Jean Ross: Hello friends. How about an amazing fact? Early in the 16th Century, Holland was ruled by Margaret of Austria, the clever daughter of the German Empire Maximillian who was the most powerful ruler in Europe. In those uneasy days of intrigue and murder, rulers took every precaution against sudden death. Margaret was no exception. She feared death by poisoning and because of this belief that a pure rock crystal would disclose the presence of poison, she would drink from nothing but a goblet made of this rare mineral.
One day, a servant handing Margaret a drink, dropped the goblet on the stone floor. The said crystal was carefully swept up but one tiny fragment flew unnoticed into Margaret’s slipper. The splinter of glass worked its way into her foot which soon became painful then grew red and swollen with infection. By the time the doctors were called, gangrene was far in advance. Immediate amputation was necessary, but the great Margaret of Austria did not survive the terrible ordeal. Ironically, she died of poisoning caused by the very crystal she believed would protect her from such a death.
Friends, did you know that many today are placing their confidence in something that not only cannot satisfy but could even cause their death? Stay tuned for more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
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Jean Ross: Hello friends. This is Pastor Jean Ross. Pastor Doug Batchelor is out this evening. And welcome to a live, national and international Bible study where we will take your calls on the air, then give you a Bible answer. If you like to call in with your Bible question, we would love to hear from you tonight. The number to call is 1-800-GODSAYS, that's 1-800-463-7297. I'll also give you a number a little later in the program, that is our resource number. And throughout the program, I'll be sharing some great Amazing Facts resources on different topics that will help you in your study of God's word.
Well friends, before we go to the phone lines and the questions this evening, let's begin with a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, once again we thank You for this opportunity to study Your word. We ask that in a special way You be with us tonight. We recognized that in order to understand the Bible, we need Your guidance. Be with those who are listening, those who call in and be with us here in the studio. For this, we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
Jean Ross: Friends, I opened the program by talking about Margaret of Austria. She was skeptical and fearful, in particular, of poisoning. And so she went to great length to try and protect herself and placed her confidence in this special crystal goblet that she used to use only to eventually discover that this goblet was the cause of her death. And when I read that amazing fact, I thought of many people today who are placing their confidence not in God but in the things of this world, in particular, their money. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 28, Jesus said "For what is the prophet of man, though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." Now money in of itself is not evil. The Bible says that it's the love of money that is evil. But many today instead of placing their confidence and trust in God, they placed it in their resources. But money, as we know well, can vanish very quickly with one drop of the stock market. Jesus told the story of the two men who were building houses. The one he said was wise. The other was foolish. The wise man, Jesus said, built his house upon a rock. Now the rock in this parable represents Jesus and represents the truth of his word. The foolish man, he said, built his house upon a sand. The sand could represent the things of this world, disobedience perhaps to God's word. Then Jesus said “When the storm arose and the winds blew and the rains descended upon the house, the house that was founded upon the rocks stood firm but the house that was built on the sand, collapse.” And so we find today, if we build our hopes and dreams on Jesus, if that's were our confidence is, irrespective of what will happen to us in life: the storms may come, the trials may come--if our foundation is on Jesus, it will endure. But if we are simply building our confidence on the things of this world, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.
We have a free offer that deals with the subject of money. The Bible has a lot to say about money. Again, money is not bad in of itself but the love of money, the way we use money is important. The study guide, the amazing facts study guide is entitled "In God We Trust" and it deals with the subject of money. Sometimes people ask the question, “Well, should I return a tithe to God?" Well, that's also covered in this study guide, just a rich resource dealing with the topic of riches. If you like to receive this study guide, call the resource number. It’s 1-800-835-6747. It’s free. Just call and ask for the study guide, "In God We Trust."
At the beginning of each program, we'd like to take some internet questions. If you'd like to give us an internet question, you can go to the amazing facts website. There is a link that you can click on for comments and questions you can type in your question there. And we will try to answer your question on the air. The first question that I have this evening is who is the harlot riding the beast and where is the city of Babylon today.
Well first of all, let’s talk about where Babylon is today. And the reason the person is asking that question is because in Revelation chapter 17, where there is this description of a woman riding on top of scarlet colored beast. And the name of the woman is Babylon. Now, the ancient city of Babylon is believed to be close to the city of Baghdad today in Iraq. It's interesting. The Bible made a prophecy concerning Babylon that it would never be rebuilt at its final overthrow and destruction. Saddam Hussein who by the way, thought himself in some respects to be the descendent of the great king of Babylon, wanted to restore and rebuild the city to its splendor back to the days when Babylon overthrew the whole world. And Nebuchadnezzar was the great king. And he actually started to rebuild the city of Babylon but his attempts were cut short by a progression of wars. First, the gulf war and then of course the late war that came along. Today the city of Babylon is still lying in ruins, just as the Bible had predicted. Now who this woman riding upon the scarlet colored beast that has the name Babylon written on the forehead. Of course, Revelation is a very symbolic book. And a woman in Bible prophecy represents the church. Revelation we have two woman. The one is in Revelation chapter 12. She was a woman, clothe with her sun standing upon the moon, having a crown of 12 stars. And she represents God's true church from the time period of Christ all the way through the Second Coming. But the opposite of that is this woman in Revelation 17. She’s sitting on a scarlet colored beast deck with gold and silver. And she has on her hand a cup filled with abominations and persecutions that she brought against God's people. One thing you need to realize is what Revelation is teaching is that not every church that claims to be serving God is necessarily true especially at the end of time. Jesus said many will be deceived. In other words, the devil is trying his very best to deceived as many people as possible. And the Bible does describe the church as being able to fall. In Revelation talks about a church that is left it’s first loved, as falling. And in Revelation chapter 18, there is voice heard from heaven which says come out of Babylon my people. And so we have to recognized that not every church necessarily is living to all the light that they know. We wanna make sure that we are being faithful to the truth of scripture. Oh, by the way--I almost forgot--we have a study guide that deals with the whole subject of Babylon, as well as who is the anti-Christ spoken of in Revelation, as well as the woman in Revelation chapter 12. So if you would like more information on Revelation 17 as well as in Revelation 12, these two women in the Bible, I encourage you to call our resource number 1-800-835-6747, and ask for the Amazing Facts study guide. Well there's two. You can ask for "Who is the Anti-Christ?" and then also ask for "The Bride of Christ." “Who is the Anti-Christ?" and "The Bride of Christ," two great resources that will help you in your Bible study.
