Hello Friends, this is Doug Batchelor. You know right now we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I suppose celebrating is the wrong word, this marks a sad occasion. An amazing fact connected with that is an individual by the name of Violet Jessop. Incredibly, Violet Jessop was on all three ships owned by White Star Lines, when they experienced a wreck. First she went on the Olympic, which was a sister ship of the Titanic, and she was on board when it had an accident in a violent collision at sea, striking the British warship HMS Hawk, survived that, it’s a miracle neither boat sank.
Then Violet was on the Titanic of course when it struck the iceberg, they couldn’t get the women get in the lifeboats, then finally a crew handed her a misplaced baby told her to get in a life boat, and she survived the sinking of the Titanic. Incredibly, the third sister ship of White Star Lines called the Britannic was converted into a hospital warship for World War I. You guessed it, Violet Jessop was on the Britannic, which struck a mine and blew up in the Aegean Sea. She grabbed her toothbrush before rushing from her cabin, saying later it was the one thing she remembered missing most following the sinking of the Titanic.
As the Britannic was going down she was forced to jump, she said “I leapt into the water but was sucked under the ships keel that struck my head”, she attributed her surviving to her thick auburn hair that padded the blow. At the end of the war Violet re-joined the White Star Line, once again serving on the Olympic. This Christian woman survived 42 years at sea, 3 historic shipwrecks and 2 World Wars. Violet retired to (inaudible 1:54) England where she lived until age 84.
Did you know friends the bible also speaks of a hero that survived three shipwrecks, stay with us, we are going to talk about as Amazing Facts bring you this edition of “Bible Answers Live”.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug: We are very thankful that you are tuning in listening friend, to Bible Answers Live, and for any who are joining us for the first time, this is a live international, interactive radio program. If you want to call in with a bible question, that’s why we are here. Call, once again that number, 1-800-4637297 we have lines open right now, good time to pick up the phone if you would like to ask a bible related question for tonight’s program. That’s 1-800-GOD SAYS or 1-800-463-7297. We’ll bring you into the studio and my name once again is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross, good evening listening friends. Pastor Doug, before we get going on bible questions let’s start with the word of prayer. Father, we thank You once again that we can study Your word, we ask a special blessing on this program. Be with those who are listening, where ever they may be and we pray for wisdom here as we search the scriptures, in Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Doug: Amen.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Well Pastor Doug, you opened the program by talking about a remarkable woman who survived 3 historic shipwrecks, I mean, its one thing just to survive one but she had 3, and including the Titanic.
Pastor Doug: Yes and all three were the 3 sister ships that were all built, that were pretty much models of one another, they re-outfitted the Olympic and the Britannic with extra life boats after the Titanic went down, but to have this one woman be on all 3 ships when they had their sea disasters and survived.
And you know, the bible talks about a character, and I’m reading now, “2nd Corinthians chapter 11,” I’ll start with verse 24, Paul was speaking “of the Jews five times I received 39 lashes or stripes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, 3 times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.”
Well that’s something, to be able to survive all that, and that’s not the half of it. He goes on and tells about all the other perils and dangers he survived. Someone once said, matter of fact I think it was George Whitfield who said “I’m immortal until my work is done.” And friends, maybe when you see what’s happening in the world around you, you worry about the last days. You think about the great tribulation and the 7 last plagues and the economy imploding, what will you do? How will you survive? And we’ve got a book that gives both some honest warnings and some great encouragement, and we’d like to make that available to anybody that wants to know the key to surviving in the last days.
Pastor Jëan Ross: It’s an intriguing title to this book, “The Last Night on Earth” for anyone wanting to learn more, just call our resource line. The number is 1-800-835-6747, you can ask for the book “The Last Night on Earth”. The number again is 1-800-835-6747 and Pastor Doug for those who are close to their computers if you go online to “live.amazingfacts.org”, that’s live.amazingfacts.org, you’ll be able to join our program and watch us live streaming on your computer.
Pastor Doug: That’s right.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Well, let’s go to the phone lines, our first caller for tonight, we’ve got Enoch who is calling from Florida. Enoch welcome to the program.
Enoch: Hey, thanks for answering my call. My question is, is it a sin for me to give unclean meat to my animal, to my dog per se?
Pastor Doug: You know, the bible talks about food that is unclean, God said if you’re going to eat meat, there’s some meats whether it’s birds or fish or mammals, there were some guidelines given, to separating the clean from the unclean, and Enoch’s wanting to know, well is it wrong to give something that’s categorized as un-kosher or unclean food to your pet. And I would say no, you know, for instance, suppose you had a pet pig (laughs).
They, the pigs and dogs in the bible are actually called scavengers and so for them to eat unclean things, that’s probably a staple in their diet in the natural world. So yeah, I wouldn’t think so that it’s a problem. Now I’d feel better if it was my dog or cat would have eaten chicken or fishes (laughs) opposed to pork but that’s just because I don’t like to encourage the industry. But I don’t think that there’s any moral problem with that. Still there Enoch?
Enoch: Yeah, yeah.
Pastor Doug: Okay. Yeah, it’s an interesting question, I don’t remember ever having that before, but, yeah, there’s nothing in the bible that would lead us to believe it. Matter a fact, in the bible it talks about “the dogs were scavengers that not only ate unclean food, you know, David said after he killed Goliath that he was going to give carcasses of the Philistines to the dogs, the jackals and the scavengers”.
