Building Designed by God

Frank’s mother Anna believed he would be a great architect before he was even born and she hung pictures of famous buildings around his bed as he was growing up.

She further inspired his ability by giving him wooden blocks and paper geometric shapes to build with.

Incredibly, Frank Lloyd Wright began college at age 15 to study engineering. Nevertheless, by his early twenties he was the head designer for Chicago architectural firm.

Wherever he was designing Wright was guided by the principle ‘form and function are one’ uniting the natural location with the materials and the function of the structure. Wright seemed to infuse his own unique personality into every edifice he designed. Incredibly, America’s most beloved architect never attended architectural school.

Did you know the Bible says that there is a building God personally designed? Stay with us friends, we are going to learn more as Amazing facts brings you this edition of Bible answers live.

[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]

Jëan Ross: My name is John Ross. Good evening listening friends and Pastor Doug. Let’s begin this program with a word of pray.

Dear Father, once again, we’d like to ask you to be with us as we spend some time studying your word. We ask for wisdom as we’re searching Scriptures and be with those who are listening wherever they might be that you would guide them into clear and deeper understanding of your word. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Doug Batchelor: Amen.

Jëan Ross: Pastor Doug, you’ve opened the program by sharing with us some interesting information about America’s most well-known architect. And then you ended up by saying: ‘Well, there is a building that God designed’. Now, when we look at Scripture we see that well; we know Jesus is preparing mansions, according to John 14, for those that love him. We also know that God gave plans to Noah, the construction of the ark. But what building are you thinking of?

Doug Batchelor: One of the most exquisite buildings that was every built in the world was the Temple of Solomon. And I don’t know that everybody realizes that the plan, the design for that temple; while David gathered the materials, the original design for that temple came from some blueprints that God gave Moses for the tabernacle in the wilderness. And you can find that in Exodus 25:40; it tells us that this blueprints for this tabernacle; says see that you follow the plan that was given you in the mountain. God gave Moses the design in great detail. Now, of course, the one that was built in the wilderness was something of a portable tabernacle because they had to dismantle it. As they wondered they went to the next location, they camp for sometimes a few weeks or even over a year in some cases. They’d reassemble it, dismantle it; journey again for 40 years. Finally, when they’ve got to the Promise land David was instructed by the Lord to go to Jerusalem and he was told on Mount Moriah, also known as the threshing floor of Ornan that they would build the permanent temple.

But you can read in psalm 77:13, it says: Thy way of God is in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a very interesting building where God has infused the plan of salvation into this architectural design. For instance, everything about it really tells about Jesus in the holy place of the sanctuary. There were three things. There's a candlestick, which has light Jesus's life. There was a table with twelve loaves of bread. Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. There was an altar of incense that represented the prayers of the saints and Jesus is our intercessor. Of course there was a high priest and Jesus is our high priest. It was a door and Jesus said: ‘I am the door’. There was a lamp and Jesus said I am the lamp and then when you went into the holy of holies this golden box called the Ark of the Covenant had the two rocks with the Ten Commandments on it. Jesus is the rock even hears these words of mine and doesn't; like a wise mandolin on the rock, and so as you look at both the ceremonies in the design of that Old Testament Temple it tells you about Jesus and the plan of salvation. Now I’ve just touch the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more that people can learn about this and we have a special lesson’s friends if you'd like to understand something about what is the secret message God has in this design of the tabernacle of the sanctuary.

Jëan Ross: We had a study guide, entitled ‘God drew the plans’; we will send out to anyone who calls and asks for it and the number to call it is 800-835-356. That is our resource line and just ask for the study guide ‘God drew the plans’. You know Pastor Doug the tabernacle God told Moses to build was fairly simple when you think about it. It had two rooms and then a courtyard, and yet it’s so profound with reference to the lessons and whole plan of redemption, it was laid out; just an incredible study. Again that number is 800-835-67-47, ask for the study guide ‘God drew the plans’. And also, if you’re close to your computer you’re welcome to join us with our live stream from our studio this evening; you go to live.Amazing facts.org or amazingfacts.org and you can join us here in studio.

Well ready for the phone lines and we’ll go to our first call this evening. We have Ralph who is listening in Canada. Ralph welcome to the program.

Ralph: Thank you pastor. How you doing pastor?

Jëan: Great. Thank you for calling and your question.

Ralph: Matthew 24 – there’s lot covered in that chapter and for me is it true that; will the economy crash and will we have to get our own fruits and vegetables that commencing? Is that what’s it saying or..?

