Hello friends this is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? When Alexander the Great was leading his victorious armies down through Asia Minor the great leader came at last to the foothills of the mighty Himalayas beyond which lies the Khyber Pass in India. As far as Alexander was concerned he was standing at the end of the world. You see up until that time no maps had been made of the vast territory before him. So as far as he knew, he was marching his soldiers off the map of the world.
Often when ancient map makers reach the edge of land uncharted they drew a line and then depicted dragons and monsters beyond. You can understand why with this practice it did not encourage exploration. One Roman commander, in the first century, he had led his troops beyond the line on the map into dragon territory. He sent a straightforward message back to Rome by a courier, “We have just marched off the map into dragon territory please send new orders.”
In the same way when Christopher Columbus first sailed west in search of a shortcut to the Indies, he knew he would be essentially sailing off the map into a region that map makers mapped with sea monsters. Moreover, because of the unknown distance ahead, he loaded his ships with as many provisions as they could carry and he set sail across the trackless sea believing that God was urging him forward.
When we consider the conditions in the world today with the unprecedented change in every arena of life, it would seem we have reached a point in history where we are drifting off the map. But, the good news is that nothing happens that takes God by surprise. All of these things have been charted before in Bible Prophecy. Stay with us friends we are going to learn more as “Amazing Facts” brings you this edition of “Bible Answers Live”.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug: Well we are very thankful that you havechosen to join us for a new edition of “Bible Answers Live”. And friends, if you have a Bible question this is a free International, interactive Bible Study and you can call in by dialing 1-800-GOD-SAYS and in North America that’s 1-800-463-7297. We’ll find out what the Lord says in His word. Also keep a pencil handy because during the live broadcast we often give out our resource number which is a different phone number for the many different resources that we make available for you in your pursuit of Bible truth. And so once again if you have a Bible question for tonight’s program the number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS that’s 1-800-463-7297. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening Pastor Doug and listening friends. It’s good to have this live, interactive Bible study together. It is a privilege and like we always do before we get into the Bible questions we start with a word of prayer. So let’s do that. Dear Father in Heaven we recognize that your word needs your Spirit to guide us into truth. So we ask in a special way as we open the Bible tonight; give us wisdom and guidance and be with those who are listening and for those who call in. For this we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Ross: Well Pastor Doug that was a fascinating, amazing facts that you opened the program with. We can barely imagine what it was like back in those days where the map came to an end and then after that there was nothing. People often believed that you could sail off the end of the world and go down a big waterfall and that would be the end of it.
Pastor Doug: You know I almost envy the people who lived in that time because there was a real sense of adventure; not knowing what was next. Now not only can you can online and see the topographical maps of much of the world; they actually have satellite images in virtually every corner of the planet. You can go to this Google website and just zoom in on virtually any area of the planet; it’s like there is virtually no uncharted area.
Pastor Ross: I did that just the other day and I saw my house from outer space on one of those satellites there.
Pastor Doug: Could you see yourself outside looking online
[Laughter]
Pastor Ross: It wasn’t that close probably, but you could see the house and believe it or not even the car parked outside.
Pastor Doug: But, in spite of this technology that we have when it comes to exploration, and things of that nature; people are very uncertain about what is around the next corner when it comes to history. What is happening? Obviously we are living in a generation that has never witnessed the technological explosion that we have now and this is one of the prophecies. In Daniel Chapter 12 he said that knowledge would increase. And we are living in a generation where in just in one person’s lifetime they have gone from the horse and kerosene lamps to you know space station and plasma light. It is just—I mean the changes just in one out of the centuries of human history there is really nothing like this before. We are going off of the map.
Pastor Ross: Absolutely.
Pastor Doug: While these people might think so, but nothing surprises God. He in the prophecies has given us the big landmark so we can know where we are and we don’t have to be sailing around in dragon country as they say. Now a lot of people have wondered is the end of the world coming. What is on the horizon? Are they—because they hear about Armageddon and wonder if there will be a third world war? You know right now there is great strife that has religious overtones between the Christians and Islam and the Jews. And is this going to boil over into some kind of international conflict? Our friends might be wondering does the Bible talk about the future and what’s going to happen? Well we have a free offer that we’re going to make that we haven’t offered in a long time.
Pastor Ross: We have a book we would like to make available. It is free and it is simply entitled “Armageddon” that is the topic that a lot of folks are wondering about and how is the world going to end and what does the Bible say about it? So if you’d like this book “Armageddon” written by Joe Cruise, all you’ll need to do is call our resource number. And the number for that is 1-800-835-6747 again that resource number 1-800-835-6747. And just ask for the offer on “Armageddon” and it’ll explain that whole prophecy that we read about in the Bible.
Pastor Doug: Yeah a lot of people wonder is it a World War or is it a spiritual battle or what does it say about the world ending.
Pastor Ross: Atomic bomb or how is it going to end? We have a couple of internet questions that we’d like to do first before we go to the phone lines. The first one is, “Is there a good age to be baptized?”