So, yeah, I don’t suppose if your dog food has some unclean food in it. They used to say that horses were often turned into dog food and that is actually still true today, so they’re technically unclean. Anyway, not a very happy thought, but hopefully I gave you a right answer. Thanks for your question Enoch.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We’ve got James who’s on Sirius XM Radio, calling from Oregon, James welcome to the program.
James: Hi, thanks. I have a question about the New Jerusalem, called the bride of Christ and also, remember everybody usually says “the bride of Christ is the church.” Is there a difference there? And is of Revelation 21.
Pastor Doug: Yes, “Revelation 21, 1 through 3” talks about the New Jerusalem coming down, prepared as a bride, I don’t think there’s a conflict there, the church is the bride of Christ, you can see that.
James: It also says it’s a virgin too, the church is a virgin.
Pastor Doug: Right. Yeah, virgin is compared to purity. The bible says “husbands love your wife as Jesus loves the church”. There’s an interesting contradiction in that. The church is supposed to miraculously bring forth, and our catholic friends love to say that Mary is an example of this, because she was a virgin who gave birth.
And then, you know, the church is called the bride of Christ and yet she’s bringing forth in Revelation 12, there’s this man child and it’s in Ephesians, I forget the verse, chapter 5 somewhere Pastor Ross, “husbands love your wives like Christ loves the church.
James: 5:24-26
Pastor Doug: There you go, so, but who’s going to live in the New Jerusalem? It’s the church. So when you think about the city, what is a city without people? It stops being a city, it’s the people that live in the city, the redeemed are in that city and that’s why it says it’s coming down like a bride prepared. The thing that Jesus loves about the city, it’s us, you know, He says I go to prepare a place for you, these mansions that are in that Jerusalem, so saying the New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ and saying the church is bride of Christ is kind of one and the same thing, it’s just what’s inside the city.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know Pastor Doug in the Old Testament you have a tale of two cities on the one end; you have Jerusalem representing God’s people, then you have Babylon representing the enemy of God’s people and throughout the Old Testament these two cities are (inaudible 10:43) for power or authority and that represents two groups of people on Earth from the very beginning, from Cain and Abel’s descendants or rather Cain and Seth’s descendants all the way down to the remnant at the end.
Pastor Doug: That’s right, first place he find mentioned of both Babylon and Jerusalem, is Genesis, of course, Jerusalem is called Salem. King Melchizedek was king there, and you have the tower of Babel, and then in Revelation you got the New Jerusalem and then in Revelations 17, you’ve got Babylon and they’re at war from cover to cover in the bible. Good point, I appreciate your question on the bible James and I hope that helps. By the way, we do have a lesson that talks about the city of God “Heaven is it for Real?” We got a picture of a picture of the New Jerusalem on the cover, and we’ll send you a free copy of it if you ask for it.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call is 1-800-835-6747, the book “Heaven is it for real?” just give us a call on our resource line 1-800-835-6747 you can ask for that book, we’ll be happy to send that to you, and if you do have a bible question, the number to call here to the studio is 1-800-463-7297, it’s 1-800-Godsays, 463-7297. Our next caller is Sonia, and the caller is calling from South Carolina. Sonia, welcome to the program.
Sonia: Hi, goodnight. Goodnight Pastor Doug and goodnight Pastor Jëan.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Sonia: Good evening. Okay, my question is in the bible where it says, “Ye that endure it to the end shall be saved.” My question is, is it only those that are sealed that would be able to endure it to the end?
Pastor Doug: Well, those who have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (and we know there’s more to the seal than that), obviously that’s going to be the first thing they’ll need to have the faith and the spirit to endure. You know, Jesus said the deceptions in the last days are going to be so compelling that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived and so, yes I would say, those who have received the seal of God are the ones who are able to successfully and faithfully hold on and endure it to the end.
A lot of people are going to give up their faith, Christ warns us that even some children will betray their parents and parents their children, and family members. There will be a lot of treachery because people are going to, if they can’t buy or sell, you know, people that have a spectrum of temptations, if they’ve not gained the victory of those things and they’re still controlled by the lust of the flesh.
If they’re told you, “you won’t be able to buy or sell and well maybe get the funds to satisfy those desires,” people are going to capitulate their faith. But those who have the spirit and are getting the victory now, they will succeed. So I appreciate that, by the way, I’ll…
Sonia: Everybody has to be lost.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
Sonia: If you don’t have this, you know, automatically you are lost,
Pastor Doug: Exactly, if you look in “Ezekiel 9”, it says “the Lord puts a mark on those who sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in Israel,” and those people are saved. That’s a good mark, it’s not the mark of the beast. Everybody is marked in the last days, but those who have the seal of God will be saved, and you can find reference to the seal of God, also in “Revelations chapter 7.” By the way Sonia I will be in North Carolina in about three weeks, I think I’m at Lake Junaluska, the Christian camp ground up there and, yeah, be delighted to see you, I’ll be there May 4th and 5th, I believe. God bless, appreciate your call.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Sy and he is calling from Atlanta, Georgia. Sy, welcome to the program.
