Hello friends. How about an amazing fact? It is well known that bats fly by sonar. They emit high frequency sounds which the human ear cannot hear. The returning echo of these sounds places sound print picture in their minds. Using this technique the bat can catch a tiny, fast flying insect. The calls of these bats are very loud.
So loud in fact that if we could hear them they would hurt our ears, but if it is necessary for a bat to make such a loud sound to have it echo back against the object; how can the bat possibly hear the echo with its ears in the midst of all of that racket that he’s making with its mouth? And to make matters worse the bats ears are so sensitive that just a few of its screams would quickly deafen it except for a few tiny muscles in the middle ear of the bat.
It is attached to one of three tiny bones which transmit the vibrations of the ear drum to the tubular organ in the skull that convert them to nerve signals that are sent to the brain. Just as each scream is on the verge of being emitted this muscle instantly pulls back that bone so that it does not transmit the a sound from the outer ear to the inner ear. The ear drum is momentarily disconnected. But, after that scream has ended the muscle relaxes and the bone moves back into place and the faint echo of the sound can be heard and the faster the sounds are emitted the more up to date the information the bat will receive.
Fast reception of information is especially needed when the little fellow is flying around the curves inside a cave or he is flying amongst the branches of a forest. Some bats can send up to 200 quick screams a second. Meaning this back and forth motion of the tiny bone in the bats ear also occurs about 200 times a second and it is always in perfect alignment with the timing of the super short scream.
Friends do you know that the Bible speak of people who like the bat, hearing do not hear? Stay tuned for more as “Amazing Facts” brings you this edition of “Bible Answers Live”.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Ross: Hello friends Doug Batchelor is out of town tonight. You have tuned into a live, interactive broadcast of “Bible Answers Live”. My name is Jean Ross. I have in the studio with me tonight Brod Boyd. And you know before we get to the questions tonight why don’t you start it with a word of prayer?
Brod: Most kind Heavenly Father we thank you for giving us another opportunity to open your word. We pray now your blessings on this program. In your name we do pray. Amen.
Pastor Ross: Amen.
Brod: Bats, huh?
[Laughter]
Pastor Ross: That is quite an amazing fact because I knew that bats would fly by sonar, but I didn’t understand what was involved I this tiny little bone in the inner ear that actually ear drum from the circular organ that sends the impulses to the brain and it happens so quickly; 200 times a second.
Brod: I think my mom was part bat because she was able to separate when we were misbehaving as kids.
[Laughter]
Pastor Ross: She was able to hear all kinds of things?
Brod: Yes.
Pastor Ross: You know Jesus in Matthew Chapter 13:13 spoke of people who hearing do not hear and I think in a sense that is what is happening with the bat. It can hear, but it is disconnected so it can’t hear. But, of course Jesus is not talking about a tiny bone in the ear. Rather Jesus is making a distinction between those who hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but they do not obey it. In a sense it is like the person who continually hits the snooze button on his alarm clock until he conditions himself not to wake up until the alarm rings.
In the same way if a person keeps disregarding the promptings of the Holy Spirit the day will finally come when the Holy Spirit will turn away because the person has disconnected himself from his pleadings. This the Bible refers to as the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. In Matthew Chapter 12:31 Jesus said, “Where for I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven as a sin, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Now this is when a person hardens his heart as a result of the prompting of the Holy Spirit he turns his heart away; unwilling to do what God is calling him to do. Now Brod we have a study guide on this important subject. And a lot of people ask the question, “What is the sin against the Holy Spirit?” From time to time people even ask me I think I have committed the unpardonable sin and then I reassure them that they haven’t because if a person is committed the sin against the Holy Spirit they have no desire for repentance. They close their spiritual ear to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. But, this study guide goes into more detail about this important subject. It is entitled “No Turning Back” call the resource number and we will be happy to send that out to you.
Brod: It is a wonderful study guide Pastor Jean. The 800 number is 1-800-835-6747 that’s 1-800-835-6747.
Pastor Ross: We can go to the internet questions before we go to the phone lines tonight. I think we have two kind of categorizing a number of questions. They came in on the subject of the Holy Spirit.
Brod: Okay the first one Pastor Jean. The Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. What does that mean?
Pastor Ross: You know a lot of people are puzzled over this verse. It is God purposefully hardening Pharaoh’s heart when Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go? Well what we need to understand here is that first of all the Holy Spirit speaks to all people. John Chapter 1: 9 the Holy Spirit is convicting all people and just as the sun that shines on everyone it is the same sun that hardens clay, but it will also melt wax.