Pastor Doug: Now that is a good question. Some have wondered well don’t you get baptized as a baby? Well the Bible tells us that before baptism there are some criteria. And those criteria involve repent, remember Paul said repent and be baptized. Jesus said teaching them to observe which means teaching before baptism. It says believe with all your heart. There needs to be faith in the heart. Infant children really cannot embrace these concepts. So there is really no example of any baby being baptized in the Bible. It is appropriate for babies to be dedicated. When Jesus was a baby His parents brought Him to the Temple and dedicated Him. But, He wasn’t baptized until He was thirty. So baptism is something that must be done by choice. Now I am not suggesting that everyone wait until they are thirty when they are baptized. But, they need to be old enough to repent of their sins, understand the basic teachings of salvation, and make a commitment to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
The age may vary because children mature at different ages depending upon their temperaments. Girls sometimes they mature—they ripen quicker than boys do. But, Jesus was twelve years old when He went to the temple and someone used that as a benchmark; it could be a little sooner. Someone asked one time, if the child is old enough to be lost does that mean then they are old enough t be saved? So that is a very profound thing to consider. So I suppose anywhere between; my wife was baptized at nine, she thought maybe that was a little young, but it seemed to stick. So you know somewhere between there and on up to ninety-nine.
Pastor Ross: So it is basically when they are able to grasp the significance and he importance of what they are going to do?
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Pastor Ross: And genuinely repent.
Pastor Doug: Matter of fact we have a book we will send to anyone who wants to read it or they can read it at the “Amazing Facts” website which is just “Amazing Facts dot org” and it is called “Is Baptism Necessary?”
Pastor Ross: If you would like to have that free study guide all you’ll need to do is call 1-800-835-6747 and simply ask for that study guide on Baptism.
We have another question Pastor Doug. It is, “I have two of the three left behind movies. I understand that they are based on the book of Revelation. My question is how accurate are these movies? I couldn’t help but be moved by them, but are they truly Biblical?”
Pastor Doug: Well this may sound self serving, but I would recommend that they look at one more movie and many people don’t know that Amazing Facts recently produced—and it took us over a million dollars and two years—we produced a 45 minute movie documentary on the final events of prophecy and it has been very well accepted and I think we are going to receive about one million distributed this year in about eight different languages. And so they can find out more about that and it is not a free DVD because there is some expense connected, but it is very affordable and they can find out about that by just going to the “Amazing Facts” website.
Now to answer the question on this; there are three primary interpretation of prophecy among Christians. There is what you would call the futurists. Those are people who are of the left-behind brand that project a lot of the prophecies’ in Revelation from Chapter 4 on to the future. And they typically believe that the rapture is a secret. Then you have the prederists and those are the ones who believe that all of Revelation was fulfilled before the end of the first century and that Nero was the anti-Christ. And then you have the historists. And we’re, in this program, typically in that camp. We do believe of course in all the prophecies and we think they have been being fulfilled. Revelation begins by saying the time is at hand. The fulfillment of Revelation began back when it was first pronounced and has been fulfilled and ultimately will be, but of course Christ hasn’t come yet; so they’re still being fulfilled.
But, I believe that the futuristic interpretation of prophecy is very suspect. It is hard to prove a lot of those things. There is a lot of speculation. Where the historic view—and by the way the historic view is not something we dreamed up in the studio. This is the view that Martin Luther, Wesley and Calvin and Spurgeon.
Pastor Ross: Spurgeon also had that and early church fathers.
Pastor Doug: They all believed in the historic view of prophecy. And so folks need to prove this to themselves and maybe get the “Final Events” DVD and take a look at that.
Pastor Ross: Now the movie “Left Behind” that is based more on the futurist interpretation?
Pastor Doug: All the “Left Behind” movies are based upon the futuristic interpretation which was born with a Jesuit Priest named Francisco Robera and another gentleman named Alcazar and the embraced by the Plymouth brethren ultimately and Hal Lindsey popularized it when he found it in the Scofield Bible. So there’s a series of events that you can trace directly from the Jesuit Priests and it found its’ way to Protestantism which is sort of a strange beginning. But, the Protestants never use dot believe the futuristic interpretation.
Pastor Ross: These Jesuit Priests started with this to sort of move the spot light off of what the reformers were saying.
Pastor Doug: Absolutely it was made to counteract the great reformation. So people need to know the background of that which that is easy to document.
Pastor Ross: If you’d like that documentary on “Final Events” as we said again just go to the “Amazing Facts” website.
Pastor Doug: But, it isn’t free. You know because most of what we give out is free sometimes people will accent when it is free, but we have to accent when it is not free because since about everything else is free.
Pastor Ross: That’s right. It is not free, but it is well worth the cost. Well let’s go to our first caller this evening. Mike is listening in Oregon, Illinois listening on KWAI Mike welcome to the program. Your question please.
Mike: Yes my question deals with tithing principles in Deuteronomy 14. It is actually verse 26 there where they’re talking about what they can spend their money on.
Pastor Doug: Umm-hmm.
Mike: It can go for oxen, sheep, wine or similar drinks. My question is this and this is a more modern translation of it. It says wine or beer, but I don’t see how God would sanction buying beer with your tithe money.
Pastor Doug: Well I am actually using the new King James Version and it says, “For wine or similar drink.”
Mike: That is what I have in front of me now.
Pastor Doug: Yeah the words there “similar drink” is sometimes strong drink. And that translates a concentrated which sometimes could mean alcoholic and strong could also mean if you drink concentrated orange juice it’s strong. These laws right here in Deuteronomy 14 are dealing with people that were going to the annual festivals and they were traveling great distances. They would take money with them rather than sheep. And they would take this extra tithe with them for the feast.
