Hello friends, this is Doug Batchelor how about an amazing fact? In 1859, as the California Gold Rush began to fade. A few prospectors wandered into Western Nevada following rumors of gold in the Waxhaw Mountains. Two miners, Patrick McLaughlin and Peter O’Reilly, did find some gold and staked a claim at the head of six-miles of canyon.
Another clever miner, Henry Comstock, stumbled upon their find and claimed it was his property convincing the others to give him a share of the stake. Soon, fortune-seekers everywhere heard the news and the surrounding hills were sprinkled with goldmines.
The biggest problem in this prospecting paradise was the sticky bluish mud surrounding the gold. It piled up everywhere around their mines, sticking to their boots and clinging to their picks and shovels. They called it “that blasted blue stuff” and it made their gold mining a miserable experience.
Eventually, a perceptive miner had the blue mud tested and it was found to be some of the richest silver ore ever discovered worth over $2,000 a ton and that’s back in 1859! These miners were knee-deep in one of the greatest single mineral strikes in history and they did not know it.
The fabulous strike was the richest known US silver deposit and became known as the Comstock Lode. This blue mud was about to change history.
By 1864, the staggering amounts of silver and gold coming out of the mine reached the attention of President Abe Lincoln who needed the riches of the Comstock Lode to help win the civil war. In addition, Lincoln needed the vote of another state to pass the 13th amendment and abolish slavery.
So even though Nevada was partially populated, the entire Nevada constitution was telegraphed to Chicago where it was written out in longhand and delivered to Washington. It was the longest telegraph message in history taking Frank Bell over 12 hours to type it out and it cost over $4,000 to send, but it worked! And so because of the blue mud, Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864 helping the North to win the civil war and abolish slavery proving that sometimes great riches are right under our boots and we don’t recognize it.
Stay with us friends and we’re going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Welcome to Bible Answers Live with author and pastor Doug Batchelor. Do you find it challenging to understand the Bible? Stay tuned to get clear, practical answers to your most pressing questions straight from the Bible.
If there are passages of Scripture that confuse you or that’s difficult to connect what you read in the Bible with what you’ve been taught, then you’ve found the right program to get clear, reasonable and down-to-earth answers to your Bible questions.
Bible Answers Live is produced by Amazing Facts dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Lines are open so call now, 1-800-GOD-SAYS. That’s 800-463-7297.
Now here’s your host, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug: Welcome listening friends to another version of Bible Answers Live and we’re so glad that you have tuned in. If you have any Bible question, we have several lines open. It would be a good idea to pick up the phone and make that free phone call, 800-GOD-SAYS. And that’s 800-463-7297.
If you have any Bible-related question, we will do our best to search the word of God together and find the answers.
Jesus said, “Come now, let us reason together,” and that’s why we’re here and you will find the Bible a reasonable book! So give us a call, 800-GOD-SAYS. That’s 463-7297 and my name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Dick: My name is Dick Davit. Good evening Doug.
Pastor Doug: Evening Pastor Dick.
Pastor Dick: Welcome back! I understand you were at NRB this week.
Pastor Doug: About this time every year, we take some of our crew and we go to the National Religious Broadcasters’ Convention and it was once again a very interesting and educational experience with a lot of lovely people.
Pastor Dick: We’ve sent all our greetings to our colleagues.
Pastor Doug: That’s right and learned about the latest technology and what’s happening. But I’m glad to be back and looking forward to tonight’s program so why don’t you launch us with prayer?
Pastor Dick: Let’s do that. Father in heaven, we thank You and we praise You again for the privilege of coming and using the airwaves to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will be with us. Give us wisdom and understanding and discernment as people ask questions from Your word, and may we Lord, speak the truth in love that You have in Your word. May You be able to reach people tonight Lord, with the truth. It’s our prayer in Jesus’ name, amen!
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Dick: Well, I remember as a little boy, we’re not here in Sacramento, California. We’re not far from Virginia, City of Virginia. It’s just over the hill, probably two-and-a-half-hour drive. I remember as a little boy going to Virginia City and taking a tour and I bought a little silver dollar and I don’t know whatever happened to that silver dollar but I kept it for years.
It’s a fascinating place and there’s a lot of history in Virginia City about the Comstock Lode, Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: In most cases, when miners say that they struck a great vein of silver or gold…
Pastor Dick: Yes.
Pastor Doug: They usually prove to be rumors but this was one of the rare occasions where they really hit as they say the “mother lode” and the vein, I understand, was about 50 feet by 400 feet by a quarter mile long. This millions of dollars came out of that into the US coffers.
Pastor Dick: Well, you know, I don’t want to be a tourist agent here but I would encourage anybody who has an opportunity to go to Nevada to forget the other places that people normally go to and go see Virginia City because it is fascinating. But Doug, you have a spiritual application here that you want to talk about.
Pastor Doug: Well, I need to get a little credit to the history channel I was watching this week and I saw that. And I thought it was fascinating that here these miners were shoveling this blue mud out of the way, cursing it, and not knowing that they were throwing silver ore over their shoulders.
Pastor Dick: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: And this went on I guess for some while before somebody said, “You know this stuff looks like it’s got little sparkles.” And they took it and tested it and they said, “Where did you get this? This is some of the richest silver ore that we’ve ever seen.”
And, of course you know, the whole city exploded from just a few prospectors to a city with 20,000 people which back in that day was enormous. And it changed the history of mining and everything but the riches were under their feet and they didn’t know it.
And I couldn’t help but think about the riches of God’s grace, His salvation that is available. It’s just a prayer away. If you’ve got a Bible in your night stand, go get a hotel room, you’ll find one there in the night stand.
Pastor Dick: Yes.
Pastor Doug: The word of God is available and the solution for virtually any problem you might have in your life listening friend whether it’s in your family, in your body, where you work, your finances, the word of God has the answers. And the grace of God can resolve any dilemma.
Pastor Dick: And there is great power in the word of God. It bring out change.
