Pastor Doug: Hello friends. This is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact? Due largely to laptop computers, smartphones and email, the concept of leaving work at the office has almost become obsolete. Eight hour workdays and forty hour work-weeks, are no longer the norm. A Cornell University study of working couples confirms the detrimental effects that work related stress have on families. Married couples with children, burdened by long hours of paid work, report the lowest quality of life among working couples.
Additionally 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress and 75-90% of all physician office visits are attributed to stress related ailments or complaints according to the American Psychological Association. Stress is linked to the 6th leading causes of death in the US: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. Do you know the Bible has a prescription for stress-relief? Stay with us friends. We'll learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
Pastor Doug: Welcome listening friends to Bible Answers Live and if you have a Bible question, now is a good time to pick up your phone and make that phone call. It's toll free, that number one more time is (800) GOD SAYS, (800) 463.7297. At the beginning of the program, we usually have a few lines open and now is such a time. If you've got a Bible question that's been puzzling you, we'll do our best to search the Word together.
One more time, the phone number, you ready? (800) 463.7297 but there's an acronym for it … (800) GOD SAYS. We find our answers in God's blessed book the Bible. My name is Doug Batchelor and Pastor Jëan Ross is off tonight. He's been involved in an evangelistic meeting at his home church. And we're going to start the program with a word of prayer.
Father, we thank You for the opportunity that we have to just come before You. You promised if we seek, we'll find. If we ask, we'll receive. And if we knock, You will open. Lord, our seeking, our asking, our knocking tonight is to better know You and You are the truth. We pray that You bless this program with Your presence and be with everyone who calls in with a question and please bless Lord the answers that are given. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Well friends, you heard me talk at the beginning about the detrimental effects of constant stress on the health of Americans in particular, but it's really like this in many parts of the world. Most first world countries now, when they've got their smartphones and the laptop computers and constant email and pagers … it's hard to leave work at home.
Now a little bit of stress is good for your health but God did not intend for us to have constant unrelenting stress because that's what leads to, well you heard it, the major causes of death, everything from cancers … connected with stress, breathing ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, heart disease, all can be traced in some degree to stress. Constant stress is bad for your health, bad for your families. It's bad for your quality of life and you know, the Lord never intended that we go with constant stress.
He designed that our time should be broken up with a day where we have trained ourselves to let go of all of our worries and to rest in him. Not just our nightly sleep but a day of rest, better known as the Sabbath. The word Sabbath means to cease. After God created the world in 6 days, He made one more day and it was a day for quality time with God. That day of rest, of ceasing, and Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man. God didn't make the Sabbath and make man to serve the Sabbath. God made man and then made the Sabbath to be a blessing to humanity, but so many people even Christians forget about that 4th Commandment and they're suffering the consequences with the constant stress.
Maybe you'd like to know more about this blessed day that God has designed for you to enjoy where He promised to draw close to you and give you a double portion of spiritual bread. You want to know more about it? We have a free offer and that offer is called The Lost Day of History. It's a beautifully illustrated Bible study on what is the Sabbath all about, The Lost Day of History. And maybe you are looking for that rest …. It is that missing piece that so many people are looking for. And just to build that into your spiritual schedule will lengthen your life and give you more abundant life.
You want to know more about our free offer, just call the number (800) 835.6747. We'll send you a free copy of The Lost Day of History. It's free if you read it and then share it with somebody. So one more time (800) 835.6747 and in just a moment, we'll go to the phones and I want to remind anybody who might be listening on your computer, if you're curious, we're also streaming the program tonight and the address for that is simply live.amazingfacts.org. And sorry but you'll only see yours truly in the studio tonight … live.amazingfacts.org. With that, we don't want to keep you waiting, we're going to go to the phones and see how many phone calls we can get tonight starting now with Rick who is calling from Georgetown, California listening on 710 KFIA. Rick, welcome to the program.
Rick: Hello, Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Rick: I was cleaning out my truck and I found an old letter from... From a girlfriend about why we shouldn't be together anymore. And she was talking about John 5:10 in which it says the Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed … and in verse 12, they ask the man who was it that told you to take up your bed and walk? So ... she was implying that Jesus broke the Sabbath by healing him and by having him carry that bed on the Sabbath. Now was this a violation of tradition or is she a little ... well …
Pastor Doug: Well, Jesus, He had several occasions where He explained that if you have a donkey or an ox or a sheep, He uses all three examples in different places, that falls in a ditch or falls in a pit on the Sabbath day, do you say to that creature well in 24 hours we'll come fetch you? No, Christ always said you know some emergency arises; by all means, take care of it especially if it means to relieve human suffering. And when you say a bed ... he was not carrying a big hotel queen size perfect sleeper mattress. A bed was smaller than a sleeping bag in Bible times.