And so the Holy Spirit depending upon our response will either soften our heart or harden our heart. You see it is our choice. If we accept the promptings of the Holy Spirit and let him work then our hearts are melted and softened, but if we reject the promptings then our hearts are hardened against the Holy Spirit and we refuse to obey what he is calling us to do we will in turn harden our hearts.
Now you can read more about this in 1 Samuel Chapter 10: 6 as well as Zachariah Chapter 7: 12 and by the way a verse that is often overlooked is Exodus Chapter 8: 15 where the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. So in one case it says God hardened his heart and in other words the Holy Spirit convicting the heart of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh chose not to accept the conviction. So his heart is hardened, by then it explains a little later Exodus Chapter 8: 15 it actually says, that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
Brod: Interesting and the second internet question is should we ask for signs form the Lord?
Pastor Ross: You know that is a good question. I guess we would want to follow it up with a question of what are you wanting a sign for? Now if you were asking for assign to do the will based on His word, then there is no need to ask a sign. Let me give you a verse in Matthew Chapter 12: 39 Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.” And then later we read in Luke Chapter 16: 31 Jesus said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.”
In other words Jesus is saying if you’ve got the word; you’ve got the Bible. And it has revealed God’s will and purpose for your life. But, if you choose to not follow God’s will and purpose in the Bible and you pray and say well Lord; give me a sign so I will know whether or not to do what you have asked me to do. God says that is the wrong thing to do. Follow and choose to do God’s word and He will lead you into more light.
Well alright friends if there are anymore internet questions we’d love to hear from you. To send us your internet question just go to the website “WWW Amazing Facts dot org” there is a link that says “Contact Us” and you can type in your internet question. We will try to take that on the air. Brod let’s go to the phone lines.
Brod: Sure. Pastor Jean we have Jim listening to us over the internet it says and he is calling us from Churchville, New York. Jim you’re on the air.
Pastor Ross: Hi Jim and welcome to the program.
Jim: Hi good evening and how are you doing sir.
Pastor Ross: Good. Thank you.
Jim: Good they said to try to keep my question to about three minutes so I will try to do my best to do that. It might be a bit of a rebuttal question and if I can get your comments I’d appreciate it.
Pastor Ross: Alright okay.
Jim: I have a couple of verses and I don’t know if you can see the internet verses or not, but the one is in Isaiah Chapter 44:8 where it says, “Is there a God beside me? Yea there is no God, I know not any.” With that in mind I just want to then mention the certain passages that speak in the Old Testament of idols and of demons. From the research that I have done if you were to look at Deuteronomy 32: 15-24 I won’t read it; just as reference for anyone else listening. And Psalms 36: 39 it is pretty much clear that demons are associated to things that they worshipped. And in doing so they made idols to represent them. And at the end of Psalms 106: 39 David says that they went whoring with their own inventions.
Pastor Ross: Well Jim I’ll tell you what the question that you’ve been referring to?
Jim: Okay real quickly my question is if it is demons are associated with judgments that God gave against them for worshipping them and idols and in Deuteronomy it says some of the judgments would be mental diseases and madness. If we flip over to in Mark when the Pharisees came down and actually accused Jesus of being possessed by demons because He was doing healings, right?
Pastor Ross: Umm-hmm.
Jim: Does that not reveal the fact that demons are of our own making and are not real?
Pastor Ross: Alright. Good question on how we relate to demons. I think first we need to recognize that demons are real. It is not just a figment of our imagination. On several occasions when Jesus did cast out demons the demons actually confessed Jesus. We also find that demons control people to the extent that they have submitted themselves to the devil and his influences.
Now several things we want to bear in mind. These demons are actually fallen angels. Revelation Chapter 12 talks about one third of the stars of heaven that fell prey to Satan’s deception Revelation Chapter 12 the last verse tells us the stars in Revelation represent angels. So the devil was able to deceive one third of the angels of heaven and they were cast down to earth with him. And it is these angels that the Bible refers to as demons that actually take possession of the minds of those who allow them to do this. Now God won’t allow a demon to come and take possession person if he is submitted to God.
But, if someone opens up their mind and opens up their heart to the evil influences of Satan then that is what allows them to come and take possession. And we do find there is a real war still taking place today against the good forces, the angels of God and evil forces, the angels of Satan. Let’s go to our next caller.
Brod: Pastor Jean we have Joseph listening to us over the internet and he is calling from Savannah, Georgia. Joseph you are on the air.
Joseph: Hello Pastor how are you doing?
Pastor Ross: Good thank you.
Joseph: I love listening to the show. Here’s my question. It is kind of a two part question, but it is basically one and the same. How do you respond to people that say that the Bible is an altered and that people have put things into the Bible that were not originally there? One example the idea of eternal suffering, some people don’t believe in eternal suffering in hell and others believe in eternal destruction. So where does the idea of eternal suffering come from? Some people may think like for example like in Europe during the Dark Ages. I think there as an eight hundred year span or more in which the Catholics kept the Bible from the people?