Jëan: You know there’s a lot of attention these days of people that are called ‘preppers’ and preppers are preparing for some kind of cataclysmic event. Some preppers are worried about an asteroid, others about a tidal wave; guess it depends in what part of the country. Others think that there is going to be political and economic implosion and folks are going to have to live off the land and kind of fend for themselves and then there are many Christians think that any of the above could lead to the last prophetic events and then how will you survive him. I think it's a good idea. Just as a, you know, being a prudent person to have a supply of, you know, some batteries for your flashlight and some freshwater and maybe a small reserve of gasoline and some food that would last a couple of weeks because I just remembered when we lived in Miami we had hurricanes and was always a good idea to just have some practical reserve for things like that. I think Christians aren’t told in the Bible that we’re supposed to stockpile for the time of trouble, and it doesn't say that anywhere I know of in Matthew twenty four or in Mark thirteen, Jesus does say there may come a time when Jerusalem was surrounded with armies and the people would have to flee to the hills and it seems like God provided for them. And in Isaiah and I don’t remember the first passage from Ross for Isaiah says: Your bread and your water will be sure’;

Doug: Isaiah 33:16.

Jëan: You had it on the tip of your tongue, thank you. So during that time when we gotta flee, the same way that God fed the children of Israel going through the wilderness, the way that God fed Elijah, when he was fleeing from Jezebel, He miraculously fed Elijah before the famine and after the famine. We believe that God is going to sustain people during the seven last plagues. It's not going to be because of our stockpiling either food or water, weapon for some thinking they’ll even have to defend themselves and I don't think that's in keeping with what Jesus is saying.

Ralph: Yes, if you go back for your jacket or don't go down to your rooftop, … you know.

Jëan: Well that’s because there was a ???. For instance, when God told Lot to flee some Sodom, Lot lingered and he lingered too long. His wife ended up looking back. If he had just got up and gone when God told him to things would have been better. And in the same way, when that time comes, and the Lord says: ‘Get out of the city, judgments coming’, and if He sends warning like that I think we should be ready to just go out and trust God.

Ralph: Okay

Jëan: Keep in mind when He set up the apostles, you know, Matthew 10 Jesus said don't take an extra staff or purse or shoes, God will provide for you and I think during that time as we’re near the end that God will provide for us. Now there may be a period of time what we call the small time of trouble when there's no buying and selling; might be a good idea for some of God 's people to be living and grow a little food, but the one the seven last plagues fall; I think that God will have to provide for us;

Doug: The verse you were referring today was Mark 6:eight, which is the disciples not to take, or least not prepare for taking money with them or bread or staff but God will provide for the needs.

Jëan: When they are out doing His work.

Doug: Next call is Kevin and he's listening from New York. Kevin welcome the program.

Kevin: Hi. I recently read some Christian material, and I noted this observation of (inaudible 11:26) keepers, but they said in their writings that the old covenant was mediated by Moses and a new covenant will be mediated by Jesus, but is that going to be with mortal human because mortal human don’t keep their words?; that it will be kept with immortal people when Jesus comes back? Have you ever heard about that before and how do you feel about that?

Jëan: Well that’s 2 questions really. It is true that the old covenant Moses was the mediator, God said, I'll speak to Moses. Mediator is someone who is in the middle, they go between two parties and God spoke to Moses. Moses spoke to the people. The people said in the Exodus nineteen: ‘Please don't let God speak to us’ because they were so terrified when they heard Him speak. They said:’ you talk to God, tell us what He says and we will believe you. With the new covenant. Jesus is our mediator. It says in Hebrews Christ is mediator of a better covenant and the old covenant, God spoke and the people said all the Lord has said we will do. The old covenant was based upon the promises of the people. The new covenant, God says, I will write my law in their heart and I will cause them. It’s based on the promises;

Kevin: Is the new covenant (inaudible 12:41)?

Jëan: Yes, we’re safe based on the new covenant, not the old.

Kevin: The writer used Ephesians 5:26-27 for an example to make his point; that He might sanctify and cleanse with the washing of water by the Word but that what he used, Ephesians 5:26-27 but He says that He want make it was immortal people, I mean mortal people that He is going to make it with immortal people.

Doug: Well I think what they're talking about, then again, what i can tell you is that the Bible says is lots of commentaries, but what the Bible says is the first covenant Moses, who we call a mortal person, he was a human; he was a mediator. The new covenant, Jesus is the mediator who is of course everlasting. He's from the everlasting to everlasting, so in that sense that would be true. So you know, we have a lesson, we will send you specifically on the subject of the new covenant, Kevin, if you'd like a copy that would be delighted to share that with you and pastor Ross is at the one oh, actually, you know does God 's grace blot out His law isn’t that on the two covenants;

Jëan: That does speak about that. For anyone wanting to learn more about the new covenant versus the old covenant, what that means we have a study guide called ‘Does God's grace?’, it's actually a book is “Does God's grace blot out the law” and we will send out to you for free, just call our resource line that’s 800-835-6747, 800-835-6747, ask for the book “Does God 's grace blot out the law”. Our next call is Melissa and she is also listening from New York. Melissa welcome to the program.