They used to just have a skin of some sort that they would roll up and they’d lay on. So it wasn't like he had this big burden but the Jews had made ... the Pharisees, in particular … had made all these man-made traditions and laws that they didn’t even want you to carry a handkerchief on the Sabbath. So first of all, if the Lord had told him, "Look I want you to pick up your bed because it's your possession, you don’t leave it here. Pick it up and take it home."
There was no real labor involved in that. That man was so happy to be healed that he didn’t even feel the weight of his mattress or his sleeping bag. So, no, Jesus would never... He said in John chapter 15, "I have kept My Father's commandments." So certainly He wasn't telling them I want you to break the Sabbath day. There was constant conflict through Jesus’ ministry. Not in regard to whether or not you should keep the Sabbath or any of the commandments but how to keep them. That's where the issue was. Still there?
Rick: Yeah, I'm still here. That’s great. Yeah. She had referred to that about the Father was working and Jesus was working and she felt that, that was a violation of the Sabbath but that was a ministry, wasn't it?
Pastor Doug: Well, when Jesus said My Father works and I work, the work of saving people happens 7 days a week. And even Jesus said that on the Sabbath day, you know the priests are innocent from the work they did in the sanctuary, sacrificing animals. But did you hear the free offer that we were talking about at the beginning of the program?
Rick: I did.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, if you've not seen that, Rick, we'd like to send you a copy of that. I think you'll find that a real blessing. It's called The Lost Day of History and it deals with the Sabbath and even some of the Sabbath disputes that Jesus just had with His followers and in particular His people. And so appreciate your call with a question. Next we're going to talk to Efrank, who's calling from New York and WMCA. Efrank, you're on the program.
Efrank: All right. Thank you very much Pastor Doug. I was recently on a trip, in an escapatory trip. I don't know the appropriate word. I was going to visit my adopted step-father out in Toronto, Ontario, trying to escape the ravages and the destruction of the former hurricane super-storm Sandy.
So I was travelling through Denver, New Jersey, Syracuse, and Rochester, New York and I was reading the Bible on the bus that I was transporting myself to up there in Ontario. And I was reading this verse in the Bible which was very confusing to me, maybe you can clarify what it means. The verse is Psalm 118:26-27 which states "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the Lord's house. For the Lord is God and has given us life."
And I noticed that when I was on the bus reading this verse many people looked at me in a strange way on the greyhound bus that I left from the port of New York in to the bus terminal out in Toronto when I was between rest stops and they actually had said, "Sir, do you know that Christ is no longer alive in the world?"
And I said to them, "What are you talking about? I'm just reading my Bible here patiently and quietly." And they actually just looked at me and said that you know, "Christ is no longer in the world." And I was a little bit scared when they stated that.
Pastor Doug: All right. Let me ... so your question is about these verses in Psalms or is Christ alive in the world?
Efrank: Yeah. This Psalm said that "Christ is alive in the world." but they were looking at me inside the bus as though the verse ... because they also had their Bibles open. And they kind of did not believe that this verse is about the Psalm. They were discussing with me indirectly that this Psalm has to do with living in a one world government and I said that this has nothing to do with prophecy.
Pastor Doug: All right. Well, let me see if I can answer that a little bit. First of all, is Jesus still in the world? Jesus … last thing He said when He ascended to heaven was lo I'm with you always even to the end. Christ through His Spirit is everywhere. He said He's, you know, there's nowhere in Psalm 30... 137, I believe He said 'There's no where you can flee from God's presence and so wherever we go, the Lord is there.
Physically, you know, Jesus is right now up in the heavenly temple but you know those verses where it tells us, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," is a prophecy of Christ that He is coming again and it's also when we come to share Jesus with others as a blessing on those who come in the name of Jesus to share Christ with others. So both of those principles are wrapped up in this verse. Efrank, I appreciate your call. I hope that helps a little bit. And we're going to keep … though we need to talk with Donna, who is calling from ... Calling from somewhere New York. [Donna laughs] Hi, Donna, how are you?
Donna: I'm fine. How are you?
Pastor Doug: Good.
Donna: I have two similar problems to this last gentleman but I would like to know what Bible verse is or Psalms would help me. I'm gradually losing faith.
Pastor Doug: And you want to know what can you do to strengthen your faith.
Donna: Yes, please.
Pastor Doug: In Romans 10:17 it says, ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.’ For instance, when you read in the Word of God and you see prophecies that were made and then you see where the prophecies were fulfilled, whether they're fulfilled in the Bible or history that strengthens your faith. When you see in the Word of God that if we pray and pray in faith and trust the Lord, He can open the windows of heaven and then you pray and you see answers to prayer, that's strengthens your faith. There’s really 3 things that you can do that will help strengthen your faith.
One is reading God's Word as I just said Romans 10:19, the more you read about the miracles and the power of God, there's something different about the Bible. It's not just like you know black ink on white paper. It's … Jesus said ‘the words that I speak they are Spirit and they are life.’ And so having a regular time in the Word, prayer, stay in a state of communion with the Lord. You'll see Him answer your prayers and then share, share your faith with others because your faith becomes stronger as you give it away. It doesn't make any sense but you remember when the disciple gave away the bread that it multiplied in their hands.