Pastor Ross: Right. Yeah the whole time period was about 1260 years and during the Dark Ages.
Joseph: Umm-hmm. So during that time when the Catholics had the Bibles maybe they inserted things that we don’t know about. Now I personally do not believe that, but how do you respond to people who feel that way?
Pastor Ross: Well okay that is a good question. God has not left us without evidence upon which we can ground our faith in the Bible. Now just in the Bible—it has the Old and New Testament, but let me just begin with the Old Testament for a minute.
Accusation have been made where you can’t trust the Old Testament and that it has been changed over the past two thousand years and that was until the dead sea scrolls were discovered. The Dead Sea scrolls date back to about 150 years B. C. before Christ. And every part of the Old Testament book or parts of the Old Testament book was discovered except for the book of Ester. But, if you look imparticular to the book of Isaiah almost the entire book was discovered intact. And if you were to compare our Bible with the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, you would find that there is a direct connection and the accuracy of our Bible is remarkable when compared with these ancient texts. So the Dead Sea Scrolls helped to validate especially the Old Testament and when we talk about the New Testament there are a number of passages and manuscripts, Greek manuscripts that we have and that we compare amongst each other to validate the accuracy of the New Testament. So we can have confidence in the Bible that it is the word of God. We are told in 11 Timothy Chapter 3:16 all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. 11 Peter 1:21, “Prophecy never came by the will of man, but the Holy men of God spake and they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” So God in a special way has preserved the accuracy and the trustworthiness of the Bible for us today.
Joseph: Amen.
Pastor Ross: Alright Joseph?
Joseph: Alright.
Pastor Ross: You know we have a study guide dealing with the Bible and the trustworthiness of the Bible and it is entitled “Is There Anything Left You Can Trust?” And it is an “Amazing Facts” study guide and all you have to do is call the resource number to get it or anyone listening ask for that study guide. There are a number of interesting facts in that study guide.
Brod: That number is 1-800-835-6747 Again 1-800-835-6747. Pastor Jean we have Roy listening to us from New York, New York and listening on WMCA. Roy you’re live.
Roy: Okay Pastor Genesis 4:26 should I read it?
Pastor Ross: Yes go ahead.
Roy: It says, “To him also was born a son and he called his name Enos then began man to call upon the name of the Lord.” The last part then began to call upon the name of the Lord.”What are they getting at there?
Pastor Ross: Adam and Eve had two sons Cain and Abel. Cain out of jealousy rose up and killed his brother Abel. We find Cain going off and following Satan not following God. And he ends up building a city while rebelling against God. Adam and Eve had another son named Seth. And then Seth had a son Enos and then people began to call upon the Lord. What we find happening here in Genesis is two groups of people who are developing and that is the descendents of Seth and Cain. The descendents of Cain are the wicked and the descendents of Seth are the righteous. So we have two streams and two groups that we are following in Genesis. And then when it came to the point where the descendents of Seth began to intermarry with descendents of Cain and then iniquity came upon the earth until it was just Noah who was righteous and God took Noah and his family through the flood.
Roy: Well what I thought it meant then began man I thought that started with Adam.
Pastor Ross: No this is after Seth.
Roy: Well what was Adam doing?
Pastor Ross: Well Adam was, but as far as having two distinct groups of people the distinction didn’t really come about until the time of Seth. So you have Cain and he goes off and marries one of his sisters and he begins to build a city and there is sin and iniquity. You have Adam and he…
Roy: I understand the Cain part, but I was looking at the lineage from Adam, Abel, Seth and Enos. It seems to me that it starts with Adam that is why I didn’t understand. How did it start with Enos? They skipped the other three guys.
Pastor Ross: Alright it appears that way. But, of course Adam was alive at the same time as Seth as well as Enos. So there is this time, this distinction that becomes evident after the birth of Enos and his children began to multiply and of course Adam did call upon the Lord and he was in a right relationship with God. Alright Roy we hope that helps and appreciate your call. We are going to go to our next caller now.
Brod: We have Jerry listening on KFIA in Sacramento, California. Jerry you’re on the live.
Jerry: Yeah I’m here.
Pastor Ross: Hi Jerry.
Jerry: Yeah I want to discuss Abraham’s children the other day with somebody and I had the understanding that after Sarah dies that Abraham went ahead and had more kids.
Pastor Ross: And you are right.
Jerry: That’s what I thought, but I don’t know where to find that in the Bible.
Pastor Ross: Alright you know I do have to look it up for you, but we do know that after Sarah’s death Abraham did remarry.
