of animal and man, and men and man, and those kinds of things.

So, hope that helps a little bit. If you can get on the Internet, you can hear the whole answer I gave a little while ago.

Shawndell: Okay great, thank you.

Pastor Doug: Alright, thanks.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Shawndell. To Charles in Terrell, Texas, who's listening on KSKY. Welcome Charles.

Charles: Yes, how are you doing again Doug?

Pastor Doug: Good, and your question tonight Charles?

Charles: My question is Genesis chapter 18, verse 2.

Pastor Doug: Uh-huh

Charles: When the three angels came to visit Abraham, - -

Pastor Doug: Right

Charles: - - how did Abraham know that one was the Lord?

Pastor Doug: Well, during the dinner He actually prophesies something about Sarah, then he knew that it was a messenger from God, because He was repeating a promise that God had made audibly to Abraham earlier [cross talk]. A stranger traveling by would never know that.

Charles: Oh, so He had made a covenant with Abraham before He even - -

Pastor Doug: Prior to this visit from the three messengers, God had made a covenant with Abraham and this messenger then starts to repeat that covenant, and then Abraham knew.

Pastor Dick: Also Charles, you'll notice that He knew Sarah's name and her name had just changed from Sarai to Sarah. And He knew Sarah's name and the only person who could know that was the Lord.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, good point.

Charles: And He asked her why did she lie.

Pastor Dick: Yeah

Pastor Doug: Yeah. That's why the Lord said, "Where is Sarah, your wife?"

Charles: Oh okay. That's why He knew and He sent the other two angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Pastor Doug: That's right.

Pastor Dick: That's right.

Pastor Doug: And that's why the Lord stayed behind and Abraham interceded in behalf of those two nations. So good question Charles. We appreciate that.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Charles. Let's go next to Pueblo, Colorado and talk with Tess who's listening on KTBJ. Welcome Tess.

Tess: Hi Pastor Doug. My question is from Genesis chapter 30. It says when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, she told Jacob to go into her maid, Bilhah, to have children with her. Now wouldn't that be committing adultery?

Pastor Doug: Yeah. Doesn't that bother you?

Tess: Yeah it does, I mean, because Joseph wouldn't sleep with Potiphar's wife, and so therefore, I wondered, "Wouldn't this be committing adultery?" Why would he have two wives anyway? Wouldn't he legally be married to Leah and not Rachel, or did they have different laws?

Pastor Doug: God never approved of bigamy or polygamy. In the Bible, keep in mind, they had no social security system. If a woman did not have children, either for herself or surrogate children, she had no care-taking in her old age.

Tess: Okay

Pastor Doug: It was one of the only ways that they had any prestige. You can read in a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 4 where it says seven women will take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, but let us be called by your name. Marry us so we can belong."

It was a patriarchal society. If a woman didn't have a husband, and because so many men died in the feuding and the wars, there was sometimes seven women to each man.

Tess: But that doesn't mean God approved it [cross talk].

Pastor Doug: No it doesn't. It helps you understand the desperation of the people. And Rachel, you know, was desperate to have children. Her sister was having one after the other. She wasn't having any and it made her very insecure. She said, "Well, sleep with my handmaid."

They had concubines back then. That's what Bilhah and Zilpah were. A concubine didn't have the same status as a wife but they would bear children for the - -

Tess: But then why would Jacob knowingly break one of God's commandments by doing such a thing?

Pastor Doug: Well probably because he rationalized it was a custom and everyone was doing it. He thought that would be okay. I mean, Abraham did it too. That's when he took Hagar. So Jacob had his grandfather setting a bad example.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Tess: Okay. Well I was just wondering about that because, you know.

Pastor Doug: God doesn't condone it. They also had slaves and God doesn't condone slavery.

Tess: Okay

Pastor Doug: They did a lot of things that the Lord winked at.

Tess: So He just allowed things for a time, but then now that you know better, He wants people to repent [cross talk].

Pastor Doug: That's right, Acts chapter 17.

Tess: Little by little He had to lead the people.

Pastor Doug: Exactly.

