Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hello friends, this is Doug Batchelor, how about an amazing fact? In 1994 Aaron B. Anderson of Oklahoma, was found guilty of crimes ranging from sexual assault and larceny to robbery and kidnapping. He initially received a sentence of 2200 years but Anderson may regret that he appealed the ruling which resulted in the sentence actually being extended 9000 additional years, with an additional 4000 years for violent sexual attacks, 500 years for grand larceny, 1750 for kidnapping and 1000 years for burglary. At the present, Mr Anderson is eligible for parole with other adjustments around the year 12,744. Did you know the Bible talks about someone who is briefly going to be paroled after a 1000 year prison sentence? Stay with us friends, we’re going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Welcome back friends to Bible Answers Live, it’s been a whole week and were together again to talk about God’s Word. If you have a question relating to the Bible, we’ll do our best to study the Word together and find the answer. If you would like to call in right now, we have plenty of lines open, and that number, the toll free number to bring your question into the studio is 800-God says, that translates to 800-4637297, 800-4637297 will bring your Bible question into the studio tonight and, and then we’ll study together and see if we can find the answers. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross, good evening listening friends and Pastor Doug, let’s begin the program with prayer. Father once again we thank You for the opportunity that we have to study Your Word and we invite Your presence to be with us, give us wisdom and understanding, we recognize the Bible is Your book so please lead us to a clear and fuller understanding of truth, we ask the blessing of those who are listening wherever they might be, in Jesus name, amen.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Amen.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Pastor Doug, you opened the program by talking about a very long sentence, you could understand 60 years or a hundred years but several thousands of years, obviously that’s a life sentence but you also mentioned, the Bible speaks of somebody who well, was imprisoned for a thousand years but then let out on parole, I think I know who you’re talking about.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes, well, you know, I suspected that some of these judges, they give these incredible sentences, it’s part of it’s because it’s a legal process that they sometimes give them credit and they cut the time in half and even some of these people have had a hundred years because of the way the prison systems manipulate the numbers, they managed to get out while they’re still alive. So to prevent those from ever happening, they give these absurd sentences, I mean, you’ll never get out but there is someone who’s really, he’s already been given a 1000 year sentence, he hasn’t begun serving yet and you find this in revelation chapter 20, I’ll read verse 1 and 2 and then maybe we’ll jump to verse 7.
Revelation 20:1, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hands” so there’s a chain and a key, already makes you think about prison, “and he laid whole of the dragon and that old serpent who is the devil and Satan”, if you’ve ever read the Bible friends, you’re wondering who is the dragon and who is the serpent? It says right here, it’s the devil and Satan. “And bound him for a thousand years”, then you go down to verse seven, it says “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan is released from his prison and he’ll go out to deceive the nations that are in the 4 corners of the earth Gog and Magog, to gather them together, the battle, who’s number is like the sand, gather them together to battle, the number of, whom is like the sand of the sea. And so, I don’t know if Satan’s actually getting a parole but he shows after he’s released, he hasn’t changed one bit because he tries to muster all the loss you’ve ever lived, they call him Gog and Magog n the Bible, it’s all the wicked who’ve ever lived, he tries to rally them against the city of God the new Jerusalem and for 1 final onslaught, that backfires and then he ultimately gets the death penalty and he gets the permanent sentence but maybe our friends listening have wondered about this strange 1000 year period, sometimes called “The Millennium”, millennium simply means, “Milli”, the Latin word means, thousands and years.
The millennium are the 1000 years of Revelation 20, if you’d like to understand that, it’s going to be a thousand years of peace, I mean, whenever the devil is bound, things get better, a thousand years of peace for the redeemed but where is this bottomless pit and where will we spend the one thousand years and what will we be doing? All of that is answered in the lesson; tell us about it Pastor Ross.
Pastor Jëan Ross: It’s a study guide and the study guide is entitled, The thousand years of peace and we’ll send that to anyone who calls and ask for it, the number to call for our resource line is 800-8356747, again that’s 800-8356747, you can ask for the study guide “A Thousand Years of Peace” we’ll be happy to send that out to you and friend if you near your computer, you can join us live online this evening, go to “Live.amazingfacts.org”, that’s “Live.amazingfacts.org” and if you have a Bible question, we have some phone lines still open, the number to call is 800-4637297, that’s 800-4637297. Well were going to go to our first caller this evening, we have Denice who is listening in Minnesota, Denice welcome to the program.
Denice: Well, thank you Pastor Doug, I have a question about euthanasia and it’s, in what’s a sin and that’s my question is, I know, I’m pretty sure that a doctor that would perform euthanasia like say an elder that’s dying of cancer, whatever and wants to end his life, is it a sin for a person dying to ask the doctor to euthanize him?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, I’ve got to be careful, first of all, the Bible is pretty clear, it says “thou shall not kill”, you should not to, you’re not to murder, you know, it’s not talking about a person who kills someone in self-defense or something like that but to deliberately take another life, and that would include your own, you know, self-murder is also inappropriate, I understand, you know, I’ve had several family members that have died from cancer and my mother died from bone cancer and it was very painful and I understand that a person, when they are in so much pain, they don’t know how they can bare it another minute, they, they just pray for death and you can understand that but the danger is, as soon as we cross the line of beginning to say, “this persons quality of life is not very high and we should legalize assistant, what do you call that, a physician assisted suicide, we’re, we’re entering, no man’s land there about people, you know, some folks have a bad day and they’re going to say, “look, my quality of life’s no good, call a doctor up and say, can you euthanize me and basically kill me, is what that means, it’s a delicate way of saying that and, you know, they’re Kovorkian is of course, is a famous doctor that everybody thinks about because he made the headlines but, and there’s some state’s, I think, where, under certain conditions, they’ve permitted, physician assisted suicide but, yeah, no one can really stop most people from committing suicide but the Bible, it, let me give you an example, I want to give you a Bible answer.