Pastor Doug: It’s so close. You know, God says in His word the answer is not far from you that you need to say “Who will go into heaven and bring it down or who will go into the sea and bring it up?” But it’s nigh at hand, it’s right there and all we have to do is reach out and call to Him and take His hand.
Pastor Dick: Well, you and I have had great experiences in our own lives in transformation of character and lifestyle and so we can testify to the power of God’s word in a person’s life just because of what God has done for us.
Pastor Doug: Both coming from virtually agnostic or atheist…
Pastor Dick: Yes, that’s right.
Pastor Doug: To Christians.
Pastor Dick: That’s right and we want to encourage our listeners to call for a book that we want to make available tonight. It’s a book titled “Riches of Grace” written by the founder of Amazing Facts, Joe Crews. And this little book, folks, is an excellent resource – I say that about every one of our little books because they are and you’re going to want this in your library – talking about the power of God’s word, the power to take the worst sinner and make him a powerful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Doug: In Revelation Jesus says even though we’re poor and wretched and blind and naked, He offers us riches for the taking.
Pastor Dick: Right.
Pastor Doug: He offers us money without price. That sounds strange.
Pastor Dick: Sure.
Pastor Doug: I mean, you think you’d have to buy money, here’s money. Come buy money without price and He’s offering us this riches.
Pastor Dick: And what He did with Peter and what He did with Paul and these other great disciples of His day, He can do with you and with me, and this little book will help you to understand, give you some great insights into how Jesus changed the life of Peter and Paul, and others. “Riches of Grace” talking about the power that can make the best disciples out of the worst sinners.
Please call our resource operators, 1-800-835-6747, 835-6747. Operators are standing by right now and if you call and ask for those or that resource, we’ll send it to you tonight. That’s 1-800-835-6747.
Pastor Doug, we take a couple of internet questions before we go to the phones.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Pastor Dick: So let’s start with this one. I think it’s kind of appropriate considering what’s been happening in our region of the country recently.
Pastor Doug: All right.
Pastor Dick: Is it a sin to be a homosexual and what does the Bible say about gay marriages?
Pastor Doug: All right. Well, for our friends who are listening across the country, you can tell this is live program because this is a very sensitive point in the news right now.
Pastor Dick: Yes, that’s right.
Pastor Doug: I must admit that I am a little bit ashamed that I am a resident and born in this state that they’re not taking more drastic decisive action to stop something that is biblically, of course you know, people will say that the Bible really has no root in our government but morally, practically, it’s obviously…
Pastor Dick: Wrong.
Pastor Doug: It’s wrong, it’s foolish.
Pastor Dick: Right.
Pastor Doug: And, you know, the purpose for marriage – the reason the government gets involved with marriage or one of the primary purposes was for the protection of the offspring and these gay marriages is really a misnomer and it’s a shame. And you know, it’s really a diversionary way of clamoring for acceptance in the society that still recognizes there is something inherently wrong with and unnatural with men and women marrying.
But people are asking “what does the Bible say?” and that’s what this program is all about. Romans 1:26, “For this cause, God gave them up to vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise the men leaving the natural use of the women burned in their lust one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was appropriate or which was mete.”
And it says, “They did not retain God in their knowledge but gave themselves over to a reprobate or rebellious mind to do those things that are not appropriate.” And of course, you’ve got, you know, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and others in the Bible that’s illustrating the Law of Moses. And in the New Testament, “None of them that will enter the kingdom of heaven,” people who are practicing these things, it’s an abomination God says.
Pastor Dick: An abomination and what happens, they slip into this great deception wanting to argue that they have their rights and their justice good as you and me, and what have you, and it goes off on all these different tensions while the word of God stands just in direct contrast.
Pastor Doug: You know, some of the strongest language used in God’s word is where God says to Moses in Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lay with mankind as with womankind, it is an abomination.” And the word ‘abomination’ there means ‘a stench in the nostrils.’ It’s extremely offensive.
Anyway, I’ve better move on because I know we have other questions that are live and one more internet question.
Pastor Dick: Let’s take the second internet question. When Jesus was resurrected, He came back and He stepped on this earth, He ate with the disciples, Thomas was allowed to touch Him, and there was lots of visual contacts and physical contact. This person wants to know, he says he thought that after Jesus is raised from the dead, He wouldn’t step on the earth again. So how do you reconcile this?
He says, “I thought His foot would not touch the earth at His second coming due to the sin on earth? And after He went to heaven, after His resurrection, wasn’t’ He cleansed? If so, how could He come back and touch His foot on earth then but not at His second coming?”
Pastor Doug: Well, I haven’t read anywhere in the Bible where it said that Jesus could not touch the earth after His resurrection because of the sin of the world. Jesus came and walked on the earth before His incarnation when He visited with Abraham and other occasions. He appeared in the Old Testament.
Pastor Dick: Yeah. Just before they destroyed Sodom.
Pastor Doug: Exactly! So it is true when Jesus comes the second time, and of course, His appearances after the resurrection were not the second coming. When He comes the second time and the resurrection transpires, we are caught up to meet Him in the air. That is true.
But there is really no Scripture that said that He wasn’t allowed to touch the world again until after it was cleansed and that may have been taught but it isn’t in the Bible.
Pastor Dick: Isn’t there some confusion here about the terms ‘first coming,’ ‘second coming,’ ‘third coming?’
Pastor Doug: Yes, technically the first coming of course is the incarnation. He came as a Lamb, next time He comes as a Lion – what we call the second coming, and then at the end of the 1,000 years when the New Jerusalem comes down and there’s a great judgment, some refer to that as the third coming. But the Bible doesn’t use those terms.
Pastor Dick: Right.
Pastor Doug: It does talk about when He comes again the second time.
Pastor Dick: Right.
Pastor Doug: And so that’s where we get the name.
Pastor Dick: Right. Okay, all right. Very good. Well, we’re going to go to the phones in just a second but we have three new stations we’d like to welcome to our network.
