Bible Answers Live

Guest (Male): It is the best-selling book in history. No volume ever written has been more loved and quoted. And its words, sometimes simple and sometimes mysterious, should always be studied carefully. It is the Bible, the Word of God.

Welcome to Bible Answers Live, providing accurate and practical answers to all your Bible questions. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this broadcast, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now, here's your host from Amazing Facts International, Pastor Doug Batchelor.

Doug Batchelor: Hello listening friends. Welcome to Amazing Facts Bible Answers Live. Would you like to hear an amazing fact? It's in our windows, our kitchens, our phone and computer screens, and our cars. The world is a different place because of an amazing substance called glass. To produce glass, sand is mixed with lime and soda ash and heated at an extremely high temperature. After the liquid mixture is cooled, the result is glass.

Obsidian is a type of natural glass that can be formed when hot lava cools quickly after being expelled from a volcano. Glass can also occur naturally when sand is struck by lightning. Glass can be recycled endlessly without losing any quality or purity. Clear or colorless glass, known as Cristallo, was invented by Angelo Barovier, a Venetian glassblower, around 1450 AD.

When glass breaks, catch this, the crack moves at 3,000 miles an hour. That's five times faster than the average jet airplane, which travels at 575 miles per hour. And because of its enduring nature, it's believed that glass could last for a million years underground before it would biodegrade. Pastor Ross, the Bible tells us that there's going to be glass in heaven.

Jean Ross: Yes, you talk about glass today, it doesn't seem that valuable because it's everywhere. But back in Bible times, you didn't come across glass very often, and it was very precious and valuable. The Bible speaks of glass, speaks of a lot of glass in heaven. It tells us in Revelation 4:6, "Before the throne, there was a sea of glass like crystal." This is clear glass.

And in the midst of the throne, and all around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in the front and the back. I think it talks about the sea of glass a few times in Revelation. And then you know Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, "Now we see through a glass darkly," because the Bible glass was translucent. It was obscured. Our vision, our understanding of God now is obscured by sin. Paul says the human eye hasn't even seen, we can't imagine what God has prepared for those that love Him. I hope someday to stand on that sea of glass.

Doug Batchelor: That's right. The promised home of the redeemed, they get to stand on the sea of glass. We have a book, it's called *Heaven: Is It For Real?* Sometimes we've got to realize this world is not our home; we're just passing through. For the believer, their real home is in heaven. If you want to learn more about it, just call and ask. The book is called *Heaven: Is It For Real?* The number is 800-835-6747. You can ask for offer number 189 or ask for it by name.

You can also receive this by cell phone. Just dial pound 250, say "Bible Answers Live," and then ask for the book *Heaven: Is It For Real?* We'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks. All right, well, let's start with a word of prayer, and we'll get to our Bible questions for this evening.

Dear Father, we are grateful again that we have this opportunity, this time, to be able to open up the Bible and study and learn. Your Word is a lamp that guides us into truth. Jesus said, "You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free." So please guide us in our study this evening. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Jean Ross: Amen. First caller that we have is Janine from North Carolina. Janine, welcome to the program.

Guest (Female): Thank you. I just was wondering, will we see our loved ones in heaven after they pass away?

Doug Batchelor: Okay, well, that's a very simple question. The Bible tells us that there is a heaven and that all the redeemed will be there. It tells us that at the resurrection—and you read about this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4—it says when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ will rise.

Then we who are alive, if we're alive when the Lord comes, will be transformed, given glorified bodies. We are caught up to meet them in the air. Then together, notice that word, we will be caught up together with them in the clouds. We will be together with the ones we love, and we'll recognize them.

Even though they may have glorified bodies that look much better than our earthly bodies, we will intuitively, under the guidance of the Spirit, recognize all of our loved ones and saved friends and family. So, yeah, and you know, we hopefully have the assurance that someone is saved. If we have a loved one and we've got a question, you just put that in God's hands and know that God loves them more than we do, and He will be doing all that is possible for them to be saved.

Jean Ross: And we'd recommend the book that we mentioned at the beginning of the program, *Heaven: Is It For Real?* It talks about that: the resurrection of the righteous and family members being reunited, friends meeting again. Call and ask, the number is 800-835-6747. Dial pound 250 on your smartphone and ask for that book, *Heaven: Is It For Real?* Scott is listening in California. Scott, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Yeah, I'm calling on Revelation 17:8-11. I watched a video by Pastor Doug like 10 years ago, and I think I gave it to my pastor, but I thought one of those verses—and I didn't know if you guys were impressed that there was going to be an eighth or a ninth Pope?

Doug Batchelor: So you said Revelation 17:8-11. Let me read this for our friends that are listening. It says here in Revelation chapter 17, it's talking about this woman that most Protestants believe is the church that sits upon the former power of Rome. All the Protestant reformers believed this was talking about what we call the Roman Catholic Church. I like to emphasize there are many loving, saved Roman Catholic people; they love the Lord, but the institution has compromised from the Bible.

Anyway, that said, it says, "Here is the mind," verse 9, Revelation 17, "that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits." Rome is the city of seven hills. "There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time."

Now, some have wondered about those seven kings. Is that talking about seven Popes from the time that the deadly wound is healed, or is it talking about seven kings meaning the seven powers? The woman here represents the greater symbol of Babylon and the persecuting powers that would go back to all the powers that had occupied God's people, beginning with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.