King Saul was wounded, he was dying and he asked to his armour bearer to kill him and the armour bearer would not do it so he fell on his own sword, even in the Bible they understood, there was something intrinsically wrong with taking someone’s life and it just starts going down the road until you end up with, you know, someone like Hitler who says that, you know, these people are just not worthy to live and you start committing genocide.
Denice: It’s sort of like a (inaudible 9:24-9:27) it has to be a doctor to take the life of the.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, it’s, it’s interesting that
Denice: But it’s the same thing isn’t it?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well it, you know, it’s like you got book ends, you, you get two big book ends that are holding up a stack of books and right now, at the beginning of life where were having problems as a culture, realizing the sanctity of life when it’s conceived and were having problems at the end of life, realizing that the sanctity of life, those book ends will ultimately move together, that’s all they can do and people are going to start questioning, especially when medical cost go up, there going today, well, you know, if grandma’s quality of life is not very good and we can’t, you know, afford a simple surgery, let’s just put her out of her misery, it’d be more economical and it’s just going to start going down that road if were not careful, that’s the arguments they use for abortion and they say, well you know, family that doesn’t have the economic where withal, they should just terminate the pregnancy.
Denice: You know, it’s just like the governments terminating the pregnancies so they don’t have to support them for the first 21 years of their life.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, it, it, it has to do with economics. Well good question, I hoped that helped a little bit Denice and thank you for calling in.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Christina who is listening from Woodland California, Christina welcome to the program.
Christina: Hello, can you hear me?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Loud and clear, how are you doing?
Christina: I’m okay, thank you so much for your show, you guys are, are wonderful and I just praise God for you.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, thank you, we have fun
Christina: I have a about Methuselah I was reading, I’ve been wanting to read through the entire Bible and I was reading in Genesis and I looked at this thread online and there were commenting and sort of, mocking about how, you know, the Bible can’t be this and that because Methuselah was older than Moses and then Noah and Methuselah didn’t go on the ark. So where was Methuselah during the flood? And to me I’m thinking, well maybe he was caught up or something, then I thought I would ask you guys because you’re, you know, experts and I’ve wanted to get reviewed on that.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, interesting thing about the name Methuselah, the name Methuselah means, ‘when I die it will happen’, or it’s a derivative of that, the way I remember and they, whoever is saying that, doesn’t have their Bible chronology straight, Amazing Facts has been working about a year know, on developing a, almost a comprehensive Bible timeline, it goes through all the main characters on the Bible that maps out their lives and how long they lived and when major events happened and Methuselah died immediately before and in the same year of the flood so people are, they just don’t have their math right if they think that Methuselah outlived the flood.
Christina: I see, so this is just basically impotent people
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Bad math.
Christina: not understanding the word because it’s foolishness to them
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Christina: sort of thing?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, it says, Methuselah lived 969 years but the, the flood, I think it came in the 600 year of Noah if I’m not mistaken and Methuselah was 969 right at that point.
Christina: Okay, okay, well that’s, that’s all I needed and I, and I just really appreciate so much your ministry, thank you so much for what you guys do and for all the time you put in, you are an encouragement to me, I have not, I, I’ve, I was baptized at 9 but I’m 45 now and I’ve really never looked through Scripture for myself, I’ve just spent years listening to sermons and the Lord is really showing me that I need to discover it for myself and
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You keep it up
Christina: I’m, and I’m very excited and so, thank you for
Pastor Doug Batchelor: that’s wonderful, you keep reading the word Christina and if you check out the Amazing Facts timeline, of the Amazing Facts website, you’ll see when we release the timeline, were hoping it’s going to be out in a couple of months and it’s going to be a separate website that will just have all the Bible chronology, where you can click and drag and see when people lived and who they were and it’s going to be, I think, a real benefit for study. Thanks for your call, appreciate that.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We Curtis who is listening from Maryland, Curtis welcome to the program.
Curtis: Thank you, Good evening Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you.
Curtis: I have a question, we go out to the (inaudible 13:39), along those lines, well I was to ask the question, I was thinking about to doing it, to really ask the question and I try to get the right answer but it is, since those who, are going to expose it, that don’t accept the gift of salvation, we receive eternal destruction, they won’t live anymore. When Jesus paid the price for us on the cross and paid for our sins, who is it that He rose again and didn’t stay in the grave and received eternal destruction?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good question! So if the penalty for sin is eternal death and because Jesus rose, how can we say He paid the penalty?
