The Library of Congress

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest library in the world is none other than the U.S. Library of Congress. The National Library, first built in 1800, is now housed in three separate buildings in Washington, D.C. and contains 838 miles of bookshelves that currently hold over 34 million books. In addition to books, this mega-library houses 3.3 million recordings, 13.4 million photographs, 5.4 million maps, 6.5 million pieces of sheet music, and 66.6 million manuscripts— a grand total of more than 151.8 million items.

To top things off, the inventory grows by approximately 10,000 new items each working day! In spite of the massive variety, there’s only one book that has always stayed on the top of the best-seller’s lists. Stay with us, friends. We’ll learn more about it as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.

[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]

Pastor Jëan Ross: Welcome to “Bible Answers Live” brought to you by Amazing Facts Ministries. Are you looking for a clear, concise answer to your most challenging Bible questions? Maybe you’re struggling to understand difficult passages of Scripture. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Join us now as we open God’s Word to discover His will and find honest, practical answers to your Bible-related questions.

This broadcast is pre-recorded. If you have a Bible question, call us Sundays from 7 to 8 P.M. Pacific Standard Time at 800-GOD-SAYS. That’s 800-463-7297. Now, let’s join our host, author, speaker, and evangelist, Pastor Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Doug: Hello, listening friends! Do you have a Bible question or question about the Christian faith? Then we invite you to call the toll-free number. Call in your Bible questions right now. We have lines open for tonight’s program. That number is 800-GOD-SAYS; 800-463-7297. And you can call in your questions, you could listen, and you could watch. We’re streaming again tonight, and the address, if you’d like to tune into the studio and see what’s going on, is live.amazingfacts.org. And my name is Doug Batchelor.

Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross. Good evening, listening friends and Pastor Doug. Let’s begin the program with prayer. Father, once again, we thank You that we have this opportunity to study Your word. We ask Your special blessing upon this program. Be with those who are listening, wherever they might be. And lead us into a clearer and deeper understanding of Your will for our lives. For we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Doug: Amen.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Pastor Doug, you opened the program by talking about all of these resources available in the Library of Congress, just tremendous amount of books. And yet there’s one book that stands above all others. It’s been the book that’s been translated into more languages and distributed more widely around the world. Of course, that book would be the Bible.

Pastor Doug: That’s right. The other second-place holders don’t even come close. I’m surprised to learn that the Famous Sayings of Mao Tse-Tung was one of the best-sellers. [Laughing] Of course, it was mandated by the Chinese government for years. But, aside from that, you know, the Bible is in the billions where the others are in the millions, and it has remained, of course, a best-seller around the world for fifteen hundred years I suppose, when they started printing them about five hundred years ago. But they were handwriting copies long before that. I’m sure it was the most copied book after that time, the Scriptures. And if… a lot of people have heard about the Bible, but they haven’t necessarily picked up and read the Bible.

And maybe you’d like to know more about, “How do I get into the Bible?” “How do I study it?” “Where has it come from?” “And why is it such a best-seller?” “Is it just the blind faith of millions?” “Or is there something extraordinary and different about this book?” And we’d invite you to find the answers to that question, and with a free offer! It’ll start by giving a sort of an introduction to the Bible, and it’s called, “The Ultimate Resource” for anyone who would like to ask for that tonight.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The book, again, is entitled, “The Ultimate Resource,” and to receive that, call our resource line. It’s 800-835-6747. That number again is 800-835-6747. Ask for the book, “The Ultimate Resource,” and we’ll send that out to you.

Well, we’re going to go the phone lines. Our first caller this evening is Enoch, and he’s calling from Orlando, Florida. Enoch, welcome to the program!

Enoch: Hey, I was going to ask today… okay, this may seem like a long question but I seem to realize that in the Bible, it seems like the people who have the most money such as Job, Abraham, and so forth, they seem to be a lot more humble and kind and Christ-like than those who do not have financial security. So, I’m a little curious on how, you know, it seems like the Bible points that out to me. Am I imagining things? Or is there some truth to that?

Pastor Doug: Well, I don’t question that Job was humble as was Abraham. They are the exception the rule. I can probably point out a number of other people that had wealth and power that were very proud, and, you know, Jesus, of course, warns against that. He said, “Scarcely will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven.” I think that’s in Mark 10 as well as in other places. Typically, people with riches, they’ve got power, and power tends to corrupt, and they’re often proud. I’m not saying that there’s nobody with wealth that‘s going to be in heaven because you have exceptions where Zacchaeus who was very wealthy came to Jesus. He humbled himself. And you got Nicodemus who was very wealthy. Joseph of Arimathea. These were some New Testament characters. But you read in James 5:1, “Go now, you rich men, howl for your misery shall come upon you, for your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and eat your flesh as it were with fire.” Pretty fierce enunciations about the rich who have oppressed the poor. So, generally speaking, people with wealth can become insensitive and sometimes forget. There are exceptions. There are people who haven’t been corrupted by it and they’ve got God’s Spirit.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You see, a principle mentioning 1 Timothy 6:10 where it says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” It goes on to explain a little bit more about that. So the love of money is very deceptive. Somebody might think that they’re generous or they’re humble, but having too much possessions sometimes can work against that.

Pastor Doug: Absolutely. And yeah, you see a lot of examples in modern times as well as just through Bible history. Solomon started out very close to the Lord but as time went by because he had all these wealth, he got too many wives, and they turned his heart away. If he was a poor man, he wouldn’t have them [laughing].