Melisa: Good Afternoon.

Doug: Evening. Yeah you’re on.

Melisa: …can you tell me exactly where in the New Testament where it talk about Saturday instead of Sunday please? Thank you.

Doug: Alright sure. First of all you don't find the word Saturday or Sunday for the Sabbath or for the first day of the week mentioned in the Bible. In the entire Bible, they never used the Roman names when we talked today about Wednesday or you know Monday was Moon day, Saturday was Saturn day, Friday was Frigg, Wednesday was Oden's day, The God of thunder. So, you know all the names we typically used today, we got from the Romans, just like our calendar, you see July, that's named after Julius Caesar and Augustus, Augustus Caesar, you don’t find any of those names in the Bible, what you find is that they numbered the days. You had the first day of the week, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth it was called the preparation day and the seventh day being the Sabbath, so you don’t find it anywhere in the Bible where it says that this Saturday is the seventh day of the week. What you do find is, we know that Jesus died on Friday since the preparation day and the Sabbath drew on, so we know what day follows Friday which would be Saturday and then he rose the first day of the week Sunday early in the morning. Everyone keeps Easter Sunday. No one questions that, and that it was the first day of the week so the only day that you can find between Friday the preparation day and the Jews still keep the same preparation day today as they did two thousand years ago; that's Saturday and, in fact, you can look in any encyclopedia or dictionary and look up Saturday; it’ll say Saturday the seventh day of the week and the normal calendar will have that though some have changed their calendars to look like a business workweek. We have a whole study we can offer to Melissa on that subject.

Jëan: Specifically in the New Testament the Sabbath is mentioned numerous times. Oh yeah, probably one of the most important is in Matthew 24:20 where Jesus is telling his disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem, which wouldn't happen still for another forty years, roughly from when Jesus spoke these words he said in verse twenty: ‘Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath’. So Jesus is still referring to the Sabbath as being a special day. It's difficult to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy when you are fleeing for your life, so, apparently, according to tradition, they didn't have to flee in winter or on the Sabbath.

Doug: Right and then it says Jesus’s custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, instead of to read the Scriptures and that's Luke 4:16. So I don’t know Sabbath’s probably mention thirty times in the New Testament; I am guessing- that's probably close guess. Appreciate that Melissa and we have a free offer if you like. It's called..;

Jëan: ‘The lost day in history’. The number to call is 800-835-6747 and the study guide is ‘The lost day in history’. We will be happy to give that to anyone who asks for it. Our next caller is Debra and she is listening from Detroit, Michigan. Debra welcome to the program.

Debra: Thank you very much Pastor. My question is about (inaudible 18:02-1803) the chosen people, and I was told they are already in heaven and I was trying to figure out how to help them.

Doug: When John sees them in heaven, it's because John is being shown the future. John is in vision, he has seen a lot of things, it doesn't mean it's happened yet. The 144,000, it tells us that they are connected with great tribulation, and that's at the end of the world. So the hundred and forty four thousand are people in the last days that prepare the world for Jesus second coming, like the twelve apostles prepared the Israelites, when Christ came the first time you got the hundred forty thousand is twelve times twelve thousand that prepare people for Jesus second coming, so I think the key to understand who the hundred and forty four thousand are is in the number itself. It's twelve like the apostles times twelve thousand, because it's not just the little land of Israel. It's the whole world now that they're working to prepare people. Ok. Now we have a book that specifically is on who are the 144,000? Would you like us to send your free copy Debra?

Debra: Yes please.

Doug: Absolutely. We’ll also give you the number just call and they will send you the book.

Jëan: The number to call is 800-835-6747 and the book again, ‘who is the 144,000?’ We will send that to anyone who calls and ask at 800-835-6747. We have Kevin who is listening from West Virginia. Kevin welcome to the program.

Kevin: Hi good evening Pastor, How are you?

Doug: Doing great. How are you?

Kevin: My question tonight is the revelation 13:3, where it says that the beast’s wound will be healed and I was wondering was that completely fulfilled in 1929 when the papacy was restored or can we expect or was that just the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. Can we expect a more dramatic fulfillment?