It says, "Five have fallen." Those are the five major empires that occupied God's people. "One is." Rome was in power when John wrote Revelation. By the way, there's some other good views on this; I'm just sharing one of the popular views. And then it talks about Pagan Rome. "One is yet to come." That'd be what we call—rather, Pagan Rome was ruling, and Papal Rome is what was going to come when the Roman Caesars lost their power and the Roman Popes began to rule Europe and those ten kingdoms of the former Roman Empire. So that's one view. It gets a deadly wound and then comes back again, which has happened. Pastor Ross might have another view on that.

Jean Ross: Well, you mentioned those different kingdoms, but let me just say something about when people wonder, are there going to be a total of seven Popes since the deadly wound was healed, which would be 1929? I did a quick search on the internet to see how many Popes there have been since 1929, and it looks like there's been about eight, possibly nine, depending on whether or not you count the first Pope.

One Pope was only Pope a few months and he died. He came in very short. So to try and apply this particular passage to the Popes—seven Popes—it doesn't really fit with what we see really happening in reality. I remember back when Pope John Paul II, he would have been sort of the sixth Pope at the time. They said, "Oh, you know, this must be a fulfillment of this prophecy. When he dies, then the next Pope is very short, and then Jesus comes."

I wouldn't apply this prophecy here because the Bible says there are seven mountains; mountains represent kingdoms. And then he says there are seven kings, and a king represents a kingdom. So as Pastor Doug mentioned, it's often referred to as the key kingdoms that persecuted God's people, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. So you have Egypt and Assyria, these are different kingdoms that have been mentioned. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the Papal power. You have France that persecuted God's people for a period of time, and then you have the United States right at the very end enforcing the mark of the beast. So there are different kingdoms that can apply. So, we'll have to wait and see how things go.

Doug Batchelor: A lot of discussion on this passage. But you asked a question, Scott. It is interesting that we're at a pivotal time historically, both in the United States and with tremendous change. No matter where you are on your political views, no one will deny there's tremendous change and folks are wondering, are we on the threshold of monumental transition? I believe we are.

I think one of the most important things to note in the history of Catholicism or Protestantism since 1929, I don't think there's been a point in time where the two groups are this close ever, where they are talking together, they are planning together, they are organizing together. So it is interesting. Protestantism and Catholicism are kind of working together, and they're getting involved very politically. So it is interesting. Interesting times. Thank you, Scott. We've got Lena in Florida. Lena, welcome to the program.

Guest (Female): Hello. Galatians 1, verses 6 through 12, mainly at the beginning, it says, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another," and then it goes on and on. I'm trying to find out for womankind if a woman has to die for Eve's sin like Jesus died for Adam's sin. And so this is the only scripture that I was thinking that might work, but I don't have enough scriptures.

Doug Batchelor: All right, well, of course, when it talks about Jesus being the second Adam and because of His obedience and His faithfulness, we're delivered from the mistake of the first Adam, the word "Adam" not only means "red," it means "man." And it's basically saying that Jesus died for the sin of mankind, meaning man and woman. "Male and female made He them."

And so the death of Jesus covers both men and women. The departure from the gospel that Paul is talking about in Galatians, they had gotten to the point where they were trusting in keeping ceremonial laws like circumcision as opposed to believing in the grace of God, being saved by faith. And Paul is going, "What's come over you? I spent so much time with you talking about you Gentiles; you can be saved by grace. You don't need to keep these ceremonial laws—Ten Commandments, of course, but not these ceremonial laws. And who's preached another gospel?"

So this is the theme that Paul is going through here in Galatians. He's not really, I think—as a matter of fact, Galatians chapter 3 says there's neither male nor female, servant or free—slave or free rather—Jew or Gentile. We're all one in Christ. What's that, 3:28, I think?

Jean Ross: You have Adam that was created first, and then Eve was made from the rib of Adam. She in essence is represented in Adam. And so when it refers to Christ as the second Adam, it's including Adam and all of those who have come through him. And of course, you have Adam and Eve and all of their descendants; they all fall under that representation from Adam. They came from Adam, were his rib. Adam or the one who came from his rib, so that would include Eve too. All of them fall under mankind. So Christ died for all. Thank you, Lena. We've got Thomas in Kentucky. Thomas, welcome to the program.

Guest (Male): Yes, thank you. My question is in reference to Matthew 23:9, in reference to call no man your father who is your Father in heaven. And also the Lord's Prayer of 6:9, the Lord's Prayer says to our Father who is in heaven. But my confusion is in like the Ten Commandments about honoring your father and mother here on earth in reference to our parents. So I'm kind of confused. My question is the confusion I have about that particular thing.

Doug Batchelor: Is it wrong to call your daddy father? No, I don't think Jesus here is dealing with something specific. You can actually see in the Old Testament, when Elisha died, the king of Israel said, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen." They used to call spiritual leaders father. Now, there's nothing wrong with what the king did so much then, but by the time of Christ, they were calling their religious leader "Father."

Jesus is saying don't call any man Father; you have one Father in heaven. So there's nothing wrong with calling your father father because you find in the New Testament they often called their fathers father. There's no sin in that. It's talking about—because you notice it's in the context where He says men love to be called Rabbi, Rabbi, Teacher, Teacher, Father, Father. And they were spiritual terms, and He said, don't exalt men with titles.