The second internet question that we have for this evening. I have wondered about 40 days in the Bible. You have 40 days at Mount Sinai 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness 40 days and nights at rain during the flood then we have 40 days that Goliath threatened Israel Jonah warned Nineveh that they have 40 days left if they didn't repent and then Elijah in the days of Elijah, we find him being on Mount Horeb for 40 days--So the question is what is the significance of 40 in the Bible and why is it that we don’t hear people teach about this.
Well, I'm not quite sure I can answer the last part of the question, why don’t we hear people teach about this. But let me see if I can mention a little bit about the significance of the number 40 and not only 40 but other numbers in scripture as well. We find numbers having significance especially in Bible prophecy. The number 40 represent the time of trial and a time of testing. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering into the promise land. It was a time of trial, a time of testing. It also represents a time of purifying. For example the waters that covered the earth, rained for 40 days and 40 nights. It was a purifying of the earth. It cleanses from sin. And Jesus, prior to the beginning of his public ministry, fasted for 40 days in the wilderness again a time of testing, a time of trial. And so 40 in the Bible represents testing and trial of God's people. But there's some other numbers that have great significance. For example, you have the number three in the Bible. Three represents the God head: the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. We have the number four in the Bible which represents the earth or the four corners of the earth or the four points of the compass. We have the number six which is rather significant. Six represents man. It’s man's number, you might, say. Man was created on the sixth day for the week, 6th day of creation. And we also find in Revelation chapter 13 that the beast has a number and his number is 666. And the Bible tells us it's the number of a man. and so at the end of time, the anti-Christ has this number 66,m a man's number but it's repeated three times so we get the idea of counterfeit trinity at the time of the end. And then of course, the number 12 is significant in the Bible. You have the 12 tribes of the Old Testament, the 12 tribes of 12 apostles of the New. It represents the church both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And so numbers in the Bible have some important significance. For more about numbers, you can go to the Prophecy Code website: just www.prophecycode.org or .com. and you can actually access the link that gives you the various numbers in Bible prophecy as well as their significance. There’s also some symbols there that you can look at that will help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible. But again friends if you have any questions that you'd like to send to us in live internet, please do so. Go to the Amazing Facts website and click on the link questions or comments and we will try and get your questions on the air.
And then we'll go to the phone lines. The first caller is Bryan and he's listening on the internet, calling from California. Bryan, welcome to the program.
Bryan: Thank you very much, Pastor. I believe that when people die they go in to a false sleep and today is Easter as when Jesus was in his tomb, some say that he went to hell. Well at least like 1 Peter 3:19 and 20, he says that he preached to the spirits imprisoned. How can there be spirits existing if they're still sleeping?
Jean Ross: Okay. Good question. Let's first deal with the question of hell. Some do believe that when Jesus died, he did go to hell but what we need to understand is that the word hell, translated in English from the original Greek, not only means what we think as of today as hell but it can also simply mean the 'grave.' For example in Acts chapter 2:27, speaking of Jesus, “Because thou shall not lead my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to seek corruption." The word there 'hell' simply means the grave. So when Jesus dies, he lay in the grave. We see the same thing in Acts chapter 2 verse 31. So not every time you see the word 'hell' doesn’t mean a hot burning place but then you brought up the other text in 1 Peter--let me see if I can pull that up--the spirits in prison, that sometimes is a confusing text to some people.
Bryan: Count me as one.
Jean Ross: Okay. Let’s see if we can pull that up. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 19 and it says, "By which he also" speaking of Christ, "went and preached into the spirits in prison” Verse 20 says, "Which sometimes we're disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." Now what we need to understand is this verse is telling us is that God preached to the spirits in prison. Now the spirits in prison are those who are held bondage by Satan. Jesus spoke them self as coming to set the cactus free. And Jesus is speaking to those who are captive by sin. He didn't actually set anyone free literally from prison but he did set many people free from sin and from control of Satan. And then when you look in verse 18 of 1 Peter chapter 3, it says "For Christ also has one suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit." So the subject that's been spoken of here is the Spirit and then verse 19 says "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison," so by the Holy Spirit will free the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached to spirits that were imprisoned. That’s not limited or it's not limiting this verse to Jesus doing his time here on this earth. Then it says, "Even in the days of Noah." So Jesus preached to those before the flood by the spirit. Those before the flood were in prison spiritually. They were held captive by sin. So it's not talking about Jesus when he dies going down into hell but rather by the spirit. Even before the flood, Jesus preached to those who are in bondage.