Tess: Okay. Well that answers my question. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

Pastor Doug: Good question Tess.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Tess. To Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Jim is listening on the Internet. Hi Jim.

Jim: Hello

Pastor Doug: How can we help you?

Jim: I was wondering about this--well it's something I never have believed in. "Once saved, always saved" is, basically, you're taking away someone's freedom to choose. But we were having a discussion in Sabbath School a couple of weeks ago that I'd just like to get your opinion, out of the Bible, whatever. But basically what it is is, the person that was teaching our lesson held out his hands and said, "Once you're saved, you're in God's hands, and if you sin, you're not necessarily jumping out of God's hands, as long as it's not an intentional sin and you repent of that sin. So, in a sense, 'once saved, always saved' is valid as long as you don't turn your back on God." And I was wondering what your opinion of that is, because, really you could be "saved, unsaved saved, unsaved saved, unsaved" several times a day.

Pastor Doug: Right. Well, there is some truth to that position. There's a book I'm sure you've heard of called, Steps to Christ.

Jim: Right

Pastor Doug: There's a statement in the book that says, "It's not the occasional good deed or misdeed that determines whose side we are on, but the habitual," the pattern, "the habitual words and acts."

Jim: Right

Pastor Doug: In other words, if you're following the Lord and you become discouraged, and in some moment of weakness and fatigue and pressure you deny the Lord, like Peter did, it doesn't mean the Lord has cast us off because soon as Peter repented, God had accepted him again. It doesn't mean that what Peter did was not a sin.

But when a husband and wife quarrel, which happens in most homes, it's not the same as a divorce.

Jim: Right

Pastor Doug: Now, I don't believe once you're saved you can't be lost, anymore than I believe once two people are married they can't get divorced but that doesn't mean in our love relationship with the Lord there will not be misunderstandings, there will not be times of neglect, and times where we sin, see what I'm saying?

Jim: You believe it's a life-long pattern?

Pastor Doug: Turning away from God and rejecting God is different than slipping and sinning.

Jim: Okay

Pastor Doug: It doesn't mean that sin is not a sin.

Jim: Right

Pastor Doug: But I don't think God is waiting in the sky with a heavenly billy club waiting for us to sin and say, "I'm going to see if I can kill them while they're down so that they'll be lost." It doesn't usually happen that way.

Jim: Well, I'm just thinking we're living in the last days, you know and we never know when we're going to live our last hour, you know?

Pastor Doug: I think we should try to live a victorious Christian life every moment of the day. That should be our goal.

Jim: ...If something happens, like we have an impure thought or something, right at the last second, you know? I mean, [chuckles] you see what I'm saying?

Pastor Doug: Yeah. Those kinds of thoughts, I don't think we should spend time thinking like that because - -

Jim: I don't either, but they happen.

Pastor Doug: - - the devil wants us to worry about that. When we love the Lord and when we are doing our best to serve Him, then we're in His hands.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Jim: Right

Pastor Doug: Okay?

Jim: And that's what he was saying. Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Alright

Jim: The Lord bless you.

Pastor Doug: God bless you.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Jim. To York, Pennsylvania next. Brandon is listening on WWVA. Brandon, welcome to the program.

Brandon: Thank you

Pastor Dick: And your question please?

Brandon: My question is in Revelation chapter 9, verse 16 when it talks about, "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them." I was wondering what is the meaning of that prophecy since that's the only Scripture that refers to that, with the horsemen and the angels drying up the river Euphrates and they march across it?

Pastor Doug: Yeah, well you've got a few different references in the Bible. Some have wondered if this would be the army of China. I heard a preacher this week saying this is two hundred million and if China gets to a billion people, then it is reasonable to think that they can have an army of two hundred million or, no, it's four hundred million, I'm sorry two hundred thousand thousand, that's four hundred million.

And I don't believe that. I don't know that we should think about this as that kind of an exact army. The Bible tells us, if you go to Daniel chapter 7, verse 10, - -

Brandon: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: - - it says, "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before the Lord: thousands of thousands administered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." Now how many is that? "Thousands of thousands," well that's kind of vague and "ten thousand times ten thousand," well you can figure that out.