Enoch: Well, I’m sorry, but wait… so like, well, in heaven, aren’t we going to be walking on streets of gold and everything? So like, I mean… aren’t the people that, you know, like living in, you know, mansions now and everything… aren’t they like prepared to like live in a mansion in heaven?

Pastor Doug: Well, the difference is, in heaven, everybody’s going to walk on streets of gold. So it’s not like it’s a measure of riches because the poorest person in heaven will walk on streets of gold.

You see, the Bible does not have a mandate against our working hard, our saving, our being industrious, our earning, or our giving. It’s the love of these things. And some people, their purpose in life is to get wealth. Well, that shouldn’t be the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to serve God and your fellow men.

One thing is to be productive and industrious and try to save as much as you can, give as much as you can, and earn as much as you can, so that you can be productive. But, you know, even Solomon said riches make themselves wings and he’s not to be rich or he will not be guiltless. People who are in a hurry to get rich or if they’re pursuing it as an end in itself… That’s usually not a good thing because, you know, they could be looking for power.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, we have a study guide dealing with the subject of money. And of course, the Bible has a lot to say about money. The study guide is entitled, “In God We Trust.” For anyone wanting to know more about what the Bible says of on the subject, give us a call on our resource line. The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, “In God We Trust.” We’ll send that to you.

Craig is listening from Des Moines, Iowa. Craig, welcome to the program!

Craig: Yes, hello Pastor Doug. I’ve been wanting to call you for a long time. Before I ask my question, I want to say your ministry has done more for me than anything in the world.

Pastor Doug: Well, praise God! We’re delighted to hear it.

Craig: Yeah, I’ve been saved for years, reading the Bible for years, but I’ve learned more from your website, your tracts, and everything. I mean, ten times what I’ve learned before. So I’m just amazed that… Plus, I want to… let me get to my question. There’s other people, I know.

Pastor Doug: Okay.

Craig: In Daniel 5:25-28, Daniel was reading back to the king what was on the wall and the meaning of it. And when he gives the meaning of… he describes the “Mene mene” and “Tekel.” But instead of “Upharsin,” that part, he says, “Peres” or “Pe-res,” whatever it is. He explains that instead of “Upharsin.” So do you know anything about that?

Pastor Doug: Well, Pastor Ross might have more on this but I think what Daniel is doing is he’s taken the middle of the last word, “Upharsin” and in that word, “Upharsin,” it’s a reference. Keep in mind, we’re going between three languages right now. You’re talking about… well, more than that, you get the Babylonian language involved in the story. You’ve got the Aramaic, Hebrew, and you’ve got, of course, it’s been translated to us in English, and then you’ve got the Persian.

Craig: Oh [laughing].

Pastor Doug: So, because this is the transition from Babylon to Persia and the story may have been written when Persia actually took over, it probably was. “Upharsin” is a longer way of saying “Persian.”

Craig: Oh!

Pastor Doug: So it’s “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” and then Daniel, he says “Peres” or… it’s basically a reference to the Persians. He interprets it and he says, “Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.” The Persians were the prominent of the two…

Craig: Oh yeah.

Pastor Doug: …powers.

Craig: Yeah, I never encountered that…

Pastor Doug: Is that your understanding?

Craig: …how come it’s missing, you know? [Laughing].

Pastor Doug: Yeah, yeah. I think “Upharsin” was maybe the longer or more correct way of saying it, and Daniel sort of summarizes it in his interpretation.

Craig: Oh, okay. Well, that explains a lot more for me. I won’t keep you, but do you have any information on the beginning of Ezekiel? Any tracts or anything on the first few chapters of Ezekiel?

Pastor Doug: You know, I don’t. That… not that I can think of. And I would like to see some good tracts on the first few chapters of Ezekiel, especially some of those visions about the wheel within the wheel. I’ve been studying different commentaries and looking at that for years and I’ve got some… I’ve got some personal ideas but they would be not much more than a private interpretation right now. It’s a deep passage.

Craig: Yeah, that’s all I’ve got, too. [Laughing].

Pastor Doug: [Laughing].

Craig: Well, I appreciate your help, Doctor… Pastor Doug, I mean, and Pastor Ross, too. You guys are great. Keep it up. Praise the Lord.

Pastor Doug: Hey, thanks. Thanks for the good word.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Steve and he’s calling from Washington. Steve, welcome to the program!

Steve: Hi there! Thank you for taking my call.

Pastor Doug: Sure.

Steve: 2 Chronicles 7:14 is on my heart a lot because our country is just so strayed from God’s path and choice for our country. And I believe that He is giving us a lot of warning, signs, and…

Pastor Doug: Now, that’s… can I read that verse to our listeners, Steve? Because I know what you’re talking about…

Steve: Sure.

Pastor Doug: …and you do. But a lot of our listeners are in the car, and they don’t know what that verse is. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is one of the best verses in the Bible. It’s a formula for revival, really.

Steve: Right.

Pastor Doug: And here, Solomon says, “If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Okay, now go on with your comment. I just wanted to put that out there.