Bryan: So it's not as if he's standing in front of a large group of people preaching and talking to them. It's something about the spirit of God.
Jean Ross: That's right. And that makes it very clear there in verse 18 where it says ‘by the Spirit.’ He was quickened by the Spirit. And then in verse 19 says by which also he went to preach. So he went and preached by the Holy Spirit to those who were in prison even before the flood.
Bryan: Very good. Thank you, Pastor.
Jean Ross: All right. Thank you for your call. By the way, we do have a study guide dealing with the subject of death and it's entitled "Are the Dead Really Dead?" And it deals with this whole question with what happens when someone dies. Do they go straight to heaven? Are the ghost going straight to hell? If you would like to receive that study guide, call the resource number 1-800-835-6747. 1-800-835-6747 and you can ask for the study "Are the Dead Really Dead?"
And then we go to our next caller, Rich, who's listening on the internet calling from Oregon. Rich, welcome to the program.
Rich: Thank you. I have a question about the word—Hello?
Jean Ross: Yes, I’m here.
Rich: Ordaining of women as pastors and elders, I heard the president of a large religious organization, worldwide president speaks that it was a cultural thing but looking at scriptures, I don’t see any presidence in Genesis, in different places and stuff where they would... It's always a male and I just want to hear where he's coming from biblically wise saying it's a cultural thing.
Jean Ross: You know I can’t comment about these statement that this individual made but I must agree with you in that I can’t find any president in scripture for the ordination of women. However having said that, we do recognize that women play a very important part in the church and there are examples of woman leading out in church.
Bryan: Not ordained.
Jean Ross: Not ordained but in the role of a prophet. In fact Anna was a prophet and others in the scripture.
Bryan: Yeah, but in-ordained.
Jean Ross: You are right. You know the passage is that deal with ordination, you mentioned Titus 1 verse 6, 1 Timothy 3:12, it speaks about those who have been ordained being the husband of one wife.
Bryan: Right.
Jean Ross: And then there's some other characteristics or a qualifications that they need. So looking at scripture, we don’t see a precedence here that we can follow for the ordination of women.
Bryan: It's like there's a mixture (bag?) and denomination, I mean some churches allowed, some don’t I mean so...
Jean Ross: And you know we gotta be careful on this because this is a very sensitive topic and of course some things that's been discussed in many different denomination--
Bryan: Yeah.
Jean Ross: --is says people try and wrestle with this. You know I can’t speak for the different individuals that might (inaudible 19:35) this or I just go to by the Bible. And I just don’t see precedence here. You know if you go back to the Old Testament and we look at the priesthood, both of the family and then of Israel as a whole, God placed the spiritual responsibility upon the shoulders of a man, the husband of a home to be the priest. And then we see that coming for even in the New Testament. So again I don’t see a biblical precedence for that.
Bryan: Is Pastor Doug on the same view or you know...
Jean Ross: You know we would have to ask him. I believe he does from what I've heard him say. I know that he's a (stickler?) for the Bible. He wants to go with the Bible. And again there is we don’t find a precedence of that in the Bible.
Bryan: Okay. Thank you so much.
Jean Ross: All right. Well, thank you for calling Rich.
Bryan: God bless.
Jean Ross: Thank you. Kevin is on the cell phone calling from Washington--Glenwood, Washington. Welcome to the program, Kevin.
Kevin: Thank you. Thank you. When my wife and I got married, we were... We kept the Sabbath but we kept it very literally. We you know we did what we wanted but the main thing we did is go to church and you know we didn’t do watch television. There are a lot of other things that we did. And as time pass I learned truth that convicted me. The Holy Spirit convicted me to change the way I kept the Sabbath to keep it more holy and to (inaudible 21:02) with Him. And as time passed, that pushed my wife away. [clears throat] Excuse me. and now, there's things that I don’t wanna do such as you know go out to eat or even in play certain games that don’t have anything to do with God that will put my mind on him or you know there's many things on television now there's so many things that she does that I don’t wanna do. And that causes a lot of friction. And it gets hard sometimes and I'm just wondering what did a person do in that situation. you know how can they witness without you know quote and quote preaching to them and shoving down his throat" even just you know. I'm patient and loving. If God gives me grace to do that to do such with her but at the same time, she gets upset because of different things that I don’t wanna do on the Sabbath as we used to. And of course, change is hard for our people but what does someone do to witness in that situation? I know there's differences like the man that says the stranger was in their gate but what do you do when that person in your gate lives with you and is with you all the time?