Sometimes Pastor Ross and I will go to a conference, and someone will give us a name tag and it says "Reverend Ross," "Reverend Batchelor." You ever had that happen? And you have to say, well, I'm going to flip my tag over and just say Pastor Doug. I just don't want to be called Reverend because the Bible says "holy and reverend is His name."

Now, should we only call God our Father in heaven? There are a number of times when they pray they speak to God who is their Father. But, you know, God is called Jehovah, He's called the Almighty, He's called Lord. There's a number of terms. It's not wrong to pray using a term of reverence for God. Never take His name carelessly. Something I've been just surprised by, not that it's necessarily wrong, but everywhere now I hear people pray and they say "Father God, Father God." I did a search in my Bible; I can't find anywhere where it uses it in that order, "Father God." Not that it's wrong, but it's just something I've noticed a change in the last ten years in people's prayers. Have you noticed that? It is becoming common, yeah, popular. As long as a person's talking to God with reverence, there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

You know, we do have a book called *The Name of God* that talks about this: not only the titles that God uses but also how do we refer to Him and the examples given in scripture. We'll be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. That number again is 800-835-6747. That is our resource phone line. You can also dial pound 250 on your smartphone, say "Bible Answers Live," and then ask for the book. It's called *The Name of God*. It goes through many of the names of God too. All right, well, we've got Efrain in New York. Efrain, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Yes. Hi, Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross. My question for you gentlemen is in regards to prophetic time events. I just was wondering if there is any place in Revelation 19 or Revelation 20 where it says that maybe God will decide what to do with the world and end the world at any specific or given time rather than go through the seven seals and the seven punishments of the seven bowls? Is there anything that says that God can end the world at any given time?

Doug Batchelor: Well, just to be clear, all things are possible with God. But He also says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, My Word will not pass away." So because His Word says that this is how the end is going to wrap up, it is going to happen the way His Word describes.

Now, there's things that seem to imply we can do to help hasten the Lord's return. Peter talks about looking forward and hastening His coming in 2nd Peter chapter 3. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, "The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness, then the end will come." So we've got a work to do in cooperating in preaching the gospel as a witness. The Lord wants to save as many as possible. But in that sense, we participate. But God knows the day and hour when it's going to happen, and I'm sure that's settled. When we look back, we'll see how it all played out.

Jean Ross: Yeah, and you're looking at specific things given in prophecy. Certain events that Revelation speaks about and Daniel speaks about that need to happen before Jesus comes. Well, those things are going to be fulfilled as given in scripture. You can look back at the other prophecies that have already been fulfilled, and you can see how accurate the Bible has been. So we can have confidence that what is yet to come will happen.

Now, what the Bible doesn't always tell us is when exactly those events take place. There's no time frame given, especially for end-time events as we have it now. So we don't know when the probation is, when the time of probation's going to close. We don't know when the seven last plagues start falling. But how long exactly that is, how that all ties together, you know, God will probably guide us as we get closer. So we want to be ready any day, every day. Amen.

Jean Ross: All right, thank you, Efrain. We've got Aaron in New York as well. Aaron, welcome to the program.

Guest (Male): Good evening, Pastors. I've heard that Satan and his demons are not able to read minds, even though they may be able to give people deceptive dreams. The thing that I'm concerned about is when I'm in a public place, when I get anxiety, worry, frustration, or weariness, I hear spiritual attacks in the form of loud, audible insults from strangers. But I never see anyone give me an angry face when that happens. My question is, can demons know when we have anxiety, worry, frustration, or weariness?

Doug Batchelor: All right, good. Well, can demons know when we're weary? Yes, they came to Jesus when He was tired and weary after fasting 40 days. The devil cannot read your mind because the Bible tells us that Christ knows the hearts of man and in 2 Kings chapter 8:39, it says for God and God only knows the thoughts of men's hearts.

But can the devil plant a suggestion or can the devil read your body language? My wife can read my body language. So when you know somebody and, you know, the devil's probably appointed—he's got his fallen angels that may work on us, just like God has good angels that guard us. They can probably look at our expressions and body language and tell if we're getting anxious and maybe exploit that. But I wouldn't even worry about it. I think the devil kind of gave up on me trying to scare me with voices and thoughts because I just thought, all right, well, Satan, are you trying to convince me you're real? I already know you're real; I'm just going to ignore you.

The Bible tells us "resist the devil and he'll flee from you." I remember when I first became a Christian, I started thinking I don't want to think about the devil. The more I tried not to think about the devil, I'd think about the devil. Or whenever I tried not to do something, I'd think about it. It's like the devil knows that I'm fretting. And pretty soon the Lord just said don't worry about it, and it went away.

Jean Ross: You know, there are many verses. I just looked it up now that talk about God knowing the hearts, the thoughts of men. 1st Kings chapter 8, verse 39. Jeremiah 17:10 says, "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to every man according to his ways." So God knows the heart. Psalm 139 says, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my standing up; You understand my thoughts afar off." So God knows everything about us. He knows what we are thinking. The devil doesn't, which is good, but he's very good at reading body language, and he can put temptations, he can put thoughts in our mind and in our heart.

Doug Batchelor: Yeah, and when the wrong thought comes, just redirect your attention and refocus on something good. You overcome evil with good, Paul says. Don't fixate as what the devil wants us to do.