Curtis: Right, right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Is that it? So
Curtis: Yes.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: the worst thing that, he did pay the penalty and here is why, the worst part about eternal death is facing it, once a person dies, they don’t know anything, it says in Ecclesiastes 9:5, “the living know they’ll die, the dead know not anything”, when Jesus was on the cross, He was facing eternal separation from the Father, the same way that lost will face that second death with that, that just oppressive anguish, that feeling that the lost have, I think it’s described in one of the minor prophets that the, the summer is passed, the harvest is finished and we are not saved, there’s just going to be a terrible anguish when all the tribes of the earth mourned and they see the Son of man coming and they, and Jesus felt that sin in that separation, so the penalty for sin is not just death, the penalty for sin is suffering, according to what your deeds are than death, Christ suffered and died, of course He rose again because once the dead die, they don’t know anything and so He, He faced the worst part was the anticipation.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know, if you think about the death of Jesus, we’re reminded of Baptism, it’s a shadow or a type of a, sharing in that experience, well, when a person is baptized, something remains in the water when they come up and that’s the old life of sin, it’s gone forever and they come up with a new part, with a new purpose, a new devotion to Christ, and when Jesus died, there was something left in the tomb when He arose, when He arose, sin that He bore for mankind, it’s also interesting, the moment that Jesus arose with the glorified human body, the body that He had before the crucifixion remained in the grave so to speak, the body that came forth from the tomb was a glorified human body and that’s the body that we will have in the resurrection when Jesus comes.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s right so technically, the old, the old Jesus vaporized the old body.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah, the sin that He took upon Himself, remains forever, separate and distinct in the grave and we live a new life with Christ.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: And that could also explain, that when Mary first saw Him, she didn’t immediately recognize Him, neither did the two on the road to Emmaus, so He had a new glorified body. Appreciate your call Curtis and hope that helps a little bit, thanks for your question.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Our next caller is William and he’s listening from New York, William welcome to the program.
William: Yes, good afternoon, good evening actually, well
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, evening for you, it’s still a little bit afternoon here but how can we help you?
William: (Laughing) Yeah, my question is, if a church begins to same sex marry and (inaudible 16:58-17:00) I’m believing they, should they leave that church.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, that’s what, there’s something’s that a church might do to where you, you know, you disagreeing on some of the trivial differences of doctrine and when I let that be the reason for separation but if a church begins to endorse same sex marriage, that in the Bible is identified as an abomination, it’s one of the major sins, now there’s not too many sins that are more serious when you read in the Bible what it says about, if a man lays with a man as with a woman, it’s an abomination, I’m sorry, Yeah, that’s, and, and then it goes on to say, next verse talks about a man laying with a beast and so, for churches to endorse that is really a desecration of the image of God and I just spoke about honouring your father and mother, God was pretty clear about what the arrangement is supposed to be for a family and so, yeah, I’d say if a church is doing that, that they kind of crossed the line and, I don’t know what you think Pastor Ross.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yes, you know, absolutely, it’s, it’s sort of become an acceptable thing in our society today and yet the Bible is very clear from the very beginning, Jesus said, “He created man and female”, it’s very clear, very distinct.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Man leaves his father and mother and he cleaves unto his
Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s right
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Boyfriend? no
Pastor Jëan Ross: No, no his wife.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: His wife.
Pastor Jëan Ross: (Laughing).
Pastor Doug Batchelor: (Laughing), Alright, I hope that helps a little bit William, by the way, we do have a book, we were just talking about it, it’s called “Return to Sodom”, if you would like to, it just talks about the, the influence of the gay agenda on American culture and if you’d like a free copy of that “Return to Sodom”, We’ll send it to you just for asking.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call is 800-8356747 and the book again is “Return to Sodom”, we’ll send that to anyone who calls and ask for it, 800-8356747 and the phone number to the studio with your Bible question is 800-4637297, 800-4637297. We have Justin who is listening from Orlando Florida, Justin welcome to the program.
Justin: Thank you, appreciate your ministry father.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you, and your question?
Justin: I have a question; I have a question regarding the, the gospels and the accounts with regards to the resurrection, they seem to be different in each book and I’m wondering how to
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Reconcile them?
Justin: reconcile them, reconcile that, yeah.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well that, the, I’m glad you asked, I wrote a book a couple of years ago, I guess it’s been about five or six years ago, now called “At Jesus’ Feet”, it’s about Mary Magdalene and in researching that book, I went through all of the gospel stories and tried to piece together what happened that Sunday morning so that everything fits and, you know, I, I can’t pretend that I discovered it on my own because as I read, some of the other scholars, they gave good explanation’s, there’s a book called “Desire of Ages” that has a really good account, it’s about the life of Christ that explains it, very quickly the first one to the tomb before anyone else was Mary, she saw that the stone was rolled away, the women I guess, had agreed to rendezvous there but when she got there and saw the stone was rolled away, she ran back and she encountered the other women and they were turned together and then they had the angel appear to them, then the women went to tell that the body was missing, Mary went to tell Peter and John, they ran back to the tomb, outran Mary, you know, Peter went in and John came in and they saw the garments in and they left to go tell the others, Mary stayed and Christ appeared to her. So that’s, that doesn’t answer every question you’re asking but that’s a rough scenario of what happened that morning and why the different writers are kind of giving different accounts, john talks a lot about when he and Peter and Mary came to the tomb, Mark talks about when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and I think Matthew talks about, I think, when the women came to the tomb and so they all came but just like real life, they kind of arrived at different times and so, they’re writing from their different prospectives.