Sy: Yes Pastor, how are you doing?
Pastor Doug: Doing well.
Sy: I have a, I’m in a sticky situation here, and I’m a local truck driver, and my boss knows that I’m a Sabbath keeper of the fourth commandment. And the problem is that, he let me get Sabbath off but a lot of times that when we work, sometimes we may be working, going out of town, like to Tennessee or to Alabama but then the Sabbath, we finished working out of town but then the Sabbath catch me driving home.
And so I tried to address it with him, and he told me that he couldn’t really do anything about that, because the situation, that you know, he’s on the contract with somebody else. So he has to obey what somebody else is doing. So my question is that, even though he can’t do anything, isn’t that me still breaking the fourth commandment?
Even though, because the bible says, “From evening to evening is a new day”, And God didn’t say, you know, “give me 23 hours of your time, or 22 hours of your time, give me 24 hours of your time”. So in a situation like this, what would you do if you was in my situation?
Pastor Doug: Well, you’re right. First of all, some of our friends listening are probably wondering “what in the world we’re talking about”? We’re of the opinion that we don’t keep the Ten Commandments to be saved, but if we love the Lord,
Sy: Right
Pastor Doug: We’ll want to keep the ten, including the fourth commandment. Which talks about the Sabbath and that involves resting, not doing any secular work, you know, if you’re getting paid to drive, even if you’re just deadheading home empty.
Sy: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: And you’re getting paid, you’re working and, you know, I would just labor with my boss or try to find a way to get a schedule where you’re not doing it. And, you know, it’s just that it’s a question of, some people might think that’s fanatical, but that’s how our obedience kind of gradually evaporates, it’s we nibble away at the edges, until pretty soon there’s nothing left.
Sy: Yes because, you know, like I said, I spoke with him, and he knows that I’m a faithful follower of the Lord, and you know, and I try to be an example to others on my job end. The thing about it is, you know, he’s thinking that, Saturdays, you wake up and, you know, Saturday is the Sabbath. And I tell him that it’s from evening to evening and, but unfortunately, in this world, there are so many people that’s so wrapped up into this, in money, money, money. To the point that you don’t even understand it and…
Pastor Doug: You know, you might need to write
Sy: And I’m now in a situation where, if I need to just leave the job, you know?
Pastor Doug: You might want to write them a nice letter, because of course, you want to be a good witness.
Sy: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: And just say, you know, to your boss that, “because of my spiritual convictions, and I believe the bible teaches that the Sabbath begins at sun down, it ends at sun down and I would really appreciate if you don’t schedule any kind of work that will keep me, where I’m still somehow working during those hours. By the way, for our friends who are listening, you might want to know more about this subject.
What does the bible say about the fourth commandment? It’s not the one commandment God says “we can forget about,” it’s the only commandment that begins with the word “remember” and it’s something Christians should still do. Jesus kept the Sabbath, His apostles did, Adam did, back in the Garden of Eden. It’s not a Jewish law, it began with creation and we have a website, it’s called “sabbathtruth.com” and I think it’s one of the most popular websites out there on the Sabbath.
Just … you can Google sabbathtruth.com and you’ll find a lot of information there on what it is, the history of it, what the bible says, and how do we keep it according to the scripture. Appreciate your question Sy.
Pastor Jëan Ross: In addition to the website sabbathtruth.com, we also have a Study Guide, and it’s entitled the last day of history. For anyone wanting to receive that, give us a call, the number 1-800-835-6747, 1-800-835-6747. You can ask for the Study Guide on the Sabbath, it’s called “The Last Day in History.” Our next caller is Marie, calling from Oakland and she’s listening on 710 A.M. Marie welcome to the program.
Marie: Hi, thank you. This is my first time listening to the radio station and I was really, it’s just, turn it on when the lady or someone was asking about, only a few people are going to be saved. And that there’s going to be a lot of confusion at the end times; and my question to you is, how can I become sealed? Of course I want to be saved, and I want to be in the New Jerusalem.
Pastor Doug: Well, first of all, when we talk about the mark of God which is the seal of God, that’s mentioned in “Revelation chapter 7.” And then everyone’s heard about the mark of the beast, which is the mark of the devil.
Marie: Right.
Pastor Doug: Those that have the seal of God, first and foremost they have the Holy Spirit. And you can read in “Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13,” “in whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” So, first thing in getting the seal is being surrendered to the Lord and saying “you’re willing do His will and ask Him for His Spirit.” But biblically a seal even had more than that. Now when we think of a seal we might be thinking of a good housekeeping seal on a product, or something. Or if you’ve got a seal on a medicine bottle, to make sure nobody’s tampered with the contents, or you open up a can or jar, and you want to hear that vacuum pop meaning that it was sealed.
A biblical seal was an insignia that was stamped on official documents, and it contains the three things. It would contain the name of the ruling party, or whatever it was a governor. Pontius Pilate put a seal on Christ tomb, and it would say Pilate, his name, governor, his office, and Judaea his territory. So a seal always had three things, it had the name, the title and the territory. When Darius put a seal on the stone, on top of the lion’s den, when they dropped Daniel in the lion’s den, it says, “He sealed it.”
