Bible Answers Live Special Edition : Trump Assassination Attempt - America in Prophecy

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.

Hello, friends. Would you like to hear an amazing fact?

One hundred and twelve years ago, Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning to return to the

presidency when a gunman opened fire. On October 14, 1912, former saloon keeper John Schrenk

attempted to assassinate former U.S. President Roosevelt while he was campaigning for the

presidency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schrenk's bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating

his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page speech. It was lucky for him,

he folded it over so it was like 100 pages. Schrenk was immediately disarmed, and he might

have been lynched, except Roosevelt shouted for them not to harm him. Roosevelt, an experienced

hunter and anatomist, he knew he was not critically wounded, so he declined going to the hospital.

Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech and spoke for about 90 minutes. Afterward,

doctors concluded it'd be less dangerous to leave the bullet in place than attempt to remove it.

Roosevelt carried the slug with him.

For the rest of his life. Well, friends, we think you may have seen the ad. This is a special

edition of Bible Answers Live. And obviously, our nation is reeling right now, as we have before,

because of some senseless violence that has helped fuel the flames for some to further

polarize people. And last night, I posted something on my Facebook page, just encouraging people to

pray for calm and everybody take a breath. And I was surprised.

Even just in mentioning the subject and asking people to pray, people began to just erupt with

political bias one way or the other. And I thought, wow, this is not healthy. And a lot of people were

actually asking questions about, is what happened in this attempted assassination of former President

Trump, a fulfillment of some Bible prophecy? And others are wondering, was there a conspiracy?

And we have a special guest here. He's a friend. And my mind immediately,

went to Eric. I'll just share his first name. But Eric doesn't mind my sharing that not only is

he a Christian, he has formerly been employed by the FBI. And what was your specific specialty in

that, Eric? Yeah, I was a FBI special agent. Focus was on counterterrorism on a joint

terrorism task force. It's a JTTF. They're located across the country. And the Bureau

is in charge of them. And we liaise on with other alphabet agencies and also state and local law

enforcement.

To help thwart terrorism in the United States and also international terrorism and just threats to

the homeland to our leadership and the American people. So you've been seeing a new face here.

We thought that we might have him as a resource. He can stay with us for the first half of the

program. And we're going to talk a little about what actually happened and what many people have

already seen. But as always, we want to begin with a word of prayer and then might go to a

scripture as well. Absolutely. Well, let's begin with prayer.

Dear Father in heaven, once again, we are grateful for the time that we have to open up your word. Your

word is truth. And especially at this time, Lord, we need the lamp of truth, the word of God to guide

us. So we do pray for your spirit to be with us as we open the word. Be with those who are listening

and lead us into a clear understanding of the Bible. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

Well, you know, Pastor Doug, it's an interesting fact you brought up. Of course,

talking about this attempted assassination. It's not the first attempted assassination on a U.S.

president.

There were actually four successful assassination attempts. And then there were a few others that

failed.

Yeah. Well, at the four that, of course, were successful is Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley,

and Kennedy. And I think President Ford, there were two assassination attempts, two shots. He

wasn't hit. In fact, we had a member of our church that was hit, and he ended up becoming a member of

our church here in Sacramento. He took a bullet for the president. He got a letter.

And then, you know, someone shot at the White House while Obama was there. And, of course,

Teddy Roosevelt assassination attempt. And there were others.

Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan, of course.

Yeah.

The big one.

In 1980 or 81. And in the Bible, people might be surprised. This is nothing new,

is that politics can be very divisive. And you've got a few examples in the Bible.

Um, some of you remember that Joseph was in prison with the Pharaoh's butler and baker because,

ostensibly,

someone had tried to poison the Pharaoh, and he wasn't sure who it was yet. Later, it was determined

it was the baker. And the butler lived. And then you've got the example in the Bible that in the

Book of Esther, someone was plotting an assassination of Ahasuerus. And that was discovered.

And you've got Eglon, the king, who was assassinated by Ehud. So this political strife,

when people are in positions of visibility and power and influence,

they become a target. And, um, you know, I just thought it was really important for us to address some of these things.

A lot of people are wondering, is some of this a fulfillment of prophecy? But before we get into that, you know,

I noticed, Brother Eric, that a lot of people were coming on, and they were sure it was a conspiracy on both ends.

You know, the country is somewhat polarized now between Democrats and Republicans and maybe even independents. And right away,

people thought that President Trump was going to win.

President Trump or some of his friends helped stage this. So it would look like that.

Now, from your experience, what do you think the likelihood of that is?

Well, I think in that case, you give the government or another entity too much credit.

If my eyes look a little bit tired, my phone was going off nonstop last night with every idea and conspiracy theory that you can imagine.

And so I had to silence it.

Uh,

Uh, early on.

But that's what happens.

When you don't have facts readily available at the get-go, the mind wanders.

And rightfully so.

People are interested in what's going on.

But if you look at it, for someone to take a bullet through the ear, I don't think anybody wants to take that chance if that was, quote, staged.

I think, you know, the facts will come out, of course.

It'll be agnosium on Capitol Hill and going through trying to ascertain exactly what happened.