Jean Ross: We've got Jason listening in Florida. Jason, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Yeah, how you doing? My question's Matthew 24, 40 and 41. Who's taken and who's left? Is it godly people taken and the evil left, or vice versa?

Doug Batchelor: Good question. Let me read this for our friends. Speaking of the second coming, it tells us that—and I want to read what it says here just before it, verse 38: "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating, drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not know till the flood came and took them all away." What took them away? The flood took them away.

"So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Two men will be in the field: one taken, the other left. Two women grinding at the mill: one taken, the other left." And in Luke he adds a third one; he says two men sleeping in a bed: one taken, one left. These are, first of all, there's a symbolism here. Working women grinding at the mill is talking about women, a symbol for the church, working with bread, the Word of God. You've got the true and the false. One is taken away in judgment.

Because they later asked Jesus, "Where are they taken?" I think that's in Luke 21. He says, "Wherever the vultures are, wherever the body is, that's where the vultures gather together." So the ones taken seem like they're taken away in judgment, then you get the feast of the birds. And so for the children of Israel, when they behaved, when the nation was good, they got to stay in the promised land. When they misbehaved, the Assyrians or the Babylonians came and took them away. So being taken away wasn't like a positive rapture; it could mean taken away in judgment like the flood took them away, carried them off. So that's I think one solid way of looking at that.

Jean Ross: You know, we do have a book that talks about the second coming of Christ, and it's called *Anything But Secret*. And I think it even addresses this verse. So call and ask for that. The number is 800-835-6747. You can dial pound 250 on your smartphone, say "Bible Answers Live," and then ask for the book. It's called *Anything But Secret*, talking about the second coming of Christ.

Doug Batchelor: Pastor Ross, we're looking at the clock. We have just a few minutes before the break, so we want to remind you folks, don't go away, don't go too far. We're going to be back with more exciting Bible questions. But Pastor Ross, folks might be hearing this program for the very first time and they're wondering "Amazing Facts," "What is Bible Answers Live?" "What is Amazing Facts?"

Amazing Facts started 60 years ago this year with a brief amazing fact from science or history, and then we would carry on with spiritual lessons. And it started from the radio program and then went on to Bible lessons, TV programs, evangelism training, mission projects, publishing. And we're operating now all over the world, broadcasting all over the world. The Lord's just been blessing. All you have to do to find out more about Amazing Facts is you can just type in amazingfacts.org, go to the website there, you'll learn some wonderful things. Now, you hear the music; we're coming back in a moment with more Bible answers, so stay tuned.

Guest (Male): Stay tuned. Bible Answers Live will return shortly.

Guest (Female): Growing up, I never felt love. I only knew fear and loneliness and a lot of anger. When I was about 15, my dad came back into my life, and we became really close. And he told me, "You know, if you want like a real change, you want to get out of here and you want a real family unit, you join the military."

And so I was 17, and we walked to the recruiter's office, and he signed me up to join the Air Force. And that same year, I went straight to basic training. And I remember this one day, he called me and I was irritated because I told him I couldn't talk and he tried to keep me on the phone. I was like, "Hey, Dad, you know, I'll call you back later, okay?"

So I get off work, and I remember I was laying in bed and I was like, "Oh man, I didn't call my dad. I should have." And immediately I get a text message, and I'll never forget this, but the text message read: "Please forgive me for what I'm about to do. Daddy loves you. He always loves you."

And I just knew immediately that something bad happened. And I get a call back from my mom, and she's crying uncontrollably. And I said, "Mom, what happened?" And she said, "Your daddy hurt himself." And I said, "Is he okay?" She says, "No, Shell, he's not okay. Your dad's dead."

I lost it completely. I from that day I was not the same person. I didn't even want to be around anymore because I felt like he was really just the only one that I had in my life that really understood me, that was always there for me. And I didn't even know if I believed in God, but I was angry at God, and I blamed Him.

The rest of that time, I just drank, and I didn't care about anything, anyone. I ended up trying to take my own life. If my dad can do it, I can do it too. I was going to work one day and right before I decided to check my Facebook, and I see that I got a message from somebody, and it just simply said, "Hey, didn't you used to work at 24 Hour Fitness?"

That kind of gave me like a happy memory, happy feeling, and I haven't felt that in a long time. And we kept talking, and eventually I opened up to him. And he sends me a Bible. He actually highlighted some passages in the Bible, and he told me to take a look at this Bible and read those passages.

And I started reading, and I felt like almost a sense of peace. And he was saying, "You know, if you really want to understand the Bible, you know, I think you should check out this group; they're called Amazing Facts Ministry." I hook up my headphones and I turn on *Bible Answers Live*, and the very first question: if somebody who commits suicide, whether they can actually go to heaven.

And that moment, I felt immediate peace about my father's death. And I was so excited because I just couldn't believe it. We arranged that I would go out and go visit him, my now husband, for about a week. And the whole time we watched sermons from Pastor Doug, and we busted out the study guides that he had.

So I never felt true happiness, and I didn't really know what happiness was until I started watching some of the sermons from Amazing Facts Ministry and doing those Bible studies. I felt like finally there was a purpose for my life. I didn't want to die anymore, and I want to be baptized. I want to give my life to God. I honestly know I would not be here if it weren't for Amazing Facts. It took Amazing Facts to help me mend that relationship with myself and then make a relationship with God. I am extremely thankful, extremely blessed beyond what I deserve, and I know that every single day. My name is Michelle. Thank you for changing my life.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Bible Answers Live, where every question answered provides a clearer picture of God and His plan to save you. So what are you waiting for? Get practical answers about the good book for a better life today. This broadcast is a previously recorded episode. If you'd like answers to your Bible-related questions on the air, please call us next Sunday between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Pacific Time. To receive any of the Bible resources mentioned in this evening's program, call 800-835-6747. Once again, that's 800-835-6747. Now, let's rejoin our hosts for more Bible Answers Live.