The seal says something like “King Darius”, king, that’d be his title, Darius, his name, Medo-Persia, was his territory. In the law of God you have actually find the seal, and when it says in the fourth commandment for in the six days the Lord, that’s His name, created, that’s His office, He’s the creator, the heaven and the earth, that’s His territory.
You actually find the seal of God in the middle of the law of God, and that’s why the bible says in Isaiah, I think its “Isaiah chapter 8” it says “bind up the testimonies, seal the law among my disciples.” So, having the law of God in our heart is the new covenant, and I think that we know, we can send you a lesson that talks about the love of God that He wants to put in our lives, and Pastor Ross the lesson that we have on the Gospel.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know we have several lessons that I think would touch on this, but the one I think you’re referring to Pastor Doug is entitled “Rescue from Above”. Talking about the gospel and God’s love, there is also a book that is called “Life in the Spirit” and that talks about being filled with the Spirit and as Pastor Doug mentioned, we need the Holy Spirit in order to have the seal of God, in order to have that new covenant experience.
If you’d call our resource line Marie, the number is 1-800-835-6747, you can ask for the book “Life in the Spirit” and we’ll be happy to send it to you, also for the Amazing Facts Study Guide called “Rescue from Above” and we’d be happy to send that to you.
Pastor Doug: Thank you Maria.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is Mark, and he is listening in Tennessee, Mark welcome to the program.
Mark: Hi, thanks for taking my call. My question is about Sodom and Gomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. I’ve heard some people say that eternal fire refers only to the results of the fire which was the destruction. Is it possible that while the buildings are no longer burning, that the vengeance of eternal fire could refer to souls burning?
Pastor Doug: Well, according to Jesus in, I believe its “Matthew chapter 10”, Pastor Ross will look at the verse for me. Jesus said, “Fear not him who can destroy the body but can’t hurt your soul, rather fear Him who can destroy soul and body in hell.”
Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s “Matthew chapter 10 verse 28.”
Pastor Doug: So Jesus, when referring to what happens in hell, He says the soul and the body are destroyed. Now, don’t misunderstand friends, we do believe there is a hell fire. There is a lake of fire, there is punishment for sin. What we believe is the bible teaches, and Jesus teaches, that there comes a time, when there is no more suffering in the universe.
It says there’s no more pain, there’s no more sadness, no more sickness, and that would mean there’s no more hell. You know, sinners are consumed, they are destroyed, they’re devoured, they burn up. The bible tells us the wicked will be burnt up, and the idea that they’re burning through all eternity really is a doctrine that came out of the middle-ages. Now the bible teaches us that hell is not going to burn forever, that the wicked will be burned according to what they deserve.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know we’ve got a website Mark, if you have access to the internet it’s called “helltruth.com” just helltruth.com deals with the subject, gives you a lot of answers and we also have a Study Guide dealing with this “Is the Devil in Charge of Hell?” And we’d be happy to send that out.
Pastor Doug: Now Mark, did I answer your question?
Mark: I think so, but there’s one I want to ask about, “Luke 16”, I know that that’s a parable.
Pastor Doug: The rich man and Lazarus.
Mark: I know that it’s an actual account of the afterlife, but why did Jesus use a false doctrine in a parable? Why did He use the doctrine of eternal torment, like where it says, “And in hell, lifted up his eyes being in torment?”
Pastor Doug: Well Jesus often referred to illustrations. I mean, you could say when Jesus said that we’re sheep, and He’s the shepherd, technically that’s false, we’re not really sheep and you don’t shear us. Jesus told a lot of parables where, you know, He compared people to fish, He compared people to sheep, He compared people to lost coins, and He even incorporated a story from Greek mythology, because the irony was so incredible.
You’ve got this man named Lazarus which is the Greek pronunciation of Eliezer. He goes to Abraham’s bosom, and you’ve got the rich man who was a type of Jewish believer feasting on the truth. He goes to the Greek place of torment, and so Jesus was telling the story basically to illustrate that, “if we’re not sharing the truth of those around us, we may be children of Abraham. We may have grown up in the church, but we’re not saved by that. We’ve got to, you know, we got to love our neighbor”. And
Mark: So Jesus used Greek mythology to make a point, rather than using Greek mythology to reinforce, to put a stamp of approval on the doctrine.
Pastor Doug: Actually, He was, I think, showing the irony of it, because the idea that people in heaven and hell are talking to each other, and I mean, think about that. I think He was showing how absurd that would be, just like He told the irony of a person with a log in their eye, taking a speck out of someone else’s eye. So yeah, and it is a difficult, sometimes there’s a difficult question that come with that parable.
Pastor Jëan Ross: And you know that with that parable also, the ending, I think is rather important where in a story, the Lazarus, or actually the rich man, calls out and asks that Lazarus be sent down to his brothers, if some were raised from the dead. And yet we find there was a man by the name of Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead and still the Pharisees refuse to believe in Him.
Pastor Doug: That’s probably why he used the name and of course, the punch line, if you don’t mind my saying that. Christ said, “If you do not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will you be persuaded though one should rise from the dead,” and so that final statement that He made there just to illustrate the whole parable, is always summarized in the final sense, the final words.