Steve: Great, great. Thank you so much. I just feel like God is giving us a lot of warnings that we need… that the country needs to repent and yet I see defiance. You know, after the destruction of September 11, you know, we would rebuild and will build it better. It goes back to Bible times, you know, when Jerusalem was sacked, and the sycamores will be torn down and replaced with cedars indicating taking the weaker tree and replacing with a stronger tree. And I just wondered if you have some other passages. And also we’ve just finished… my wife and I just finished reading a book that really confirms a lot of this. And if I have permission, I would like to mention the name of the book, but if not, then that’s okay but I would like…

Pastor Doug: Well, the best thing would be is if you can form this into a question. We’ve got to be careful that folks don’t call the program to really endorse a book, good as it may be.

Steve: Right.

Pastor Doug: But…

Steve: Okay, I agree with that.

Pastor Doug: So as a summary of your question, really, you know… what else can we say or do for our country in light of, you know… it seems like they need to humble themselves and pray and on a number of levels.

Steve: Are you saying some other… can you think of some other Scriptures right away that would be similar admonitions?

Pastor Doug: Well, yes. You can find what the Lord says to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 28. The principles there about the blessing and the cursing. And it says, if you obey these commandments— I think Pastor Ross is looking it up right there— in the beginning of Deuteronomy 28, Moses basically says that the Lord says through Moses that if the nation would heed the commandments of God and follow what the Lord had told them, they’ll be blessed going out, they’ll be blessed coming in, they’ll be blessed in the field, they’ll be blessed in the city. And if they don’t, they’ll be cursed going out, they’ll be cursed coming in, and it just… it goes through this litany of curses. And, you know, it’s just, God can intervene and bless a country when we want to obey the basic principles.

You know what I think the key is that really, really concerns me, Steve, it’s not just that, you know, the nation is kind of defying some of the Ten Commandments, just basics of morality. America wasn’t really founded to tell people that they had to keep or how to keep the first four commandments. In other words, you don’t want the government telling you what God to worship and what day to worship Him and whether you should worship Him in a certain way or which name it is. We’re a free country. People can pick that. But the civil commandments, the last six ten commandments about respecting property rights, respecting marriage, respecting life… you know, we now as a nation really have withdrawn from that as well. And that’s I think of a special concern that just the basics of everyone coveting everything, we’ve become the most material generation in the history of the world! And so, that’s one of my big concerns.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, the study guide dealing with the subject of money, it probably would be good talking about the subject as well— covetousness, where we are as a society. The study guide, again, is entitled, “In God We Trust.” And if you’d like, we can send that to you for free. The number to call is 800-835-6747. That’s 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, “In God We Trust.”

Pastor Doug: You know, there’s one other book that popped into my mind, Steve. You can read it for free at the Amazing Facts website, and it’s called, “The Last Night on Earth” by Joe Crews. I think he talks about as it was in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And our country, to some extent, is following some of the same patterns, and that’s a real concern.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Connie, and she’s listening on the Internet from Texas. Connie, welcome to the program.

Connie: Good evening, Pastors! And thank you very much for your ministry and for taking my call. I have a question about the divinity of Christ. And in conversation with some church friends recently, one of them said that Jesus could not sin because He was God. And I don’t agree with that. I think that the fact that Jesus could sin, had He chosen, and had He had not stayed so close to His Father, which was the example for us that He could have sinned. And what’s so miraculous about the fact that He didn’t is what draws me. If He couldn’t sin, I don’t know why Satan would’ve bothered to tempt Him because Satan would’ve known that He couldn’t sin but it would just prove to me that He’s God, not that He understands my plight as a human being.

Pastor Doug: Well, the Bible tells us, and you’re delving into one of the great theological discussions now. It’s kind of like the predestination discussion. Because God knows all things, the Lord knew, before Jesus ever came into the world, what the future held. But just because the Lord knows something doesn’t mean that potential is not there. And the fact that Christ was tempted in all points as we’re tempted means that He had the freedom of choice to sin as every man does. He got tired like people do. He got hungry like we do. He felt everything we feel. He got thirsty like we do. We know that. He got lonely. He asked the disciples to pray with Him. And that means He felt… He was subject to all the feelings and temptations that we grapple with. Hebrews tells us He’s tempted in all points like we are. So, did He have the potential to sin? I think you’re right. The devil knew that He had been somewhat weakened. He laid aside His divinity when He came to this world as a man, and the devil wanted to do everything he could to get Him to sin. And Jesus used the same trust in the Father and freedom of choice that we all have to gain the victory. Now, did God know ahead of time? Well, if God knows the future, He knew that Christ would be successful.

Connie: Right.

Pastor Doug: And Jesus knew it, because several times He prophesied, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.” Well, he made that prophecy, assuming that He would succeed against the devil. But I’m sure when He was in the garden of Gethsemane, He did not feel like He would ever be restored to God at that… There were moments where He felt, you know, forsaken.

Connie: Right.

Pastor Doug: You know what I’m saying? He was feeling our sin. He was feeling our second death abandonment.

Connie: And… the turning away from… of the Father, right?

Pastor Doug: Yeah. It says that, you know, He was forsaken for our sake… by the Father. The Father withdrew His protection from Christ for us.

Connie: And when Jesus… I know the Bible talks about He gave up His Spirit. And He said, “I will lay down my life. No man takes it from me.” Did Jesus resurrect Himself?

Pastor Doug: You know, that’s another big question. I got a theory about that. The word can create, isn’t that right? I mean, when God spoke, things happened.

Connie: Right.

Pastor Doug: And since all things were made by Christ, then it was the word of Jesus that brought the world into existence.