Pastor Doug: Amen!
Pastor Dick: FCBC in Bryant, Alabama and at 99.9 FM, and WFBS in Berwick, Pennsylvania that joined our network. And the third one is apparently a, well, it’s LONGTOM Radio, 93.3 FM in Ladenburg, South Africa.
Pastor Doug: Amen, praise the Lord!
Pastor Dick: Praise the Lord! We would like to hear from our listeners in Ladenburg South Africa, Berwick Pennsylvania, and Bryant Alabama. If you are listening to us tonight or next week, let us know and we will welcome you officially to the network.
Pastor Doug, let’s take our first caller for the evening. We’ll go to Turlock, California and start with Norman who is on a cellphone. Welcome Norman.
Norman: Good evening gentlemen!
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Norman: I’ll ask my question then I’ll hang up. Last Monday night, I think it was on the History Channel, their subject was the hidden words and stuff in the Bible, like they count so many letters and then they claim that the World War II and Japan and the Kennedy assassination was all written in the Bible. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Pastor Doug: Yes, the Bible Code.
Norman: Yeah. Okay, I’ll hang up. Okay, thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: All right, thank you very much, Norman.
Norman: Bye.
Pastor Doug: I would respectfully – I haven’t read the whole “Bible Code” book – but from the segments that I have seen, you can make almost any ancient document say anything. It’s something like “The Prophecies of Nostradamus.” When you actually hear them, everyone talks about what a great prophet he is. But when you actually hear his prophecies, they’re so nebulous that you know, you could apply them to a number of different things.
And in the same way, the messages that they get by counting every so many letter and then applying that letter in assembling words in sentences that way, well, you can shuffle different words and sentences in number of ways and using the same.
In other words, I remember when I went to school, third grade. One day, the teacher said we are going to put the word ‘Halloween’ up on the board and we want to see how many other words you can create from the word ‘Halloween’ and it was interesting how many words you could make by taking the letters you find the in the word ‘Halloween.’ It’s a great exercise.
But this is sort of what has happened where you can divide – you have so many options about where to divide these words that you can make it say all kinds of things. And when it finally say something, it doesn’t say – you know World War II is going to begin in 1942, it’ll be some very vague graphics.
So I don’t think God ever intended us to use this kind of cultish method to the Bible.
Pastor Dick: There is an admonition in the Bible that we are to rightly divide the word of God.
Pastor Doug: Yeah. The Lord invites us to reason together.
Pastor Dick: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: God doesn’t speak to us through secret symbols.
Pastor Dick: Right, right. All right, Lancaster, California. Ron is also on a cellphone. Welcome Ron.
Ron: Good evening.
Pastor Doug: Hi!
Ron: Hi. Pastor Doug, I was scanning through Sky Angel 49 and I caught the channel interview on 3ABN Live.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Ron: And it’s good to see you!
Pastor Doug: Well, thank you.
Ron: And I emailed this question. It didn’t quite get through but now I can ask you in person. My question was, I’m curious from the Bible, why does the origin of the sign of the fish – the [inaudible] as they call it?
Pastor Doug: Right.
Ron: I see no reference in the Bible and there’s a reason I’m asking this question but I’d like to hear your answer first.
Pastor Doug: Okay. Well, I’ll do my best. The way I understand the history is during the persecution of the Christians before the era of Constantine, the fish – because of Christ multiplying the fish and supplying the needs in the Bible – the fish sort of became a symbol and also because God had told Peter and the other apostles, “I will make you fishers of men.”
And so sometimes Christians would be standing in a dusty marketplace and they wouldn’t know if the person they’re talking to is a Christian. They would take their toe in the sand and make half an arch and if the other person was a Christian, they would discreetly take their foot and make another sign of the other half of the arch and those two sweeping arcs formed a fish.
And so the fish became a Christian symbol but it is not in the Bible, Ron. You there?
Ron: Okay. Yes, I am. Yes.
Pastor Doug: So it comes from history, not the Bible.
Ron: So it’s not a tradition.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Ron: Okay, the reason I asked is, I had someone tell me that if you collate it to Gay Gandhi, the fish god of the papacy is the exact same symbol.
Pastor Doug: No, the fish that the Christians use is not the fish hats that the papacy wears. You’ve probably seen the pope and certain priests.
Ron: All right.
Pastor Doug: They wear these hats that have a big open mouth at the top and you can look at the ancient – I think it’s the Assyrians – they wore these fish hats that looked identical to the papal hats. That’s probably what you’re hearing.
Ron: Okay.
Pastor Doug: It didn’t have to do with the fish symbols in the early Christian church.
Ron: Okay.
Pastor Doug: It has to do with the fish hats that are worn in the papal church.
Ron: Okay, great! Thanks for your answer. Real quick, I’m reading from my book from you, “The Church of the True Church.”
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Ron: And I received the packet, “What’s Wrong with My Church?” I’m looking forward to getting that.
Pastor Doug: All right. Well hey, we’ll announce that to the shipping department. Hopefully it will get to you soon.
Ron: They’ll have it expedited, right?
Pastor Doug: Right.
Ron: Thank you so much.
Pastor Doug: Thanks a lot, Ron.
Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call, Ron. Another cellphone call. Let’s talk with Steven in Louisburg, Tennessee. He’s a first time caller listening on WOCG. Welcome Steven.
Steven: Welcome. How are you?
Pastor Doug: Very good. And your question tonight?
Steven: My question is, if you wanted to initiate a spiritual program in the home, say morning and evening devotion, or you wanted to do the passing out tracks and visiting the poor, something like that, and you approached your mate and she was sensitive in that area, how can you go about establishing something like that in the home?
Pastor Doug: Well, as far as possible, Steven, if you can come to a mutual agreement without creating tension, and when you say sensitive, what do you mean by that? Do you mean that she’s opposed?
Pastor Dick: Steven?
Pastor Doug: You know, that was a cellphone. I think they just dropped off.