Mike: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And they would use that—it was a second tithe-they would use to get to the feast and to buy their sacrifices because they couldn’t bring all of that with them. Among the things they wanted to bring; they would bring the wine, but they would dehydrate it because you could carry a lot more concentrated than you could the regular stuff. And so it was called strong drink. And God is never telling us to take some sacred money and go buy booze. That’s of course the worst interpretation you could out on this. But, that is what it is talking about.
Mike: Okay well I was thinking of this stuff and never one of us could see the Lord saying go and buy alcohol.
Pastor Doug: No He would never encourage that and especially when you consider that so many people it devastates their lives; how could God support that? To tell them on their way to the church to get drunk; that doesn’t sound like the God of the Bible.
Pastor Ross: Mike thank you for your call we hope that answers your question. Now we’re going to go to our next caller. Yolanda is listening in San Diego, California. Se is listening on the internet. Welcome to the program. And your question?
Yolanda: Hello yes. Am I hearing you now?
Pastor Ross: Yes we can hear you.
Yolanda: Okay hi. My name is Yolanda and I am calling from San Diego. And my question is regarding the last signs. And I guess you could find that were at the end age like in Matthew 24.
Pastor Doug: Matthew 24 and Mark 13, yes.
Yolanda: Well specifically like in Mark 16, yeah 13; I am sorry. You know it talks about the sun will be darkened and the moon will give up its’ light and the big earthquakes. Have some of those signs already come to pass like for instance the earthquakes?
Pastor Doug: Yeah there are two ways that many of these prophecies have happened. There is the historic and we were just talking about the historic interpretation. The great tribulation; well there was a great tribulation in the church and went through from 538 A.D. to 1790 A. D. during the Dark Ages and millions died during this persecution. But, there will also be a great tribulation immediately before the Lord’s second coming. There was what was called the great earthquake of Lisbon. That was one of those broadly felt earthquakes in the world. Some equated that with the big earthquake that Jesus foretold before about the end and it happened right around the time of this tribulation ending. There was a day in the eastern U.S. called the dark day when the sun in the middle of the day no fires or anything just went dark. And they can’t explain it and they say this is one of the signs and then was it 1833 Pastor Ross they had the falling stars? They had a series of events.
Pastor Ross: 1833 yeah that happened.
Pastor Doug: Now these things will happen in quick succession as well Yolanda when Jesus comes. The sun will go dark, the moon will turn to blood, the stars will fall; from heaven and the sky will depart from heaven as a scroll. And then there will be a great earthquake so big that every mountain and island will move out of its’ place. But, so all of those signs will happen in quick succession at the second coming, but they have been also happening, historically, as sort of the mountain tops.
Yolanda: I see. Well I was just wondering about that because I am reading Revelation and studying it. I understand that there will be one last delusion for those in the final end or entering it. And I was just wondering if those signs must pass before the end of the ages? I don’t know if you know what I am talking about?
Pastor Doug: Yeah well they do and before the great delusion and they have. Matter of fact I’ll add one more to it in Luke he talks about Jesus saying for men’s hearts failing them for fear and the sea and the waves roaring. And some have wondered if the Tsunami about a year ago was a fulfillment of that verse. So all of these things are mounting that tell us we are hearing echoes of the approach of the Lord.
Yolanda: Well okay I had only one question so that is all. And thank you for your being so resourceful.
Pastor Doug: Alright. Well we appreciate your call. Thank you very much.
Pastor Ross: Thanks for calling. Let’s go to our next caller Loretta is listening from Tennessee. Savannah, Tennessee welcome to the program. Loretta your question please.
Loretta: Yes. Thank you so much for your ministry and also I pray that Pastor Dick is doing okay with what he is doing.
Pastor Doug: He is he is thriving right now and enjoying his church and his family.
Loretta: Alright well that is encouraging. I’ve got a question about the Sabbath. And it is a question that a friend asked regarding another friend. He was working at an airport and he didn’t have a problem getting the Sabbath off. He transferred to another airport in another metropolis and they told him well don’t worry we’ll take care of it. Well when he got there he found out there was a list of people he could talk to and ask to work for him on the Sabbath. Now the question is whether it is right for him to ask for someone to work for him on the Sabbath?
Pastor Doug: Well that is a good question. And I’ll tell you in a situation like that; let me give you another example. A lot of Christians work in hospitals. But, even if a person goes to church whether they go on Saturday or Sunday they don’t want to miss their church every week. So what do they do, I mean you can say well I am serving the Lord here, but if they are never gathering together their faith gets weak.
So what often happens is they try to schedule with other people and say, “Hey look, it doesn’t matter to you whether you work on Sabbath Saturday, can you swap with me and I don’t mind giving you Sunday as a day off.” They are going to be working anyway and you aren’t encouraging them to work on the Sabbath it is a scheduling issue. Do you see what I am saying?
Loretta: Yes that is kind of my understanding, too.
Pastor Doug: So I think if you can—I have friends who are in the police force. And they have got buddies and they just always try to book themselves out on Saturday so they can spend the day in church with their families.
Loretta: Oh okay that makes sense.
Pastor Doug: And then they alternate schedules.
Loretta: Okay thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Pastor Doug: Good question.
Pastor Ross: Thank you Loretta for calling. We are going to go right to our next caller and Michael is listening from Florida on WAPQ; welcome to the program Michael, your question please.