Brandon: Yeah

Pastor Doug: But here, in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, that was the biggest number that they could--they didn't have a--I forget, what's the biggest number we have? Zillion, or did the kids make that up?

Pastor Dick: [Chuckles]

Pastor Doug: Gigabillion or megazillion? I don't know but they've got different numbers that we never even used to have. Well, they didn't have those in the Bible. Once they got to a million, that was the largest army that was ever mentioned in the Old Testament, is a million, and they didn't use the word "million."

So, I think it's talking about the armies of God in the Bible. He's got these angels that are virtually numberless. If you've got a guardian angel for every person who lived, right?

Brandon: Uh-huh

Pastor Doug: Then there's a whole lot of good angels and the fallen angels, one-third of them followed Lucifer. So that's probably all I can give you. I don't know if that helps very much Brandon, okay?

Brandon: Okay, thank you.

Pastor Doug: Alright, God bless. He would enjoy our advanced study on Revelation just by calling the resource number.

Pastor Dick: Yes, 1-800-835-6747, Brandon. If you call that and ask for our advanced series on Revelation we'll send it out to you, 1-800-835-6747. Pastor Doug, to St. Helens, Oregon. Steven is a first-time caller. Steven, welcome to the show.

Steven: Hi, how are you doing Pastor Doug?

Pastor Doug: Good, thanks for calling.

Steven: Hey, we don't have a radio station here, but I knew the number so I thought I'd give you a call.

Pastor Doug: Well appreciate it.

Steven: I was looking for the Scripture where it talks about Jesus coming down and splitting the Mount of Olives, and I ran across Isaiah 65, verse 20, where it talks about the new, glorious kingdom and new creation.

Pastor Doug: Right

Steven: And it says in there that the child shall die one hundred years old. I was just kind of curious what that meant?

Pastor Doug: Yeah, that is not a perfect translation. Keep in mind, the King James Version is a translation. There's nothing wrong with the Bible, but different countries translate it into their language and sometimes things are lost. It's like when you get to the word "bottomless pit" in Genesis, the word is "abussos."

Steven: Right

Pastor Doug: They couldn't really find a word for it so they sort of made one up.

Pastor Dick: Um-hmm

Pastor Doug: Here, this verse reads better, "For the child will cease to be a child at a hundred years old."

Steven: Yeah, that's kind of what I thought, that that's what that meant.

Pastor Doug: Now let me explain this a little bit. If you look in the Old Testament, you're amazed to see that people weren't even getting married until they were like 120 then the date goes down to like 110, 90, 80, 70, 40. And we notice that they seemed to age more slowly, I mean, Sarah was so beautiful at 90, Abraham lied that she was his wife when they went to Egypt.

Steven: Right

Pastor Doug: She must have really been something to be that pretty that they'd kill him for her. Obviously, and Abraham was only a couple of generations removed from the flood, people aged more slowly. Back in heaven, it will be back to the normal aging process that God had in the beginning. A child will not even cease to be called a child until it's 100. That's all that means.

Steven: Okay, amen.

Pastor Doug: Okay? And the verse you're looking for is Zechariah 14, on the mountain splitting.

Steven: Thank you

Pastor Doug: Okay?

Steven: I appreciate it brother.

Pastor Doug: God bless.

Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call Steven. To Olympia, Washington. Steven also, on KACS. Welcome Steven.

Steven: Hello, how are you?

Pastor Doug: Hi, your question?

Steven: I had a question about the genealogy of Jesus, as described in Matthew and Luke. I noticed that if you follow them through, they're fairly common until they get to David's children. Then they split, one going down a Solomon line, a kingly line and one going down a (unintelligible) line, more of a priestly line.

Pastor Doug: Okay

Steven: I was wondering what's your interpretation of that?

Pastor Doug: That's very good. Matter of fact, it must have been an issue back in the time of Christ because Paul warns the church about not arguing over endless genealogies. I guess that they were even disputing why the different genealogies for Jesus back then.