Pastor Dick: Steven, you just dropped off here and if you’re still listening to us, we don’t have any way to communicate with you.
Pastor Doug: You have to try and call back.
Pastor Dick: Yup, you have to try and call back. So let’s move on. Let’s take our next caller. We want to go next to… well, let’s go to Randy in Portage, Wisconsin who is listening on 3ABN Radio. Hello Randy!
Randy: Hello! How are you?
Pastor Doug: Very well! How are you doing?
Randy: Great! I hope I don’t lose my cellphone here.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Randy: My question briefly and I’ll hang up. I find in Galatians 4:9-11 generally, where it appears that Paul is respectfully admonishing his fellow believers with respect to them observing days, months, times and years. I wonder if you might enlighten us on what this might be more specifically, how it would apply to us in our current times.
Pastor Doug: All right. I’ll do my best.
Randy: Okay, thank you. God bless.
Pastor Doug: When the Christians, when Christianity began to spread, of course the early church was all Jewish and the Jews had two kinds of holidays – they had the weekly Sabbath then they had the annual feast days. And evidently, all you have to do is read in Romans 14 and you can read in the book of Acts a number of the very zealous Jewish Christians who were trying to add to the religion of Jesus the Mosaic ceremonial laws.
And Paul speaks very strongly against that kind of legalism of enforcing the Jewish ceremonial laws on the New Testament Christians which included of course days, months, times and years and I think that’s what he is talking about so I hope that helps a little bit.
Randy: Yeah, I was wondering if there might... maybe I’m reading more into it. Is there, with regards to pagan holidays as such.
Pastor Doug: Well, I think there’s a difference. The Jewish holidays didn’t have a pagan origin. They were God-ordained but they were shadows of the coming of Christ and once Jesus came, He was the Substance.
I don’t think Paul was condemning them for the pagan holidays there because he’s speaking to those that are imposing the laws of Moses on the church so I don’t think it’s a subject of pagan holidays. I think it was the ceremonial holidays.
Randy: I see. And while I get you on the line, if I may, Jeremiah the tenth chapter refers to the man going into the forest and cutting down a tree with an ax.
Pastor Doug: Yup, and decorating it and praying before it.
Randy: And there’s quite a difference when we read the NIV version as opposed to the King James. King James uses the phrase I believe, ‘carving,’ would almost be as we have today these polish-able carve with the chainsaw and make faces or sculptures.
Pastor Doug: Right.
Randy: As opposed to what reads to me like a Christmas tree. And of course at that time, back in those days, I believe it was with camels in mind.
Pastor Doug: Yeah. Well of course, they had a lot of… every time they made an idol back then, it was usually wood that was overlaid with gold and jewels and things, and they would make idols out of them. The wood was the skeleton of it.
And so here, Jeremiah’s picturing when they would cut down these trees and embellish them and pray to them and how futile that was. Need to move on, Randy. Hope that helps a little.
Pastor Dick: Thanks for the call, Randy. To Sacramento, California, Dennis is listening on KFIA. Hello Dennis.
Dennis: Hello, greetings!
Pastor Doug: Greetings!
Dennis: The kingdom of God, I had a question.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Dennis: For you.
Pastor Doug: And the question is?
Dennis: Are you in the kingdom of God right now?
Pastor Doug: Am I in the kingdom of God? Are you wanting to know, does the kingdom of God exists now?
Dennis: No, I want to know if you’re in the kingdom of God right now.
Pastor Doug: If I personally am in the kingdom of God.
Dennis: Correct.
Pastor Doug: There’s a spiritual kingdom and there is a literal kingdom. I am a citizen in the spiritual kingdom of God because you receive that by faith and adoption. The literal kingdom of course, we can be ambassadors for that but that kingdom comes when Jesus descends.
Dennis: And your flesh is what? Not in the kingdom of God right now?
Pastor Dick: Not sure exactly where you’re going with this, Dennis, but I would say…
Dennis: This is what I’m saying…
Pastor Dick: I would say that we are in the kingdom of grace and when Jesus comes and calls His people out of the grave and takes them into the clouds of glory, we’ll then be in the kingdom of glory.
Dennis: Well, the revelation that I’ve received is that I am in the kingdom of God at this time and so is everybody else if they have the Spirit of Christ and the word of Christ in them because they came to Him and they said, “What will be the sign of Your kingdom and the presence of Your kingdom?” and He says, “The kingdom of God does not come visibly nor will men say, ‘Here it is or there it is,’ for the kingdom of God is within you.”
Pastor Doug: Exactly. That’s talking about the spiritual kingdom of God and that’s why in Acts chapter 1, the disciples were asking Him, “When is the kingdom of God going to come?” and He explains to them that it doesn’t come through observation.
And so even when Jesus was there on earth, He said the physical kingdom isn’t here yet. But the spiritual kingdom, when Christ began His ministry, He said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” And if it was at hand back then – of course that’s what John the Baptist said – it’s available today, too. We can all be citizens in that kingdom and someday, the literal kingdom. Hope that helps a little, Dennis.
Pastor Dick: Dennis, thanks for the call. Pastor Doug, I think if we try to take another call, we’re going to run out of time. The producer has told us we have about…
Pastor Doug: And that’s for the break, friends.
Pastor Dick: That’s for the break.
Pastor Doug: The program’s not over.
Pastor Dick: We have about a minute and a half, I think, before we take our break and I don’t think we’ll do service so why don’t you tell us a little bit about what the websites have to offer. You mentioned to me a couple of new resources.
Pastor Doug: We have several new things. First of all, we have some new books that they have not seen that have just become available. We’ve got two books on marriage. You know, we get, if I ever answer a question on marriage, we end up getting quite a few. We have one by Jim Hornberger, “Revitalize Your Marriage,” and you’d receive a blessing from that and these are not free offers but you can order them on the website.
Also, “Reconnecting the Family,” by Jim Hornberger and we have a new book, “America and the Ten Commandments.” That’s been in the news a lot with what happened there in Alabama by Ronnie Anthony Lester, “America and the Ten Commandments.”