Jerry: That’s what I thought and this other person said, “Oh no.”
Pastor Ross: Yeah the two significant sons are Isaac and Ishmael, but after Sarah’s death Abraham did remarry. He was an old man he was up in years at the time.
Jerry: Oh sure. He was about 60 or 70 at today’s age. Yes and of course he lived a lot longer than today. But you don’t know where it is in the Bible?
Pastor Ross: It would take me a little time to look it up and unfortunately I can’t do it right now. But, if you could; go to the “Amazing Facts” website.
Jerry: I am an old blind guy and can’t get a hold of that.
Pastor Ross: Oh you can’t do that? I said you could just send us an email.
Jerry: I had enough trouble just getting the telephone number so.
Pastor Ross: And I don’t have the time to look that up right now. It would be in Genesis though.
Jerry: I know it isn’t where it talks about Sarah dying.
Pastor Ross: Well it would be in the next two Chapters or so up from that and in Genesis though.
Jerry: Oh alright Pastor. I’ll get it.
Pastor Ross: Thanks for your call.
Jerry: Thank you bye.
Brod: Hopefully we can get that before we end this program.
Pastor Ross: Well maybe in between the break we can grab that.
Brod: We’ll look for that for you Jerry. Next we have Robert calling from his cell phone listening on WMCA Elizabeth, New Jersey. Robert you are on the air.
Robert: Yes it’s six thousand years ago God created the heaven and the earth then how is it that we can see something that is 250 trillion miles away like the Andromeda galaxy?
Pastor Ross: Well good question. The obvious reason is the vegetation is created and then the light and some of the things needed for life is not created until after when the sun is created and so it is later. So if you have a long period of time taking place you would run into trouble there. It also says the morning and the evening was the first day and the morning and the evening were the second day so the earth was rotating and the dark part and the light part.
Robert: Okay, but do you believe that God spoke and created the heavens? God put the Milky Way into existence, the Andromeda galaxy and all the other galaxies into existence? Along with somehow God exceeded the speed of light to do that. There was a stream of light from however many millions of light years away they are to earth as God created the Universe.
Pastor Ross: Yes. Absolutely god could have done it very easily. Let me say and it has to do with God created it and the elephants were full grown and the sun was shining in its’ brightness. So God could have very well have created age in with the earth when He created the earth and the stars played an important role and God could have done that very easily and alright does that help?
Robert: Yes.
Pastor Ross: Alright. We appreciate your call. I think we have time for one more.
Brod: Okay let’s go to Cheryl and Cheryl is listening to us on KDV in Modesto, California. Sheryl you are live.
Cheryl: Yes my question is about 1 Corinthians 7: 10-11. They are the verses where it talks about the husband and wife separating and remaining unmarried. I want to know if—well I know that God says this—but, I have people in the church that say there is never any reason in the Bible for people separating.
Pastor Ross: Yeah I would say—ask them why I mean what reasons do they have?
Cheryl: They don’t have any.
Pastor Ross: Okay.
Cheryl: They say that just doesn’t support marriage.
Pastor Ross: Now we—the Bible we have two things here—we have divorce and we have separation. Separation is not necessarily divorce. There are times for different circumstances when someone might need to separate them self from their spouse. Maybe they are in a physical abusive situation and God would not want them to remain in that situation and jeopardize their life and so they need to separate from the person. But, that’s a different story than divorce.
Cheryl: Umm-hmm.
Pastor Ross: So there is nothing wrong in removing yourself from a harmful situation for a period of time.
Cheryl: Do you know where here are other verses that support this separating because of abuse and things like that?
Pastor Ross: Well let me give you a broad reference here. Jesus says when they persecute you in one city; flee to the other. In other words you don’t have to stay and face persecution on and on. It’s not safe and God doesn’t want us to put our self in that situation.
Cheryl: Well that helps and that is how I feel and I also don’t feel children should stay in those situations.
Pastor Ross: Absolutely if there is a dangerous situation there doesn’t need to be and they need to move to a safe place. You know Cheryl we have the music playing in the background and that means we have to be coming up on our half an hour break. Don’t go way we just have another half an hour of Bible questions here on “Bible Answers Live” but we have to take a break and share some important announcements. But, before we to the break I want to remind you friends to go to the “Amazing Facts” website. At “WWW dot Amazing Facts dot org” there is link “Bible Answers” you can click on and actually listen to archived programs of “Bible Answers Live” also some of the most commonly asked questions are categorized so you can pick different lists and listen to those Bible answers. There are a number of other important resources that we’ll tell you about when we come back, but call a friend and tell them about us and to tune in. We will be back in just a moment.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Ross: Hello friends and welcome back this is “Bible Answers Live” a live, National and International, interactive Bible study. If you have a Bible related question we’d love to hear from you tonight. All you’ll need to do is call the 800 number 1-800-GOD-SAYS that’s 1-800-436-7297. And we will take your Bible question on the air and give you a Bible answer in response. My name is Jean Ross. Pastor Doug Batchelor is out of town tonight and we have working the phones tonight, Brod Boyd.