Donna: Yes.
Pastor Doug: So they started out … 12 apostles, divided up 5 loaves and two little sardines and as they shared it, they ended up taking up 12 basket loads. Something amazing but as you share what little faith you have with others, you must have some faith cause God, He’s dealt to all men a measure of faith. And so as you share it, it will multiply and it comes back to you. So read your Bible and that sounds very basic but it's very true.Prayer.
Donna: I'm in total agreement.
Pastor Doug: Do you have regular times for Bible reading?
Donna: No, not really. My job keeps me pretty busy but I can always make time for His Word.
Pastor Doug: Find ... I recommend that you find time and you know we do have a book we'll be happy to send you also Donna. And it's called The Ultimate Resource. I wrote it. I'll send it to you for free and it's about the Bible and personal devotions, called The Ultimate Resource. Call 800 835.6747. Tell them you're listening to Bible Answers Live and they'll sign you up and send you that book. It's free. I appreciate your call. And next, I think, we're going to talk to Linda in Highland, Michigan, calling and listening on WMUZ. Linda, you're on the air with Bible answers Live.
Linda: Hello.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Linda: This is not my first time calling. In fact, I listen to your show weekly and I really do enjoy your insights and your helping to understand certain things. My question tonight is, I'm referring to a particular Scripture. I cannot call it per say but it refers to people who are being given over to a reprobate mind. Are you familiar with that scripture?
Pastor Doug: Well, I am. When I hear the word reprobate in the King James Version if you're there, first let me see, 2 Corinthians chapter 13, he said 'We should examine ourselves.' Let’s start with verse 5, 'examine yourselves whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. Don’t you know your own selves? How that Jesus is in you, unless you be a reprobate?' But that's not the verse I think you're talking about. You're talking specifically about a reprobate? Mind and...
Linda: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Well, you know what? Give me a second, I'll see if I can find that for you real quick. The word is not in the Bible that much and so I bet you I can search for it and find it. Here we go, yeah, it's Romans 1:28.
Linda: I thought that it was in the book of Romans. I came across that sometime ago and I was never really clear on it. You said that was Romans?
Pastor Doug: Romans 1:28.
Linda: Okay.
Pastor Doug: ‘And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient being filled with all unrighteousness.' He's talking about the pagans that were kind of turning to... actually turning to homosexuality is specifically what it's talking about in those verses. So reprobate means … areprobate is a person who's hardened their heart and they're rebellious.
So, yeah, I hope that helps a little bit, Linda. And glad we found the verse together. You know, I'm used to reading that in the New King James version and it doesn't use the word 'reprobate.' That's sort of an old English word that I had to think about that. Next, I think we're going to go to Salt Lake City and talk to Jim who's listening on XM radio. Jim, welcome to Bible Answers Live. You're on the air.
Jim: Hey, thank you. Nice to talk with you again.
Pastor Doug: Likewise.
Jim: You was talking at Sabbath school yesterday about, well, in the Book of Amos and we were jumping around and I couldn't remember where it was that I read it but... Anyhow, it was talking about the in the end times that they will rebuild a temple in Jerusalem.
Pastor Doug: Well, I tell you there's 2 or 3 places you might be thinking. There's really no statement that says they're going to rebuild the temple. There is a place where it talks about the anti-Christ power. And you can read in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and it tells us that 'Let no man deceived you by any means.' This is verse 3. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 'Let no man deceive you by any means for that day will not come except there comes a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself he is God.' Now, in that verse people make a conclusion. They say "Well, in order for this beast power, this anti-Christ power to be sitting in the temple of God and since the temple of God was destroyed in 70AD, the temple of God must be rebuilt." I don’t think that's a good argument for it in this verse alone because when Jesus was teaching, He told the religious leaders "Destroy This Temple and 3 in days, I'll raise it up." At His trial, the false witnesses actually accused Him of saying "Destroy this temple made with hands and in 3 days, I'll make one without hands." Speaking of when He rose, the church was born which is the body of Christ.
So their testimony wasn't probably too far from what He actually said. So Jesus referred to His body as being the temple and you and I, the Bible says in the New Testament, are living stones in the temple of God. And... That you know we're part of a royal priesthood so the idea that the Jewish temple has to be rebuilt, you don't find a definitive Scripture on that in the New Testament. You might have been thinking of one of those two or three Scriptures.
Jesus said of course in Matthew 24, He said there won’t be one stone left upon another and He does say Jerusalem will be trodden down until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And some have assumed when the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled, they'll rebuild a temple in other words when Jerusalem is no longer occupied by the Gentiles. So there's been a lot of surmising but there's no verse in the New Testament that says ‘then the temple will be rebuilt’.
Jim: Okidoke.
Pastor Doug: There are verses in the Old Testament but that was fulfilled when Nehemiah and Ezra rebuilt the temple
Jim: Okay.