Go to the website, AmazingFacts.com or AmazingFacts.org and also friends, if you’re a baby in the Lord and you want to better understand the Bible, I would encourage you to sign up for the free Bible study course. All you need to do is go to BibleUniverse.com or even if you type in ‘Bible University,’ that will all take you to the Bible course and a number of resources to help you become rooted in the Word of God which is the main purpose we do this program.
And with that, we’ll take a little break here. Pastor Dick has some announcements and we’ll be back in just a moment.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Dick: Welcome to Bible Answers Live with Pastor Doug Batchelor. You can call right now with your Bible-related questions and receive clear, practical, down-to-earth answers to your most perplexing Bible questions straight from the Bible.
Call now 800-GOD-SAYS, 800-463-7297. Now join us as we open our Bibles for more Bible answers live with author and evangelist, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug: Welcome back listening friends! If you have just tuned in, this is Bible Answers Live and as you can gather from our title, this is a live international, interactive Bible study and you can participate. And just to accent the international flavor, where are we going, Pastor Dick?
Pastor Dick: To Japan, Pastor Doug. We’ll take our next caller, Nicky, first time caller listening to us on the internet. Nicky, welcome to the program.
Nicky: Hi, thank you for taking my call. Can you hear me?
Pastor Dick: Yes, we hear you.
Pastor Doug: And your question?
Nicky: Yes, my question is, we have heard that a husband is submitted to the wife is submitted to the husband. So we would like to know within the marriage union, does that mean that they are submitted to anything intimately to the husband or to the wife because the wife’s body belongs to the husband or the husband’s body belongs to the wife? What does the Bible has to say about intimacy in the marriage?
Pastor Doug: Good question, good question. All right, I’ll do my best to answer that from the word. 1 Corinthians 7:3, and you probably are referring to this, Nicky. It says, “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also, the wife unto the husband.”
Now, the Bible indicates there is a ‘due benevolence.’ Of course we would like to believe that intimacy is always spontaneous and emotional, but it isn’t sometimes it is due benevolence. “The wife hath not power over her own body but the husband, and likewise the husband hath not power over his own body but the wife.”
Paul is simply saying because we become one flesh, we should not only share that intimacy because of love and desire but also there is an obligation to care, to comfort but this should never be used as an excuse for something that is inappropriate. The husband, for instance, should not say to his wife, “Well, your body is mine so I’m going to do with you whatever I want to do no matter how kinky or perverted it might be.” Forgive me for being graphic but that’s the only way I can say it on the radio.
And this is not to be a justification that the wife then becomes the husband’s sex slave or vice versa. It’s to be… this is a command that is to be treated with respect. But we do realize that we become one flesh and we should consider the needs of each other.
And you know what? Sometimes Pastor Dick, it might mean women like a hug probably more than men do. And sometimes, I’ll stop and hug Karen because she looks like she needs a hug.
Pastor Dick: That’s right.
Pastor Doug: And I feel like, “Hey, I owe it to her.” You know what I mean?
Pastor Dick: Sometimes I’ll say, “Betty, I need a hug,” and I’ll get one from her.
Pastor Doug: So though she might not have thought of it or I might not have thought of it, you want to, you know, be there to comfort and to care for one another because her husband’s body belongs to her, she can tell him to restrain himself and vice versa. So there’s also times when it’s not appropriate and you shouldn’t take advantage of the other because you do both belong to each other. I hope that helps, Nicky.
Nicky: Yes. Thank you very much, God bless.
Pastor Doug: God bless, and while you’re on the internet, if you go to our website, we have a Bible study on marriage that answers some of these questions that you might want to look at.
Nicky: Okay.
Pastor Doug: God bless.
Nicky: Thank you.
Pastor Dick: Thank you for the call, Nicky. God bless. Let’s go next to the Bronx, New York and talk with… or rather, Orlando, Florida and talk with Keith who is listening on WTLN. Hello Keith.
Keith: Hello?
Pastor Doug: That’s right, near the Bronx. Hello Keith, how can we help you?
Keith: Hey, I was just wondering if there is any records of after Jesus was crucified and He rose again, what became and what happened like with Pilate and Herod and Caiaphas, and even the Pharisees? I mean, it was general knowledge that He was no longer in the tomb, right? I mean, what did they think? Did some of them got converted?
Pastor Doug: When the Roman soldiers came into Jerusalem and announced to the religious leaders that Jesus had risen, their faces probably blanched as the blood drained away. They then paid the soldiers to lie and say that the body was stolen. They were probably absolutely terrified when words reached Pilate especially after the dream of his wife that said “don’t have anything to do with that just man,” he probably was absolutely terrified.
A matter of fact, history tells us, Keith, we don’t know… Caiaphas as far as we know died of old age. We’d like to think something terrible happened to him but his grave I think have been discovered in Jerusalem. Pilate committed suicide according to Roman history. And I don’t know if it was in connection with that or because he lost his post in Jerusalem – he was basically fired a little while later because he was having a hard time managing the Zealots.
Keith: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: King Herod died of sickness. There were several Herods but the one who condemned Jesus. So that’s the history we have but I’m sure that they were never the same.
Keith: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking like the Jewish leaders, what in the world did they think?
Pastor Doug: Well, some of them of course converted if you go to the book of Acts.
Keith: Okay.
Pastor Doug: It says, “Many of the priests also believed.”
Keith: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And so, you know, some of the Jewish leaders were obviously the enemies of Jesus but there were Jewish leaders that believed such as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Keith: And Nicodemus, yeah.
Pastor Doug: And then you read in Acts chapter 5, “and many of the priests also believed.” Okay?
Keith: Okay.
Pastor Doug: All right. Thanks for your question.
Keith: All right, thank you.
Pastor Dick: All right, thanks Keith. Let’s go to the Bronx now. Rachel is listening on WMCA. Hello Rachel.
Rachel: Hello. I have a question. Maybe you can help me?