Connie: Right.

Pastor Doug: Does that make sense still?

Connie: Right.

Pastor Doug: So, when Jesus said, “I will rise in three days,” He spoke a prophecy that had to come true and in a sense, His own word raised Him up. [Laughing] I don’t know if He bounced off to heaven and He came back three days later, but it’s just like when He said something, it’s going to happen because His word does not ever fail. And so, in a sense, you could say Christ was raised by Himself. Again, it tells about the Father raising Him. So, it just seems like several forces were at play here.

Connie: Oh, I thank you very much…

Pastor Doug: I don’t know if that made things better or worse. [Laughing]. But hey, we’re going to have to rush to another call, Connie. We do appreciate your helping us think about the deep thoughts, but I see steam coming out of my ears so I’m going to have to get an easier question now.

Pastor Jëan Ross: [Laughing].

Pastor Doug: Thank you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Thank you for calling, Connie.

Pastor Doug: I’m just wondering if we have a book that we can send her that talks about some of those big questions, you know… The closest thing we’ve got is the question on the nature of God and the book on the Trinity. And we’ll send you a free copy of that if you’d like, Connie.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number, again, is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book on the Trinity, “Is the Trinity Biblical?” And we’d be happy to send that out.

Our next caller is Jerry calling from Oregon. Jerry, welcome to the program!

Jerry: Yes. Thank you, Pastors Ross and Batchelor. My question pertains to Mark chapter 13— The End Time events. And I won’t take up too much of your time, but I should read starting from verse 26 to get the proper context.

Pastor Doug: Okay, how far are you going to read?

Jerry: Until 30.

Pastor Doug: Okay.

Jerry: “Then the Son of Man will appear coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other. Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become green and tender, and it starts putting out leaves, you will know that summer is near. In the same way when you see these things happen, you will know that the time is near, ready to begin.” Now this is the important part for my question. “Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died.”

Pastor Doug: Now, what version are you reading?

Jerry: This is the Good News Bible.

Pastor Doug: Okay, that’s… just want for our listeners to know, that’s a paraphrase. The way that it reads in the New King James is, “Verily, I say to you, this generation will not pass away ‘til all these things be done.” So it’s a little different wording, and a paraphrase is not really a translation; it’s the author’s kind of his spin on what the translations say.

Jerry: For the last, it says, “This generation will…”

Pastor Doug: Correct. Now, would you like me to address those verses quickly?

Jerry: Well, to make sure you’re addressing my question, obviously that generation is now dead. None of them are alive.

Pastor Doug: So how could all the things in Mark 13 and Matthew 24 have come to pass in that first generation if…

Jerry: Yes. Yeah.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Well, if you read in Matthew 24, the first few verses, the discourse that He makes on the Mount of Olives that you find in Mark 13, Luke 17, Luke 21, and Matthew 24, they’re asking Jesus three questions. He said there would not be once stone left upon another that would not be cast down. And they said, “When will these things be?” meaning the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the world?” So they’re really asking three questions. He coalesces all three of the answers together. It is a fact that the destruction of the temple and the sack and destroying of Jerusalem happened in that generation.

What happened to the Jews in that first century is a parallel for what’s going to also happen in the Last Days. So it’s a place where you’ve got a dual prophecy. History will repeat itself! And some of the things that the Jews experienced in those centuries, the church is going to experience again on a prophetic scale. So, yes, in that first generation, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed. He said, “You’ll see Jerusalem surrounded with armies. Let those that be in Judea flee into the mountains.” All that happened.

The other part about the signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and sending His angels to gather together His elect, those are following the other signs of wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in different places and plagues and so forth. And so there’s a number of other things that proceed the main event, so to speak. But what happened to Jerusalem was a microcosm of what will happen in the Last Days. And yes, that all happened. It’s quite amazing. A generation, biblically, is forty years, Jerry. Jesus made this prophecy in about 30-31 A.D. and 70 A.D., forty years later. It all was fulfilled. So Christ’s words really were very accurate.

Jerry: Well, that I can understand because, you know, people can live as long as, you know, present day, 110-115 years. And the destruction of the temple could very well happen during that generation. But since Jesus hasn’t returned now, and He made the statement 2,000 years ago, and said that, you know, that the generation will not pass… I still don’t quite understand.

Pastor Doug: Well, there is another generation that’s going to be living down here ‘til the end of time. Now, I want to let it concern you that Jesus hasn’t come yet because when God first prophesied the coming of the Messiah from the time of Adam when He gave that prophecy about the seed of the woman to Eve in Genesis 3:15, 4,000 years went by and then Jesus came. Right now, we’re living at 6,000 years from… roughly, from creation of man. And then we spend a thousand years with the Lord during the Millennium, which is like the seventh thousand years. The Lord says, “A day with the Lord is as if a thousand years” in 2 Peter chapter 3. We’re living right now on the very threshold of the end! Everything Jesus said was going to happen. In Matthew 24, immediately before the destruction of Jerusalem, it all happened. And so the other things that have happened across the scope of time.

Oh by the way, you know, the book of Revelation… John then builds on the prophecies of Jesus and he said these things will begin to happen now and he outlines the persecution that the church would go through and all the problems that you saw during the Great Tribulation of the Dark Ages and much more.