Jean Ross: Right. You know what? You bring up a difficult question. You’re not alone, by the way. There are many people in the same situation who may (inaudible 22:30) on the Sabbath but a husband or a wife might become a Christian. And their spouse is not interested in religion, not interested in Christianity. In some cases, they're even opposed to it. They make it very difficult for the person to keep the Sabbath or follow the principles of their conscience in the Bible. What can you do in this situation is be the most positive influence that we can be on our spouse. You mentioned awhile that you don’t wanna push them away. You don’t want them to look at religion or the Sabbath or Sabbath keeping as a tedious burden but rather you wanna try and be win some in your witness for the Sabbath. And try to win them over. Now having said that, each situation is a little bit different. You’re gonna have to do things differently in each situation. But it probably begins with a good talk together about the Sabbath explaining your position, sharing why you feel the way you feel, not criticizing the other person but rather sharing why you feel convicted like this is what needs to happen. I think open communication in this situation is a very important. She needs to understand that you are not doing this to close problems or irritate her but you are doing this because you're convicted. This is what God wants you to do. That’s where you can start. As time goes on in trying to communicate this little by little or pray that God will give you the right spirit that you'll be able to be a positive witness on your wife.
Kevin: Okay. Okay, thank you.
Jean Ross: Does that help, Kevin?
Kevin: That helps. It started... Tt's been difficult I mean there are times where it's okay. There are times when it's not. Yeah and then I...
Jean Ross: When the issue rises up and you know feelings are high, that's not the best time to try and sit down and talk about things. But when things are calm, you might wanna sit next to her in the couch one evening and you say you know there's something I wanna talk to you about. And you know when things are relaxed, she'll (inaudible 24:36) your conviction. Be careful in the way you do this. Don’t accuse her but rather share with what you feel convicted by. Does that make sense?
Kevin: Yeah.
Jean Ross: You don’t wanna accuse her: are you not doing that? Not doing this. Rather share with her how you feel convicted that you need to do this, you need to do that. And then prayerfully, take the Lord in prayer, ask that He gives you wisdom as you deal with this but hopefully, you'll be able to be a positive witness.
Kevin: Okay. Thank you very much.
Jean Ross: All right. You’re welcome. Thank you for calling, Kevin. We appreciate it. Our next caller is Gabriel listening on WMCA from New Jersey, welcome to the program.
Gabriel: Hello.
Jean Ross: Hi.
Gabriel: Good day Pastor. My question is simple.
Jean Ross: Okay.
Gabriel: Now, what's the significance of 1948 and 1967 having to do anything with Bible prophecy as far as the generation is concerned because I hear some say that in 1967, when Israel recaptured Jerusalem, they start a generation. There have most Bible scholars that believed in 1948 all due to Israel becoming a nation, it started last generation. I mean can you please clarify this for me?
Jean Ross: Sure. Well, typically biblical generation is about 40 years.
Gabriel: Okay.
Jean Ross: We know that from the one of Israel. Remember where God led the children of Israel out of Egypt and they made it all the way to the Jordan but because of unbelief, they couldn’t enter him. so God said "For 40 years, you're gonna wander in the wilderness." And then it went 20 years and all though actually died in the wilderness and their children were the ones that actually entered in and receive the promise of God. So 40 years is about a generation in biblical terms. So the significance then at the dates of Israel becoming a nation you know we will pass 40 years in that case. So perhaps that could be one of those misguided prophecies that (inaudible 26:37).
Gabriel: [laughs] 1967... I'm sorry.
Jean Ross: Go ahead.
Gabriel: How come 1967 they also have this belief system that you know this can be that generation--that 40 plus 67 adds the 2007. And some believe that this could be the last generation. I mean as far as they could... I mean I guess those are pretribulational questions they believe the rupture's gonna happen sometime before 2008. I mean is this...
Jean Ross: Yes. You know we--
Gabriel: (inaudible 27:10)
Jean Ross: Right. It’s interesting how do they come up with the date 2008.
Gabriel: I think it's because of on June 6 that's when all began after the 60 war with... yeah, so we're on the 39th supposedly and then in June 6 of this year, we start the 40 year period.
Jean Ross: All right.
Gabriel: Until the year 2008 of June 6 then. After June 6 of 2008, that's the 41st year. That’s when the 40 years are over with.
Jean Ross: You know that's an interesting theory but where is it found at the Bible I mean that that would be my question. What verse? What chapter can we based our faith on in that kind of prediction? I mean Jesus clearly said no man knows the day nor the hour when the son of man cometh. And you know there are some significant dates that the Bible speaks of. the 23 on the day prophecy in Daniel 8:14 and there’s a number in Prophecies in Daniel 9 but none of them reach the time that we are now living in. so anyway you know I would have to look at the biblical basis of that type of theory. Take it from there. You know, Gabriel, I hear the music playing in the background.
We’re coming up on our half an hour break here and before we go friends, I would like to remind you that there are a number of important resources at the Amazing Facts website. Don’t go away, we're gonna take just a short break and then we have another half an hour Bible Answers Live. And we would invite you to give us a call and you could place your Bible question on the air this evening. We have a few lines that are still open, we'll be right back.
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Jean Ross: Hello friends. Welcome back to Bible Answers Live. This is Pastor Jean Ross. Pastor Doug Batchelor is out this evening. If you have a Bible related question, the number to call is 1800-GOD-SAYS, that's 1-800-463-7297. I'd like to remind you of the free offer that we have this evening "In God We Trust." That's Amazing Facts study guide. If you'd like to get it, it deals with the subject of finance and money and what the Bible have to say about that. Call the resource number 1-800-835-6747 but if you'd like to call the radio program with a Bible question, the number to call is 1-800-463-7297.