Well you know, there are rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi, that have places where the river parts, goes around a piece of land and comes back together again.

Steven: Uh-huh

Pastor Doug: It happens that way in genealogy sometimes. The family tree will split and grow back together again because some of the kin got married. This is the case with the genealogy of Jesus. You can trace it in a legitimate way, either through the line of Luke or Matthew. Now, the difference is Luke's gospel traces the genealogy of Jesus through Jesus' father-in-law, Mary's father.

The reason Luke did that, he's a doctor. He knows that if Christ was born of a miraculous birth, a virgin birth, His only genetic connection to a human is through Mary. So Luke traced it through Mary. But out of respect to Joseph, it says "Joseph's father" and the term is "father-in-law" but it comes out "father" for us.

Matthew goes through Joseph's literal father, who was a son of David. So that's the main reason for the difference.

Steven: Okay

Pastor Doug: Alright?

Steven: Well, thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Thank you, good question. Alright Pastor Dick, who's in line?

Pastor Dick: I'm sorry. I'm making faces at the people in the control room. Let's go to Knoxville, Tennessee and talk with Linda who's listening on WITA. Hi Linda.

Linda: Hi

Pastor Doug: And your question?

Linda: I was concerned about confessions of your faults. I was wondering are we suppose to confess our faults to the body of our church, or are we suppose to confess them just to another person? And if - -

Pastor Doug: Well I, go ahead

Linda: - - And if so, are we suppose to confess them specifically or just as our sins?

Pastor Doug: Well, first of all, when it says "confess your faults to one another" as you find in James 5:16 - -

Linda: Right

Pastor Doug: - - and pray for one another, he's saying, "Well if I offend you, I don't need to stand up in front of the town square or even the church and make a public confession. I need to confess to you," Linda.

Linda: Right

Pastor Doug: If you sin publicly and you're taking the name of Christ, you should maybe to a testimony in church and say, "Everybody here knows that I've been misbehaving, and I just want to say I know it and I hope you'll forgive me. Please pray for me," if you sin against your brother or sister and there's more to it than that.

We all need friends that we can talk to. I can say to my friend, "Hey Bill, you know, I've been struggling with this and that. Will you pray for me?" I'm confessing my faults to him. I haven't done anything to Bill, but I'm confessing my faults to him because I'm soliciting his prayers. So there's that aspect as well.

And pray for one another that you might be healed, meaning you might get the victory, okay?

Linda: Okay

Pastor Doug: There are some things you shouldn't confess to anybody, except God.

Linda: Yeah, that's what I was wondering.

Pastor Doug: This idea of confessing your sins to a priest is not really - -

Linda: Yeah, I was looking in the Bible to see if there was anything in it that says specifically what your faults are, but it just says, "Confess your faults one to another."

Pastor Doug: Yeah, and so many other places talk about confessing our sins to God.

Linda: Right

Pastor Doug: And so, a fault is a little more general than a sin. A sin can be something more grievous and more specific. So yeah, we need to guard against bearing our souls to other mortal men who are just as sinful, know what I'm saying?

Linda: Right

Pastor Doug: Especially if it's just, you know, for their entertainment. Pick your friends very carefully your going to confess your faults to.

Linda: Okay

Pastor Dick: [Laughs]

Linda: Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Alright, God bless.

Pastor Dick: Alright, thanks for the call Linda. We want to go next to New York and talk with Cardos who's listening on WMCA. Good evening.

Cardos: Good evening, praise the Lord.

Pastor Dick: Amen

Cardos: I was wondering if having those varying ornaments is in (unintelligible) into your life, or it's going to idol worship, as many children of God claim that? I was wondering if there's a biblical basis for this?

Pastor Doug: First of all before I forget, I've got a booklet that I've written. Well I'll recommend three books and I'll send you one of the three can't have all three, okay?

Cardos: Okay

Pastor Doug: One of them is a book I wrote called, "Jewelry: How Much is Too Much?" There's another book by Joe Crews called, Colorful Cosmetics and Jewelry. And then one more book by Joe Crews called, Culture and the Christian. They all deal with the fashions and the adornment, and they all touch on Jewelry.