Doug: Alright let me say a word for our friends that are listening Kevin. I know what you talking about, you know what you are talking about, but a lot of our listeners are wondering what are you talking about. Most Protestant Christians and the Lutherans and the Calvinists, all believed that the beast of Revelation 17 was the Catholic Church and that it would receive a deadly wound and that it would lose its power and that deadly wound would be healed and the power would be restored. They received a deadly wound. When Napoleon was in power and their Pope was taken captive they kind of lost their unbroken rule over Europe during that time and that's when they; atheism was born in France that remained in effect until 1929 when there was an agreement and they were given an independent state again and the Vatican has increased in power from that time. Most of the countries of world recognize the Vatican as an independent state, and they send ambassadors, it’s not quite a religion. You would never send ambassadors to, you know speak to the leaders of the different world churches. Now your question is was that the complete fulfillment of the prophecy that the deadly one would be healed. I would say no because it talks about it gaining in power so that all the world would wonder and they are not at right now, the catholic church is kind of going through tremendous struggle with their image and I can sense a ??? you know. Just there’s been a lot of scandal without a paddle of lawsuits they are having some struggle and think the world is watching right now with great interest to see who is going to be this next pope. Are they to going pick somebody that’s an aged person who's going to just try and bridge things for a while or is there going to be some new charismatic leader that is going to set the agenda for the Catholic Church for the next, you know, fifteen, twenty years and so I think we still have some healing left to happen there Kevin. I don’t think it’s totally happened yet.

Kevin: Yeah we have heard about pope resigning and the new pope being decided up on and some other things I've seen in the news about the Catholic Church speak to my interest in and the prophecies, so well thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Doug: Thank you. That's the question on surprise, and we have more questions about the news of you know, this big transition with the Catholic Church. Very unusual for a Pope to resign and not only that, the last time the Pope resigned there was already two popes they were fighting over which one was the pope. So this is totally unprecedented.

Jëan: Our next caller is calling from New York. We have Dalheirim who is listening on WMCA. Dalheirim welcome to the program.

Dalheirim: Yeah, yes hi. Is this Doug Batchelor?

Doug: This is Doug Batchelor and John Ross.

Dalherim: Oh hi. How are you Pastors doing?

Doug: Doing great. How can we help you tonight?

Dalherim: Okay, I have a dream, I have dreams and my question is, is it very satanic to have dreams?

Doug: The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes that a dream can come through the multitude of business. So in other words, not all dreams are prophetic. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of our dreams are not prophetic. There's no special spiritual meaning in that. They are just, our brain is sort of defragmenting from the things that we've been doing and thinking during the day getting ready to for another day. It's sort of interesting and dreams are mysterious though, because your consciousness races around through facts and fiction that is conjured up in your mind and the ancients of study, the meaning of dreams for years, wondering you know is God telling us something, is the devil telling us something, or is it just our minds are kind of descrambling. Go-ahead.

Delirium: I sometimes, I don't think I feel like even, I lost friends in my life, I feel at times, it feel around and I miss them some times. I wonder, I mean and I see some of them in real life. I do things, I go places, I mean, some of them, I mean;

Doug: Seems very real?

Delirim: Yeah definitely.

Doug: You know what part of that is, part of that comes from whenever you've got a lot of vivid memories of someone you love and you lose them – the memories are still in your mind, and so they can seem very real and they can seem very near. I remember when my brother passed away I spent my whole life, since I was born my brother was always there and so I would forget that he was gone. I dream about him and it would seem so vivid and real, but it's just as you stored things in your mind and it sort of the old tape is playing back again. So I hope the Lord gives you some comfort with that Valerian and appreciate your calling in with your question.

Jëan Ross: We have Edwin who's listening from Maryland. Edwin welcome to the program.

Edwin: Thank you, how are you pastors doing this evening?

Doug: Very well.

Edwin: My question is based of Genesis 9:3,20 this is after the flood and Noah is given a ???, it says every clean but leave it shall be meat for you. Does this mean he was allowed to eat anything that was crawling on Earth?