Justin: Was there one angel or two angels? One says there were two angels, one says there was one.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well yeah and one angel spoke, Mary looked in and she saw an angel sitting at the head and at the foot of where Jesus was, depending on, you know, it was like a cave was carved into a hill side and it was, it was, you know, solid entrance and depending on the vantage point, some who are looking may have only seen one until you got all the way in there and you saw there where two. So, you know, that might be part of why they have different accounts, when Mary came the 1st time, there may have been one angel, when the women came back later there were two, Bible says “there was one angel that rolled away the stone, I mean, that angel could have been sitting on the stone then, when they came back. So there were at least two angels involved, but depending on what part of the morning they showed up and they may have seen one in the tomb or two.
Justin: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So yeah, take a look at that and, you know, it’s also in my book, called “At Jesus Feet” or you can read that book “Desire of Ages” for free online and if you just type that in and it will talk about the resurrection and it paints the whole scenario so it makes perfect sense.
Justin: Alright, thank you
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you, appreciate your question.
Pastor Jëan Ross: That book again is entitled “At Jesus Feet” and we’ll send it to anyone who calls and ask for it, 800-8356747, that is the resource line, and the book again is entitled “At Jesus’ Feet”, if you have a Bible question the number here to the studio again is 800-4637297, 800-4637297. We have Larry who is listening from Minnesota, Larry welcome to the program.
Larry: Thank you, thank you for taking my call
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Sure.
Larry: My question is, my understanding is, during a thousand year reign or during the thousand years that there’s nobody here on earth but yet Satan is loose and he goes out to deceive the nations and so I’m kind of wondering where the nations are coming from?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, at the end of the 1000 years, several things happened all at one time. First of all you read in Revelation chapter 20, it says “the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished, well that’s pretty clearly implies that when the thousand years are finished, they do live again. So if you get two groups of people, when Jesus comes, the dead in Christ rise first so all the saved rise, we are alive, 1st Thessalonians 4, it says, were caught up to meet him in the air, if all the righteous are gone, the only ones left in their graves are the wicked, right?
Larry: Correct.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: but that’s all the wicked who ever lived so if straight is the gate that leads to life and few there be that find it and broad is the way that leads to destruction, the majority of people who have ever lived, will they be among the lost or the saved?
Larry: The lost.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So there’s billions of people in the world today, can you imagine, at the end of the 1000 years, when the New Jerusalem descends and Jesus raises all of the wicked who ever lived, that’s why it calls them the nations cover the earth like a cloud according to, I think both Revelation and Ezekiel 37, where it talks about Gog and Magog. So Satan sees all the wicked who ever lived or resurrected, he marshals them, I mean, you’re assuming in that crowd you’ve got Alexander the great, Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, Stalin, I mean, you got all these great military minds and he’s going to marshal them and say, there’s more of us then there are of them, let’s take the city by force. So even after a thousand years of Satan having a chance to think over his rebellion, he didn’t one (inaudible 24:37). You know, you would really appreciate the lesson that were offering tonight, regarding a thousand years of peace because it maps all of that out, I just wanted to give you a quick answer to your question, it maps all that out and gives you the Scripture’s so you’ll, you’ll see it pretty clearly, Larry, why don’t you call and ask for that?
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number again
Larry: I guess
Pastor Jëan Ross: I’m sorry, go ahead
Larry: it’s alright because.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay, what’s the second part?
Larry: the other part, where I had to do is what you just said that, because I asked, you know, try to wonder that, you know, the individuals that never had an opportunity to accept Christ would be, you know, doomed or never, you know, had a chance for, I’m just having a hard time believing that, you know, God somehow would give them a chance but you mentioned some people in this resurrection from the dead that, you know, sounds like, for sure that, you know, they would not have any type of chance, any way, shape or form, is that
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well once a person, once a person dies, if a person dies, they’re either saved or lost, there’s no preaching to people after they die, the, but, the, just because a person didn’t necessarily hear a missionary, doesn’t mean they can’t be saved, they’re going to be people from all over the world who maybe never had missionaries land on their shores but God through His Spirit, they, they lived up to the life they had and the Lord’s going to show mercy so, you know, there not the majority but I think God is making exceptions according to the Bible. And so there will be, there will be people who are going to be saved, who maybe, you know, where in Australia or Africa or South America and they just never, you know, it’s hard to believe that God is going to just automatically consign all these people to the lake of fire because they never had a missionary come, I think God’s Spirit and through His angels and Providence, He works all over the planet to try and reach people, best thing is when He works through people to reach people, that’s His plan, through missionaries and pastors and so forth. Anyway, hope that helps a little David and we will send you that lesson on the thousand years of peace.
Pastor Jëan Ross: the number again is 800-8356747, that is the resource line, call and ask for the book or the study guide, “A Thousand Years of Peace” and we’ll be happy to send that out to you, you know Pastor Doug, let me also mention, we’re coming up on our break in a few moments but a person go to the Amazing Facts website and they can actually enroll for free in our Bible school and the lessons that we announce from week to week, they are available, they are at the website, people can go and they can actually go through these, these lessons, right online.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, and people like Larry, if they’re interested in the lesson on the 1000 years, you don’t have to wait till we send it to you, we put these things online and it’s free, we want to encourage, and after you do that, it’ll change your life, we get such wonderful testimonies from people who go through the Bible school and they said, “Boy, I just thought, I been, went to church all my life and I just finally realized how much I didn’t know and it just, it’ll transform your life, your whole world view and just add real peace and meaning to what you are doing. And so, all you have to do is go to the “Bibleuniverse.com” website, “Bibleuniverse.com or org” and it’ll take your there, your listening to Bible Answers Live.