Brod: Thank you Pastor Jean. You know Jerry called in first half of the program asking about Abraham and his second wife. So I just want to give Jerry that answer if he is still listening and to some of our other listeners. Alright so Genesis 25 gives us that answer. It starts off by telling us about his second wife her name is Keturah and the names of her children; so Genesis 25.
Pastor Ross: Okay thank you Brod. I appreciate you looking that up for us on the break. Now we are going to go to the phone lines now. Who is our next caller?
Brod: We have Robert listening on WROL in Boston, Massachusetts. Robert you’re on the air.
Robert: Hello Pastor.
Pastor Ross: Hello Robert.
Robert: Hey I want to tell you I went to a church that I went to once before and they are like I guess they call themselves the Full Gospel Church. But, I was sitting there and I heard something in the service that I had never heard before and I was very disturbed over it. The Pastor and his wife let this man speak and this man spoke of being and this was in the church and I couldn’t believe it. He spoke about a millionaire and a multi-millionaire and how he became one and he mentioned a few people that sell books that are millionaires and multi-millionaires. And at the end of the service he was like trying to sell his books and his tapes you know. And I went there to listen to the Gospel. And I have never heard this before in my life. I was shocked and then I ran into a few people from the church and I really got ganged up on over this do you know what I mean?
I mean the famous were the names they used like that became a household word. I didn’t want to be too judgmental you know.
Pastor Ross: yeah.
Robert: But I really strongly feel that something like this is not good with God. I think this is very offensive.
Pastor Ross: Let me try to address this. If we make buying and selling an obstacle to people hearing the Gospel we are offending God. You remember the story in the New Testament where Jesus went to Jerusalem to the temple and it happened twice. At the beginning of His ministry and at the end of His ministry and as Jesus arrived there at the temple people were buying and selling. They were exchanging money in the courtyard. And Jesus drove them out and said make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise and then at the end of His three and one half years of ministry He went back to Jerusalem and they were doing the same thing and Jesus drove them out. He cleansed them from the temple.
What those people were doing is they were making money an obstacle to people hearing the word of God. And that is something that God strongly forbids.
Robert: Right you just couldn’t—they just ganged up and you couldn’t—you know they just didn’t even want to hear the verse and I felt terrible because I never wanted to get my foot into it. Do you know what I mean? I felt completely bad and I just should have ignored it, but I had never heard of it before in my life. I had never seen somebody in a church do that during a service.
Pastor Ross: Right especially during a Sabbath it is very inappropriate. Now on some occasions somebody might have some great resources study resources. And after the service they might want to make it available for folks to take a look at, but definitely not during the service; and not right there in church because it isn’t sanctified.
Robert: Right like if they have resources after the church wouldn’t it even be proper to go into another room and do that?
Pastor Ross: Yes not in the sanctuary. I wouldn’t do it there.
Robert: Well I thank you very much.
Pastor Ross: You are welcome Robert. I understand the challenge that you are facing and there is an importance that we want to remember. Whenever we talk about the subject of worship and that is holiness. Remembering that we are worshipping a Holy God and we want to do everything we can to allow the gospel to flow without obstruction. So it was a good question Robert.
Brod: We just want to remind our callers that we have a few lines open. You can give us a call at 1-800-GOD-SAYS that’s 1-800-463-7297. Nick who is listening to us over the internet; calling from—I am going to try my very best—Pennsauken, New Jersey. Nick you are on the air.
Nick: Thank you Pastor. You got that correct that is very good. I have like a twofold question and it is like really bothering me and I’ve been trying to get through. Any way here we go its 2 Kings Chapter 8: 26 King Ahaziah’s age. He is only twenty-two in there. You go over to 2 Chronicles 22: 2 and he’s forty-two there. And when I read it, it is the same King and then there is one more thing I am having a big issue with the Christians that I deal with in regard to the wine and grape juice.
Pastor Ross: Okay let me try and tackle number one the first question in 2 Kings Chapter 8: 26 where it is talking about the age of Ahaziah. There are two forms of reckoning in the Bible and depending upon which form of age they are reckoning it will defect in some cases the record. So from one book to another sometimes there are dealing with the age of a King and how long they ruled the more specific on how long they ruled. It does sometimes use different calculations time methods and so that does create at times what does appear to be a little bit of a discrepancy.