Pastor Doug: Okay. Speak real close to your phone. We can barely hear you.
Rachel: Okay. I have a question. I wanted to know as to when or why did God cast Satan down to earth if the earth when He created it was very good and why did He cast Satan which is bad to something very good?
Pastor Doug: Good question. In Revelation 12, it tells us that Michael and his angels fought and Satan was cast to earth. That did not happen until after Adam and Eve submitted to the temptations of the devil. Satan had access to the planet only for the purpose of tempting them at the tree of good and evil but it wasn’t until after Adam and Eve listened to the temptations of the devil that God restricted him to this world because the Bible says whoever you obey, that’s whose servants you are.
And that’s why Jesus says the devil is the prince of this world because the human race chose to listen to the word of the devil instead of the word of God. God said, “Do not eat the fruit or you will die,” the devil said, “Go ahead and eat it, you won’t die.” And when Adam and Eve chose to listen to the devil, they relinquish dominion and the devil took over and then he was cast to the earth.
Rachel: But isn’t it because we ate the fruit that Jesus did come and now we won’t die because we believe on Jesus?
Pastor Doug: Yes, if we of course trust in Jesus and accept the plan of salvation, we get everlasting life.
Rachel: Right.
Pastor Doug: But that is something that Jesus had to redeem our planet because it had been kidnapped by the devil. Okay? He paid a ransom.
Rachel: Right.
Pastor Doug: To rescue us.
Rachel: And in Job, like why was it that Satan was able to go and talk to God and come back like and just walked in and talk to Him like God didn’t tell him, “Go away and leave Me alone,” like he always would be able to go up there and say, you know, God would say, “What are you doing right now?” and he would say…
Pastor Doug: Well, let me tell you what a number of scholars believe. When you read in Job chapter 1 that the sons of God gather before the Lord, they may be the leaders of other worlds the Lord has made – unfallen worlds. Satan came representing this world because he had taken dominion of this world.
And now, that’s just one of the theories about that but I hope that helps a little bit. We probably need to move on to some of the other callers, okay?
Rachel: Okay. Thank you, bye.
Pastor Doug: All right. God bless.
Pastor Dick: Bye Rachel. To Quincy, Illinois. Chris is a first time caller, WQUIN is the station. Hello Chris.
Chris: Hello. Good evening!
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Chris: I have a quick question and I’ll go ahead and state it and then I’ll jump off and let you answer.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Chris: It’s about Deuteronomy 6:4.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
Chris: Where it says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might.” The question I have is, I’ve heard by some people that the ‘Lord’ is translated ‘Yahweh’ or in some Bibles it’s translated ‘Jehovah.’ What I would like to know, is this Jehovah Jesus Christ in the pre-incarnate form or is it the Father God? And then I’ll hang up.
Pastor Doug: All right. Thank you.
Chris: Unless there’s anything else that you need to know about my question.
Pastor Doug: Well, I think I understand the question so…
Chris: Okay.
Pastor Doug: I’ll do my best to answer it.
Chris: Okay, thank you, Pastor.
Pastor Doug: I think, if I hear correctly, you’re asking the ‘Jehovah,’ and it is in Deuteronomy 6:4, it’s the famous Hebrew ‘shamma,’ “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord, is one.” And it’s ‘Elohim Achad Yahovah.’ And the word ‘Achad’ that says ‘one’ is sometimes the same word that’s used in a cluster. A cluster of grapes would be Achad Cluster – one cluster – but there’s many in it.
And so when it says, “One Jehovah” – ‘Jehovah’ is another of the names that I believed embraced the Father, Son, and Spirit. So at the heart of the question you’re asking, is the Jehovah here God the Father or is the Jehovah God the Son? I believe it’s saying that our God – the Father, Son, and Spirit – is one God. Our God, Jehovah, is one God.
When you look at the different times ‘Jehovah’ is used in the Bible, sometimes it is clearly speaking of the Son and sometimes the Father. So it must be a title that embraces all three of the Godhead and I hope that covers it. I have that book that they can either download for free or request on the Trinity and we’d be happy to send that to you.
Pastor Dick: If you will call our resource operators and ask for the book on the Trinity, we’ll be glad to send it to you. It’s 1-800-835-6747, 835-6747. Just ask for the book on the Trinity and they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about and they’ll send it to you for free tonight, Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: And that opens up another line here.
Pastor Dick: It does. We have a couple of lines open. Anybody who has a Bible-related question, give us a call. Let’s go to New York, New York. Andrew is a first time caller listening on WMCA. Hello Andrew.
Andrew: Hell, good evening.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Andrew: I just got a quick question. Some Christians believe after Jesus was crucified on the cross that He went into hell and then He came back and rose again on the third day. I mean, did He descend to hell and then came back to earth and rose again?
Pastor Doug: Yes, I know. A matter of fact, I think even the Apostles’ Creed talks about this.
Andrew: Yes.
Pastor Doug: And that comes from 1 Peter chapter 1 and it talks about the “by which Spirit, He went and preached to those spirits in prison.” You know, I’m giving you the wrong reference here. Let me type in P-R-I-S-O-N. You should say something when I type with [inaudible] Pastor Dick. It takes me a long time.
And here we go, 1 Peter 3:19. I knew I was in the wrong place. The only thing I was sure of is that I was wrong. In 1 Peter 3:19, it says – let me back up here to verse 18 – “For Christ also suffered for the sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit by Whom He went and preached to the spirits in prison who were formerly disobedient when once so long waited in the days of Noah.”
So here it’s saying that God, back in the days of Noah, preached through the same Spirit that raised Jesus and it’s referring, Andrew, to Genesis chapter 6 where God says, “My Spirit will not always strive with men, yet his days will be 120 years,” because from that time until the flood, 120 years, the Spirit of God was striving with the people through the preaching of Enoch, through the preaching of Noah.