Michael: Hi my question is with Ten Commandment Day coming up Sunday May 7th; Doug do you think that could be the start of the National semi law they talk about in Revelation?
Pastor Doug: Hi. Well I think that is interesting and for our friends who are listening. A number of religious leaders in North America are—in case you haven’t heard of this—are setting aside May 7th as a special day for the churches to pray and get together and talk about the importance of the Ten Commandments which is very interesting because many of these churches have a different view. Some of these churches Michael believe that the government should compel everybody to keep the Ten Commandments.
I am concerned about that because I see that in order to live in a free society the government must endorse the last six, but if the government tells the people how to keep the first four; think about what that means. That means the government is telling people who is the real God. The government is telling you what His name is. Then it is telling you how to worship Him and when to worship Him.
And then what you have is a religious government that tells everybody and enforces what to believe. And Jesus never endorsed that. But, if the government does not endorse the last six commandments then you have tyranny. That is why God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone. It wasn’t because He started writing and then ran out of stone and then said oh I should have gotten a bigger post it notes. It was—He deliberately separated them for that reason.
Now you are asking do I believe that is going to be some kind of bench mark or pivotal point prophetically. Only in that I think it s going to raise awareness and bring these issues more to the fore front. Don’t think you are going to see any kind of great difference in the law or in freedom after May 7th. We are going to be doing a live uplink from our church here in Sacramento on May 5th and 6th that will be on TV around the country. So we’re going to get excited about the Ten Commandments and I think Christians should proclaim the law of God, but we’re going to do the balance that we just talked about. That government doesn’t want to get involved in the first four commandments.
Michael: Yeah because I saw that they were meeting in Washington D.C. and they talk about this global move.
Pastor Doug: Well there are quite a few religious leaders, but I just came back from the religious broadcast convention in Dallas last week and I was with a number of these leaders and they are not completely united in how it is going to be observed and how they should capitalize on this day. So I do see it as another step, but I don’t see it as a big prophetic landmark.
Michael: Well okay.
Pastor Doug: I think when May 8th comes around it will be business as usual for most partners but it is just one more little notch that is drifting that way.
Pastor Ross: Umm-hmm. Well Michael thanks for your call. I hope that answers your question. You know Pastor Doug talking about enforcing the Ten Commandments whenever the State trusting the first four, you always seem to end up with persecution of those who don’t see those particular first four as worship as those in church sees it.
Pastor Doug: Exactly and that’s a Daniel in the lion’s den it was one of the first four commandments for Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego it was one of the first four commandments. When the government starts telling you how to worship and who to worship then you have a totalitarian religious monster.
Pastor Ross: Absolutely. Our next caller is Ezekiel. He is listening from Florida on the internet. Welcome to the program Ezekiel your question please.
Ezekiel: Ye show are you doing guys and Doug.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Ezekiel: I think you guys are doing a great job.
Pastor Doug: Get real close to your phone because we can barely hear you Ezekiel.
Ezekiel: I am sorry. I believe you guys are doing a great job.
Pastor Doug: Thank you.
Ezekiel: I think you guys are doing excellently. Praise God for that and my question is what about God’s bride in chapter 12 where it talks about the woman being persecuted by Satan.
Pastor Doug: Revelation Chapter 12.
Ezekiel: Yes. I believe like Satan is involved with the woman so I believe it is in the last days all over the Bible where it says that the elect—that God’s elected people will be persecute and will be kind of like shaken and Satan trying to deceive the elect and my question is that I have been seeing some changes within my own patience and the general confidence of mine like bringing in all this rock music, changing Bibles from the King James to the NIV is all over our study guides, our lessons or study.
Pastor Doug: Now we’re going to run out of time before the break and I want you to get to your question so we can do you justice. So specifically what is the question?
Ezekiel: Should I because I don’t want to sin by supporting such an organization anymore I want to make sure that I am straight here with the Lord and I am following a true vision of God here and I just see how religion is drifting and changing their beliefs.
Pastor Doug: Alright. Well let me jump in here and try to answer that. The way we pick a church is based on the foundational teachings of the church. Not on how many people in the church happen to be faithful or obeying. Now I am a member of a church because of what the foundational teachings are. And I support it and I know with any organization there’s going to be some mismanagement and some waste. Even when Christ was in the earth Judas was mismanaging Jesus’ treasury. And when the widow gave her to mites in the temple well we know there was corruption in the organization back then, but yet Jesus commended her for being faithful. So I would say be careful not to withdraw your support from God’s work because there are still a lot of knees that have not bowed to Baal. And if the organization does fail to stand upon the foundational teachings of Christ well then we do have a serious problem. But, as long as you are able to practice and proclaim your convictions then you don’t want to withdraw your support.
Ezekiel: Right and my thing is I want to stand up and shout it out, but it seems like the people are sleeping in my own church and I want to let people know there is great deception going on here. Satan is trying to attack God’s bride.
Pastor Doug: That’s right. Well you are finding that just about everywhere we look right now Ezekiel. So I would agree with you completely. That is a description of a Laodicean church. They think their riches increased goods and the Lord says she doesn’t know that she is wretched, poor, blind and naked.
Friends you hear the music behind us and it simply means we are going to take a break to get a sip of water and to give our stations an opportunity to identify them. If you do still have a Bible question we do have some lines open. That number is 1-800-GOD-SAYS or in North America free phone calls 1-800-463-7297.