And Jesus was saying, yeah, “you could be rich in all the truth but if you don’t believe what Moses and the prophets say, then all the signs and wonders and miracles, even raising someone for the dead is not going to persuade you, if you don’t believe that.” And so we do have a Study Guide called “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” Mark. We’ll send you a copy if you call that number. Friends you are listening to Bible Answers Live.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call if you have a bible related question is 1-800-463-7297, and the number for our resource line is 1-800-835-6747. We’ll be mentioning various Study Guides and books, and if you call our resource line just ask for it, we’ll be happy to send it to you. Again that number is 1-800-835-6747. That is our resource line.
Pastor Doug: Also remember friends, we are streaming right now on the internet, if you like to tune in to the studio and just take a picture of what we are doing, that is live.amazingfacts.org and we’ll wave at you. And don’t go away, we have more bible questions coming, we do have one or two lines still open, so you can call that number 1-800-463-7297 that will bring you in to the studio and of course there’s a lot more of about Amazing Facts that the website Amazingfacts.com.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug: We’re back listening friends, this is Bible Answers Live and it’s possibly the best potential use of radio. Not talking about romance or finance, but the word of God, and Eternity, and if you have a question about the bible we’d invite you to call in with your bible question. One more time, that phone number 1-800-463-7297. Now, lately you may not have heard Pastor Ross and I together because we’ve been bouncing around the globe, I think, since we’ve done a program across from each other.
You’ve just come back from South Africa, and I was up in the Northern Hemisphere and where was I? Germany and yeah, Switzerland, France, Austria, and so we’re glad to be back with you friends. And we are live, if you have a question, 1-800-GODSAYS, 463-7297 and just want to make one little correction, a minute ago, I announced that I’m going to be at the Christian camp in Lake Junaluska.
I think I said it was May, actually it’s going to be May 30th through June 1st or June 2nd actually. May 30th through June 2nd, any of our friends in North Carolina area, we’d love to see you in Lake Junaluska, and be having a great time in the Lord. What else we talking about? Oh yeah, bible prophecy truth, bible prophecy truth, if you’re interested in bible prophecy I think we’ve got a website there just, you name it, we don’t shy away from any of the difficult questions.
There we talk about the 2nd coming, the mark of the beast, the rapture, Armageddon, angels, Israel in prophecy, America in prophecy, it’s the whole package there, bibleprophecytruth.com. Video, charts, articles and link it your friends after you find out how much is there. One more time, bibleprophecytruth.com, okay.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Alright, we’ve got Johannes listening from Miami Florida. Johannes welcome to the program.
Johannes: Yes sir, thank you for taking my call. My question actually, you already answered my question when the other truck driver call, but I have another question regarding the piercing and earrings the bible says anything about it.
Pastor Doug: Does the bible say anything about piercing and earrings, well there is a verse that talks about not making any cuttings in your flesh or tattooing marks on you, it’s in Leviticus, Pastor Ross you can search for me, where it says not to tattoo marks on your body, and then when it talks about earrings in the bible, it generally doesn’t say good things or what, you got that verse?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Leviticus 19:28 is the verse.
Pastor Doug: Leviticus 19:28 boy, and today, and friends if you got tattoos it doesn’t mean you’re lost, but if don’t have them, don’t do it (laughs) it just someone, you know, so many people, I saw someone this week, and they had tattooed their girlfriends name on their shoulder
Pastor: (laughs)
Pastor Doug: Nice strapping and healthy young man he was, and, but you could tell that they’ve broken up because he then went and had it removed with a laser. Which leaves the skin a little whiter, and so instead of having her name Rosy in green tattoo, I can now see white where Rosy once was. But yeah, tattoos, it’s just, it’s a fad but I don’t recommend it.
Of course, the bible says, “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” and don’t do it, and you shouldn’t make cuttings in your flesh. Any kind of mutilation where people are piercing their ears and body. Now the things they’re putting in their ears, it’s just like little rings, it’s they’re putting tree stamps in their (laughs) looks like what I used to cut for firewood, ah that’s not nice.
I’m sorry I shouldn’t say that. But yeah, it’s true our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and some verses, when the children of Israel made a golden calf, what did they make it out of? Says, Aaron said, “give me the earrings from the ears of your sons and daughters.”
I guess even the boys were wearing them back then, and then when Jacob, by the way, God said “break off your ornaments so I can know what to do with you” and then, when Jacob told his family we’re going to go meet before the Lord, I think this is Genesis 35.
Pastor Jëan Ross: 35 verse 4
Pastor Doug: Yeah, he said, “that they gave him all their jewelry, and he buried it,” because paganism and wearing of these things often went together. And so, now that’s, I know that’s a, kind of hard hitting answer Johannes but if you, we have a study on this, it’s called “Jewelry, How Much is Too Much?” What’s the biblical perspective on jewelry, is there such a thing as a Christian jewelry, and so if you’ve got questions on that, we’ll send you that book for free, “Jewelry, How Much is Too Much?”
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number for our resource line is 1-800-835-6747 and the book “Jewelry, How Much is Too Much?” Our next caller is Tom and he is calling from Idaho listening on XM radio, Tom welcome to the program.