Pastor Doug: So... all right. Yeah. I hope that helped a little and ... appreciate your call. Thank you very much Jim. Going next to talk to Rick who's calling from New Orleans, Louisiana. Rick, you are on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Rick: Good evening Pastor Doug. How are you this evening?
Pastor Doug: Evening. Get real close to your phone cause … we’re all the way in California.
Rick: (chuckle) Okay. A friend and I were discussing this and we were just wondering when did it become unlawful to marry your sister or be with your sister or close relative? I know Adam and Eve and had Seth and obviously it was with his sister and then nine generations to Noah to repopulate the Earth, I guess the sons had to be with sisters. At what point did it become where God frowned on that I guess you would say.
Pastor Doug: All right. Good question. Probably just before the time of Moses. We know that Jacob married his first cousin. Abraham married his half-sister, Sara. He actually and Abraham shared the same father and different mothers and ... Isaac married his cousin. It started becoming and by the way, back then they actually used to call cousins, brethren. At that time, it seems like by the time of Moses, he said a man shall not look on the nakedness of his sister meaning you know in marital intimacy.
They realized there were going to be genetic problems if you marry too close to the family tree. And so when they were in Egypt, and they began to multiply greatly, they realized I think at that point that we need to mix this up a little bit and... I think I lost our caller but hopefully you will still hear the answer and appreciate you calling in. That was not deliberate. We don't know what happened but it does free up a line so if you want to call in with a Bible question friends or if I didn't answer your old question, give us a callback (800) GOD SAYS, (800) 463.7297. I think we can take another call before the break. We're going to talk to Otis who's calling from Oakland, California. Otis listening on KDI...
Otis: Hi how you doing? How you doing Pastor Doug? How are you?
Pastor Doug: Good. How are you?
Otis: Oh, pretty good. My question is what was Jesus’ name before it was Jesus?
Pastor Doug: Well, that's a good question. Obviously He existed in the Old Testament because He said before Abraham was I AM so that was one of His names. Christ, all things that were made by Him. We read in the New Testament right. And so Jesus was involved in the creation. He's probably the One that is talking to Moses at the burning bush. The pre-incarnate Son of God who said before Abraham was I AM. So He probably also had the name Yahweh. His name shall be called, now I'm reading in Isaiah 8:6, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace so there you’ve get a little cadre of names that are mentioned there.
Otis: What about Michael?
Pastor Doug: That’s one of the titles for Christ and that simply means who is as God. Now that name Michael... Of course, you've got Micah is like the name Michael. Micah means my God is Jehovah. Michael is my God is Elohim or my God is ... Who is like God, rather. So Michael, yeah, is one of the pre-incarnate names of God. I actually have a book on the names of God that I'll send you for free if you’d like it. Would you like that Otis?
Otis: Appreciate it.
Pastor Doug: Yes.
Otis: You're doing a good Job.
Pastor Doug: Well, thank you.
Otis: You're doing a wonderful job to all the listeners who are listening.And another thing, why doesn’t some pastors say the name when they baptizing folks? Instead of saying “I baptize you in the name of Father." Why don't they call Him the Father's name? And why don't they call the Son’s name? And why don't they call the Holy Spirit’s name?
Pastor Doug: Well, I think what the reason for that is of course, they're following the example in Matthew 28 where He says ‘baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ In Acts it says baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then our church, we try to cover both bases and we baptize you in the name of the Father, Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But... we'll also send you that book. I have a book also called Who is Michael the Archangel?
You were asking about the name Michael so call up and we'll send you both of those. The one on the Name of God and that answers your question about baptism on there too. And the second one, Who is Michael the Archangel?
So... Let me see here... Oh, you know, I don't think I'm going to have time to take another call. If I take a call before the break, I just have to give you the you know, you'd have 50% of a phone call. So let me tell you the number again. We still have lines open. It's 800 God says, 800) 463.7297 and we did start out the program talking a little bit about God's day of rest. We have a website that is one of the most popular in the world on the subject and it's called Sabbath Truth. If you want to know about how to get that rest, Sabbathtruth.com I think if you type Sabbathtruth.org, you'll get there just as well. And there is a new book, I just wrote it, just came in to print about a week ago.
A lot of people around the world don't know exactly what to do with Mary the mother of Jesus. And a lot of confusion about do we worship her or what? Go to MaryTruth.com. We have a new website and we got a new book there, The Mystery of Mary, Mother of Jesus. You're listening to Bible Answers Live. So when you go to that website, MaryTruth.com, not only will you find that it's got information about who is Mary the mother of Jesus. Was she half God, Half man, or 100% human? How was she chosen to be the mother of Jesus? You know there's just so many things there. Can you imagine being able to choose your own mother? Really when you think about it, that's what Jesus had to do it. He had to pick His mother.