Nick: Would it be considered a mistake in there because every time I count on this it is the Bible you know.
Pastor Ross: No I don’t want to weaken your faith by any means in the word of God. We do know there is as I said the two forms of reckoning of time of the Hebrew Kings. And if you line them up it does match up so it is not a discrepancy. It is not a mistake somewhere in the Bible it is just a different form of reckoning. We have the two different types of reckoning.
The second part of your question is to do with grape juice. In the Bible the word wine depending upon the context can represent grape juice, as we know it today or it can represent fermented wine. It is the same word is used in the Bible for both. So depending upon the context and then also depending upon the Hebrew and the Greek word.
Nick: The Greek and the Hebrew are the only time I saw this it always comes off as wine. The way I understand it and read it through the Strong’s is a fermented beverage.
Pastor Ross: And you know it might—it depends on what verse you are reading and what’s it specifically talking about.
Nick: Right, but I have never seen it come up as grape juice in that and that is why I am running into the wall with it and the wine.
Pastor Ross: Okay.
Nick: Is there anything you could give me like to help me out with that? Even references in Strong’s so I can show others this is why I believe what I believe.
Pastor Ross: Well we do have in the Bible it talks about strong drink which could be fermented wine or depending upon the context it can be either grape juice or it can be fermented wine. The Strong’s doesn’t always distinguish between the two. The context of how it’s used and at times even the Greek can go either way.
Nick: Oh you mean it can be used either way?
Pastor Ross: Now here are a few principles you can bear in mind. Whenever you are talking about the wine as it refers to communion or a symbol of Christ’s blood, in the upper room when Jesus turned water into wine; and at the wedding in Galilee in Mark, which is unfermented wine. That is grape juice. And here is how we know that is that God told the children of Israel that just before the Passover they were to remove all yeast or leaven from their house. Leaven was a symbol of sin. Jesus said to His disciples be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees. He was talking about sin so leaven or yeast is a symbol of sin and especially as it relates to the Passover. The wine that Jesus drank in the Passover He said, “This is my blood she for you.” We know that in Christ there was no sin what so ever. Yeast was used to ferment grape juice and turn grape juice into wine as we understand it today. So if grape juice is symbolizing Jesus’ pure atoning sacrifice then it cannot be tainted with sin. That’s why the grape juice or wine is the grape juice. It is unfermented.
Nick: So I am trying to get this and look it up real quick so when Paul says drink a little wine for thy frequent infirmities, then he is referring to grape juice? And that it would help.
Pastor Ross: The healing qualities you know the healing qualities that’s found in wine isn’t he alcohol, it is found in the grape; the juice. So when Paul says drink a little wine that would be for health purposes because it could very well be grape juice that he is referring to.
Nick: Oh okay so then grape juice does have some healing qualities?
Pastor Ross: Absolutely, very much so.
Nick: Okay well alright and thank you Pastors. I feel a lot better and I am still a little off about King Ahaziah because you know.
Pastor Ross: Let me give you a resource before I forget and I am sorry for cutting you off. We have a little booklet called “Alcohol and the Christian”. That goes into greater detail and we don’t have time to go into it here on the air, but it goes into greater detail about wine in the Bible and how do we understand it to be grape juice in some places and wine in other places. All you have to do is call the resource number that Brod will give you Nick and ask for the booklet “Alcohol and the Christian” and they will send it to you for free.
Brod: Nick that is 1-800-835-6747 that’s 1-800 835-6747. Looks like we have Flyder listening over the internet from Minnesota and Flyder you are live on the air. Hope I got your name right.
Flyder: Yes you did. How are you doing?
Pastor Ross: Hi Flyder.
Flyder: Hi how are you? Isaiah 6:2. During our time down here on earth we don’t and are we going to have wings?
Pastor Ross: Well in heaven we know we will fly. I am sure we are going to fly.
Flyder: Is it going to be six wings or two?
Pastor Ross: I don’t know the Bible doesn’t say. Now not all angels have six wings. These angels are referred to as Seraphim and Isaiah Chapter 6: 2 they have a very special work they stand in the presence of God. Let me read it for those listening it’s Isaiah Chapter 6: 2 “And above it is to the Seraphim”, he is describing God’s throne room. “Each one of them had six wings, with two they covered their face, with two they covered their feet and with two they did fly.” So here are angels in the very presence of God in His throne room and they are described as having six wings. Now not all angels in Scripture have six wings. Most are described as having two. Some angels there is nothing said about their wings. So just depending upon which angels we are talking about; the Seraphim’s have six wings. They are the ones in the very presence of God. What about us when we go to heaven? Will we have wings; will we have two wings?
Flyder: I’d rather have six than two.