Pastor Jëan Ross: You know at the, coming up on our break Pastor Doug but at this time, we’d like to highlight one of the websites that Amazing Facts has and were talking before the program, we do have a website that expands a little more on the subject of a thousand years of peace and it’s “Bibleprophecytruth.com”
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Pastor Jëan Ross: or .org, I think either one will take you there.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah and in addition to the, the lesson that we just talked about that the website “Bibleuniverse” people go through, there’s booklets that you can read, “Bibleprophecytruth” and so, if people want to study not only the millennium, if they want to know something about Babylon or the beast or the mark of the beast, I’m looking right now on the lesson of the millennium and it’s kind of a cool website if I can say so myself, studying angels, Bible symbols, Bible numbers, Israel and prophecy, you want to know about heaven or Hades or (Laughing) or the secret rapture 666, all these very hot and interesting Bible subjects can be found at this website “Bibleprophecytruth”, “Bibleprophecytruth.com”, don’t go away, were coming back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug Batchelor: And we are back, ready for your Bible questions, if you have a Bible question, free phone call one more time 800-God says have a couple lines open, 800-4637297, and if you’re by your computer and you want to see what happens in this humble studio, you can just go to, “Live.amazingfacts.org” and we do stream this via video on the internet and what’s my name again, Doug Batchelor
Pastor Jëan Ross: My name is Jëan Ross, were going to go straight to the phone lines, we’ve got Steve who is listening from Nashville Tennessee, Steve welcome to the program.
Steve: Yes, yes, can you hear me?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Loud and clear.
Steve: Great, one of this Bible study that I’ve been studying is about Jonah and someone in the class brought up a question that was interesting. How did the people that Jonah was prophesying to, know that he actually had been swallowed by this big beast, behemoth of the sea, well did they know it all because that was something that happened and I would think that he would tell them, somebody in the class mentioned that he was scarred as has happened with other people, that had been swallowed and survived and I thought it was a interesting take that he would get a lot of attention if he looked different but I was wondering, is there any direction given to like, how did they know, they just take his word for it and I’ll hang up an listen on the internet, thanks.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup, I appreciate your call Steve, well there’s, of course there were the witnesses of the sailors who in that, tremendous storm, they were present and they made him walk the plank and so they know that he went overboard a long way from shore and then he shows up in Nineveh and says “I was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights” and he’s a prophet and prophets are supposed to tell the truth and not only that, Jonah also prophesied other things, I think it’s in 2nd Kings, it refers to the prophecy of Jonah, the son of Amittai, it’s the same Jonah. So if he has credibility for being a true prophet, if his prophecies come true and it is one of the most incredible books in the Bible because everybody in the book, everything in the book listens to God except Jonah, the sailors listen, the storm listens, the wind listens, the fish listens, the worm listens, the bird listens, the Ninevites listens, everyone listens except Jonah and Jonah they believe, is sort of an illustration for both Israel and the church, meaning in the old testament, you know, God, God gave the truth to the Israelites, they were the prophet to the nations but they were the ones that kept getting off track and same thing with the church today, you know, God’s given the Bible and the truth to the church and, and it seems like there’s people in the world who are more hungry for the truth then the Christians are. So, hey Steve if you’re still listening, I’ve got a book that I wrote on this subject on Jonah that addresses some of this, you can either read it online for free or we’ll send you a copy and it’s simply called “Jonah” and I’d be happy to send it to you.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call is 800-8356747.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: I think it’s called “The Sign of Jonah”, sorry.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The sign of Jonah just call and ask for the book “The Sign of Jonah” and we’ll send that to anyone who calls and asks, you know Pastor Doug one other thought on that, of course the sailors witnessed Jonah being thrown overboard, maybe they saw the shadow of a big fish coming and swallowing him but eventually, Jonah gets to shore and he goes to Nineveh to begins to preach, but what happens if the sailor eventually ended up in Nineveh as well and there they see Jonah preaching and they knew that just a few days before, they had thrown him over board and so they came in and they could very well have said, “this man is telling the truth”.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup, they would have endorsed it
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: It never says how many sailors there were but it’s, you know, big Phoenician ship, it probably had several sailors, you just, if you look in, and that, by the way, that was the internet back in Bible times, the news travelled fastest by sea and if you look in the story of Acts chapter 26 and 27, Paul is on a ship that’s got 200 prisoners, not counting the sailors and the soldiers, that’s a lot of people on that boat, so this was a cargo ship, you know, if you’ve got 50 sailors and they all come ashore with this incredible story, it’ll spread around the country.
Pastor Jëan Ross: I’m sure. We have Teshea who is listening from Stockton California, Teshea welcome to the program.
Teshea: Thank you, thank you, can you guys hear me?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: We can, your, you’re a little scratchy but we hear you, your question?