We’re gonna go to the phone lines, Paul is listening on KPRZ from San Diego California. Paul, welcome to the program.
Paul: Thank you.
Jean Ross: And your question.
Paul: A couple of weeks ago, I heard Pastor Doug say that the Second Beast in Revelation 13 with the United States and I kind of like you know… Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Jean Ross: Sure.
Paul: More clear you know how that...
Jean Ross: How that happens. All right. I’ll be happy to. The passage that you're looking at is Revelation chapter 13 and it's in Revelation, there are two beast described in this passage. The First Beast is described as coming up out of the sea and the Second Beast is described at out coming up out of the land or the earth. The Second Beast begins in verse 11. So let me just read about this beast, it says "Beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb but it spoke as a dragon.” Now, the first thing that you need to recognize is that a beast in Bible prophecy represents a nation or a kingdom. That’s made very clear from the Book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 7, there are these beasts that arise out of the sea. And the angel Gabriel in interpreting the symbols to Daniel the prophets says that these beast are kingdoms. So here we have a kingdom or a nation represented by this beast. It comes up from the earth. The First Beast of Revelation 13 is described as coming up from the sea. In Revelation chapter 17 and verse 15, we are told that water or sea represents multitudes in nations. So the first beast in Revelation 13 comes from a densely populated area which would be in Europe. The Second Beast comes from up from the earth so they will be exact opposite. There would be a sparsely populated area. It says that it has two horns like a lamb. Incidentally, the horns of the Second Beast in Revelation 13 don’t have crowns, those are horns of the first beast do. So the Second Beast wouldn't be a monarchy. It would be a democracy. There are 2 horns like a lamb. And of course the lamb is a symbol of Jesus. So the principle upon which this nation is founded are principles of peace. It’s the symbols of freedom of religion, freedom of speech that is held important. All men are created equal. These good solid biblical principles that we find that form the foundation of this nation. And then as we read through the rest of the scripture of this beast there begins to be a change where it says that it speaks like a dragon we find in Revelation chapter 12. The dragon is described as Satan. A dragon can also represent a kingdom for which Satan is working. So there is a change that takes place. So this change in this nation hasn’t happened yet. For the most part, America is still supportive of religious freedom. It's still the beacon of freedom in the world but according to this prophecy, something’s gotta happen where there's gonna be a change that takes place right here in this nation. Does that help a little bit?
Paul: Kind of. So what you're saying is the Second Beast in Revelation 13 is not the… The whole chapter is not done yet?
Jean Ross: No, it's not. That’s not. As what I said, we're half way through. If we read on, it talks about the mark of the beast near the end of the chapter where all people are force to receive a mark and they can’t buy or sell. So you know that's something still in the future. So this is a chapter in progress.
Paul: What about the image? What is this image (inaudible 34:51)?--
Jean Ross: Okay.
Paul: --likeness of the First Beast.
Jean Ross: Right. A big clue for that is in the Book of Daniel where you find Nebuchadnezzar the king set up an image in the plain of Dura and commanded all the people to worship this image. And that image has to do with worship. So a time will come where even in this nation of freedom, people will be forced in to a certain type of worship. And if they refuse, at first they won’t be able to (inaudible 35:22) and then as the chapter goes on, things get even worst. And so that deals with this whole subject of the image. You know we have a whole study guide dealing with this beast in Revelation this Second Beast of Revelation 13 which is very interesting. It goes on to a far more detail than I'm able to give you hear on the radio.
And, Paul ,I would encourage you to call the resource number and get that study guide. Let me give you the number. Its 1-800-835-6747, 1-800-835-6747 and ask for the study guide "The US
in Bible Prophecy." “The US in Bible Prophecy” and it deals with this whole subject in Revelation chapter 13, the Second Beast. All right.
Paul: How much is the cost?
Jean Ross: It's free. The price is right so call now.
Paul: Great.
Jean Ross: Go ahead and get that resource. It will be very helpful and, by the way for anyone listening, if you have questions on this subject, be sure to call. Get “The Us in Bible Prophecy."
Paul: Thank you very much.
Jean Ross: All right. You're welcome. We'll go to our next caller. Sandy is listening on WBQN from Southern Illinois. Sandy, welcome to the program.
Sandy: Hi, Pastor. My question is can you please explain Isaiah chapter 23 verses 17 to 18 and are there any future applications or implications.
Jean Ross: All right. Let’s take a look at that. Isaiah chapter--what did you say, 23?
Sandy: Yes, Sir.
Jean Ross: And you are looking at verse 17.
Sandy: And 18.
Jean Ross: 17 and 18, it says "It shall come to pass after the end of the 70 years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.” And it mentions "and the hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up for her merchant shall be from them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing." Here we find in Isaiah 23 a prophecy that have to be made against Tyre, which was a nation at that time, which was threatening and making war with Israel. And so Isaiah is making a prophecy concerning Tyre. Now is there future applications for this? Not so much against Tyre. I mean Tyre is no more but there is an application in a broad sense perhaps that those who are making war with God's people will finally come to destruction. When I'm talking about God's people and talking about those that believes in Christ, those that have been faithful to God. Revelation, we just had a caller speak on Revelation 13, describes a gathering of the wicked against God's people. And the last moment, Jesus comes to their rescue. And they refer to this as the battle of Armageddon. So in a broad sense, this application could be referring to that. But here specifically, the prophecy concerns Tyre.