Doug Batchelor: Welcome back listening friends. Thank you for staying tuned into Bible Answers Live. If you did join somewhere during the broadcast, this is a live international interactive Bible study. We're going to go back to the phones in just a moment. My name is Doug Batchelor.

Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. And friends, if you just tuned in and you'd like to ask a Bible question, the phone line here: 800-463-7297. That'll bring you into our studio. And if you don't have somebody pick up the phone right away, just stand by and they'll get to you as soon as possible. Our next caller is Jerry listening from Texas. Jerry, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Hi, Pastors. Doug, I didn't know you knew Jim Bracket, but I want to thank you for the program you showed, the founding of Amazing Facts. I just have a quick question. I watched—I'm in Texas, so I didn't watch the second hour of the creation thing on Friday night. Are they going to have that on USB?

Doug Batchelor: Yes, the whole program will be available on DVD and USB and online. And so if you miss one of the programs, you can probably go to—I saw some of them already posted on the Doug Batchelor YouTube page; they're unedited, but sometimes they're more interesting unedited. But yeah, it's there, and any of the programs that you missed I think have been posted.

Guest (Male): I appreciate you guys. Anyway, my quick question: I was wanting what was the earth was right before God created life? What was here in our section of the planet?

Doug Batchelor: Well, it seems like that when God formed the mass that would become the earth, there may have already been—or when I say there already was—at one time he says the earth was without form and void. Then he implies darkness was on the face of the deep. The deep, I think we discovered, is like the abyss or the nothingness.

And He seems to separate waters. It doesn't say He created water on a certain day. There may have been water; there may have been ice at that time. But He then starts to do this separation, organization, creation process beginning with that first day when He says, "Let there be light." But so I hope I'm answering your question.

Guest (Male): You've answered it well, and thank you, guys, and it's—appreciate you. Amen.

Jean Ross: Thanks so much, Jerry. Appreciate your call. Amen. All right, next caller that we have is Bob in Washington. Bob, welcome to the program.

Guest (Male): Hello, Pastor Ross. Hi, Pastor Doug.

Doug Batchelor: Hi, Bob. Thank you for calling.

Guest (Male): You're welcome. Um, I just have been dealing with someone who believes in a Wednesday crucifixion for the past few days and were just wondering what you would say—what your response would be. He was asking the question—he doesn't believe anybody can answer this—about on what weekday did the six days before Passover of John 12:1 fall? And so he thinks that's the answer to his being right kind of thing.

Doug Batchelor: Well, he's probably coming at it all wrong because the Bible—you would start with the obvious. The Bible says that Jesus was crucified on the preparation day, and you can also read in Luke chapter 23, verse 56, "Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oil, and they rested on the Sabbath." Now, they're not talking about a Passover Sabbath; they're talking about *the* Sabbath "according to the commandment."

And the commandment is talking about the Fourth Commandment. And so it's being very clear what Sabbath commandment they're resting on: it's the seventh day of the week Sabbath. So Christ had to be crucified on the sixth day, which is commonly known as Friday.

Now, your friend, I'll bet anything, is trying to move the date of the crucifixion to a Wednesday because he's looking at Matthew chapter 12 where Jesus said, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

And they think those three days and three nights in the heart of the earth are talking about Jesus' time in the tomb. It's talking about Christ's time of suffering in the heart of the world, suffering for sin, the darkness of the world in the hands of the devil. That began Thursday night in the Garden of Gethsemane when Christ said, "Now the hour of darkness has come." That's Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. It's not talking about the time in the tomb; it's talking about time suffering for our sins. Three days and three nights beginning Thursday night after the Last Supper when in the garden the mob came and He began to suffer for our sins. So that's why they try to—and there's only one verse in Matthew chapter 12 where it says that.

In Luke when it talks about Jonah, it says, "As Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites." Luke doesn't even mention the three days and three nights. So you should never build a doctrine on one verse. Hope that helps. By the way, I do have my book called *The Sign of Jonah* that talks about those three days and three nights in the crucifixion day.

Jean Ross: Yeah, and I think one of the clearest, as you mentioned it at the beginning, Pastor Doug, where you have the story recorded in Luke, on the preparation day, Jesus dies; He rests on the seventh day, the Sabbath; and early in the morning on the first day. So if we know the first day is actually mentioned, we know the Sabbath is mentioned, and we know the preparation day, and they were all following one after the other, it must be Friday, Saturday, Sunday. There's just no way you can do it differently.

Doug Batchelor: And most churches of all denominations recognize that because it's such an obvious teaching. All right, next caller that we have is Elijah in Tennessee. Elijah, welcome to the program.

Guest (Male): Hey, gentlemen. It's a pleasure to talk to y'all tonight. Thank y'all for everything y'all do. And the question I had for y'all is in Revelation we see a threefold union of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. And I was wondering if America, the second beast, was that false prophet because we see where America does great wonders and brings fire down from heaven, and in Revelation 19 we see where the false prophet that wrought miracles before him was also cast into the lake of fire with the beast.