Tom: Hello, I’m a truck driver also, and I was listening to the other driver talk about (inaudible). I’m working right now and when I’m at home I try to observe the Sabbath but other than that, it’s pretty tough and then I was thinking about, what about other professions, like police officers, firefighters, you know, (inaudible)
Pastor Doug: yeah
Tom: Yeah, I mean it’s kind of tough, I mean for, I mean, Christians would have to just leave a whole bunch of (inaudible) you know, to absolutely obey that 4th commandment.
Pastor Doug: Okay. Tom, you’re Christian, I assume, right?
Tom: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Alright, Let’s talk about this for just a minute. The idea of the 4th commandment, is this something the church invented?
Tom: (inaudible) He just, He works 6 days and on the 7th day He rest.
Pastor Doug: Okay, so when He asks us then the 10 commandments, He says remember the Sabbath. God knew that there would be doctors and policemen and soldiers, right? I think we may have lost Tom.
Pastor Jëan Ross: (inaudible)
Pastor Doug: You still there Tom? Tom, are you with us? Tom, you’re cutting out a little bit. Anyway so we know that back when God gave the Sabbath commandment, He always knew that there would be some of this emergency careers and professions and so that’s always been a factor and, you know, there are certain emergency kinds of services, if doctors, you know, if someone’s sick on the Sabbath day, Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
So, we already know what the answer is to that, there are some places that must be guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and even in the temple, you can read in 2 Kings 11”, they had Guards in the temple even on the Sabbath. And so I think as far as possible when there’s work that has to be done for humanitarian service, important service that should be none ruminative.
In other words, you got to try and volunteer that service or give to missions or something. But if Pastors continue to say, “Keeping the Sabbath is difficult and since it is difficult or it requires effort, let’s just give it up.” That sort of has been the attitude in the last 50 years among many churches and, you know, I still don’t see that they’re called the ten suggestions, or the ten good ideas, or the ten recommendations, these are the Ten Commandments, and so it does take some effort so say “Well Lord, how do I keep it holy?”
And what do you do if you’re a doctor, a nurse or one of these emergency things. If you’re a policeman, I’d try to schedule with my buddies that aren’t keeping the Sabbath, and say “look, this is a Sabbath and I’d like to keep it holy, so if you’re not going to keep it that way then let me have that day off”, let the dead bury the dead, so to speak.(laughs)
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know I think Tom would also enjoy that Study Guide called “The Last Day in History.” So Tom if you could call our resource line 1-800-835-6747, that’s 1-800-835-6747 ask for the study guide “The Last Day of History.” You could also go to the website sabbathtruth.com and you can read a lot more about that important subject. Next caller is James and he’s listening from Knoxville, Tennessee. James welcome to the program.
James: Hey, how are you guys?
Pastor Doug: Doing well. How about you?
James: I’m fine, thank you. My question is what does the bible say about cremation, or to you, is it a sin to be cremated? That’s what I’m trying to say.
Pastor Doug: Alright. I think it would be too strong a word to say it’s a sin. 98% of the time, and I’m picking that number out of thin air just based on knowing the bible pretty well. 98% of the time when a believer died, they were buried.
There’s a couple of cases I can think of where someone was cremated, and such as Jonathan who, his body was recovered from the walls of Beth-shan by the men of Jabesh-Gilead and then they burned him and David commended them for but he had been, the bodies have, kind of been mutilated. John the Baptist we don’t ever know if his head got together with his body.
James: Right
Pastor Doug: I think I’m assuming that it did, but through history, enemies of the church have burnt at the stake many Christians, does that mean God can’t resurrect them? Well obviously not, He’s not using the old material, his making a new body glorified person. So if you’re going to follow the bible pattern because men are made in the image of God, there was a respect and typically they’re buried, but when you think through it, when you are buried what happens?
Unless you’re cryogenically frozen, or vacuum packed, or mummified, ashes to ashes and dust to dust, we all kind of turn into ashes and dust either way. Cremation just sort of accelerates the process. So I wanted to give you a bible answer, there’s no command that I can think of that says you must be buried or you must be cremated, generally in the bible burial and a grave site was given to the people that are being honored. If you are cursed by God, it says your remains will be scattered on field and the birds in the air would eat them.
Pastor Jëan Ross: (inaudible) burial back in bible times is different than what we think of today. Often people would be placed in a cave, a tomb, and after a period of time when there were just bones left, their bones were gathered up and placed in a smaller box, and somebody else was put into the tomb, and the same procedure was repeated. So it was a little different, the way they did things back then one would do something today.
Pastor Doug: Yep, that’s right. Well hope that helps a little bit and we get that question frequently; of course, it affects almost everybody, doesn’t it?
Pastor Jëan Ross: Sooner or later
Pastor Doug: That’s right, if the Lord doesn’t carry.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah, that’s right.
Pastor Doug: I want to be among the ones that are caught up to meet him in the air and get a gloried body, just trade it right in.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We’ve got Tammy listening from Alabama, Tammy welcome to the program.
Tammy: Hi, this is Tammy from Alabama.
Pastor Doug: Thanks for your patience, and your question?
Tammy: My question was in reference to baptism. I had a conversation with some of my co-workers and we’re wondering, some of them were sprinkled, and I was water immersed baptized and we were wondering, which is the right way according to the bible?