Sandy: Thank you.
Jean Ross: All right. Thank you for calling, Sandy. We appreciate it. Our next caller is calling from Simi Valley listening on the internet. Manny, welcome to the program.
Manny: Hi. How are you?
Jean Ross: Fine, thank you.
Manny: Great. Yeah, I heard a sermon from Doug Batchelor, unlucky charms and it mentions wedding bands, Jean Henry Newman and pagan origins of the wedding band and all that. And I was convicted from that to not wear my wedding band. And now I couldn’t understand she just finding out more about all tis with me. I gues after doing this I’ve come a little difficulty in accepting the holidays like Easter and Christmas, because of I’ve read like his lost writings and a few other writings that linked these two pagan, all the pagan holidays and my question is do we accept or how do we accept—
Jean Ross: How do we handle these holidays.
Manny: --try to accept this or partake in these holidays. Do we chose by origins or by culture?
Jean Ross: All right.
Manny: Culture like you know it changes the meaning.
Jean Ross: Right. Good question. Good question. First of all, let me just give you a background. Today, there are number of things that have the origin in some form and other from pagan roots, even the names of the week are named after certain Gods.
Manny: That's right.
Jean Ross: So even though zero you know the number zero has pagan origin. So it's difficult, in a sense, for us to try and avoid everything that might have pagan origin? I don’t think we have to.
Manny: Okay.
Jean Ross: I think there's a principle here that we want to remember. Now, when it comes to the various holidays, let's just for example use Christmas, we recognized that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December.
Manny: Right.
Jean Ross: And there's a number of reasons for that. If we look at the time of Christ birth in the Bible, even though we don't have the specific period of time, it would fall more in the fall of year. It wouldn't be December 25th. Shepherd wouldn’t be out in the field in Palestine in that time of the year. It's cold...
Manny: Right.
Jean Ross: They would be, you know, in a barn somewhere but having said that, is there anything wrong in remembering the birth of Jesus at a time when the world is remembering the birth of Jesus? No. It's very significant.
Manny: Yes, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Jean Ross: Right, that Jesus was born. Is there anything wrong in giving a gift? No, so I think it's important for us to take out the good and be wise, be aware with what's involved but even used these things for good, in a positive way.
Manny: Right.
Jean Ross: And I think that would apply to all of the holidays, whether they have pagan origin or not.
Manny: Well, then that leaves me with the ring deal. Now, do I wear it or don’t I wear it because of the decision that I made...
Jean Ross: I think--
Manny: The decision I made was because of the origin not because of the culture.
Jean Ross: Okay.
Manny: That's my dilemma.
Jean Ross: Sure. You know, I think when it comes to jewelry as a whole, it's got more biblical grounds. To avoid that then just the pagan origins of this different things. the Bible is pretty clear that adorning be not gold or silver, so we do have a strong biblical premise for that. So I think that's enough evidence there for us to reach our conclusion on whether or not we're gonna be wearing jewelry in any form.
Manny: Okay, so it's not okay to wear the ring but it's okay to get the holidays with the family.
Jean Ross: Yes, It's all right to celebrate the holiday with the family. You know, I don’t think there's anything wrong with that. However, let’s do it with understanding. Let's not keep December 25 as a holy day as some might. You know that's not a holy day but it's a day which we can remember the birth of Christ in a special way.
Manny: Okay.
Jean Ross: All right.
Manny: Okay.
Jean Ross: Thanks for your call. I appreciate it.
Manny: Thank you.
Jean Ross: Shawn is listening on WWQN from Illinois. Welcome to the program.
Shawn: Thank you. Acts 1:1 talks about... It mentioned a book called Theophilus and I just wanted to know if you could tell me a little bit about that.
Jean Ross: Okay. Let me read it for you. Acts chapter 1 verse 1, "The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." Now the book of Acts was written by Luke. And we also know that we have a gospel by the same name. Theophilus isn't the name of a book but it's a name of a person. So here, Luke is writing to this person at giving him further information on Jesus, and not only Jesus but now the acts of the Apostles in the early church. So there isn't a book called Theophilus but rather this individual--
Shawn: Okay.
Jean Ross: --to whom he's writing this letter.
Shawn: Okay.
Jean Ross: Does that help?
Shawn: Yeah, thank you very much.
Jean Ross: All right. You're welcome. Thank you for calling, Shawn. Our next caller is Ryzel listening on 3ABN from Canada-- Ontario, Canada. Welcome to the program.
Ryzel: Yeah, thank you.
Jean Ross: You're welcome.
Ryzel: Good evening. I have a question, Pastor.
Jean Ross: Yes.
Ryzel: About the food. Paul said that when you visit a person, if they offer you something to eat, and is it all right to eat even it is unclean?
Jean Ross: Okay. Good question.
Ryzel: Yeah. Not to offend them.