Teshea: Okay, my question is, it’s about tithing, my son is in school, Bible College and he recently called me and said that, we are not actually under the law of tithing anymore, although I know that we should give but I wanted to know what your thoughts were, on that.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, when Jesus came, He did not lower the standard, He raised it, He said, you know, you’ve heard, said by them of old, don’t commit adultery but I say, don’t even think it, He said, you’re not supposed to murder but don’t even think it, He said, you know, Moses gave you a law that allowed for divorce but He said, that’s because of the hardness of your hearts. The New Testament standard is going to be higher than tithe, not lower and so, in the New Testament, you see in Acts, it says “no man said that all that he had was his own but all men had everything in common” and people, Acts chapter 4, “they sold their possessions and laid them down at the apostles feet. And so, the percentage of sacrifice, tithing is like, kindergarten for a believer and so, if someone says, were not under the law, we don’t need to tithe anymore, are they thinking that we should give less than the Old Testament or should we give more like the New Testament?
Teshea: Yeah, I don’t
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So Jesus actually says in Matthew 23:23 you pay tithes, speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, He said “you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and you have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith, said, these you ought to have done and not leave the other tithing, not leave the other undone. So Christ endorsed tithing in the New Testament. Pastor Ross, thought?
Pastor Jëan Ross: That was in Matthew 23:23 that you quoted there.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Right. So we do have a lesson, we’ll send you Teshea if you can remember, you can read it online or we’ll send you hard, a hard copy, and it’s called “In God we Trust”, and you can share that with your son in Bible College and you can ask him, should the commitment of Christians be less or more than the Old Testament? That’s really the question, if it’s at least the same, it would be at least high.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The number to call for the free resource is 800-8356747 and you can call that number and ask for the study guide, in God we trust, we’ll send it to you Teshea or anyone who is listening, were happy to do that, you know, just go to the Amazing Facts website, “Amazingfacts.org” and read the study guide online. Our next caller is Veronica and she is calling from Bakersfield California, Veronica welcome to the program.
Veronica: Yes, hi.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Evening.
Veronica: Hi, Good evening, I have a question; my husband and I were born both in a different denomination, born and raised, I have a, recently discovered that, you know, what we need to do that, that, pretty much, that our religion not teaching us what’s in the Bible, so I have started going to a different church and he’s not, pretty much, he, he, he.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: not very receptive of that.
Veronica: and he does, is it bad reception?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: I said no, I said he’s not very receptive to what you’re doing?
Veronica: He’s not very receptive and he does anything and he, anything that he can in order for me not to be able to go to the same church. So I was wondering, what does the Bible say about that? Should I obey my husband and not go to church or should I go over my husband and go to church anyways? Because I Googled it online and it says that we have to be obedient to our husband, so that kind of
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well know, the Bible, the Bible is clear that the husband should be the spiritual leader of the family, but that doesn’t mean if the husband is asking you to do something that is a violation of your conscience and, you know, major principle in the Word of God, then, you know, by all means you need to go God first, I taught a lesson about the ten commandments yesterday and, and about, honour your father and mother so if you’ve got a father and mother and you’re supposed to also obey them but if they say, look, we need you to shoplift for the family and you’re a Christian and their not, do you obey your Father in heaven or do you obey your earthy father? And so, you would put
Veronica: Of course my Father in heaven
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, you would put, it’s a difficult situation to be in but, you know, the thing to do is I would say to my parents or my spouse, I’d say, you know, I love you and I respect you but I have to put God 1st and when it comes to matters of eternal life and obeying the ten commandments, know, you know, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of crucial teachings and then there’s some that are not as crucial, but when it comes to the crucial teachings of the Bible, you need to really put your convictions in Christ 1st.
Veronica: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Does that make sense, you know, the principals of obeying God needs to come 1st for every individual?
Veronica: Yes, okay, so then (inaudible 40:24-40:30) pretty much disob, pretty much disobey and say, well, I’m going anyways.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, I’d tell him that you got to obey God 1st and, and, and just say, you know, I love and respect you and I hope we can work this out but he needs to respect your convictions, your moral convictions, what do you think Pastor Ross?
Veronica: Okay, thank you so much.
Pastor Jëan Ross: Yeah, your right Pastor Doug, it’s not always easy
Pastor Doug Batchelor: No, it’s tough.
Pastor Jëan Ross: But a person wants to be as tactful and as loving and yet also firm that, you know, if the Lords leading you this way, you need to do what you know God wants you to do.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, and, and I know, I know some people, I know one dear man that he disagreed with his wife about what denomination they were going to go to and he would drive her to church every week but he said, you know, I just can’t go in because they’re teaching things there that, and so he tried to go as far as he could go to be supportive but. Alright, hey thanks Veronica, appreciate that call and we’ll be praying for you.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Crysta who is in Compton, I guess its Michigan?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: yup!
Pastor Jëan Ross: Crysta welcome to the program.
Crysta: Hi, Yes Pastor Doug
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup.
Crysta: I’ve listened to your program and I really appreciate and I think you’re very knowledgeable and I wanted to ask an odd question, you know, being that God knows all thing before and after, beginning and end, when He created this earth and the people and everything in it, He knew we were going to fall from grace, He knew we were going to be sinners in need of a Saviour and I just wonder, do you think He did this because of a new experiment or a project or something? I mean, we were on our own with nothing and we need Him, we can’t take our next (inaudible 42:16) but He knew we’d be rotten sinners. So what do you, what do you suppose and why did He create this earth, do you think there are other worlds that never fell from grace? I mean.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright let me, so you’ve asked some good questions so don’t stack too many or I’ll forget the 1st one.
Crysta: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: That the, the 1st question that you were asking is, did He know of course, well you know that He knew but
Crysta: Yeah
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Are you a parent?
Crysta: Yes.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Did you, I’m assuming you’ve had children by choice.