But some people think when it says “preaching to the spirits in prison” it means Jesus died, He went in the Spirit to prison to preach to those who were in hell and give them a second chance. This is a convoluted teaching that the Bible does not support. Jesus does not give people a second chance after they die.
The Bible says, “It’s appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment,” and whatever our works are, are sealed and we take those with us whether we’re forgiven and under the blood or whether we’re guilty, we take those with us when we die. There’s no redemption after death. Do you understand?
Andrew: Yes.
Pastor Doug: And so this concept that Jesus preached to people to give them a second chance after death is a very dangerous doctrine. I mean, how many people would like to squander this life and say, “Maybe I’ll get redeemed when Jesus preaches to me in hell.”
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, on Apostles’ Creed, where does that statement come from?
Pastor Doug: Well, the Apostles’ Creed was influenced a little bit by some paganistic views that were coming into the church back at that time. The Apostles’ Creed is not bad other than that phrase but Jesus, they say, He descended into hell…
Andrew: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: They believed that He went down there and preached. The word ‘hell’ just means ‘the grave.’
Pastor Dick: It means the grave, yeah. There’s so much biblical evidence that when a person dies that they go into their graves and they stay there until Jesus comes again and calls them up out of the grave.
So to suggest that there are people alive in hell now burning longer than somebody else who hasn’t gone to hell yet…
Pastor Doug: If you go to hell before you’re even judged…
Pastor Dick: It just doesn’t make any sense, does it?
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: And we have a lesson on “Are the Dead Really Dead?” and “Is the Devil In Charge of Hell?” You can request those lessons or read them for free online, Andrew.
Andrew: Yeah, thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: That’s AmazingFacts.com.
Pastor Dick: Yeah, you’re welcome Andrew. If you’ll go to AmazingFacts.com or if you’ll call the operators at 1-800-835-6747 and ask for the lessons on hell and on death, the operators know exactly what you’ll be looking for and they’ll send it to you tonight.
Andrew: Yeah, thank you very much.
Pastor Dick: All right. Thanks for the call. And that opens up another line. If you have a Bible-related question, we still have about 12 minutes before we wrap up for tonight so give us a call at 1-800-GOD-SAYS, 1-800-463-7297.
Let’s go next, Pastor Doug, to Steve who’s in Hermiston, Oregon. He’s a first time caller listening on 88.5 FM. Hello Steve.
Steve: Hello.
Pastor Doug: Thanks for waiting. And your call.
Steve: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: Your question.
Steve: Yeah. I’ve been reading the Bible through again and I’ve read this passage before and it never caught my eye until just the other day. I’m in Deuteronomy here at chapter 14 and it’s the whole passage here, verses 22 through 29, but what I want to… it’s about apparently you take your tithe sometimes to another town where God tells you to go and if you can’t make it there for too long, then you turn your tithe into money and then you go to wherever God tells you, apparently a different place.
But anyway, in verse 25 it says, “Then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire – oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink – whatever your appetite craves and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.”
And so my question is about, why does He tell us we can go there and do our heart’s desire on wine or strong drink?
Pastor Doug: All right, good question. The word there for strong drink, and this confuses people, I’m looking at several versions here. For instance, in the New King James version, it doesn’t use the word ‘strong drink,’ it uses the word ‘similar drink.’ The word ‘strong’ can also mean… you ever drunk any concentrated orange juice and it’s strong because you haven’t added any water yet? You know what I’m saying? You taste it.
Steve: Right.
Pastor Doug: That’s a strong drink. They had another word for ‘strong drink’ and it was the ‘concentrated wine.’ They used to dehydrate it to take it with them because, obviously, you can carry more concentrated wine with you when you’re traveling than they would rehydrate it – reconstitute it – and they’d have much more to go around.
And the word ‘strong’ here has nothing to do with alcohol. So I thought you’re going to ask a question on tithe but that’s actually an easier question.
Steve: Well, accidentally, see I’m reading out of the Revised Standard and it’s a Harper’s Study Bible and down here at the bottom, it gives the Hebrew word for wine and the Hebrew word for strong drink, ‘shikar.’ Anyway, it says it means ‘beer.’ And so, that’s why…
Pastor Doug: Yeah, you know what? You’ll find it depends on – unfortunately, you’ll find a variety of commentaries that will disagree on that. In Hebrew, one word can have a broad spectrum of meanings. And this same word was used for their concentrated grape juice. But I have seen that before where they translate that ‘beer.’ And some people loves that it says that.
Steve: Well, there’s other parts in the Bible I think that refer to and uses the word ‘strong drink’ and…
Pastor Doug: Well, in the context, sometimes the word ‘strong drink’ does mean strong drink when you read that people drink strong drink and they get drunk.
Steve: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: In Proverbs, it’s very clear what that is. But first of all, you have to ask yourself a practical question, “Why would God condemn strong drink in one passage and then tell you to use the tithe to buy it and when you go to the house of God, get drunk later?”
Steve: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
Pastor Doug: That would be sort of a contradiction.
Steve: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: So you have to look closely and say, “Well, maybe it means something else.”
Steve: Yeah. I knew there was something but I didn’t know what.
Pastor Doug: Well, I hope that helps a little bit.
Steve: Yeah, next time I’ll call out a question about the tithe.
Pastor Doug: Well, before I forget though, you know, I wrote a book where I addressed this in more detail. It’s called, “The Christian and Alcohol.” And if you ask, we’ll send you a copy for free or you can read it online.
Steve: Okay, okay.
Pastor Doug: All right?
Steve: I can do that. Thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: Thank you.
Pastor Dick: Okay Steve, thanks for the call. Go to the Amazing Facts website, Steve. It’s just AmazingFacts.org and you’ll find that resource there or you can call the operators at 1-800-835-6747.
Pastor Doug, let’s go to Dalton, Georgia or rather Burbank, California. Louis is…
Louis: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Yes, you’ve been waiting. Thanks Louis.