Doug: It means he was allowed to eat anything that was in the clean category. In other words, when Moses put the animals on the Ark, God gave him a distinction that some were clean and some were unclean and any animal that would be clean for a sacrifice could also be eaten, think about it. If Moses was allowed to butcher and eat the unclean animals, they were brought on the ark by twos, it would've all been rendered extinct. So part of the reason that they brought extra. They brought the clean animals by sevens is because they would be used for sacrifice and food, all the vegetation had been destroyed. That as you read on the Bible and it reiterates that also Leviticus that they were allowed to eat from the clean animals. But what's interesting to me is the very fact that God says this to Noah, tells us this was not the ideal or the original plan. The ideal original plan was a fruit and vegetable diet, and when all the vegetation was wiped out from the flood . Then they made this emergency provision, one more thing, you might find interesting Edwin is, look at the life span of Noah and his ancestors. They typically lived nine centuries, nine hundred and something years. It varies one 969. Adam was 930. I think Noah lived 360, 965, I forget anyway, they all live like nine hundred, yes nine fifty years. You're right. But look what happens after their diet changes. You can see that the current lifespans just drop off a cliff, and I think it's partly because the diet partly because the environment gradually changed or not just gradually but dramatically changed after the flood. The atmosphere and just virtually everything else. So hope that helps Edwin and will be happy to send you a lesson on that. You are listening to Bible answers live. You mentioned the less ??? that we have one talking about healthy living, and I am just looking for it, that’s free health plan. The number to call is one 800-835-6747 and you can ask for the study God's free health plan and we’ll be happy to send that to anyone who calls and ask for it, and if you like to get studying these lessons sooner you can go to the amazing facts websites, we actually have a website dedicated to studying the Word of God called Bible University, you can link it from the amazing facts website or just Bibleuniverse.com, absolutely. And we have tried to design the site where people can study literally from around the world. They have got the study guides not only in English and in Chinese. They have brought half the languages of the world right there, Spanish, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Arabic Macedonian Romanian Tagalog Swedish. Bibleuniverse.com friends, a lot of Bible studies here. Link it to your friends, will be back in a moment.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Doug: We're back, listening friends, to Bible Answers Live and if you've tuned in somewhere along the way; this is a live, interactive Bible study. You have a Bible question, you're invited to call in right away, there are lines open right now. Call 800-463-7297. Of course, that's free in North America, 800-GOD-SAYS, 800-463-7297 brings your question into the studio. Or you can say 463-72-97, that's another way to remember the number. My name's Doug Batchelor.

Jëan: My name's John Ross. Pastor Doug, in just a few weeks, you're gonna be over in the Philippines and this is your second trip; and you're there to do a series of really exciting meetings.

Doug: I am looking forward to it. I get to take my lovely bride and one of our boys with us. We're going to be there from March 22nd through the 30th, in the middle of Manila, at a large outdoor arena called the Quezon Memorial Auditorium – or Quezon Memorial Circle rather. And, yeah, we'll be talking about Bible prophecy and salvation. And if you have some friends that are in Manila, the Philippines, hope you'll invite them to go. Matter of fact, if you go to the Amazing Facts website, I think there's more information there on the trip. I was there about 12 years ago, we had 10,000 people coming, hope we have as many this time. We're looking forward to it.

Jëan: Alright, we're gonna go back to the phone lines. We have Brandon, who's listening from Ohio. Brandon, welcome to the program.

Brandon: Hi, thank you.

Doug: Evening.

Brandon: My question is on Jesus' name. I hear a lot of different people saying His name was Yeshua, Yehoshua, Jesus or Isus. I was wondering what His disciples actually called Him when He was on this earth?

Doug: Disciples probably called Him something very close to Yeshua because Jesus' name – you know when you read the New Testament you're largely reading the Greek pronunciation of Hebrew words, that's why if you've got like a King James' New Testament when it says the name of Elijah, it calls him Elias. And Joshua, the way you say Joshua in Greek was Jesus. The way you say Jonah was John. A number of the Bible names, you'll end up with the Greek pronunciation. So, most of the English world says Jesus' name with a Greek pronunciation and that sort of has taken root, there's certainly nothing wrong with if you want to use the Hebrew but people might not always know what you're saying. God, of course, answers to His name in many languages.

Brandon: OK. My main question concerning that was over and over in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, there's references to His name getting changed or blotted out in some cases. I was wondering if it was OK that we had changed it over time? If we should have just kept it original, since the third commandment was “Do not take the Lord's name in vain”.

Doug: Yeah, I think most of the statements that you're referring to in the Bible, where it talks about defiling God's name or abusing God's name, it had nothing to do with what language you pronounced His name in. The Word name in the Bible means the character of who the person is. So, to defame who He is – His person, it didn't have to do with the pronunciation in your language. Because I think the Lord expects that – by the way God is the one who confused the languages at the tower of Babel, so He expects people to use whatever their native language is to talk to Him. Quite frankly, some parts of the world I've been in; no matter how hard they try, they can't say certain words that are very easy for the natives to say. They just have grown up and can't get their tongues wrapped around. I have trouble rolling my Rs like they do in Spain or in France. You go to certain parts of Africa, they click. You're from Africa, so you would know some of the ??? . . .

Jëan: Amazing sounds.

Doug: So, God is not going to keep us from going to Heaven because we don't pronounce His name Shibboleth or Sibboleth. If you know the Bible story I'm talking about, there's one tribe that couldn't say a certain word and they were killed when they were crossing the Jordan. I don't think the emphasis is on the pronunciation. I think the emphasis when it says “The name of the Lord” in the Bible, it's talking about who He is, not the pronunciation. I have a book I'll send you that's specifically called “The Name of God” and I'll send you a free copy if you'd like. Now you were saying something and I interrupted.

Brandon: I was just kind of curious. Are we the only religion that has done that over time? Or has, like, Buddha or Buddhism and Hinduism; have they changed the names as well? Is that a common practice from transliteration?