Crysta: It was, well I didn’t plan, it just happened.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, we don’t need to, we don’t need to go that far, anyway let me, let’s just say that a lot of parents have children by choice
Crysta: Right, okay
Pastor Doug Batchelor: and when you have children, are we aware that those kids are going to have free wills and they may not always obey?
Crysta: No
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, I, I think most parents know at some point, there’s a chance those kids aren’t always going to obey their parents.
Crysta: Okay, I didn’t understand the question
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Crysta: but He’s God, He knew it, He already knew.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Right, but love takes risks and, and God, in order to demonstrate that all of us are made free, He even made creatures that He knew would rebel, I mean that’s what real freedom, if God says in the factory where He makes creatures, intelligent creatures, I’m only making the ones I can pre-program to love Me, well there’s something wrong with that, real love can’t be forced, real love must be freely given and God to prove that He makes His creatures free moral agents, He said I will even make creatures that will choose not to love Me, even though I know it’s going to happen, know after Jesus
Crysta: Really?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup, after the plan of salvation is over then sin will never rise up again because the universe will see from eternity on that God is good, they’ll see what happens when we go with selfishness and rebellion, that’s just, it’s deadly. So you ask about an experiment? It’s not an experiment but God allowed, the devil’s the one that did the experiment, God allowed this to happen to show that He is love and to show all of His creatures that He’ll make even those that rebel and then He’ll die to save them, He loves them so much. So yes, He knew it was happening and He went ahead anyway. Thanks for your question Crysta and I hope that helps a little bit.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Joe listening from Canton Kentucky, Joe welcome to the program.
Joe: Yeah, thank you, thank you, I have a question in Revelation 12:1, and I, I preached this message last Sunday and when I got to this little part it robed me out of water because I didn’t know (Laughing).
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright.
Joe: it said in verse 1, Revelation chapter 12 “and there wondered a, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven and a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and a, and a, upon her head, a crown of twelve stars”,
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Joe: who are those twelve stars, is that the 12 tribes of Israel?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well you are on the right track Joe, the number 12; of course Revelation obviously has several symbols in it.
Joe: Yeah
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, it talks about dragons and animals that we know are symbolic but this woman is a symbol of God’s churches bride and the leadership of His church, He’s got 12 tribes in the Old Testament, there were also 12 judges in the Old Testament, 12 Apostles in the New Testament and 12 must be an important number to God because before the Holy Spirit was poured out, one of the apostles that committed suicide Judas, and Peter said, we need to replace him
Joe: Right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: as soon as they replaced Judas, they got back the number 12 again, the Holy Spirit falls, the next verse, the Holy Spirit falls
Joe: Right
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So
Joe: Right
Pastor Doug Batchelor: the number 12 and in the New Jerusalem, you’re going to have a city that’s got 12 foundations, 12 gates, Tree of Life has 12 kinds of fruit, 12 times a years and it’s 12,000 feet long so the number 12 is a symbol for God’s church, above the head means leadership and so the stars above her head represents the leadership of the church, she’s clothed with the sun, that’s representing the light of God’s truth, standing on the moon, that’s the light of the truth of the Old Testament that reflects the light of the sun, we have a whole lesson on this, what am I talking about, we need to just send you our lesson called “Clothed with Light” or was it “The Bride of Christ”?
Pastor Jëan Ross: The Bride of Christ, Talking about Revelation chapter 12, we’ll send it to you Joe or anyone who calls and ask for it, the number is 800-8356747, ask for the study guide “The Bride of Christ”. Our next caller is Heather and she is listening from Georgia, Heather welcome to the program.
Heather: Hello.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hi Heather, you’re on the air.
Heather: Good night Pastor Doug
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Evening.
Heather: I have a quick question, my son asked me this question and he said to me, if God is coming for the, to resurrect us from the dead
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Heather: righteous, and He’s going to give us a new body, why does He, what is He resurrecting from the grave if were getting a new body?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well that’s a good question, the, the, you know, if the Lord wanted to, He didn’t even need to come back to the earth for the resurrection, the Lord could raise them up in the New Jerusalem in heaven or something, so, but when He comes back, the Lord has a way of, kind of starting where He left off, for example, the last place that Jesus feet touched when He ascended to heaven, was the mount of olives, the next place His feet will touch when He comes back at the end of the 1000 years, it says in Zechariah 14, it’s the mount of olives, wherever we die and our remains are laid, the Bible tells us that we’ll come out of the graves and, you can read in Ezekiel this vision that Ezekiel has in this valley of dry bones, I forget if that’s Ezekiel 37 is it or I know I, I forget that it’s 30 something, but (Laughing), but, you know, there’s a valley of dry bones and there at the valley is where the resurrection takes place, where the bones are, well of course, God makes new creatures
Pastor Jëan Ross: Ezekiel 37
Pastor Doug Batchelor: 37, okay
Pastor Jëan Ross: Your right, your right
Pastor Doug Batchelor: and so, yeah, He doesn’t need any of the old material but, you know, maybe that’s where He buries the hard drive, I’m not sure but He’s going to, He’s going to download who we are into these new bodies He creates, I think one reason He’s coming back to the old location, think about it, when you, when you go to sleep, let’s suppose, the last thing you remember, that you’re in Southern California and you die in a hospital, if you come out of the grave and you’re in South Africa, you’re going to wonder, how did I get here? He’ll probably bring people back at a place where they have some recognition so they can get their bearings and I think He’s doing it for us, so where not, we’ll know that, hey we’re alive. When He brought Lazarus back, He brought him back in the same place where he had gone to sleep.