Please take a look at the “Amazing Facts” website. We probably have 30 active websites where there is a large opportunity for you to get free resources to study and even share your faith by passing those links along. “Amazing Facts dot org” We’ll be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug: That would be me and listening friends if you have just tuned in this is a live, International, interactive Bible study. You can listen live on the internet or call in and there are free resources we give away. It’s “Amazing Facts Bible Answers Live”. If you have a Bible question just call 1-800-GOD-SAYS that is 1-800-563-7297 and my name as I said is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Dexter you are listening to the program from Forest City, Arizona. You’re listening on the internet and welcome to the program and your question please.
Dexter: My question is we who are of the true church and you know what I mean, are we supposed to be as John the Baptist? Just like John—if you can allow me a second—just like John the Baptist had went before Christ preparing the way, which as Christians are we supposed to do the same thing as Jesus Christ comes to the world?
Pastor Doug: Yeah in Malachi Chapter 4 it tells us as a last prophecy in the Old Testament, “Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” And we know that that was at least partially fulfilled by John the Baptist. But, the ultimate fulfillment—or I should say—secondary fulfillment will be just immediately prior to the second coming. It seems 144,000 are itemized there in Revelation. They are modern day John the Baptist’s that are out proclaiming the second coming of the Lord Jesus and the work of Elijah and the work of John is very much the work that God’s people have in these last days. It is the work of revival, it is a call to holiness and repentance and recommitment which is what baptism is all about anyway.
Dexter: I have a couple of questions then for you Pastor Doug from a guy named Roland. He sent me the questions back and I think you can get with him and find some amazing facts in there also.
Pastor Doug: Alright I appreciate that and we’ll check on that and thank you for your question.
Pastor Ross: Our next caller is going to be Louis listening from New York on WMCA. Welcome to the program Louis and your question please?
Louis: Genesis 4: 17 they mention Cain’s wife. I know Adam’s wife came from his rib. Where did Cain’s wife come from?
Pastor Doug: Good question. And we get that about once every few weeks because people read through the Bible and say, “Wait a minute.” So if you very quickly read in Genesis Chapter 5 you’ll also see that Adam and Eve not only had Cain and Abel and Seth, but they had other sons and daughters. Typically in the Bible genealogy it only names the first born son. It almost never names the women and the only way that women are ever named is if they had some prominent role in the story. But, Cain married his sister.
Louis: I know that is interesting – but, I guess it was alright I guess.
Pastor Doug: Well let me explain. Incest was not concerned incest in marriage until the time of Moses. Abraham married his step-sister. Sarah and Abraham had the same father. Jacob married his cousin Rachel. Rachel was a first cousin of Jacob. Isaac married his cousin. So marrying within the tribe or the family it was not uncommon and that matter of fact Adam married his sister. I mean Eve it was almost like he married himself because she came from his rib. They both had the same mother and father you might say. So it wasn’t until there was genetic weakness and there became flaws in the genes when marrying in the family there would be more occasions for a genetic flaw. So God began to forbid it by the time of Moses.
Louis: Alright.
Pastor Doug: The best answer is Cain probably took one of his sisters.
Louis: Alright thank you.
Pastor Doug: Good question.
Pastor Ross: And of course we don’t know how many daughters Adam and Eve had. There could have been hundreds.
Pastor Doug: Well when you live 900 years you have a big family.
Pastor Ross: That’s right. Alright our next caller is Ina listening from Hudson Bay, Canada welcome to the program.
Ina: Hello.
Pastor Ross: Hi and your question please.
Ina: Hi I was wondering if the word or the name Jehovah is found in the New Testament. I know in the Old Testament when I called it up it shows four times, but in Hebrew it’s more and they replaced it with Capital “LORD” and I was wondering if that is the same as in for the Greek in the New Testament?
Pastor Doug: Well I am looking right now and I think one problem you are going to have is Jehovah is a Hebrew word.
Ina: Right so I was wondering if there is a Greek word for Jehovah.
Pastor Doug: Well I think the word is simply referred to as the “LORD”. There was a time or two when Jesus was on the cross and He said, “Eloah, Eloah, Sabatini.” And He was saying my God and He used the Arabic or Hebrew Elohim. And the way it came out from him they thought He was calling out for Elijah because most of them spoke Greek and Latin. But, the rest of the New Testament is translated in Greek. And so you are not going to find Jehovah unless it is a transliteration somewhere.
Ina: Right because I have just I know in the New World Translation Jehovah is in there. And so I questioned that and was wondering if it is just placed there or is it somewhere in the Greek?
Pastor Doug: No I think it probably is. It probably is placed there. Got any insights on that Pastor Ross?
Ina: Oh okay.
Pastor Ross: You know not specific, but we do need to be careful on when you have translations taken from the original language and then you have paraphrases. I am talking about different types of Bibles. And we want to make sure that what we are studying from is an actual translation. Otherwise, it is just a man’s thoughts on the English in the Bible.
Ina: Right. Okay.
Pastor Ross: Well thanks for your call. We hope we helped you a little bit on that one.
Ina: Thank you.
Pastor Ross: Our next caller is Sam listening from Dallas, Texas and listening to the program and Sam your question.
Sam: Good evening Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: Good evening.
Sam: It was great to have you in Dallas Fort Worth on February 18th.
Pastor Doug: Oh praise the Lord I enjoyed it.