Pastor Doug: Well, the only way that you see in the bible, where people were baptized, and I want to be very careful not to offend friends, I know that there’s probably millions of people that might be listening that were baptized other ways, but the only example of baptism you see in the bible, is where Jesus and John the Baptist baptized and even if you look at Naaman when he was washed in the Jordan.
They were all immersed, if John the Baptist was going to sprinkle people, he didn’t need the Jordan River, he could have done it at any spring or well in Jerusalem, and he could have gotten plenty of water to sprinkle people, but he needed the water of a river because it says Jesus went down into the water when He was baptized, He came up on the water and the word baptize itself is from the Greek word baptiso, which means to immerse something. So baptism represents a death, a burial and a resurrection, and burial off course means covering something and it represents the washing, you know, if you tell your kids to go take a bath before they go to bed, and they just sprinkle some water on themselves, we don’t really feel like they’ve done a justice.
So immersion is the sample of, the example of Jesus in the New Testament. You know Tammy we have a free lesson we’ll send you, and it’s got all the scripture references on what biblical baptism looks like, if you’d like a copy of that.
Tammy: okay
Pastor Doug: Just call the number, and it’s called “Power Purity”.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call again is 1-800-835-6747, and the Study Guide is “Purity and Power” and you ask for the Study Guide on baptism “Purity and Power”. Pastor Doug we also have a book, I’m just looking through my stack here of books.
Pastor Doug: Baptism, is it Necessary?
Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s the one. “Baptism, is it Necessary?” You can also ask for that, 1-800-835-6747. We have Steve, who is listening on XM 131, Steve welcome to the program, Steve in New Jersey.
Steve: Thank you very much, I tried to explain the question, I’m not sure I have all the details but I’m going to give it to you. I have a friend of mine, we were talking after church today, and the pastor was speaking about forgiveness, and getting to the depths of despair and having the Lord then forgive you and his question to me was, which I just didn’t know how to answer, was that when you ask God for forgiveness or a sin that you’ve committed at the very depths of despair. A. does He forgive you? Which my answer to him was yes, but then the second question was, does he then have to confess that publicly, knowing that people may get hurt by that confession?
Pastor Doug: Okay, good question. First of all there’s all different kind of sin, private sin should be always confessed privately to God, when the bible talks about making a public confession, we should publicly confess we are sinners and tell people we’ve come to accept Jesus and repent of our sins. If, you know, we’ve done something against a group and the group knows that we’ve done something, if a person is an employee in an office and they’ve been stealing from people they ought to tell those office employees.
You know, I want to apologize and I’m sorry, as far as possible make rec, you know, recompense. If you hurt an individual, you should go to that individual, now what if, let’s just suppose, you’ve been gossiping about a bunch of people in your church and your sin is gossip. You don’t need to stand up and tell everybody, here’s all the terrible things I’ve been saying about you, cause that won’t bring glory to God, it won’t help them.
I would just, you know, talk to the person that you’ve talked and say, you know, I’ve just been a gossip and I hope you’ll forgive me. So you have to ask, will it glorify God? And, you know, otherwise if it’s a private sin, confess it privately. If there was unfaithfulness in a marriage, now this is where it gets really though, let’s suppose that, heaven forbid, it does happen. Let’s suppose that there’s couple of families going to church and two husbands, two wives and there’s an affair between the friends.
They both repent and they ask God to forgive them but they’ve not told their spouses, should they tell their spouses? Won’t it just hurt their spouses? Yeah, they should tell them. There’s got to be trust, there’s got to be honesty and yes it will hurt, but you know, you don’t want to keep that kind of secret from somebody you’re living with, you’ll always have something, they’ll never be really open, as in trust again, you have to divulge something like that and just really pray for wisdom as you do it. So I don’t know if I’ve covered what your scenario might be Steve, but there’s so many different ways to confess and deal with it. Did that touch on it?
Steve: I think it did but my problem is I didn’t, I wasn’t going to ask what he was talking about but, again, my mind, I was sitting there and thinking, okay, could it be this, could it be this, and the scenario that you’ve talked about, are ones that I’ve actually thought about. And I though, I really don’t know what I would tell him.
Pastor Doug: Private sin should be privately confessed to God, if there’s an individual you’ve offended, go to that individual, Jesus said; “go to your brother alone on Mathew 18”. If it’s something you’ve done in the public and the whole congregation knows or your whole office knows, you should let everyone know you’re sorry. And, so you’re really apologizing and repenting to the ones that you’ve offended.
Hope that helps a little Steve, we appreciate your question, very big subject.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Nick and he’s calling from New York. Nick, welcome to the program. Nick in New York listening in WMCA you’re on the air.
Pastor Doug: One more time, Nick from New York with a question. Go in, Go in? All right next line.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We’ve got Terry from Oklahoma, hi Terry welcome to the program, Terry from Oklahoma, listening on XM radio.
Pastor Doug: Terry are you there?
Nick: This is Nick, can you hear me?
Pastor Doug: Oh, yeah we hear you, apologize; I think that we maybe we got lines crossed up.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We’ve got lines mixed up.
Nick: Yeah we got crossed up, my question is this, why is there, in today’s time, why is there some people that I heal from the affliction, and other people die from something?