Most jewelry, as you look around the world, originated with some kind of pagan origin. In many cases, they would hang different bobbles and beads and charms off different parts of their bodies to ward off evil spirits. Well that's connected with Satan worship, because you and I know that some people who think you hang a cross around your neck and it scares the devil, they've been watching too many vampire movies.

There's nothing in the Bible that tells us the devil would be afraid of that. I mean, the devil reads the Bible. So I do believe that the modern jewelry that people wear today can be traced back to pagan roots. That does not mean that everybody who's wearing jewelry is somehow inviting the devil into their life, you see what I'm saying?

Cardos: Okay

Pastor Doug: Did that answer your question?

Cardos: Is there any biblical basis saying it is actually inviting the devil in your life?

Pastor Doug: Well, the children of Israel, when they made the golden calf, what did they make it out of?

Cardos: Gold.

Pastor Doug: They made it out of their earrings. It says, "Aaron said break off the earrings that were in your ears." Then you can read where Jacob, when he was going to meet with the Lord, he told his family that had been living among the pagans, he said, "Bury your pagan gods," the idols and they broke off their jewelry and they buried the idols and jewelry together before they went to meet with God.

That's an interesting connection, and that's Genesis 35 I believe.

Cardos: Right. That's because they made idols, right? Does that condone wearing jewelry altogether?

Pastor Doug: Does it condone wearing jewelry? Well I don't think there's any Scripture that condones wearing jewelry. You mean does it forbid wearing jewelry altogether?

Cardos: Exactly.

Pastor Doug: Well I think there are other principles you need to apply. I don't believe Christians should wear any jewelry.

Cardos: Okay

Pastor Doug: I know there are folks out there that are probably falling over right now, but I don't know of any good reason for a Christian to wear jewelry. I know that I will not stand before the Lord in the Judgment and have God say, "Doug, I can't let you into heaven because you didn't wear enough jewelry."

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and I don't think He wants us to be piercing and drilling holes here and there in our bodies and hanging minerals off. So, I think a Christian should be simple. Then you've got all those Scriptures that say, "Let it not be the outward adorning, the wearing of gold."

You would enjoy the book, Cardos. Please request the book, and, of course, I'll recommend mine first, which is, "Jewelry: How Much is Too Much?" okay? Send for that. We'll send it to you for free.

Pastor Dick: Cardos, call our resource operator at 1-800-835-6747, and ask for, "Jewelry: How Much is Too Much?" To Ellensburg, Washington. Don is listening on KCSH. Hello Don, we have about two minutes. What can we do very quickly?

Pastor Doug: Are you there?

Don: Yes, hello

Pastor Doug: Hi Don, real quick.

Don: Alright, real quick. Nonbelievers will point to the fact that in the Old Testament there are some regulations, such as stoning somebody for adultery, that don't appear in the New Testament, and they use that as a means of discrediting the Bible. What's a good answer for that?

Pastor Doug: Well, when the children of Israel were under a theocracy and they were governed by God, they had no king, then breaking the Ten Commandments was punishable by death. Now, not every time someone committed adultery was the punishment stoning. If two unmarried people committed fornication, there was a punishment where they had to get married and he had to pay a dowry.

But now we are under a different government where God is not asking us to execute people who do not believe according to His Word. When they can see His Presence in the camp with a pillar of fire every night there glowing above them, it was pretty outrageous for them to sin in the Presence of God like that.

I could have given you a better answer but I ran out of time. So I hope that helps Don. Thank you for your question. Listening friends, I want to thank you for tuning in, thank our engineers and people in the studio who have been helping. Keep us in your prayers. We're going on nine years now, and with God's blessing, we'll continue to expand with your support.

We're entirely faith-supported. Please take advantage of our online Bible school. Just go to BibleUniversity.com and you can get your degree as an apostle of prophecy by going through the advanced prophecies. Most of all, keep in mind, we do what we do because we want you to know Jesus, the Truth that sets you free.

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