So she must have been a very remarkable person to be chosen but when she was chosen, did she somehow get promoted to divinity? That's a question a lot of people are confused about so you can go to the website. There's a video message you can listen to by yours truly talking about the mystery of Mary the mother of God, the mother of Jesus, and there's a book there as well, a brand new book on the subject. After you read it, we hope that you share it with others and a lot of people are wondering about this. Friends, we're going to take a little break. I'm going to get a drink of water and take a deep breath. And it's a good time for you to get a pencil or make sure you write down the main website address, amazingfacts.org. Be back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug: Welcome back listening friends. This is Bible Answers Live and the purpose of this program is to call in with any Bible related question that you might have. If you've got questions about the Bible, the Christian faith, we'll do our best to answer them. We've got a number of Bible resources at our fingertips here. My name is Doug Batchelor and Pastor Jëan Ross is involved in an evangelistic presentation tonight and so he sends his regards.
He'll be back. But we're going to go back to the phones so by the way, if you're by your computer and you want to see the streaming, you just type in live.amazingfacts.org is the address for the web stream, live.amazingfacts.org. Let me see, who's been waiting patiently the longest. Line 3, Craig, calling from Des Moines, Iowa. Craig, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Craig: Yes, hello Pastor Doug. I'm calling again like I do, too much probably.
Pastor Doug: Oh I don't mind.
Craig: Unfortunately, I have a problem with 2 of my sisters. They both believe in once saved always saved and I have the book by Joe Crews Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost?And I can’t get them to read it online or by the book and neither one of them really knows the Bible at all. They just have this philosophy so like you know like in John 10:28, it's one of those verses that appears to give them credence.You know, the once saved always saved thing.
Pastor Doug: Well, let me read that for our friends here.It says 'And I give unto them eternal light and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.' Now, there are two people that are involved in this covenant of salvation. The New Testament is the new Covenant. Christ has made a promise to us and He said there's nothing that anyone could do to pluck you out of My hand. There, in other words, He will never drop us.
That does not remove our freedom to make a different choice. It's like in a marriage. You can count on Jesus as our Bridegroom. He will never be unfaithful. He will never let us go; but we can pull away from Him … its pretty clear. Otherwise, what you have here is that the Lord is taking away the person's freedom of choice and the whole reason that there's sin and suffering in the world is because people are making bad choices. Eve made a bad choice as did Adam.
And so... to interpret this verse to mean that people have lost their freedom to choose is not what Jesus is saying. He's saying no man is able to pluck them out of My hand. Jesus said don't fear him who destroys your body; fear Him who can destroy your body and soul in hell. Well, Christ was just saying 'You don’t have to be afraid of man. They might torture your body but they can’t take your soul.
And... But it doesn't mean that we can’t choose to do something different. First of all, they're going to have to read the Bible to get the answers so I can’t make them do that. But let me give you Hebrew 6:4 in this verse, this verse really troubles people but there's one thing very clear from this verse. Hebrew 6:4 'For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away to renew them unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.'
So here, no matter what a person thinks this verse means, it's pretty clear he's talking about people who once have the Holy Spirit but they’ve fallen away and then you can read where Peter says, ‘it's like the proverb the dog has returned to his vomit and the pig who was washed wallowing in the mire.’ There are people who were washed but they go back. It's like the story of Judas. Judas was one of the apostles certainly. Christ said have I not chosen 12 of you? And yet one of you is a devil.
Craig: Yeah I told them about Judas and Saul both.
Pastor Doug: And what about Balaam the prophet, he's called the prophet but yet he became corrupt and that's mentioned not only in Revelation but Jude talks about Balaam who also went sideways. So it's pretty clear in the Bible that there’s examples of people they were saved, they were walking with the Lord but for whatever reason, they lost their faith. Kind of like you know the parable of the seed and the soil that Jesus tells.
Four different kinds of Earth. You've got 3 out of 4 spring up. They do come to life. Well if it lands on the trail, it never even springs up. The birds snatch it away but the other one that's in shallow ground, it springs up but it’s scorched by the heat and another one, it comes to life but it's choked by the weeds so there they are, they come to life but they don't bear fruit.
And so then if you read in John 15, Jesus said, 'Every vine that abides in me that doesn't bear fruit will be cut away and burned.' So you know, He's pretty clear that there are those who say Lord, Lord but they don’t know Him.
Craig: Law of evidence.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, I think so. You know that's why our relationship with the Lord, now don't misunderstand, while it is true that a person has freedom to turn from God … He never takes that away, at the same time a Christian can have a freedom that ... once you've made the commitment, if you keep your eyes on Him, He is the author and finisher of your faith. You can have assurance.
And if you like, I've got a book that I've written on the subject. It's actually an article called Assurance and if you go to the amazing facts website, you can read that for free. And... justification and assurance.
Craig: I didn't know about that. I'd read that for sure.
Pastor Doug: Yeah and pass it on to your friends as well.
Craig: Oh, you bet.
Pastor Doug: All right, Craig, thank you for your call. And ... next, we're going to talk to Jean listening in Stratford, Connecticut. And Jean, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Jean: Hi.