Yeah, we’re going to answer some more questions, friends. You’re listening to “Bible Answers Live.” But, we want to, just before we go to the break, tell you a little bit about our website, you’ve heard us mention before. You know, I’m just driving around here in Sacramento, Pastor Ross. I see the bumper stickers and the window stickers. And some people have actually painted this on the side of their motor homes. That’s so beautiful—a professional paint job, “bibleuniverse.com.” And they have billboards across North America. People have bought entire billboards on freeways that say, “bibleuniverse.com.”

Well, friends, that’s one of the Amazing Facts websites that gets people into Bible study. We started tonight talking about the importance of Bible study. If you are not involved in a Bible study program, don’t wait until next year. Start doing it now! Just go to bibleuniverse.com. You’ll find wonderful information there. And we don’t want you to go away because we’re going to be back with more Bible questions in just a few minutes.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Pastor Doug: We’re back! We’re together. We’re listening to Bible Answers Live and if you have a Bible question, friends, we invite you to call in. That number, one more time, is 800-463-7297. We’ve got about another 25 minutes to do our best to answer your Bible questions. I want to remind you, you cannot only call in, you can listen. And if you want to tune in online and watch our broadcast we are streaming, that address is live.amazingfacts.org. live.amazingfacts.org. And you could tune in to our streaming tonight. We are… we’re twined with the idea of actually bringing in some cameras and broadcasting the program. We’re recording it. And so we thought, well, we’ll start out with nickels instead of dollars and we’ll stream it on the web. What’s next? I think we’re ready for more phone calls.

Pastor Jëan Ross: We are. We’re going to go to Jennifer who’s listening in Washington. Jennifer, welcome to the program!

Jennifer: Yes. Hello?

Pastor Doug: Evening!

Pastor Jëan Ross: You’re on the air.

Jennifer: I would like to know… This pertains to Noah and the ark and the animals. When the ark settled on Mount Ararat, how did those animals get to the continent of North and South America without another boat?

Pastor Doug: Alright. Good question. Evidently, immediately after the flood, there was enormous seismic activity on the planet… you know, the volcanic… it is fresh, when I say “fresh” volcanoes, there’s volcanoes that evidently like 4,000 years ago… there’s ash all over the planet. The continental drift that most geologists believe in that they thought took, you know, millennia, probably happened in a short period of time. In Genesis, I think it’s chapter 5… No, no, no, no… it’s chapter… it’s after Noah, it must be chapter 10 or something, or 11… it talks about Peleg, and it says, “In his days, the earth was divided.” And many have wondered if the end of this continental shift was happening.

You know, whatever marsupials there were landed on a section of ground that later drifted off and became, or at least we could get to it back then, became Australia, because it seemed like the majority of marsupials were relegated down there. Before the Ice Age… the Ice Age just came and went, there was some kind of polar shift and incredible changes in the climate… animals could migrate across the Bering Strait right into Alaska down through North America and to South America. And they can pretty well track by DNA that migration. The North American natives have already been tracked, National Geographic did a study, and they are the most closely related to the people of Mongolia as far as their genetics and DNA go. And so… and the Eskimos as well. So, they can track their progress that way. The animals took the same land bridge. The sea level was lower back then.

There’s a lot I could say about it. I’ve read into it myself. It’s a very interesting question. But they were able to do it by land! And some animals made it to the islands by drifting debris.

Jennifer: That must be an awful big piece of debris…

Pastor Doug: Well, no, there really are. You know, when you’re by the mouth of the Amazon River, they have sections of grass and turf that break off that will be acres in size that have animals on them. And they flowed out on the ocean. And so some of them were transported by man, because just about all those islands where they found animals, they also found man. So…

Jennifer: Well, there’s just... I mean, here’s one other question I have about that. If there were great people at that time, as great as you said, if there were volcanoes exploding, wouldn’t that put enough ash in there that it would… that everybody would have died from the ash?

Pastor Doug: Well, the volcanic activity doesn’t mean they’re all exploding. The volcano in Hawaii… I’ve stepped right next to it… it’s constantly active, but it’s not blowing ash and rock into the air. It’s just lava is flowing out into the ocean and steam is coming up. So when I say volcanic activity, I don’t mean there was a Krakatoa happening all over the planet because, you’re right, that would probably darken the sun.

Jennifer: Like the Caldera of Yellowstone… when that blew, I mean, it put ash all around the world!

Pastor Doug: Well, you know, there were some serious problems happening in the world geologically immediately after the flood.

Pastor Jëan Ross: A lot of that ash probably contributed to a lowering of the temperature, which brought in the…

Pastor Doug: The Ice Age.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The Ice Age. And that’s what formed that land bridge that you were talking about where animals and people could actually migrate from the upper regions of Russia all the way across to Alaska and then all the way down into North America and from there down into South America.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, and it kind of freeze-dried all kinds of woolen mammoths pretty quick.

Pastor Jëan Ross: In a way, yeah.

Pastor Doug: Well, I appreciate your question, Jennifer. I could talk about that a while. It’s a real interest for me, and… you know, I don’t… we do have a book that deals with when creation… or when science flunked…

Pastor Jëan Ross: When evolution flunked the science test.

Pastor Doug: …when evolution flunked the science test. That’s it. Yeah, we can send you a free copy of that.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book, “When Evolution Flunked the Science Test.” And we’ll send that to you.

We have Brian listening from Virginia. Brian, welcome to the program!

Brian: Good evening, Pastors! Thank you for taking my call.