Doug: You know what I would guess, as I've traveled around the world, that you would find different pronunciations for everything from the name of Mohammed to the name of Buddha; as you travel. Sometimes they're recognizable, but different languages have a different emphasis and different accents. So, if your conscience bothers you and you think we really ought to be using the Hebrew name or the Hebrew pronunciation for Jesus' name, there's certainly no fault in that. But, most people in English are – you go to Spain, it's gonna be Jesus. You know what I'm saying?

Brandon: Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm just seeking out answers, I guess.

Doug: Absolutely and I respect you for doing that. I think it's important that we do want to please the Lord in all things. Do me a favor, take a look at the book I wrote because we get this question sometimes, it's an important one. How important to God is it that we say His name in the original tongue? Take a look at the book, we'll send you a free copy, “The Name of God”; and let me know what you think.

Jëan: The number to call is 800-835-6747 and the book is entitled “The Name of God”. Again, 800-835-6747. We have Marty, who is listening from Chicago. Marty, welcome to the program.

Marty: Hi. Good evening, Pastor Doug and Pastor John.

Doug: Evening.

Jëan: Evening.

Marty: I have read some links or articles in Facebook, being passed around by people, and it talks about Obama care and chips will be implanted on each person in America on March 23rd; they link it to the mark of the beast or 666. So my question is what does the Bible say about this, about 666 in relation to that idea or about that article?

Doug: Right. Well your question really is dealing with, not as much 666 as it is with what is the mark in the hand or in the forehead. The mark of the beast is not a computer chip that's implanted under the skin, they already have been implanting computer chips in stray dogs for years. Well not stray dogs, in dogs. I adopted a dog and they said, “We're gonna put a chip in it”; so if it's ever lost, they scan it and say, “Here's the owner”. I think there is some interest in the government. Some people have been getting government medical assistance for prescription drugs and things, and they go from one drug store to another, claiming to be different people to fill up their prescriptions. And they're saying, “Look, if you're gonna be doing that, we're gonna put this chip in your hand so we can track whether or not you're getting multiple dosages of that”. Of course, that gets people real excited when anyone from the government's gonna put anything in your hand. I would not feel comfortable with that. But, even though they're talking about that, that is not the mark of the beast. By the way, you had a question about 666, we have a website for you or anyone that answers all the questions about 666. It's very interesting, it's got a video. It's called 666truth.org; 666-Truth-Dot-org; we invite you to look there. The mark of the beast – Moses said that the Lord's law needs to be in our hand and between our eyes if we're gonna be saved. If you do not have the Lord's law in your hand and between your eyes – it says it's a signet between your eyes. In the New Testament, it says in the hand or the forehead, it's the same thing. Old Testament used Hebrew that said in your hand, between your eyes. New Testament said in your hand, in your forehead. If you don't have the law of God, you'll have the law of the beast in your hand or in your forehead. In your hand means in your actions. In your forehead means in your thinking and in your worship. The mark of the beast is gonna be dealing with: Do you worship God or do you worship the beast? It's not a computer chip. For years they thought it was a bar code and then people said it was credit cards and people thought it was the logo of Proctor and Gamble. I've heard all kinds of interesting theories about what that mark is. We do have a lesson that we'll send you a free copy, Marty, called “The Mark of the Beast”. If you'd like that.

Marty: OK.

Doug: In the meantime, I still wouldn't let anyone put a computer chip under your arm or in your forehead. But that's not the mark of the beast.

Jëan: The number to call is 800-835-6747. That is our resource line and we do have a study guide entitled “The Mark of the Beast”. We'll be able to send that to anyone who calls and asks for it, 800-835-6747. We have Tim, who's listening in Georgia. Tim, welcome to the program. Tim in Georgia, you're on the air.

Tim: Yeah, thank you. Good to hear you both again.

Doug: Absolutely.

Tim: I was reading a book by Ellen White, “Patriarchs and Prophets”.

Doug: Yeah.

Tim: It was describing in Noah's and before his time, that people were like 17 to 18 feet tall.

Doug: Yes.

Tim: Why was it that after the flood that people got so much smaller then?

Doug: Well, we already know that people who were living before the flood – evolution tells us that man was short and he's getting taller and he's getting smarter. But, really, that doesn't make sense at all because we know from the fossil record that all the other mammals were much bigger before the flood. You've got these giant moose, giant beavers. I just heard that they had giant camels that they found up in the arctic zone, giant camels. All the mammals were bigger, I don't know why people would be surprised that humans were bigger. They lived much longer. There have been fossils found, human fossils, and they say well those were rare giant – they had some kind of gigantic disease. The Bible leads us to believe that people were bigger and stronger. Animals were, fossil record supports it and I believe that. I don't think that we're going from monkey to God, I think we're going from the image of God toward monkey. I think that the race is degenerating with disease and size and everything. Though in the last couple hundred years, I guess, men have gotten taller because nutrition's gotten better.