Doug Batchelor: All right, good question. Yes, in a sense. You've got the beast is talking about the power in Rome, which would be the headquarters of the Eastern—well, you've got the Western Empire and Eastern being the Greek and the Byzantine, but that was all headquartered in Rome. Now they kind of all come and approach the Pope as a leader.

And then you've got—that's the Old World Christianity. Then you've got the New World Christianity in the Americas centered in the US with your Protestants. By the way, fastest growing group in South America is Protestants and Evangelicals. But with the power that the US has, and it talks about this false prophet, spiritualism—"three unclean spirits like frogs," this is Revelation 16, come out of the mouth of the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet. Spiritualism is going to have a part in all three in tying them together and bringing them together for this great Battle of Armageddon against God's people. But I think that the false prophet is speaking of fallen Protestantism based in the US.

Jean Ross: And you have Protestantism uniting with Catholicism, and they begin to pressurize the United States to pass certain laws restricting religious freedom. And of course we know that's a fulfillment of Bible prophecy in Revelation 13. So yes, the false prophet definitely is connected with apostate Christianity in the last days.

Okay, next caller that we have is Michaela, I think it is in Canada. Michaela?

Guest (Female): Yes. Good evening, Pastors. My question tonight is, looking at the pattern of the outer court and how the altar of sacrifice comes before the laver, understanding that the altar of sacrifice represents the cross and the laver represents baptism, why is this pattern not consistent with the order of how Christ manifested on earth? Meaning Christ did not die before His baptism.

Doug Batchelor: Oh, that's interesting. Well, let me explain for our friends listening, Michaela, that's a very insightful question. Typically in the process of salvation, we approach Christ—you come through the door of the sanctuary. The first thing is the Lamb, the sacrifice. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, first they sacrificed the Lamb, then they went through the Red Sea. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 10, this is a symbol of being baptized; the whole nation was baptized. Then they're also baptized in fire afterward. That fire is talking about both they were tried and it's talking about the Spirit.

Jesus said, "Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." The whole planet was baptized in water in the days of Noah; it'll be baptized in fire when Jesus comes, and then He makes a new heaven and a new earth. So you've got the water birth—the fire birth, the baptism of the water birth and then the enter the kingdom.

Now, you're saying, what about Christ since He's the Altar, why did the baptism come first? And well, maybe in a sense Christ first, when He's 12 years old, He goes to the temple and He says, "I must be about my Father's business." He surrendered to doing the Father's will at the very beginning. He recognizes His mission probably at that time. So there was that acceptance, and then there's the baptism.

Now, the children of Israel came out of the Red Sea and went into the wilderness. Jesus came out of the Jordan; He went into the wilderness. So it's still following that sequence.

Jean Ross: And then even more direct, the baptism of Christ is an example for us. He didn't have any sins that He had to confess. So in that sense, He gave us an example when we receive the sacrifice of Jesus, then we're baptized. Whereas Christ giving us an example was baptized before He provided the sacrifice. Wouldn't make sense to be baptized and there's no sacrifice.

Doug Batchelor: Would have been very hard for Jesus to die and then get baptized. I mean, that would have been—although you know in one sense He was baptized in a special sense by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, but also when He ascended to heaven and He became our high priest, you know, the Holy Spirit came here at Pentecost. So there was sort of a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which does occur with baptism.

Jean Ross: That's a good point. There was a baptism after the cross for even for Christ and His followers, 40 days later. Yeah. Good question. I don't think we've seen that one before. I'll learn something just coming to the program. That's why I come.

All right, thank you, Now, in California. Welcome to the program.

Guest (Female): Hi, Pastor Doug and Pastor Jean. I was calling, I listened to just a part of—of last week I was able to catch the creation program with the panel discussion. So thank you for doing that. I was, however, a little concerned. One of the panelists seemed to indicate that the world had been—that the earth was older than approximately 6,000 years old. And as a creationist, I've always learned that the world is fairly young, that it hasn't been here for billions and billions of years. And you know, even when you look at certain patterns and things, the world—the earth is pretty actually pretty young in age and not as old as some—some may make it. I did hear the earlier question from the gentleman that was kind of similar, but I was very concerned because I'm like, you know, if—if then that could change a lot of things if we're indicating to individuals that the earth has been here a lot longer than—than what we as creationists believe.

Doug Batchelor: All right. Our panelist that shared that—I don't mind sharing, that was our brother Clifford Goldstein, who is something of a brain; he does speak a lot of Hebrew. And he said, "The way that it's worded there in the Hebrew, it says 'and the earth was' without form and void." He said, "So I have no problem"—he believes in a six-day creation, literal days. He says, "There may have was some mass here, some chaotic unformed mass like our planets in the solar system." And I respectfully disagree with my friend Cliff on that.

But that is an orthodox view for creationists who believe in a six-day creation. It's just a question about the wording. Most people believe that when it says in Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," 6,000 years ago was not the beginning of the whole cosmos. I mean, did God have angels before He made the world? Well, He had to; it says they sang with joy. So something was already here.

So I think he was just postulating, you know, it wouldn't hurt the creation story if there was a pile of disformed planet like, you know, we have some in our solar system.