Pastor Doug: Hi. Thanks for your patience.
Jean: Yes. By the way, I just want to say that I definitely been blessed by your ministry and I thank you for listening to my call.
Pastor Doug: Well, thank you.
Jean: Yes, my question is on the lunar Sabbath and I recently been exposed to this whole philosophy and theology. And I've been studying and debating in this other lunar Sabbatarians online, I was wondering what, basically how do we know that what we have as a Sabbath isn't ... What is the right to correct Sabbath? How do we know that’s correct?
Pastor Doug: Well, there are several things and for our friends that are listening that wonder what the lunar Sabbath is … instead of the Sabbath being dictated by a cycle of continuity from creation, that's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, that was commenced by the Lord blessing the 7th day, some are saying the Sabbath is dictated by the moon. Is that right?
Jean: Yeah.
Pastor Doug: And it follows the lunar cycle and so the Sabbath may be on different days of the week depending on where the moon lands. There's no record anywhere on the Bible that the Sabbath was kept that way. There is a lunar Sabbath that was part of the ceremonial Sabbath that was nailed to the cross and had nothing to do with the weekly Sabbath.
Now, the ceremonial laws were written on paper. They're written on parchment. They were written by a man's hand, Moses. They were placed in a pocket outside the Ark. The Ten Commandments existed before sin. They were written on stone by God's finger and they were placed inside the Ark. They have a totally different nature. The weekly Sabbath was inaugurated by God at the end of the first 7th day. That had nothing to do with the moon.
And it has sequentially been every 7th day from Adam all the way through when the children of Israel went through the wilderness. Six days there was manna. Seventh day there was none. And so it was cyclical tracing all the way back to the original. So now the Jews are still in the world today, correct?
Jean: Right.
Pastor Doug: We can look... I can see that, you know, one Jewish family might get lost at sea and land on a deserted island and lose track of what day of the week it is but the idea that the whole Jewish nation would lose track of the Sabbath day. I have further proof of that is the Christians that celebrate the resurrection day which was after the Sabbath. They’re celebrating it Sunday. The Muslims, they celebrate the day before the Sabbath which is Friday. We know from the great religions of the world being Catholics, Jews, and Protestants and Muslims, no question about what the 7th day is. It's the day between the sixth day and the first day. So...
Jean: Theargument to that was that there was a calendar change by the San.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, well, there've been no calendar change that affects the weekly cycle. There have been many calendar changes but it's just like the calendar change where we went from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. They did change the calendar. And Friday... I'm sorry Thursday the 5th of October 1582 was followed by Friday the 10th, so yes there was a calendar change and it added 10 days to compensate for the missing leap years but it made no difference, Thursday, will still followed by Friday.
So the Sanhedrin never changed the weekly cycle cause can you imagine how Israel would have gone bonkers if all of a sudden the priests announced that we've changed the Sabbath day? They did change the calendar, it had no effect on the Sabbath day or they made adjustments. So yeah, I appreciate your question, Jean. I hope that helps a little bit. But we've got to move on talking next with John.
And he's [laughs] he's listening in line 5. Without Pastor Ross here, I get mixed up. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John you're on the air.
John: Hi, Doug. I want to say I'm a first time caller. And the Holy Spirit has been working through you the past 3… many years now.
Pastor Doug: Well, praise the Lord.
John: I really want to talk to you and I appreciate this phone call here. My question is on Revelation 16:15.And there's a part in there where it says ‘and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.’Well, does that refer to... Did that mean that you should never be naked? I mean other than like when you're, you know...
Pastor Doug: taking a shower [laughs].
John: Taking a pee-pee or taking a shower.
Pastor Doug: Yeah, the... when it says naked, remember when Adam and Eve sinned, they evidently had some kind of garment or robe of light and after they sinned, it faded. And they saw each other's nakedness. Jesus talks in the parables about a wedding feast where a man shows up at the feast but he doesn't put on the garment that the king has provided and he's cast into the outer darkness.
It also says in Revelation that these are those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Well, obviously these are metaphors here because what woman uses blood as detergent so it’s talking about … a robe represents righteousness in the Bible. These robes are like... robes of light and righteousness that the saved received and so it's the same. 'Blessed is he that keeps his garments.' Paul talks about Christ coming for a bride who has a garment without spot or wrinkle.
And you know when a bride's about to get married, she keeps her white dress very carefully. She's got the bridesmaids that help her move around so she doesn't dragged it or get it dirty especially before the pictures. And in the same way, we're going to the wedding supper of the lamb, we want to keep our characters unspotted. And so if this is a ... garments are sort of synonymous with righteousness and our righteous character in these prophecies. It's not talking about polyester or fabric or anything.
John: Awesome. Awesome. And I appreciate that. Thank you very much.
Pastor Doug: Thank you. Appreciate you calling and... You know it's interesting you'll see through the Bible that whenever someone is attacked by the devil, the devil often leaves them naked. It talks about this man that was demon-possessed in Mark chapter 5 and he ran around naked and then another man was jumped by devils and he was stripped.