Pastor Doug: Evening!

Brian: My question’s regarding baptism. I recently discovered the Biblical baptism and a pastor-friend of mine requested a statement of faith and so I offered it up. Like someone else was telling me that by him requesting a statement of faith, that’s him acting as a judge. And in my sense, it was just him taking responsibility to verify that my faith was accurate.

Pastor Doug: There’s nothing wrong with that. It tells us in the Bible that when someone’s going to get baptized, John the Baptist told the people coming to his baptism, “Bring forth fruits mete for baptism,” in other words, that are appropriate. There ought to be fruit in the life of repentance.

Brian: Right.

Pastor Doug: So, I think any pastor that baptizes people without kind of evaluation of their profession is being reckless. Jesus said, “Go, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing…” There’s some teaching that happens before baptism. And how do you know if your teaching is being effective or not? You need to quiz them a little bit, say, “Now, do you understand? Do you believe?” Before the Ethiopian got baptized, Philip said, “Do you believe with all your heart?” So there’s teaching, there’s believing, there’s repenting. And for a pastor to ask those questions, that’s not judging. That’s just basic pastoral leadership. So it’s very appropriate.

Brian: Thank you.

Pastor Doug: Yeah. You know, we do have a book on baptism, and we’d be happy to send you a free copy of that. And it’s the book, “Is Baptism Necessary?”

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call: 800-835-6747. The book, again, “Is Baptism Necessary?” We’ll send that to anyone who will just give us a call and ask. The number is 800-835-6747.

We have Chris listening from Arizona. Chris, welcome to the program!

Chris: Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for taking my call, you guys.

Pastor Doug: Great! And your question?

Chris: Okay, I’ve called you a couple of weeks ago and I’m still working on my relationship with Christ. And my question is pertaining to… excuse me just a second… the development of your family after you die, in heaven, what happens to your connection with family? Being that, let’s just say everyone is saved and baptized and you all die. Are you connected when you get back up there or is everybody just connected together? How is it all circled together?

Pastor Doug: Well, first of all, we’ll know each other. You can read in 1 Corinthians 13 that now, we look through a glass darkly, it says in verse 12, then we’ll know even as we are known. So we’ll know each other, we’ll recognize each other, even though we have new or glorified bodies.

If you’ve got family members that are saved… well, if every Christian is supposed to love one another, how much more with Christians that are family members still love each other in the kingdom? Whether or not we’re all going to want to live in the same mansion, I think we’ll have that option. But, you know, when kids get to be 18, 19, parents sometimes scoot them out of the nest a little bit so they can get their own life. I’m not sure I want my kids living in the same mansion with me for 10 million years. [Laughing]. So but the thing is we’ll be close, you know what I’m saying?

Chris: Yeah. Is there Scripture that you actually know or open that I can actually look that up on?

Pastor Doug: Let me think. The Scripture that would talk about family relation in heaven, that talks about being children there and that’s in Isaiah. It talks about our building houses and inhabiting them, planting vineyards. It talks about children playing in the streets. You know, there isn’t… I don’t know of anything that says that the family unit is going to have any kind of precedent or preference over the love of all believers for one another in the kingdom. That’s a good question.

Chris: Okay.

Pastor Doug: But you know, God certainly would not separate or segregate us from our families.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The verse you were referring to, Pastor Doug, talking about children being in the kingdom is Isaiah 11:6.

Pastor Doug: Yup. So, hope that helps a little bit. Now, Chris, we do have a free lesson we’ll be happy to send you on Heaven. It’s always an encouraging lesson. It got pictures on it, too. We’ve actually got pictures of heaven. Well, the artist’s concept. And it’s called, “Space City.” I’m saying it wrong.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Let me look it up.

Pastor Doug: “Revelation’s City in Space.” And we’ll send that to you.

Pastor Jëan Ross: “Colossal City in Space.”

Pastor Doug: I was getting close.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Yup, there it is. “Colossal City in Space.” If you’d like to learn more about heaven, give us a call on our resource line. It’s 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide, “Colossal City in Space.” All about heaven.

We have Helen who is listening from Arkansas. Helen, welcome to the program!

Helen: Oh yes. Can you expound a little bit on Matthew 16:19? Is Jesus talking to Peter there in verse 19 or is He talking about Himself?

Pastor Doug: Matthew 16:19. He says, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” You know, you have to really read verse 18 as well. And He says there, “I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock…’” He doesn’t say upon “you.” He says, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” The rock is the statement that Peter had just made that Christ was the Messiah and that He was the Son of the Living God. Jesus was saying, “On this statement that you have made, I am going to build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Then He says, “I give unto you…” and I think that He’s talking to all of the disciples there because He starts out asking the disciples— and you read in verse 13— He asks His disciples, He’s talking to all of them, “Who do men say that I am?” So when He says, “I will give unto you the keys to the kingdom,” He’s talking to all His disciples. And He’s basically saying, “As we share Jesus…” Jesus is the One it says in Revelation Who’s got the keys of life and death. As we share Jesus, we are sharing the keys! And through people finding salvation, they are liberated from sin. If they reject salvation, they are bound in their sins. And so it’s really through the vehicle of the truth that we are seeing people freed or bound. We… disciples or apostles are not going around telling people, “You’re saved.” “You’re lost.”