Sam: it was a huge blessing. What can we do to have you at least once a quarter in Dallas?
[Laughter]
Pastor Doug: Well I enjoyed my time with you folks, but I think I am going to be back in the Dallas church in August this coming year. But, don’t you have a question tonight Sam?
Sam: Yes. I have a question. And my question is found in Revelation 2:20 where it is talking about some things that God is giving authority to Jesus to rule with a rod of iron. And then in Revelation 2:27 it seems that Christ is giving the authority to the over comers. And then we rule with a rod of iron. What is this rod of iron and I think of that and I don’t know what it means to rule with a rod of iron.
Pastor Doug: Alright well that is a good question. In the Bible the hardest metal that they had was iron. Perhaps you remember that the Bible specifies the sword of Goliath. It was telling us there was no sword like it. Well the Philistines had learned to forge iron into swords.
Sam: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And where the Greeks and many of the Israelites, they had bronze swords. And you can actually take an iron sword and cut a bronze sword in two. They were so much stronger. So when person had an iron sword it basically meant that they had great power and great strength. It would be like someone clubbing you with a…
Pastor Ross: An iron rod.
Pastor Doug: …an iron maul or something like that.
Pastor Ross: You know I heard something else on that that I think is kind of interesting. Sheppards would often id they could find little bits of metal and if they could come across iron which was very rare. They would wrap it around or put it on their staff and it would be used as a weapon to protect their sheep from the wolves. And also we talk about Jesus at the second coming is coming with a rod of iron. In the context of what is happening. We have the faithful followers of God that have been attacked by the wicked and Jesus is coming to deliver His people. So the rod of iron is not a vindictive, angry rod that is going to beat up on the people, but rather it is a coming in defense of His faithful children.
Sam: Amen. Thank you so much that is good.
Pastor Doug: Well alright thank you and we appreciate your question. Maybe we will see you in Dallas in a few months.
Sam: Okay thank you and we will be looking forward to you.
Pastor Doug: Alright. God bless Sam.
Pastor Ross: Thank you for calling Sam. Our next caller is Leonard calling from Cedar Hills, Texas again and listening on the satellite. Welcome to the program.
Leonard: Hi how are you doing?
Pastor Ross: Good.
Leonard: It is good to get in touch with you guys. My question is concerning should we be selling whether silent or audible in the sanctuary? Well actually it is the fellowship hall, but we don’t have the sanctuary built yet. So my concern is though; should we be selling and having auctions and things of that nature in the sanctuary.
Pastor Doug: Well time and place dictates a lot if we’re talking about the folks having an auction on the Sabbath I would have a problem with that because then it starts looking like what Jesus expelled from the sanctuary and temple in His day. If you guys are meeting in the fellowship hall and during the week are trying to raise money for the school and so they are selling Christian books and whatever. Hopefully not selling anything that is immoral.
Leonard: Well no well that’s—actually what we had—we had a—members of the church they would donate certain things for the auction and then after the Sabbath day and after sunset would have the auction start around maybe 7 o’clock or so. And then they would have different items on tables and people would go around and write their bid down and at the end of it they would tell who got the bid.
Pastor Doug: So is your question--your question isn’t so much the practice of buying or selling or what they are selling, is your question that they are doing it in the same place that they meet for church?
Leonard: Yes. That is it.
Pastor Doug: Well I guess right now your church sanctuary isn’t built yet so they are meeting in the fellowship hall.
Leonard: Correct.
Pastor Doug: Well traditionally fellowship hall is sort of a multi-purpose building. It changes its’ functionality from day to day. And I think it is important for us to remember why places are dedicated to the worship of God. Ultimately the church in a New Testament wasn’t a building. The church in the New Testament was the people.
Leonard: That is correct. Right.
Pastor Doug: And so we don’t want to put so many restrictions on a building because you might have a church service there that you can’t use it for other practical things.
Leonard: Well that was basically my concern. In Matthew 21:13.
Pastor Doug: It is when Jesus took issue with their buying and selling in the temple.
Leonard: Yeah and He took their--He called the house a den of thieves. And that was basically my concern because if there’s not a problem with it I don’t want to be a stick in the mud.
Pastor Doug: Also keep in mind Leonard when Jesus chased the money changers out of the temple; it wasn’t just the fact that the people exchanged money there. They were taking advantage of the poor, and that is why He called them thieves. So we take up offerings on the Sabbath in the sanctuary, it is just there is nothing wrong with bringing an offering. Jesus commended a widow for doing that in church. So having money in a sanctuary or even having it trade hands; there is nothing wrong with that. But, when they turned the church into a bizarre and then under the pretense of earning money; exploited the people, which really angered the Lord.
Leonard: That was our concern because my wife and I we didn’t feel right with it so I asked the Pastor about it and he said basically the same thing you are saying.
Pastor Doug: You know what I would tell you is that if you ever and the Holy Spirit is telling you otherwise and you don’t feel at peace. The Bible says that anything that is not of faith is sin and if you don’t have peace then don’t participate. You have to make sure that your heart is at rest with the issue. Okay?
Leonard: Right and one quick question about I also had problems with what was Christ power after He was nailed to the cross and resurrected. Does He still have all of His powers?