Pastor Ross: Yeah I don’t know if we will need wings in that sense because I think we will be able to travel at the speed of thought. Is what I think and now again the Bible doesn’t tell us if we how we get around in heaven. By the way there is another point I want to mention; The Bible does say that we will be like Christ. His body glorified after the resurrection. That’s what our glorified bodies will be like. And notice Jesus He went to heaven and came to earth and He didn’t have wings. So that is something to think about.
Flyder: I appreciate it. I have a quick second question and that is someone told me about the Ten Commandments that, which was for Jews only. They are not for Christians or for the Gentiles. If you can real quick hit me on that? I’d appreciate it.
Pastor Ross: Alright. You know that is a question that comes up from time to time; that the commandments are not for us. But, if you just stop and think about that. Is it okay for a Christian to kill and to steal and commit adultery and to take God’s name in vain? No. You see Jesus died not to do away with the law, but He died because of our breaking of the law. And by His spirit he empowers us to keep the law. The law is a manifestation of His character. James goes on in the book of James speaking about this and says, “Do we make void God’s law?” And he describes speaking of the Tern Commandments.1 John Chapter 3: 4 it says that sin is lawlessness or the breaking of God’s law. There are just a lot of verses talking about God’s Commandments and how important they are to us today.
We have a study guide called “Written in Stone’ and we will send that out to you. Call the resource number that Brod will give you.
Brod: The number is 1-800-835-6747 that’s 1-800-6747. Let’s go to Jose calling from Orlando, Florida. And Jose you are listening to us on WPN and Jose you’re live.
Jose: Hi how are you doing?
Pastor Ross: Hi Jose.
Jose: Hi. I was talking to a gentleman and he was telling me about the close of probation and I couldn’t find it anywhere in the bible.
Pastor Ross: Good question. It doesn’t appear in the Bible, but the principle we find in the Scripture. Revelation Chapter 22:11 Jesus says, “He that is unjust let him be unjust still, he that is filthy let him be filthy still, he that is righteous; let him be righteous still and he that is holy , let him be holy still.” 12 “And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according to works shall be.”
So just before Jesus comes there is this declaration that Jesus makes and He says he that is holy, let him be holy still. He that is filthy or is a sinner let him be a sinner. That is what we refer to as the close of probation. And there are no changing sides. Now had that happened? No that is still in the future and that takes place just before Jesus comes.
Jose: Alright and he was also saying something about that there is a close of probation for Christians and non-Christians. Was he right or?
Pastor Ross: Well there is a general close of probation for everyone, but our decisions for Christ are—must be made before then—in other words when probation closes it is God declaring the decisions that we all have made. In other words it is not an arbitrary decision we make. God says alright now it is too late, but we say please Lord, can you forgive me and God says and God says no, no, no it is too late; we’ve closed the door. But, God is declaring the decisions that man has already made and by that point in time everyone has decided either for God or against God and God is saying alright everyone has made up their mind and probation closes. So we don’t want to wait until the end we want to be choosing God every moment of every day.
There is an added thing concerning the close of probation. And that is that not only is this close of probation a future event when Jesus comes, but when our life ends our probation is closed. And we don’t know when that is going to be. So we don’t want to put off making a decision for God.
Jose: Okay. I thank you very much.
Pastor Ross: You know that study guide we offered at the beginning of the program called “No Turning Back” deals with the subject of the close of probation and the unpardonable sin. Jose I think you’d enjoy that. What‘s that number Brod?
Brod: 1-800-835-6747 that’s 1-800-835-6747 we’ll go to Joan listening to us on WAPQ in Avon Park, Florida. Joan you are live on the air.
June: Actually my name is June like the month. I am wondering John the revelator was on the isle of Patmos when he wrote Revelation?
Pastor Ross: Yes.
June: Okay do you have anything to tell me how he got there? I have heard that the Romans took him and dipped his legs in oil and put him on the Isle of Patmos. Do you have anything to substantiate that?
Pastor Ross: Well let me give you a little bit of back ground on that. John is the oldest of twelve apostles. By the time John had wrote revelation the others had all died. He was an old man in his eighties or nineties. Many scholars believe the book of Revelation was written around 90 or 80 A.D. It was during the reign of Diocletian who was the Emperor of Rome at the time. And he was a very fierce persecutor of Christians.