Pastor Jëan Ross: There’s something else interesting about that verse is Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” and they gave, you know, some say, “You’re Elijah.” Others said, “You’re Jeremiah.” And then Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus responded and said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven.” And then He spoke about, you know, “Upon this rock I’ll build My church.” That declaration that He’s the Christ. It’s as if Jesus is highlighting to His disciples the importance that He is the Christ, and that the salvation of man depends upon accepting that fact. The fact that the disciples realized that Peter said that, Jesus says, “You have the keys of the kingdom.” By preaching this Gospel, by helping people understand that you’re opening heaven to them, those who refuse it, well, they’re closing heaven because they didn’t receive Jesus.

Pastor Doug: Exactly. And the fact that Christ emphasizes that… He says, “My Father has revealed it to you…” …that He… the Father can reveal it to everybody…

Pastor Jëan Ross: Right.

Pastor Doug: …that truth that Jesus is the only way. We appreciate that, Helen, and that’s a wonderful question.

Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Jeff who is listening from Oklahoma. Jeff, welcome to the program!

Jeff: Hi Pastors. I just want to thank you guys for what you do, first off, and I want to thank you in advance for answering the question I’m about ready to ask. I know there are some people…

Pastor Doug: We appreciate your faith. I hope we can answer it now. [Laughing].

Jeff: So… [Laughing] I’m going to hang up after I ask the question to let someone else in.

Pastor Doug: Okay.

Jeff: What is your take on predestination versus free will? And again, I thank you for your answer.

Pastor Doug: Alright. Hey, we appreciate that and that is, of course, one of the big questions of Christianity. You know, some believe once you come to Jesus and you accept Christ, that once you’re saved, you can’t be lost or you would be losing your assurance, and it would be depending on you and it only depends on God. And I’ve listened to and understood those arguments for years, and I want to say, go on the record and say that I’ve got a lot of lovely friends that believe that, and I expect to see them in the kingdom. But I believe they’re mistaken that once you are saved and you accept Jesus that you’ll lose your freedom to then deny Him or to turn away. Because we have examples in the Bible of people who were Spirit-filled that did accept the Lord, but then because of pride or they didn’t nurture their relationship, God did not let go of them, but they let go of God. And they’ve turned away, and you’ve got, you know, Judas, you’ve got Balaam the Prophet, you’ve got Saul the King.

And then it tells us in Revelation that if… Christ and His message to the church is that if we don’t repent, He would remove our candlestick out of its place. And so, salvation is a gift that is to be embraced and nourished and cherished, or it can be lost.

See, God does not take away our free will because we can’t love God without a choice. And He can’t save us if we don’t love Him. We can’t obey Him if we don’t love Him. Jesus said, “Love Me, and keep My commandments.” You cannot love if you’ve lost your freedom. It’s no longer love. If somebody is beat over the head so that they become a robot, and they say “I love you,” or if you program a computer to repeat “I love you. I love you. I love you,” it doesn’t love you. It’s just echoing what you’ve programmed. For us to love God, we must have that freedom. That means freedom to love Him and freedom not to love Him. And so, I believe that we can have assurance of salvation. And if God wants everyone to be saved, He is not hand-picking that, “This one should be saved and that one shouldn’t be saved.” The Lord is not willing that any should be lost.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, Pastor Doug, we have a book dealing with the subject called, “Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost?” And it goes into the Scripture and a lot of others. Anyone wanting to learn more about that, call our resource line. It’s 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book, “Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost?”

Pastor Doug: It’s a good book.

Pastor Jëan Ross: And we’ll send that out.

Pastor Doug: Got all the Scriptures there. So yeah. Send for that. And we appreciate your call!

Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Ron who is listening from Tennessee. Ron, welcome to the program!

Ron: Good evening, Pastor Doug.

Pastor Doug: Evening!

Ron: Thank you for taking my call. And I’ve got a question about… well, I saw a timeline that you did on one of your videos and it was right into Adam, Methuselah, Noah, and Abraham, and how overlapped on how Abraham was able… and Lot were able to know that the valley that Lot was looking at, what he chose looked like the garden of God, because they still had direct contact with Noah who had seen…

Pastor Doug: The gates of the Garden of Eden anyway.

Ron: Right. He couldn’t get in there but he could see it. But anyway, a number of things, what I did was I filled it out from Adam all the way to Jacob…

Pastor Doug: Wow.

Ron: …and [laughing] a lot of interesting things popped out at me at that point, and…

Pastor Doug: Now, you’re not an accountant, are you?

Ron: No, but I like numbers and math [laughing].

Pastor Doug: [Laughing].

Ron: This question’s related to numbers. Enoch, his timespan… lifespan popped out at me because it’s a number we all recognize— that’s 365 years! And in one sense, it’s… in prophecy, a day is a year. He had a year of years.

Pastor Doug: Right.

Ron: And with 365, since God doesn’t do anything by chance or coincidence, I’m wondering if there could possibly be some significance that we have maybe not covered yet about his age? And about being taken up, because he’s been taken up at 365, not 364 or 366, but 365!

Pastor Doug: Right. You know, the only thing that’s come to me on that is when you look in the Book of Jude, and it talks about Enoch, it makes a point of saying Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam, and he goes up. You know, it often seems in the Bible that the seventh goes up. You know, after seven days, it tells us that Moses goes up the mountain. There’s this pattern that you often see. And it could be that, you know, here he lived one year for each day of the year, and it says he’s the one translated. I don’t know. We’re right now living in the beginning of the seventh millennium.