Jean Ross: You know, we were talking before the program, I thought it was interesting. The Bible's pretty clear the sun was made on the fourth day. So if God could create the sun in one moment, it wouldn't be too hard for God to create the earth at the same time. And if you look at the solar system, if you look in space, all planets revolve around a star; they revolve around a sun. So if the earth was created way back when before creation, what's it revolving around? You just had this planet just floating out there without any axis it wasn't. So it almost seems to make sense that yes, God created the whole thing at the same time, at least our little part of the universe. That doesn't mean that the rest of the vastness of the universe was made; they're finding galaxy after galaxy and it just goes on and on. So yes, all of that was probably there. So when He began 6,000 years ago, He's basically saying, "Let there be a planet of matter without form and void, and now I'm going to start there." And that's all happening at the beginning and, "Let there be light" on it.

Doug Batchelor: Yeah, maybe the Milky Way was made at the same time. You know, there's lots of galaxies out there. So who knows. All right, well, thank you, Now. Great question. Bee is listening in Texas. Bee, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Yeah, so my question is, I know the Bible says hear the Word, live a faithful life, keep going, you know, obey His commandments and that shows you love Him. So let's say I did all that—born of water, born of spirit—I did all that, but at that last moment of my life, I just happen to sin and I just happen to fall short at that last moment. The last thing that I did is sin. Am I going to heaven, or have I done—?

Doug Batchelor: You know, there's a book called *Steps to Christ* that is a beautiful book, and there's a statement in there and it says it's not the occasional good deed or the occasional misdeed that determines whose side we're on.

You know, I've known some people that were godly Christians and faithful and consistent their whole life, but then in the closing hours of their life—it could be because of medication, it could be because they're in a lot of pain from a final disease, it could be because age has caused some dementia—they do or say something that would have been out of character for their life. Is God going to judge their whole life based on that final strange occurrence? Well, of course not.

Now, if a person's, you know, living kind of loose with sin so that they say, "Well, you know, a little sin now and then is good for everybody," and they say, "Well, no big deal if I sin," and then they die. Well, then they're playing Russian roulette with eternity; that'd be a different scenario. So I don't think God judges people based on something that may happen at their end of the life that's being influenced by other factors. He'll look at the tenure of their life and their witness. But at the same time, you don't want to be saying, "Well, once I'm saved, I can't be lost, so I'm going to just go ahead and sin," and then be caught, you know, die drunk driving; that would be not promising. All right, thank you.

Next caller that we have is Shelly in Michigan. Shelly, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Female): Hi, good evening. Thank you, Pastors, for taking my call. Um, I'm just a little confused on the communion service and doing it every quarter or twice, three times a year. Um, I read Mark, Matthew, John, and Luke, and Matthew and John do not say anything about us to do it every quarter. Mark—well, Luke actually is the only one that says, "Do this in remembrance of Me." And I just feel like it's a pagan thing, and I just don't know if I'm right or if I'm wrong.

Doug Batchelor: But you don't think the Lord's Supper's pagan; you think that doing it too repetitively is pagan.

Guest (Female): Yes.

Doug Batchelor: Yeah. So, obviously, Jesus said, "Eat my flesh, drink my blood, do it in remembrance of Me." It's a ceremony. Jesus left a couple of institutions with the New Testament church, and one of them being, you know, we still have the institution of marriage, but one of them being the Lord's Supper and baptism, foot washing.

As far as the timing, there are two extremes. I remember, you know, if you go to a Catholic church, they have mass every week, which is their version; they call it the Eucharist. That's different; it's transubstantiation. And then you've got the Church of Christ—I've worshipped in some of their churches—and they have communion every week. I've been to some churches besides Church of Christ that do that.

Most of the, like, Methodist, Protestant churches, they would do it quarterly. And it's not that you're required to do it quarterly, but in case a person missed it once a year, better chance that you'd catch it. And at least once a year. The Jews only had two cycles for a ceremony: the Sabbath, which was weekly, and then annual feasts. In our church, we do it typically three times a year. There's nothing in the rulebook that says it has to be four. To make sure everyone has an opportunity. And so, you know, if you feel like it's too often or it's becoming repetitive—it's not a sin to say the Lord's Prayer, but if a pastor tells you I want you to say it six times in a row, well, that's vain repetition. So if you're doing it, if you feel like it's too repetitive, anything not of faith is sin; don't do it. But I think at least once a year, biblically, you should participate in the communion service, the Lord's Supper. Thank you, Shelly. Good question.

Reuben in New Jersey. Reuben, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Hello, Pastors. Thank you for the opportunity. I had a question about 2nd Corinthians 5:18. And it says that God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So the question is, what is the ministry of reconciliation, and who received it—just pastors or also the members?

Doug Batchelor: Oh, I believe every believer. See, we have been alienated from God by sin; sin separates. You know, as a pastor, every now and then you do marriage counseling. There may be a dispute, a split in a marriage, and a pastor comes in as a mediator to help them reconcile; you bring them together again. We've been separated from God because of sin, and every believer can point unbelievers to God through Jesus; they can be reconciled to the Father. So all of us have this ministry of reconciliation. And I think that, you know, if every member realized that we are to be a nation of kings and priests to help people—and the word atonement is at-one-ment; we've been separated, God wants us to be at one with Him again. Good question. Thank you.

We've got Brian in Missouri. Brian, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Evening, Pastors. My question is, when Moses was up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, God supplied the tablets. Is there any meaning or significance in the reason God had Moses cut them the second time?