Louis: I have a quick question this evening in regards to the Passover. I’ve been reading Exodus chapters 12 to 14 and I just noticed, you know, that it states in here, you know, certain things that I pick up. And I’ve been noticing that as I’m reading it. It says, “The Passover will be a lasting ordinance you will be commemorating throughout your generations.” And maybe it’s just me but I have no idea when the Passover is and when it should be held and I guess, you know, the Jewish months are different from the months that was here right now.
So I’m asking, if this is due to be held in today and specifically, when is it?
Pastor Doug: Well, good question. First of all, this Passover is in the springtime and it’s generally the time of Easter and it’s governed by the moon, not by the calendar. You’ll notice Easter is a different time every time of year.
The Bible tells us, if you look in 1 Corinthians 5:7…
Louis: Okay.
Pastor Doug: “Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you might be a new lump.” They were supposed to eat unleavened bread during the Passover, Louis.
Louis: That’s correct.
Pastor Doug: “Since you truly are unleavened, for indeed, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.” So when we celebrate the Passover now because Christ is our Passover Lamb, we don’t need to kill a lamb anymore.
Louis: Right.
Pastor Doug: If you’re part of the old Passover, you had to kill a lamb. I’m hoping you’re not going to go track down a little sheep.
Louis: Oh, no!
Pastor Doug: And then the other aspect to remember is when Jesus ate His last Passover with the church, He instituted the Lord’s Supper.
Louis: Okay.
Pastor Doug: So every communion service, you are celebrating the continuation of the Passover when you, at your church, drink the grape juice and eat the unleavened bread, Christ, then you’re eating His flesh and His body and He is our Passover Lamb. Isn’t that what we just read?
Louis: Correct.
Pastor Doug: So if there was no sin in keeping that during the springtime, during the traditional Jewish Passover if that’s what you want to do, that’s fine.
Louis: Okay.
Pastor Doug: At our church in Sacramento, we have a nice communion service every springtime.
Louis: Okay. All right, well that was instituted on communion now. It is considered our Passover that’s why we’re taking them in remembrance of Christ.
Pastor Doug: Yup.
Louis: Okay.
Pastor Doug: I hope that helps.
Louis: Thanks a lot. Thank you.
Pastor Doug: All right, God bless.
Pastor Dick: All right, Louis. Thanks for the call. Let’s go to Dalton, Georgia now. Pam is a repeat caller and I can’t get the phone to work. Pam, are you there?
Pam: Yes, I’m here.
Pastor Dick: Welcome.
Pam: I have a question about marriage and is it a sin that someone like your husband or someone leaves with you at the time whenever they need you the most, I mean, does both people go to hell or just, you know?
Pastor Doug: Well, marriage of course is sacred and divorce is not God’s will. There are cases where biblically a divorce may be the only option when a person, if you know, a spouse whether they’re Christian or not, if they – I should say professing Christian – if they leave and run off with somebody else, Jesus says the cause of fornication is grounds for divorce.
But nowhere does it call divorce the unpardonable sin and so I heard you say, if they get divorced, are they going to hell? Well, whatever your sins are, if you don’t repent of your sins and as far as possible renounce and turn from them, then you’re in trouble. But why are you asking this question? Are you involved in a similar situation?
Pam: Yes, my husband. I have had breakdown a couple of years ago and still going through it and on thanksgiving, he just left and I had no idea and now, you know, I wasn’t even at home. I was, you know, with my mother.
Pastor Doug: It was just unexpected. Do you have any children?
Pam: No.
Pastor Doug: No. How long were you married?
Pam: Four years.
Pastor Doug: Are you in communication with your husband?
Pam: Well, yeah. I mean, he talked to me every now and then but it’s more like, you know…
Pastor Doug: Has he filed for divorce?
Pam: No, but he says he’s going to.
Pastor Doug: Could I make a suggestion? Is he claiming to be a Christian?
Pam: Yes.
Pastor Doug: If there are any redeemable threads in your relationship, first of all, the Lord is in the business of reconciliation. If there is anything redeemable in your relationship, you do everything you can to be as attractive as you can and what I mean by that is I’m not just talking about physically taking care of yourself. I’m talking about spiritually, in your attitudes – you can’t force your husband to come back.
Pam: Right.
Pastor Doug: But you can talk to the Lord and say, “Lord, I want to be Your child. I’m going to seek first Your kingdom.” Then when your husband does communicate, don’t do anything to give him additional reasons to want to divorce. Give him reasons to want to stay together.
Pam: Right.
Pastor Doug: See what I’m saying? And then give it to the Lord. And you can’t force another person’s will. All you can do is be the woman God wants you to be. Correct?
Pam: Right.
Pastor Doug: If he wants to communicate, then communicate, write him a letter. You don’t want to be weepy and begging because that usually drives someone away. But we have a study guide we’ll send you free on what the Bible says about marriage. Would you like that?
Pam: Yes, I would.
Pastor Doug: Could I have prayer with you, real quick?
Pam: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Father in heaven, I just would like to lift up Pam before You and others like her who may be listening. We know our marriages are under attack and I just pray that You will activate Your grace in this specific case and give her wisdom about what she can do and give her peace right now that she can still be Your daughter in spite of the strain in her relationship with her husband. I ask this now in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Dick: Amen.
Pam: I’m just going to say this. When he left, he didn’t take any like his Bible or anything with him.
Pastor Doug: So you’re also concerned about his spiritual health. I can understand that. Oh, I’m so sorry Pam, it’s an awkward moment to end the call but the program goes off the air whether we’re ready or not in a few moments.
Listening friends, as you can tell, the music is chasing us away but before we say goodbye, we hope that you would keep us in your prayers. Remember this is an entirely faith-based ministry. No denominational support or any big corporations but just people like you who are listening and say, “Hey, I learned something. I want to support this program.” We’d love to hear from you. You can donate online, you can write us a letter. If nothing else, tell us that the program has been a blessing and check out the resources at the website, AmazingFacts.org.
Also friends, remember, it’s Jesus – the Truth that sets you free. God bless, until next week.
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