Jean Ross: Right. Right. You know well, let’s get a historical perspective of this. If you go to the Old Testament book in Daniel, you find Daniel and his three friends--Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah--they were taken to Babylon and they were to eat at the Kings' table but there was food set before them was unclean. And the Bible record tells us that they went to the person in charge of them and said, “We cannot eat this food.” And by the way, this is a serious thing to not eat the food the King had set before you. So if ever there was a reason for us to eat that which was unclean in order not to offend, it would makes sense in Daniel and his friends. But he refused... They refused to do this. So what Paul is referring to here when he says a person set food before you, you not eat it, he's not referring to clean or unclean food but rather he's referring to food that has been placed before you that you might not know where it came from. Now what I mean by this many of the markets back in Bible times, the food would be offered to certain Gods and there were some Christians who are very worried about eating food that had been offered to some pagan God. And Paul is writing and he says, you know if you don’t know where it came from don't worry about it. Just eat it. So he's not referring to clean and unclean foods but rather he's referring to whether or not food had been offered to a pagan God.
Ryzel: So what about the verse that he said, "Whatever you can buy in the market, you can buy"?
Jean Ross: That's right. In other words, don’t ask. If you see food in the market and you need to buy it, don’t' ask if this has been offered to an idol or not it's clean, it's acceptable, go ahead and buy it. You know Paul is basically saying it doesn’t really matter if the food has been offered to an idol or if it hasn’t.
Ryzel: So it doesn’t mean that we have to eat even if it's unclean, you can reject it.
Jean Ross: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know the Bible… Actually God speaks of that which is unclean as abomination. You know we don’t wanna eat that which is an abomination to God for the sake of being polite to someone else. Now, of course there's different ways you can do that. We don’t wanna be impolite in the way that we refused the food. But yet I think it's important that we remember that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we wanna try and keep it the way God has.
Ryzel: Okay. Thank you very much Pastor.
Jean Ross: All right, thank you for your call. Good question. Peter is listening on WMCA from Long Island, New York. Peter welcome to the program.
Peter: Yes, I have a question. Is it a sin not to tithe?
Jean Ross: Is it a sin not to tithe, okay. And the next part of your question?
Peter: And where in the New Testament can you support the answer?
Jean Ross: Okay. Does the New Testament talked about tithe? Yes. The answer is yes. Let me give you a couple of examples: you remember the story where Jesus and his disciples where in the temple and there was a woman that came in and placed in just a tiny portion of her offering but the scribes and the priest they were placing large amounts of money. And Jesus (stood?) his disciples and said she has placed more in the offering than everyone else cause the other gave with abundance but she gave up her need of her want and so here is this woman that sacrificially giving to the Lord's cause. Jesus also said to the Jewish leaders, you tithe of mint and (inaudible 48:06), all of this different little spices but you rejected the weight here matters to the Lord. He said you should have done these things but you should also include love and mercy. so we find the principle in scripture that tithing is good. Even in the New Testament church, not only do we find the early Christians giving the tithe we find them giving far more than just 10% of the increase reading at the Book of Acts that the believers laid solded goods and they laid it at the feet of the apostles and said, “Use this for the Lord's work and sharing the gospel with the world.” So tithe would be the starting point for the Christians today. Now that's sort of a minimum but our passion should be to do everything that we can to advance God's cause. Does that makes sense?
Peter: Yes, but you still did not answer my question.
Jean Ross: Is it a sin not to tithe?
Peter: Yes.
Jean Ross: You know if we know what's right and we don’t do it, is that a sin?
Peter: Correct.
Jean Ross: Right. So if we know what's right and we don't do it, not only are we forfeiting the blessing that God wants to give us but we need to be careful because that can be defined as sin.
Peter: Yeah, I just... Go ahead.
Jean Ross: Go ahead.
Peter: The reason I'm asking the question is because I’m struggling with it. I do not know whether it is in law for me to tithe and I do not... It is not my interest as a Christian on the (inaudible 49:43) to follow the law. I'm not following the law. I just want to be on the (grim?).
Jean Ross: Sure.
Peter: All I see (inaudible 49:50) as a law for me, do I have to follow it?
Jean Ross: You know what? This is what I could suggest. First of all, to be under the law, there are two main principles: Love God with all of your heart and soul and your mind, and love your fellow man as yourself. If we follow the example of Jesus… Jesus’ whole life was in giving: giving up himself giving up of his time to be a blessing to others the New Testament church, they were giving. I am convinced that we cannot out give God. You know if we are faithful to God in tithe, God will be faithful to us. And there are testimonies where many people... Now, God's not gonna say to you, “You know, I’m so sorry. You should have been tithing. I can’t bless you now because you don’t tithe.” (Inaudible 50:32) to the contrary and God is gonna bless us if we do our part, if we do whatever we can. So tithe would be a starting point. You know, I would challenge you to go ahead and take God (and his word). Go ahead and say Lord, "I'm gonna trust you on this one." And it's not legalism but rather it's a gift of love. You returning a faithful tithe. You know Peter we have a study guide entitled "In God we trust," the one that we've been talking about throughout this program. It deals with the subject of tithe in the New Testament, a number of scriptures and good information. I'd encouraged you to get it. You can call the resource of our line 1-800-835-6747 and ask for the study guide "In God We Trust."