The thing that came up at that point was offering incense to the Emperor. The Emperor Diocletian set up these different shrines throughout the kingdom. And everyone in the kingdom had to go and offer incense to these shrines. Now the Christians wouldn’t do that and they didn’t do that. So they were viciously persecuted. It is believed that John was in the city of Ephesus and that is where he was living and ministering. And he decision was made that everyone had to come and offer incense and John refused to do this and according to Fox’s book of martyrs which is a really accurate account of what happened to many of the faithful Christians in the first and second centuries. He describes that John was taken by the Romans and placed in a cauldron of oil—burning oil, but miraculously he survived. And they were almost fearful about this and because he didn’t die and so the next thing they did with him was to put him on the Isle of Patmos. It is a little rocky out crop in the Aegean Sea and is about six miles by ten miles. And it is about fifty miles south of the city of Ephesus. It was a prison island that the Romans would send their prisoners to. Some believe there were some mines there on the island and so that is where John was when he received this tremendous Revelation; the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the book of Revelation.
June: It is called the Fox’s book of Martyrs?
Pastor Ross: The Fox’s book of martyrs you can get it at the library and it gives a—just one account after another of the early Christian pioneers how they gave their life and suffered persecution by Rome and then later on by the Medieval Church.
June: Okay. Thank you very much.
Pastor Ross: Okay thanks for your call.
Brod: Ricardo listening to us on KHDL in Georgetown, California. Ricardo you’re on the air.
Ricardo: Hello.
Pastor Ross: Hi and your question?
Ricardo: My question is based on well—I ‘m saying it is based on 1 Samuel Chapter 20: 33, but it is basically about Saul because he’s an angry man and his children are stuck in the consequences. And in 20:33 he cast a javelin at Jonathan wanting to kill him. And you know how he did with Michael he was promised to David and then given to somebody else. So I am wondering if there is a study guide that will help us overcome such treatment from parent and the tendency to avoid or not to repeat such actions.
Pastor Ross: Okay. You know that is a challenge and my heart goes out to children who find themselves in abusive situations. The tendency is for the parent to repeat the abuse and same behavior on their children that they received from their parents. Jesus—well God said that sin is passed onto the third and fourth generation. The habit is passed on to the child and then the child repeats that process.
The good news is though that God is able to deliver He is able to save those who come into the uttermost to Him. Jesus says that if the son sets you free you shall be free indeed. He says that if we will come to Him he is able to give us the victory and that is good news.
Ricardo: So do you know of any study guides?
Pastor Ross: I am trying to think—if we have any study guides. There is information on the website that covers that topic. There is a sermon you can actually listen to by Pastor Doug. As a matter of fact there are a number of sermons and you may want to just search through there and see what there is on there for you to listen to on that topic. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is there’s a lot of good information there.
Ricardo: There is one more thing I want to add. Not pertaining to my question, but to the blind gentleman who called. Abrahams’ second wife’s name was Keturah and he can find that verse in Genesis 25: 1 and 4. There are also in 1 Chronicles Chapter 1: 32-33.
Pastor Ross: Great! Well we appreciate that! Thanks for looking that up! Alright let’s go to our next caller we have just a few more minutes left.
Brod: Okay let’s go quickly. Robert is listening to us on WMCA Bloomfield, New Jersey. Robert you’re on the air.
Robert: Good evening Pastors.
Pastor Ross: Hi.
Robert: Hi. And my question is concerning a passage in the Gospel of John Chapters 24 and 25 I am debating with a family member today. The Bible is filled with Scripture about when the body is dead that the person is a sleep until they are resurrected and referring mainly to Chapter 25.
Pastor Ross: Well let me read it for you and for the folks unfamiliar with the verse.
Robert: Okay.
Pastor Ross: John 5:25, “Verily, verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shall live. Alright and your question?
Robert: It is a little—it‘s worded a little different and I have the [inaudible] Bible. May I read that passage? And it says, “Believe me when I assure you most solemnly I tell you the time is coming and it is here now when the dead shall hear the voice of the voice of the son of God and those that hear it shall live.” So he says the dead are already hearing the voice of God. So his point was that the dead are alive. Or the spirits of the dead are alive.
Pastor Ross: Okay. We hear the music playing and I am sorry we have to cut you off there. Robert just very briefly Jesus is referring to several occasions. First of all to those who He rose there was Lazarus and the little girl, twelve years old that He rose. But, on a broader sense this verse is referring to the second coming of Christ. You can read about it in Daniel Chapter 12: 1-2. It speaks of the dead who will be resurrected at the sound of His voice and the second coming of Christ; some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting condemnation.
We have a study guide called “Are the Dead Really Dead” and it’s got some great answers dealing with this some of these verses. If you call the resource number we’ll send that to you. Very quickly the resource number is 1-800-835-6747 that’s 1-800-6747.
Well friends you can hear the music playing in the back ground and we’ve run out of time for this edition of “Bible Answers Live”. Thank you for joining us and why don’t we meet again next week? Join us again for another edition of “Bible Answers Live”. God bless.
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