Pastor Doug: Well I believe that the Lord does have all of the supernatural powers that He had. It does appear though after Jesus rose that he may have sacrificed some dimension of His Omnipresence because He says I am sending the Holy Spirit because He can be with you everywhere so that is a deep doctrine that there is still some question about because He never appeared at more than one place at a time. Through His Spirit He is with us. But physically there does appear to be a limitation there.
Pastor Ross: Well thanks for your call Leonard. We are going to go to our next caller listening in Portland, Oregon and it is Scott. Welcome to the program and Scott your question please.
Scott: Well I was planning on joining the Marine Corps. And I just had questions about Sabbaths and would I be breaking the fourth commandment? And also I’d be carrying a gun and I guess as a combatant I’d probably be required to take a human life. Is that—would I be breaking that commandment thou shall not kill?
Pastor Doug: Well I think first—and let me just hasten to say that—I’ve got a daughter who was in the Army and a son just got out of the Marines and I am very proud of him. But, I will tell you right now that it is very hard when you enter military service because you basically hand over a lot of your life choices; that even affect your moral choices to officers and those over you.
Scott: I will be an Officer actually so.
Pastor Doug: Well I am sure you will still have officers over you though.
Scott: True.
Pastor Doug: And but, also I respect to bearing arms and taking life. And I have got to be careful to add, I am so thankful for what our military does and the freedom we enjoy because of their sacrifice, but at the same time it does challenge the convictions of a Christian. You can’t picture Jesus, Paul, James and John saying you know we’re really pleased with the freedoms that we enjoy so we are going to join the Roman Army. It would have been really hard for them to carry out their convictions, but Jesus also blessed centurions and soldiers that had faith. So it is a deep study. I have seen churches split right down the middle over the issue of the military.
Pastor Ross: Now if folks do want to support their country and be a member of the military many of them do go on as medics to save lives; to serve and save lives.
Pastor Doug: Well even so they are when it comes to church attendance and Sabbath personal devotions and all kinds of things; so you’ll be aware of that you need to go into that with your eyes open and make sure that this is where God is directing you. Hope that helps a little Scott.
Scott: Alright, thank you.
Pastor Ross: Thanks Scott for your call. We are going to go to Chelsea in Illinois listening on 3BN Radio welcome to the program Chelsea.
Chelsea: Hi.
Pastor Ross: Hi. Your question?
Chelsea: What does the Bible say about marrying outside of your race if two people have the same Christian beliefs?
Pastor Doug: Well the Bible tells us in Acts, I think it is Chapter 17 that God haveth made of one blood—you might type in one blood Pastor Ross and you’ll find that—all nations meaning if you go to the hospital and need blood it doesn’t matter what the race is if you’ve got O+ you’re fine if you get O+. So as far as physiologically there’s nothing wrong. Moses married an Ethiopian and the Bible tells us that his brother Aaron and his sister Marian gave him a hard time and they were making fun of him and God punished Aaron and more so Marian for their chastising their younger brother.
But, you do need t be intelligent because the Bible talks about not being unequally yoked. Unequally is not always just religion. You can be unequally yoked with a person by culture. I have got some dear friends that sort of married a bride by mail from overseas that came from maybe an Asian country or some other background and they had the exact same religion, same church, but the culture was so different that it caused a lot of extra challenges.
Chelsea: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: For two races to intermarry in California is not really too much of an issue. But, if you are in South Africa and you have a black and a white wedding and you’re living in Johannesburg—and Pastor Ross is from South Africa—probably more of a stigma there.
Pastor Ross: Not so much as it was, but still the challenge one also wants to bear in mind is when children come along as to what kind of prejudice is out there towards them and what they are going to face at school and so on. So there is something that needs prayer and consideration.
Pastor Doug: A person really just needs to look at what the practical aspects of it are. And there is not Bible mandate against it.
Pastor Ross: It wouldn’t be a sin in other words then?
Pastor Doug: No.
Chelsea: Okay. Alright. Thank you.
Pastor Ross: Thanks for calling Chelsea. Our next caller is Darren and he is listening online from South Carolina. Welcome to the program Darren.
Darren: How are you doing?
Pastor Ross: Good. Your question?
Darren: Yeah I have a question is there a problem with—I just started a seventh day church—I am looking for a seventh day church. But, I still go to a church on Sunday. Is there a problem with that? Is that serving two masters or is that—I mean I still believe the people in Sunday church believe and know there is a God. But, there are differences and is there a problem with that?
Pastor Doug: Well that is what I did. But, that doesn’t mean that it is right or wrong. When I first learned the truth about the seventh day Sabbath I was going to church on Sunday and all of my friends were there and they were spirit filled Christians and God was working in their lives and I believe that they knew the Lord and were saved. But, the Bible revealed some more things to me and the Bible says if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.
Now you can go to church on Wednesday. You can go to church on Tuesday. God can speak to you any day of the week. And I sometimes visit churches on different days of the week just to stay plugged in and I went to church just last Sunday—I didn’t realize that. So I heard a good sermon by R.C. Scroll when I was in Texas. So there is nothing really wrong if you are doing it to witness, but if people think you are there because you believe the first day of the week id the Sabbath then that’s a different story.