The man who follows among the thieves was stripped and the devil stripped Adam and Eve. And its talking about really the righteousness that mankind has lost. Okay. Now, we're going to take a trip from Milwaukee to Charlotte, North Carolina to talk to Matthew. Matthew is calling, first time caller. Welcome to the program, Matthew.
Matthew: Thank you very much Pastor Doug. My question is in regards to tithe. It’s probably a new question for you, right? [chuckles] We're in business ourselves. The question is whether, you know, it's gross which I tend to believe it should be but was it... what does the Bible say about increase? Is it about the profit as well or...?
Pastor Doug: Well, first let me tell you I'm proud of you for asking this question because there's so many Christians out there right now that they don’t really think about systematic giving and what the Bible says. The idea, the principle of tithe is you're to give a tenth of your increase, increase would be a profit.
Now that profit is only a profit after you deducted the major expenses. Just suppose your business is selling T-shirts and you have to pay 5$ for a T-shirt and that's your shipping and your printing of the t-shirts and you sell them for 10, Well, after you deduct the shipping, you've only got $4 profit. You would pay tithe then on the $4. So I guess you would call that the gross
Matthew: Or I would call it the net actually
Pastor Doug: Yeah the net
Matthew: The net but I was told different. There is some, you know, documents out there that preach about gross and giving on the gross of your income. Everything that God gives you, you've paid tithe on ten percent on everything that He gives you.
Pastor Doug: Well let’s just suppose, go back to my t-shirt illustration, supposed that you are in the t-shirt business and after you pay for the printing of the t-shirts and the shipping, you've got 10% profit.
Matthew: Umm- hmm.
Pastor Doug: You sell the t-shirt for $10. You've got $9 in to getting the t-shirt and selling them, right? Just supposed and then you pay tithe to $10, then what profit do you have? Zero.
Matthew: Well, that's my point. You know that was my dilemma. I’d be happy to do it if that's what God wanted me to do.
Pastor Doug: No, that's not what the Lord ...
Matthew: I mean where in the Bible does it say that?
Pastor Doug: Well, they were in agricultural society and you know they would pay tithe on what the harvest was but they had to keep some seed for next year's crop. So the seed was not you know, seed was not counted as part of your increase because you have to put it back into the ground.
Matthew: Could you refer me to certain verses?
Pastor Doug: Can I send you a lesson that actually has all the verses in it? It'd be easier for me …
Matthew: I'd be happy …
Pastor Doug: And anyone who wants it, it's free. And by the way, you can read this online. You don't even have to wait for me to mail it Matthew
Matthew: Okay.
Pastor Doug: The lesson is called In God We Trust. You go to the Amazing Facts website and search for In God We Trust. It talks about ... you know of course it's a play on words of what we find on our money and ... yeah, just go to amazing facts and if you want to have us send you a hard copy (800) 835.6747. It’s got all the references in the Bible.
Not all of them but its got most of the pertinent references dealing with the subject of tithe and offerings and those principles. So appreciate your call, Matthew and hope that helps a little bit. Talking next to David calling from Jesup, California. David, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
David: Yeah, hi. How you doing?
Pastor Doug: Doing well. How about you?
David: (inaudible 47: 10) and jolly.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
David: And the answer… The question I wanted to ask was about David and Jonathan.
Pastor Doug: Yeah.
David: I think it's about somewhere I'm thinking one of... thinking Samuel when David was on the run from King Saul.And Jonathan was mentioned that Jonathan went out into a clearing. And he mentioned that when David becomes king that Jonathan would stand by at David's side.Or something or along that area.
Pastor Doug: I think you're talking about 1 Samuel 20 where it says he’ll fire 3 arrows on the side as though I shot a target and I'll send the lad saying go find the arrows … and it was sort of a signal so he could come out of the clearing and meet with him. Is that the one you're talking about?
David: No. I think it's a little bit afterwards because like I said they were in the wildernessand then they go and run and Jonathan said step onto an open area and said... "When you become king, I'll stand by your side," then Jonathan went home.
Pastor Doug: Okay.
David: And... Unfortunately we all know that Jonathan was killed and was unable to keep his word. And I think somewhere in Jeremiah, it mentioned that... The 12 tribes of Israel will be reunited and David will ... set on the throne over the united nation of Israel.Of course the Lord being over the planet, I was wondering when all that comes around during the resurrection, will, the Lord let Jonathan keep his word or does he have something very special plan for Jonathan?
Pastor Doug: Well, I expect to see Jonathan in the resurrection because first of all I think he’s saved, if you read about him being a great man of faith. And he was a great man of sacrifice but Jonathan was basically saying I know that God has chosen you to be King in my place and Jonathan thought "look if I survive, this transfer of power, please show mercy to me and my house.