Doug Batchelor: Yeah, good question. When Moses first receives the Ten Commandments, God cut the tablets out of some rock, ostensibly up on top of Sinai, and gave them to Moses. Now, Moses threw them out of his hands. I don't know that God commanded him to do that, but he was filled with righteous indignation. And God said, "All right, Moses, I'll write them down again, but you cut the stones this time." Maybe Moses would think twice about breaking them next time.

It's hard to say why God told Moses, "You cut them out of—you give me two tables of stone this time and bring them up."

Jean Ross: You know, I think it is interesting that obviously Israel witnessed Moses breaking the Ten Commandments, and then the whole story that took place after that. Then they witnessed Moses make these tables of stone, and they saw him carry it up the mountain with no writing on it. So it was very evident that he went up without a chisel in hand; he carried the stones, he went up the mountain, and he came back with the law written on tables of stone. So it was the same stone; he didn't go find some other stone there. It was a miracle that God wrote on the table of stone. It wasn't Moses that did it. So I think maybe that's part of the emphasis why he made the stone. It was the same stone that went up that came back down. The difference was when it came back down, it had writing on it, and they know Moses didn't take anything to write. That's right.

Doug Batchelor: It was written by the finger of God, flaming fire or whatever it is. Yeah. All right, we've got Freddy in New York. Freddy, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Hi, Pastors. Good evening. My question is, when Jesus selected Judas as His disciple, did He know at the time that Judas would betray Him?

Doug Batchelor: Yes, I think so. Jesus said, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" And I don't know that Jesus would have normally chosen Judas, but when Jesus was narrowing down the pool of people that were going to be His inner circle, I think the other apostles were kind of pushing Judas forward. "Oh, this man is bright, he's talented, he's a scribe."

You'll read one place—and where is it where Jesus said, "The foxes have their holes and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head"? There it says a certain scribe came to Him. Many believe that scribe was Judas, and he said, "Lord, I'm going to follow You." And Jesus was letting him know, look, you think you're going to follow me and you're going to get earthly advantage, that you'll have financial benefit, a good retirement. He says, "If you're following me, just know that foxes and birds have better houses than I have; I sleep on the ground. Don't follow me for earthly reward." Many believe that was Judas. Matthew chapter 8, verse 20, the verse that you read.

So he's volunteering, and the other disciples are putting him forward. And He said, "Okay, watch what happens. I'll pick him."

Jean Ross: We've got Pat in Wisconsin. Pat, welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Guest (Male): Thank you for taking my call. I have a question: how long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned?

Doug Batchelor: You know, probably not very long. The Bible doesn't tell us an exact time. Hopefully they had a little bit of a honeymoon there and that they got to enjoy paradise for a little while. The reason I don't think it's long is a practical one: the last thing God tells them is to be fruitful and multiply, and we know that, you know, all their plumbing was working perfectly at that point; they had not had a chance to produce children yet. So it was probably less than a year, maybe a matter of months, and the devil caught them while in their innocence, very early on in their created experience.

All right, maybe time for one more caller here. We've got Cedric in Florida. Hi, Cedric. Welcome to the program.

Guest (Male): My question is that in heaven there will be no one taken or given in marriage. Now I'd like to hear your opinion on the New Earth when we will build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and enjoy the fruit. Will we be alone, or will we be united with our families?

Doug Batchelor: Okay, good question. Since there's no marriage in heaven, and it says in Isaiah and other places that in heaven we're going to build houses and plant vineyards and inhabit them and eat the fruit of them, are we going to live in those houses alone? Are they bachelor pads, pardon the pun, or will we have family?

You know, there's nothing in heaven that says you can't be living with—if you and your wife never got divorced on earth, you can be best friends in heaven. There's just no procreation because the New Earth is being populated with the redeemed. And you could be have your friends, you could share an apartment. So who knows. All I know is get there and I promise you'll be happy. Jesus tells us and Paul tells us that we have not imagined, our eyes not seen, our ear has not heard, no one has got the language of heaven to describe the wonders God has prepared for those that love Him. And so whatever it is, I can promise everybody it's going to be much better than you can imagine. You just want to be there.

That's right, Pastor Doug. Everyone wants to be in heaven. Friends, we want to thank you for your great questions this evening. We're going to try and take some of the email questions that were sent to us. If you'd like to send us an email question, it's balquestions@amazingfacts.org. Pastor Doug, did God reveal to Adam and Eve the fall of Satan before Satan was able to deceive them?

Doug Batchelor: Okay, we just had another question about Adam and Eve in the early ages of the garden there. I do believe that God warned him that there was a fallen angel on a rampage. You know, God obviously—Adam was not made where he had to learn to talk and walk and crawl. Adam had God create him like you buy some computers from the store with the hardware already—or software already installed. I'm sure among the things that God told Adam is be very careful not to disobey. You know, there's an angel out there that's going to tempt you; you're to eat from every tree, but do not eat from this tree. He must have known why he needed to be careful. So I think they did have a warning.

Jean Ross: All right, real quick, Pastor Doug, there's going to be a lot of sad people in heaven when they realize their family members won't be there. Will that make heaven happy?

Doug Batchelor: You know, in heaven everyone's going to be happy. God promises He will dry all tears from their eyes. Maybe weeping for a night, but joy will come in the morning. Friends, you want to be there. Check out amazingfacts.org, and we will study again with you next week.

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