Our next caller is Jonathan and he's calling from National Tennessee. Welcome to the program.
Jonathan: Thank you so much for having me on.
Jean Ross: You're welcome. What is your question?
Jonathan: I had a question regarding instrumental youth in a worship service and where I've always sung with my voice just as I feel like the Bible has told in my studies to further my faith. I like to get different points of view. My father and grandfather both teach in a private Christian university. And so I'm blessed from what I've been raised and from what my faith is but I also like to step out and I have stumbled upon your show and wanted to get your point of view and also you know any scriptures that maybe I don’t know about already that can (assist?) me in defining what I believe and why I believe it.
Jean Ross: Okay. Very good. You know let me begin by saying I think the greatest instrument that brings praise to God, without a doubt, is the voice. That’s what he's given us.
Jonathan: Yes, sir.
Jean Ross: And he receives the greatest praise when we sing our praises to him and in whatever type of worship we are involved in whether its personal worship, whether it's in a family circle or in the church. We need to recognize the importance of the voice. Now having said that, I don’t believe that there's anything wrong in having some kind of accomplice to help in the singing. Some of us needs some help in order to sing. You need something that kind of keeps us on tune. So there is nothing wrong in having instrumental accompanied with that however, there are some types of music that I believe that are appropriate for worship and some that are not.
Jonathan: That's an issue that I've been dealing with. I've been visiting different (given?) Churches. I grew up in Italy and Greece. And so I’ve grown up and have been able to visit churches that use instrument such as the organ, and then also recently seen a couple that have a full praise band as to somebody that's grown up in a church where there's been strictly acapella, somewhat like a culture shock.
Jean Ross: Sure. Sure.
Jonathan: I guess from my point of view, the way I see it and in the way I study it is like I said earlier, the Bible tells me exactly what to use.
Jean Ross: Right.
Jonathan: It says sing with your voice.
Jean Ross: Sure.
Jonathan: And I guess what my question and my fear is I don’t wanna do anything that it doesn’t tell me not to do. It tells me to sing with my voice so I can do that. I don’t know (inaudible53:46) using an instrument is wrong.
Jean Ross: Sure.
Jonathan: For me, I hate to use you know the better statement. Sorry but from what I can tell, all I can do is do exactly what the Bible tells me to.
Jean Ross: All right. Let me just addressed quickly the one is an instrument wrong. Well, the answer to that is no. We find in the Psalms many examples of where the songs where accompanied with some form of the instrument however the way the instrument is played I think that's an important key. And secondly the instrument mustn’t take the place of the voice. The voice is still one of the most effective ways of praising God. I mean God created the voice and he wants to hear our praise
Jonathan: Absolutely.
Jean Ross: Jonathan, thank you so much for your call. You bring up a good question. We're gonna try and squeeze in a few more callers here before the hour is through.
Ray is listening on WLIB from Wisconsin I believe. Welcome to the program. Ray, are you there?
Ray: Yes. I just want to let you know I really appreciate your program and your internet website.
Jean Ross: Well, good.
Ray: Learned a lot off of it. One of the questions I have is in Job chapter 1, yeah, chapter 1 verse 6.
Jean Ross: All right.
Ray: When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and saying (inaudible 55:03) among them. Now who would the sons of God be? My understanding is they would be the other angels.
Jean Ross: Well, let me share with you a thought on this. They could be the other angels but some have suggested be that the sons of God could also be inhabitants of unfallen worlds. In other words, planet earth is not the only world that God created. Hebrews talked about the God creating through Christ creating the world and he uses the word plural. We believe that planet earth was the only one that fell to Satan's temptation during the Garden of Eden. So it very well be that the sons of God could be the representative of these different worlds, in the same way that Adam would have been the representative of planet earth if he remained faithful to God but when he chose to disobey God and chose well rather to choose to obey the serpent or Satan, Satan in a sense then becomes the representative of the planet. So Satan is in heaven. He’s gathering the representatives of the different worlds and Satan is there representing Earth. So God says where have you come from. He said “I'm walking up and down in earth. “
Ray: Right. Then so the possibility this are there other galaxy other worlds that are inhabited also.
Jean Ross: Yes.
Ray: Okay. Cause I had never… somebody had proposed that (inaudible 56:21), I said it was a little bit preposterous cause I never really seen any other reference to other worlds out there except now. Hebrews what chapter and verse was that?
Jean Ross: Let me see if I can grab it for you. I believe it's the first part of Hebrews, Hebrews 1. [background music playing] I hear the music playing here in the background.
Ray: I can look that up to.
Jean Ross: Let me give it to you. Its Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2, it talks about the other worlds. And you might wanna look that up. There’s also a verse in scripture that says our planet is the spectacle that angels like to watch so we are sort of like a theater or the stage of the universe. Well, look those verses out and you know study the subject out a little bit more about the sons of God. Ray, I hear the music playing so that means we are running out of time. I wanna thank you for your call.
Ray: I wanna thank you very much. You got me very interested in this now.
Jean Ross: Good. Well we hope that will lead you to study this a little bit further. Friends, again thank you so much for joining us for this edition of Bible Answers Live. If you didn't get the chance to... If we didn’t your call, please call us back next week. Until then, may God be with you and bless you.