I think Jonathan sort of knew something might happen to him because he said you know, show mercy to my seed and because Jonathan did die in battle, David gave special mercy to his son Mephibosheth who was lame in his feet and David fed Mephibosheth at his table for the rest of his life. So... I do think you're going to see David and Jonathan together in the kingdom and they're both going to enjoy their company and fulfillment of those promises then. I hope that helps a little bit speaking of David. See here, I don’t know if I can say your name right. Kimani? In Hawaii. Did I pronounce that right, that’s Kimani?
Kimani: Hi, pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug: Hi. How do you say your name?
Kimani: Kimani, I am a biology student.
Pastor Doug: Okay.And your question.
Kimani: And... My question was... In Psalms 51:10-11 where it says, Do not take me … do not push me away from Your Presence. Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. And I wanted to know ... What is God saying by that?
Pastor Doug: Well, this is... This is the Psalm where David had sinned with Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet came in and said you are the man and in this beautiful psalm, it's a psalm of repentance, he recognized that he had grieved with the Holy Spirit and so he's pleading do not cast me away from Your Presence. You know the worst thing that could happen is to be forever separated from God. That's the fate of the loss, eternal separation.
Do not cast me away from Your Presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. If we don't have the Spirit of God, he that hath not My Spirit is none of Mine. Do you remember one time Samson kind of grieved away the Spirit and he didn't know that the Spirit of the Lord had left him and he got up and he thought that he would fight like he had before but the Spirit was gone and he was overpowered and blinded.
Before Samson died, God gave the Holy Spirit back because he repented and prayed. So it's possible for a person to grieve the Spirit and be powerless and... So that's a prayer that we might have to pray frequently. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Kimani: Oh, okay.
Pastor Doug: And restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, salvation is the next verse. Remember the very fact that David is saying restore means it had been taken away. The joy of salvation was gone. He's asking for Him to restore it to bring it back. The Holy Spirit had been withdrawn. Obviously, David didn't commit adultery with Bathsheba and kill Uriah in the Holy Spirit.
He did that kind of after separating himself from God but hey, I hope that helps a little bit. We appreciate your calling in. So it's nice to get a phone call from Hawaii and by the way, I will be in Hawaii with Mrs. Batchelor in September. We're going to be doing a couple of camp meetings.
One in Kawaii and one in Honolulu and you'll find more information about that coming up on the amazing facts website. Maybe we'll see you there, Kimani. All right. We're going to talk with Mildred, calling from Brooklyn, New York. Mildred, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Mildred: Yes, hi.
Pastor Doug: Hi.
Mildred: My question is short. Years ago I had heard that Mary, namely Mary the mother of Jesus, that her actual name is Miriam and that it's been changed, I wonder if you know if it was and why? …
Pastor Doug: Her name was really never changed. It's just that when you’re English and when you say Jesus, you say Jesus. If you're in Mexico, when you say Jesus, you say Hesus because you're going to say it in your aNative Tongue. And it's that way around the world. In Hebrew, Miriam is how you would say it but when you're in Greece, they would say Mary and so you've got different pronunciations when you're reading the King James version, you'll often notice it would say Noe instead of Noah.
It will say Elias instead of Elijah and you often have a Greek pronunciation Judas is simply Judah in the tribe of Judah. The way you say it in Greek is Judas. So whenever you translate from one language to another, you'll often find a different pronunciation for the name.
I'm sure that Jesus did not call his mother Mary. He probably called her the Hebrew pronunciation. We in English tend to say it the way we learned it with the Greek. If you're in Mexico, it's Maria. You know what I'm saying?
Mildred: Yes but it's odd that Moses's sister Miriam kept that I mean it was… That name was kept.
Pastor Doug: Oh, you know what why... First of all, Miriam was a great prophetess. There were many I mean just look in the New Testament, I can think of about 3 or 4 Mary's in just the New Testament. Got Mary Magdalene, it was very famous name because Miriam was a great prophetess or older sister of Moses who you know, saved Moses' life and lived to 123 years of age.
So she was a great heroine and so you've got Mary, the wife of Cleopas; you've got Mary Magdalene; you've got Mary, the mother of Jesus and I think I’m forgetting one but it was a very common name. And as was Joseph and was Jesus' in the New Testament because Jesus’ name is Joshua. Jesus is … Yeshua would be the Hebrew but we say it in Greek. We kind of use the Greek pronunciation cause the New Testament was written in Greek. So I don't want to get too hung up on that. Mary is a great name.
Mildred: Thank you. Okay.
Pastor Doug: Appreciate it by the way you might take a look at that website. We talk about Mary there. It's the new website called MaryTruth.com. And it’s got information on the new book. For our listening friends, the music is chasing me off the tracks but I always want to say in closing, you have to admit, we don't take a lot of time to talk about the financial means to keep this program on the air. We dedicate the lion’s share of our time to digging in the Bible so if you appreciate that, let us know. Help us stay on the air. Just go to amazingfacts.org. God bless 'til we talk again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~