Heather: Okay
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Appreciate your question Heather.
Pastor Jëan Ross: We have Glen who is listening from New York, Glen Welcome to the program.
Glen: Hi, Good evening.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Evening.
Glen: yeah, I have a question, its do the new city, New Jerusalem and it’s in Revelation, I, well it’s based on chapter 21, from verse 24-27, and again, the final chapter 22 verse 15 and that is, I was wondering, I know after Christ comes and the anti-Christ, the beast and Satan is thrown in the lake of fire and everything is going to (Inaudible 50:07-50:08) everything is going to be good and, good after that but I wonder
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah
Glen: if good or evil (inaudible 50:14-50:15) wouldn’t be continuing after that time because when I read verses, 22 verse 15 where it says, “For without, like outside of the new city, there are like dogs, sorcerers
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Right
Glen: whoremongers, murderer”, so I’m just trying to wonder, is that’s really what is going to happen or if, like we have good and evil right now with governments but when Christ come back, it’s like, whether good and evil will be con, continuing, but He will be putting it down, swift, then and there.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes, I understand, let me do a, let me do my best to try and answer that. When you read Revelation, not everything is in chronological order, when you read it in Revelation 21 and he talks about the whole, all things are made new, former things have passed away, well that would mean, all the sorcerers and dogs, evil and so forth, when he goes to Revelation 22, he’s going back again to after Satan attacks the city and outside the city, before that great white throne judgement, all the wicked are on the outside, the saved are on the inside, he’s basically saying, you want to be in the city where the tree of life is, you don’t want to be outside the city at the 2nd resurrection where all of the, the lost are and, and that’s what I think you were talking about in verse 15. So, yeah, outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and, and the wicked it says, are going to be, Malachi chapter 4, “They’re going to be burned up”, it says, “There ashes under the souls of our feet”, and it says “We will go forth and tread down the wicked for their ashes under the soles of our feet, go forth from what? Go forth from the New Jerusalem. And so, after the fire’s done its work, He’s going to make a new heaven and a new earth and everything will be good, good, very good again, as it was before Glen and, hey, you might appreciate our lesson that talks about heaven, we’ll be happy to send you a free copy.
Pastor Jëan Ross: The lesson that we are offering tonight for free is “A Thousand Years of Peace”, just call our resource line, that’s 800-8356747, we’ll be happy to send that.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: That gives you the sequence, all in that lesson, and there’s a lesson also we have on heaven that deals with the
Pastor Jëan Ross: “Colossal City in Space”
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup
Pastor Jëan Ross: is what that one’s called, now you can ask for either or ask for all, we’ll be happy to send them out. We have Johnny who is listening from Michigan, Johnny welcome to the program.
Johnny: Yes, thank you Pastor, I have a problem understanding the millennium reign of our Lord and a pastor stated that all the lost will be on the earth after the millennium reign, and I would like to know, what is the purpose of that, will they have a second chance at redemption? Don’t they know they don’t have a chance?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well that’s a good question, when of course all the lost, right now, people die at different times, from the time of Adam to the present, people die every day but there not being judged, there is a great judgement day the Bible tells us for the wicked, everyone, all will stand before the judgement seat of Christ, that’s future, so one reason they’re being raised is for this great judgement so that everybody, you know, there’s a lot of rights and wrongs that God is going to reconcile, a lot of questions people haven’t understood, a lot of people have done things they thought they got away with and in that judgement, they’re going to have to face the people that they mistreated or abused and everything will come out, those things done in secret will be shouted from the house top. So part of the reason for this great 2nd resurrection is the ultimate judgement and that’s when Jesus separates the (inaudible 53:53) and He separates the sheep from the goats.
Pastor Jëan Ross: And it’s also interesting in Romans 14:11, Paul writes, for it is written, “as the Lord said, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God”, so after this great judgement takes place at the end of the thousand years and all the wicked have an opportunity to see for themselves, what God has done to try and save them and what He has done to save mankind, even Satan himself will finally bend the knee and acknowledge that God is fair and God is just, God’s done everything He can to save man, this is not a repentance out of remorse for sin rather, it’s an acknowledgement of what’s been revealed, acknowledgement of the facts because no sooner does this happen and then Satan tries to destroy the city, they come up against the city and thats when fire comes and devours them.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yup that, that also demonstrates, that even after we’ve had a thousand years to think about our, (inaudible 54:46-54:47) but even after we come out of the grave, God has no alternative but to judge them because they haven’t changed, their ready to follow the devil right after the resurrected. Hey Johnny, we do have a lesson that talks about the judgement and we’ll be happy to send you that lesson for free, you could either ask, call the number and ask for it or you can go to the Amazing Facts website called “Case Closed”, is that right?
Pastor Jëan Ross: That’s right, the number again is 800-8356747, that is our resource line and call and ask for the study guide called “Case Closed” and we’ll send that to you.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well friends, you could tell, we’ve used every ounce of this program to try and answer your Bible questions but we want to just mention in closing, one more time, contact us through the Amazing Facts website, tell us your listening, we’d love it if you help us stay on the air, you can donate online. God bless till we talk together again next week.
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