Tim: But they haven't got any smarter.

Doug: We've got more technology but we don't have more wisdom.

Tim: Yeah, that's what I was talking about. Why is it that they shrunk so much after Noah's day. Was it just because of the –

Doug: The whole environment changed. After the flood, not only was the surface of the earth altered, but the very fact that it says that the heavens unleashed an envelope of water that was above. There was some vapor of water that surrounded the planet that polarized the temperature. That's why you've got a warm climate up in the arctic regions. Mastodons that seemed to die quickly, they were still chewing on ferns. There was much more tropical vegetation around the planet. Something radically happened. The oxygen content changed, the plants were much bigger. That's why we've got these incredibly large reserves of coal and oil. That all comes from biologic life. The environment changed and everything, from the radiation that comes from the sun that damages our cells, it all served to shorten man's lifespan.

Tim: OK.

Doug: I hope that helps a little. We've got a book called “When Evolution Flunked the Science Test”. We'll send you a free copy of that.

Jëan: The number to call for that is 800-835-6747 and the book again “When Evolution Flunked the Science Test”. Very interesting read. That's 800-835-6747. We have Isaac, who is listening from El Paso, Texas. Isaac, welcome to the program.

Isaac: Hi, thanks for having me. My question is regarding Ephesians chapter four, where it talks somewhere about how there are some apostles there are some pastors, teachers, evangelists . . . My question is, I know there's pastors and I know there's evangelists, but are there any more apostles?

Doug: Well, you know the original – when we say the word Apostles, we mean two things. The original 12 apostles, chosen by Jesus, .. There are no more apostles of those caliber that personally received an invitation from Jesus. You've got the 12, Judas hung himself, he was replaced with Mathias and then; looks to me like the Lord replaced him Paul because Jesus personally called Paul. Only apostles were involved in writing of the Scriptures. There were other people who were called apostles because they were then chosen at different church councils and they were given authority. It seems that James the brother of Jesus, not James the brother of John; James the brother of Jesus was promoted to the class of apostle not by Jesus, but by some other church council. He was sort of chairman of the board of the council in Jerusalem. So, they did have some process for replacing apostles. They were really leaders of the pastors, they were spiritual administrators. Is that your understanding?

Jëan: Yeah, maybe today we'd refer to it as church administrators.

Doug: Yeah. And elders, yeah. And they should, at the very least, have the gifts of a pastor but we also hope they have good gifts of administration because that's what the apostles were doing; or at least James was doing.

Isaac: OK, thank you very much.

Doug: Thank you.

Jëan: We have Sarah, who's listening from Seattle, Washington. Sarah, welcome to the program.

Sarah: Hi. My question is . . . my husband and I are thinking about starting a family and I've heard so many conflicting viewpoints on family planning. I was wondering what the Bible says in support or against medical intervention and things like that?

Doug: Well, you know, Jesus said that we need to be willing to count the cost. He said if you're gonna build a tower, make sure that you're able to finish it. Having a family's a big responsibility. By the way, that verse is in Luke 14:28. Which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost? There's a big responsibility in having children. Now Jesus said, and when I say Jesus I mean God, He spoke to Adam and Eve and He said, “Be fruitful and multiply”. But then Christ also said to the women at the time of the cross, “Woe to them that are with child” and that the day's coming when you'll say blessed is the womb that did not bear and the breast that did not nurse. Now that was before the fall of Jerusalem. But then Jesus speaking of the last days, does say “Woe to them that are with child” in that time. It's gonna be difficult when people have to rise and flee in the last days if you've got a gaggle of kids. So, when that time is, you really have to pray about that. I know about pastors who 100 years ago told families, “Don't have any children, Jesus is about to come. It's a bad time to start a family”. Of course, that was bad advice, they were wrong and they were way off. When Karen and I started our family, we were thinking, “How much longer is the world gonna last and what kind of world are we bringing them into?” Well, now we've got the last one heading for college so, you know, I'm glad we had them. You need to really pray about it because it's a decision that I think God will guide you in personally. There's nothing wrong, Biblically, with doing something to prevent having children or to postpone having children. What I think the Biblical problem is, once conception has happened, that needs to be really defined as human life and treated as sacred. But preventing conception, I don't find anything in the Bible that forbids that.

Sarah: Alright, thank you very much.

Doug: Alright, thank you. Appreciate your call.

Jëan: We have Defoe calling from the Virgin Islands. Defoe, welcome to the program.

Defoe: Hi, good evening pastors.