Ron: Right.

Pastor Doug: And we might be in that age that is caught up to meet the Lord in the air like Enoch because we are, you know, the seventh thousandth year from Creation. We’ve just entered that right now. If you’ve done your math, I’m sure you’ve run into that. So, that’s the only thing I’ve come up with, and there may be something else.

Did you know we have a… at our website on Bible Prophecy Truth… there’s a website we’ve got called Bible Prophecy Truth. And at that website we have a sheet of paper… it’s a study, it’s not a sheet of paper, it’s at the website. It’s a special study on the Bible and numbers. And we may actually have something on this at that site where it takes some of these unusual numbers in the Bible and apply some of the popular spiritual understandings. And that’s at bibleprophecytruth.com.

Pastor Jëan Ross: Alright, thanks for calling. Jose is listening from Massachusetts. Jose, welcome to the program!

Jose: Thank you, Pastors. First-time caller.

Pastor Doug: Thank you.

Jose: And I really enjoy your program. You guys are really good team. You’re doing a really good job. You guys are a perfect team.

Pastor Doug: Well, thank you.

Jose: Yeah, I have a question regarding King Jehoshaphat, and it’s just when he’s about to engage in battle, he meets up with the king of Israel. And King Jehoshaphat has inquired of a seer, “Is there a real prophet among you?” And the king of Israel says, “Yeah, there is one but I don’t like how he prophesies…”

Pastor Doug: Micaiah.

Jose: Right, Micaiah. And so they get him and as he does, you know, he does God’s will and he sees a vision. And he said, “I see these spirits on the right side of God… of the Lord…” And the spirit goes up to the Lord and says, “Let me go upon them. Let me become a lying spirit to these prophets.” And God said, “Let it be done.” And that kind of tricks me. Well, no, it confuses me, I’m sorry. I’ve…

Pastor Doug: Does it sound like the Lord is endorsing deception there? Is that what you’re wondering?

Jose: No, no. What I’m wondering is, because I’ve watched your sermons and I agree when you said Lucifer, you know, cast down a third of the angels because they’re righteous and pure and they never heard a lie. So, I’m thinking, so how can an angel be a lying spirit? They must be demons or anything, right?

Pastor Doug: Well, yeah. For one thing, keep in mind that this is a vision that Micaiah is trying to warn the king of Israel, that “if you go into this battle, you’re not going to be successful.” And the devil… because Ahab had rejected the prophets of God, all that’s left when you reject true prophets is false prophets. And all that’s left when you reject true angels is evil angels. There’s no in-between. And so when the Lord is basically saying in this vision, you know, who will deceive Ahab and these spirits say, “We will.” And they’re lying spirits. They’re not good angels that are doing that. But more than anything, this is a vision.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, Jesus told a parable about somebody who had an evil spirit cast out of them. And it says the evil spirit went and wandered around and came back and found the house swept and clean. There was a vacuum. So it went and got seven others worse than he, and then they came and entered that man…

Pastor Doug: And moved back in.

Pastor Jëan Ross: …and the worse, you know, the man’s state was worse than the beginning. So if somebody is given truth and they reject that truth, the light that they have eventually turns to darkness.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, I hope that helps a little, Jose. That’s a good question, and I think it was the Lord was just giving a picture of what was happening behind the scenes. We have time for maybe one more call!

Pastor Jëan Ross: Alright, we have Melissa who is calling from Ohio. Melissa, welcome to the program. We have about two minutes!

Melissa: Okay, so my question is in relation to marriage.

Pastor Doug: Okay.

Melissa: And so my question is that the Bible talks in many different places about who should be married and who shouldn’t be. But I’ve not really found a good Scripture that really talks about what people should do when they come to God and they’re already in a marriage that God does not necessarily, at least from my interpretation of the Scriptures, would not be a marriage that He would have chosen for someone being that. For example, my husband and I… I’ve never been married but my husband has, so and being… that he’s been divorced, the Bible really only mentions one reason to be divorced, and that’s because of adultery. So…

Pastor Doug: So now you’ve come to the Lord, and you’re wondering what do I do with this marriage if we started with the wrong foundation?

Melissa: Right.

Pastor Doug: Well, first the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 7 that if your husband’s content to stay with you by all means… do you have any children?

Melissa: Yes.

Pastor Doug: And even for their sake as well, you want to work things out. You know, the Lord meets us where we’re at and if you’ve got married and maybe you weren’t following Biblical guidelines because you weren’t a Christian and neither was your husband. But now, you are. The first mission field you have, I would think, would be for your husband. And I think that’s in 1 Peter chapter 3, it says that the husbands might be converted by the behavior and conversation of the wives. And so I’d say by all means, stay together and work it out, and pray to God He’ll help you to love your husband and that he will love you, and that you can reflect Christ to him and he’ll find the truth.

Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, Pastor Doug, we have a book dealing with the subject, just brand new, entitled, “Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage.” And it deals with some of these issues.

Pastor Doug: Yeah, I guess it’s the Bible perspective on that. We invite you to call. We’ll send you free copy of that, Melissa. And hope it’ll be a blessing.

Pastor Jëan Ross: The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book “Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage.”

Pastor Doug: Oh, listening friends, that’s the music signaling that the time is up. If we did not get to your call tonight, we’re sorry. Give us another chance. God willing, we’ll be back again next week for Bible questions. Thank you so much.

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