Darren: I mean I was an usher in a church and I stopped that and I told the fellow ushers that I believe that the Sabbath is the last day of the week of the true Sabbath and they all know what I believe and how I believe. And I was just thinking is there a problem with me—am I getting in…
Pastor Doug: Well I’ll say to you the same thing I said to a caller a few minutes ago. If it is not of faith then it is of sin, I mean if your conscious is making you think that I need to make a break here, then maybe you should, but, t is different if you are trying to keep a foot in two boats. You have got one foot in one boat and another foot in the other boat; it is hard to do that for very long. There could be transition period when you step from one boat to the next. But, you can’t forever be serving two churches that believe things that are so different. Do you know what I am saying?
Darren: Right.
Pastor Doug: And so if you are visiting a church because you want to learn what is going on or to be a witness and share your faith that is one thing. But, if you are trying to maintain membership in two churches that believe very different things then your life is sort of a contradiction.
Pastor Ross: It would be challenging to get involved in two different churches. Especially with a Sabbath keeping church and then a church that is worshipping on Sunday. Just the challenges-- I mean which church are you going to come into putting your time and your effort and being involved in that church? It is almost like trying to be a dual citizen and trying to bounce back and forth between the two.
Pastor Doug: Right exactly. But, you know about that.
[Laughter]
Pastor Ross: Yes.
Pastor Doug: I hope that helps a little bit Darren.
Darren: Thank you and God bless you.
Pastor Ross: Thanks again for your call Darren and our next caller is Marie listening in New York. Welcome to the program.
Marie: Hello.
Pastor Ross: Hi Marie. You are on the air.
Marie: Hi. Thank you. I wanted to ask a question about the first Corinthians Chapter 11:15 about a woman cutting her hair. Is that allowed do you think?
Pastor Doug: Is it allowed for a woman to cut her hair? Yes. Don’t believe this Scripture is mandate against a woman ever cutting her hair. For one thing some women their hair grows like the hair of Absalom and they probably would be tripping over it; if they never cut it.
Marie: Right.
Pastor Doug: Who was that--Crystal Gayle who is one of these country artists—just she had really long hair, but it can get caught in a hub cap if you are not careful. So you really need to be practical. The Bible here was really talking about women praying with their heads uncovered because a woman’s hair was her glory.
Marie: Okay.
Pastor Doug: And you know women their hair grows differently than the hair of men. And women traditionally have more hair and it grows better than the hair of men and as we get older ours thins. But, so a woman’s hair is her glory and out of a sense of humility when they went before the Lord they would cover their head.
Marie: Okay thanks.
Pastor Doug: And so it is talking really about well if a woman doesn’t want her glory to shine then she can shave her head, but it really is ashamed to have her head shaved. So Paul is really just dialoging about the best thing is for a woman to cover her head when she prays publically.
Some have argued about if this was a custom of Paul’s day. Now if you go to a Jewish church the men of course cover their head. If I go into a church with a hat on; in a Christian church, you take your hat off. But, if you are Jewish you put your hat on.
Marie: Right.
Pastor Doug: Another example would be that when you are in the Far East—if I walk into my church barefoot—folks are going to say what is wrong with Pastor Doug? They consider it disrespectful if I go into a church in Japan and I’ve got my shoes on they say, “Pastor Doug, take your shoes off.” So the idea that Paul is talking about is the traditions of respect. Is that the way you understand that Pastor Ross?
Pastor Ross: Absolutely I think Paul isn’t talking about the length of your hair—he is talking about respect and reverence.
Pastor Doug: Well we’d be in trouble because both of our wives cut theirs.
Pastor Ross: That’s right and we are losing ours so I know we both would have to do something there.
[Laughter]
Pastor Ross: Aright well thanks again Marie for your call.
Marie: Can I ask one more question?
Pastor Ross: Sure. Make it a quick one.
Marie: Yes. Matthew Chapter 4:15 about the abomination of desolation. That is talking about what exactly?
Pastor Doug: We have a book we’ll send you for free. Go to the “Amazing Facts” website or call out resource number and ask for what Pastor Doug says he is going to give you of a free copy of “The Abomination of Desolation”
Pastor Ross: You will get a lot more information on the book. The resource line is 1-800-835-6747 we have time for one more quick caller. Samantha is listening in San Bernadine, California and welcome to the program. Your question please.
Samantha: When the Bible says that Mary and Joseph went to Egypt, but the other gospel says he was circumcised when he was eight days old. I want you to tell me where was it?
Pastor Doug: Alright. Good question. He didn’t flee into Egypt until He probably was about a year and one half old. That is why Herod had them kill all of the babies that were in Bethlehem that were two years old and under because it does not say they went into the manger. It says the wise men went into house and so evidently they had stayed in Bethlehem after Jesus was born for some time. And part of it was that when the Sheppards came and the angels said this is the Messiah they thought we better stay close to Jerusalem. And so then a little while after that the wise men showed up—the Kings and al the babies two years old and under so He was in Bethlehem from the time He was born until the time and He was circumsioned on the eighth day in the temple and then when He was about a year and a half old they fled to Egypt.
Whoa we got that in.
Pastor Ross: We did.
Pastor Doug: Well listening friends there is a lot more for us to say, but the best way for us to say it is if you go to the website about half of the information there is free. You can download it and listen to a whole download of Bible questions. Go to the Bible Answers Live archives and there are just hundreds of Bible questions you can listen in case maybe we haven’t answered your question you can listen for free. So keep us in your prayers and remember this is a faith based ministry and we are only able to keep doing what we do because you are doing what you do. And if you enjoy this program on t he air we appreciate your keeping us there. God bless we do this because remember Jesus is the truth that will set you free.
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