Doug: Evening.

Defoe: Greetings from the U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John. I'm calling from St. Thomas.

Doug: Oh, I'd love to come someday. I hear the water is very clear.

Defoe: Oh, you bet it is. Right now it's very hot here.

Doug: OK, well we'll wait a little bit. Your question tonight?

Defoe: My contribution is, the name of God. I cannot recall what Scripture from the Old Testament that says, “I appear unto Isaac, Jacob, Abraham by the name God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was not known to them”.

Doug: That's when God spoke to Moses at the burning bush.

Defoe: I know the name God is a title but, why religious organizations they don't use the name as they're supposed to use it? Everyone just say God, God, God. Me personally, I believe the name of God is Jehovah so elaborate on this for me, please?

Doug: Yeah, you're absolutely correct that Jehovah is certainly one of the names of God. You can read in Isaiah 9:6; where it says, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. When Moses said to the Lord, in Exodus chapter 3, I've just come out of Egypt – I'm paraphrasing – I've just come out of Egypt, they have all these different Gods, what God name shall I use to identify you? And He says that I am that I am. I'm the self-existent one. But He's known by Yahovah or Yahweh, we're not exactly sure how to pronounce that because it comes from the Tetragrammaton, which is four letters. So they say it's either Yahweh or Yahweh or Jehovah, that is definitely a name of God; but He's also called the El Shaddai, He's called God Almighty, He's got a number of names that are used to identify Him in the Bible. Nothing wrong with calling Him Jehovah, that's one of the names He uses, but even after God told Moses His name Jehovah; He continues to use other names later in the Bible.

Isaiah: Alright.

Doug: Would you like a free copy – we'll send you that book, “The Name of God”; and if you want to get it quickly, Defoe, in the Virgin Islands – you can just go to the Amazing Facts website and type in “The Name of God” and it will show you the book. You can read it for free online if you want to get to it right away, got a whole article there.

Jëan: The number to call is 800-835-6747 and the book, again, is called “The Name of God”. Our next caller is Tim and he is listening from San Antonio, Texas. Tim, welcome to the program.

Tim: Yeah, hi.

Doug: Evening.

Tim: This is Tim, the street evangelist. I deal with a guy on the street here in San Antonio that my wife was talking to last night and he was a Vietnam Vet. We talked to him yesterday, because we were on the street, and he hasn't slept in three days. His question was, “Doesn't the Bible say 'Thou shall not kill'? Is it really right for man to go to war?” This man suffers deeply with traumaticness. He always has to be near the VA and everything. My question is, I've always thought about this myself. I'm on my third time through the Bible and – why did God ever allow man to kill another man? Why did He ever let him feel that experience? I've never killed anybody, but it's got to be a horrible experience to take someone else's life. I remember when my grandpa said, “You know, I don't want to take somebody's boy or daughter. That's someone's kid. I don't want to kill anybody in the war”.

Doug: Let me do my best to give you an answer to that. First of all, the Lord is not willing that any should perish. That's what the Bible says. God doesn't want anyone to die. Jesus wants to save everybody, He wants us to have eternal life. But in the reality of a world where the devil is running – he's on a rampage to kill and destroy – Jesus said that the devil is a thief who's come to kill and destroy, Jesus said he is a murderer from the beginning. So, the Lord needed to empower His people in different times in history, to defend themselves. That mean sometimes, if they were gonna stay an independent nation, they had to fight wars. Now, of course, then there's another issue and that's the issue of in the administering of justice. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, wound for wound, bruise for bruise, burn for burn, life for life. So to discourage the most terrible crime, which is murder, God had the death penalty. Now, Jesus said in our personal relationships, we should turn the other cheek. You know, if someone smites you on one side, you can offer him the other. In our interpersonal relationships that's fine; but a government can't operate on the basis of 'let's turn the cheek' when you've got rebels that are marauding through the streets, breaking windows with baseball bats and saying they just keep turning the other cheek. There needs to be judgment and Paul says that too, that the soldiers or the government doesn't bear the sword in vain. In other words, there is reason for them to have that sword and they are supposed to use it. They are told by God to use it, to preserve peace and order. So, it is a difficult subject. It isn't God's will that anyone should die but in, like I said, this world where you've got the devil misbehaving; that had to be allowed. Thank you for your call, Tim.

And, friends, if you did not get on the line tonight; I hope you'll give us another chance next week. I do want to remind you, if you'd like to study the Bible, a lot of the lessons that we offer and the programs; you can find them at the Amazing Facts website. Simply amazingfacts.org. Don't forget we were telling you tonight about the Bible Universe website, Bible studies in so many different languages. And when you do log on, contact the part that says “Contact Us”. We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line, help us stay on the air. God Bless, until we talk together again next week.

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