Pastor Doug: All right, why does the Lord heal some people and other people are not healed, and when they pray. Well, that could be one of many things, you know, first of all, the Lord tells us, “that when we pray, that we need to pray according to His will.” The Lord does a lot of things when we ask ye otherwise would not do it if we don’t ask, so he wants us to ask.
And I do believe in miraculous healing, I’ve feel like God healed me on more than one occasion and sometimes a person is not healed because, you know, Paul prayed for healing, three times and God said “no My strength is made perfect in weakness, this affliction or whatever that Paul suffered from this thorn and this flesh”, He said that, “you kind of need that to keep you in balance” and so God said “no”.
And then on other occasions, someone might not be healed because they’re regarding inequity in their hearts. They’ll ask God to heal them but they’re not turning from their sin that’s causing the sickness. Frequently when Jesus healed somebody, He said “go and sin no more, less the worst thing come upon you”, as though their sin was part of the reason for their sickness.
And so, you know, and I haven’t covered everything, just a number of reasons the Lord might or He might say “wait”, ultimately if we’ve got faith and we pray for healing, God is always going to always heal, cause hey, every time a Christian, every Christian, when you’re resurrect, is the ultimate healing, get your glorified body when the Lord comes, and the question really a question of when, sometimes not if.
Nick: Yeah
Pastor Doug: So everybody that is faithful to the Lord, He’s going to ultimate give them all a glorified body forever. So compared to five or ten years of sickness or suffering in this life, compared to a zillion years of perfect health and vitality, a zillion times a zillion, eternity, but little bit of suffering that God may allow us to go through in this life, He’s got a reason for it. We may not know till we get to the kingdom.
Nick: Yes, that’s true.
Pastor Doug: So hey, I appreciate that, I do have a lesson you can listen to it in amazing facts website and it’s called “On Biblical Healing.” Why does God heal some people and just look up the sermon on biblical healing.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Next caller is Terry this time from Oklahoma, I believe.
Terry: Hi, hey Doug, how are guys doing?
Pastor Doug: Doing well and your question tonight?
Terry: Yeah, I was calling about the other truck driver that was talking on the Sabbath I guess there’s a bunch of us (inaudible) tonight, and you talked about it with another caller a little bit but there was a time in the bible where Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath, and I believe He also said, well the Father also works on the Sabbath.
Pastor Doug: Yes and He also went on to say the priests profaned the Sabbath and they are blameless, in other words, you know, Sabbath for the priests was a busy day, they were offering Sabbath sacrifices and minister to the people and Pastor Ross and I are both pastors and sometimes, Sabbath are our busiest days because, you know, you’re teaching lessons, you’re preaching sermons, you’re counselling people so, but that’s part of the ministry, and Jesus did that too.
He said, you know, Sabbath isn’t being about idle all day, but work for, you know, technical secular work is different from sacred or mission work. If we’re ministering to people and preaching the word, and teaching the word, and involve in some ministry, and when Jesus said “My father works”, what He meant by that was, my God, He sustains life 24 hours a day. So, if Jesus heals somebody on the Sabbath, if I cut myself on Friday, if I cut my finger and put a Band-Aid on it all through the Sabbath my fingers going to be healing.
Terry: Correct
Pastor Doug: If my body doesn’t rest from healing on the Sabbath and so God the Father sustains life in all the time. So when they accused Jesus; well you’re healing in the Sabbath? He said, “I’m always healing on the Sabbath (laughs) you know.
Terry: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, they’re working all the time.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, but it’s not secular work, and off course, there is a reason for the Sabbath commandment. In other words,
Terry: Right
Pastor Doug: Jesus didn’t say that to mean, “From here on, you can do any kind of work on Sabbath.” Christ was never in the carpenter shop on Sabbath.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, I think the point there has been emphasized Pastor Doug. The work that Jesus engaged in on the Sabbath, the work that the disciples did, the works that the priests did, it was the work of ministry. Meeting the needs of people, healing, bringing spiritual truth to people, all important aspects of what we need to do on the Sabbath.
Pastor Doug: we’re glad that a lot of our trucker friends calling in tonight, let’s see if we can get one more call in before our time is up
Pastor Jëan Ross: All right, let’s go to Kevin and he is listening in Toronto Canada. Kevin, welcome to the program.
Kevin: Hi thank you, great show, first time I came across it, I was home from work and I.
Pastor Doug: Well Kevin, I’m so thankful you called in but you’re probably our last caller tonight, we got a minute, can you quickly say the question?
Kevin: Yeah, my question was, I was looking at Leviticus, concerned the sacrifice and hell.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, get close to your phone.
Kevin: My question I have is about hell and eternity.
Pastor Doug: Yeah
Kevin: a caller said that Jesus said that, “Hell is eternal”. Now in the Old Testament, I see where David often talks about hell and the wicked being consumed in the fire of the Lord forever, I’m not sure if he can just elaborate on that and I would get out the phone and let you answer it.
Pastor Doug: All right, I’ll do my best. Yes, Malachi chapter 4 tells us that the wicked will be burnt up, root and branch, and through the bible it tells us that they’re destroyed with an eternal fire, never will thou be anymore, “Ezekiel 28.” Please go to “helltruth.com” friends, there’s more in this question, helltruth.com. We’re out of time, but it was fun, God willing, we’ll be back again next week.
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