But if you look what,

former President Trump did when he looked at that jumbotron and turned his head for a split second, just looking at the diagrams, that split second of him turning his head was probably a matter of between life and death.

That timing couldn't have been orchestrated.

Correct.

Yeah.

And then normally when there's going to be a high profile figure like a president coming to a location, what do they do for security in advance?

Well, that's the whole key.

The battle begins before the event, right?

So you want to get on site.

They have a, I'm not Secret Service, but we worked with Secret Service agents.

They have an advanced team that goes in.

Obviously, they're going to assess the scene, look for any threat that may be there, and then set up an action plan of how they're going to deal with it prior to.

They're working with state, local law enforcement.

You'll usually have the Secret Service that will have the perimeter.

And due to resources, a lot of times they'll outsource things outside of the perimeter to state and local law enforcement officials.

So.

So there's actually been a division of responsibility in those buildings where the Secret Service wasn't responsible for some of the outer buildings.

Potentially.

Yeah.

It's, I'm just surmising with what we know so far, but that's just a very, very rough assessment.

Yeah.

I appreciate that.

And then there are others that are thinking that, well, this may have been a plot on the side of the Democrats where they were trying to understaff.

And, you know, when Oswald had the event with Kennedy, everyone automatically assumed it.

Everybody from the Mafia to the Russians to President Johnson was somehow behind it.

But you have this one lone individual that it's hard to mobilize a person to do something like that.

Yeah.

And that will be, obviously, we'll be watching hearings on Capitol Hill for, I'm sure, weeks to come, whether or not there's a paper trail of whether or not the campaign asked for staffing and they didn't receive it.

But it's hard to, hard to say at this.

Human nature is when there's a blank.

Yeah.

You fill it in.

Right away.

And that's where you get the, all these conspiracies come up.

So, from the FBI standpoint, taking over the investigation, I mean, they're going to throw everything at this, at this case.

I mean, you'll have profilers, you'll have the financial records gone through with a fine-tooth comb.

Everyone will be interviewed within that, the sphere of influence of the, of the shooter, his next of kin, his friends.

It'll just go out from there.

They'll scrub his social media accounts, his computer.

Everything will be gone through with a fine-tooth comb.

They want to see what is, quote, the motive.

Right.

Is there a nexus to international terrorism or to some other agency, or was it just a lone wolf person acting on their own?

Yeah.

And you know what I think is really important to talk about at times like this, Pastor Ross, is that, you know, as Christians, what do we do?

So, if we, if we chew on and masticate all the possible conspiracies, how does that really affect the kingdom of God?

Mm-hmm.

How are we spreading the gospel?

How are we winning souls?

Well, you know, as you mentioned, Pastor Doug, this is not the first time that some national catastrophe has happened or, or, you know, assassination of the president, of course, 9-11.

When that happened, people were wondering, well, is this the end of the world?

Is this going to bring in final events?

Or when World War II broke out, or even before that, World War I, people were wondering, man, is, is this the end?

So, that question's always asked.

Yeah.

And then nuclear weapons.

So, we've got to be careful to, to, you know, interpret Bible prophecy just on headlines.

Yeah.

We need to let the Bible interpret itself and see the bigger picture.

That's right.

And how do things tie in?

Now, I guess that'll bring us to our next question, which is a Bible answer, and that is, you know, is the United States in Bible prophecy?

Does the Bible speak of the United States as being a key player at the end?

You know, one of the verses, we didn't actually share it yet, but connected with Bible prophecy, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24 that one of the signs of the end is, as it was in the days of Noah, and there you have it on your screen.

Matthew 24, 37, so will it be when the Son of Man comes, but as the days of Noah before the flood, one of the characteristics, and you can read there in Genesis chapter 6, it tells us that violence filled the world.

And so, you know, you can see the, the violence, and obviously when, you know, on the screen at a peaceful event, people are being shot like this, it's just a tragedy, it's a reminder, this is one of the signs of the end.

And of course, the violence there, not only attempt.

With Donald Trump, but of course, you have, you have a family that's lost their dad, two little girls that lost their dad as a result, and others in critical condition, a wife that's lost her husband, so it brought a lot of pain.

Yeah, to say something, if you, if you wouldn't mind on that, you know, just yesterday, I was out hiking with some friends out to a remote area lake, and it just hit me hard because my phone was, started to go off, and there was a group of people that maybe were 50 feet away.

And someone said, hey, the president, former president's been shot, and one individual said, oh, I hope they got him, did they get him, did they get him?

And I couldn't keep silent, and I thought, wow, that's where we're at in society today.

So I told him, I said, hey, where are you from?

And the wife said, well, Australia, but he's from America.

And I said, I'm a former FBI agent.

I said, we're Americans here.

These people you see sitting here.

I said, we don't.

We don't advocate for going after our leadership on either side of the aisle.

We don't condone it.

And there was silence.

But what that speaks to me is, at the macro level, looking at it now, what can we do as Christians to rise above this?

I can tell you this, just from the FBI standpoint.

When I went to work on a daily basis, I was working with patriots, people that, we all have biases, correct?

We all have plight.

We all have political biases.

We lean one way or the other, or maybe both at times.

But we would check our biases at the door, and we would follow the facts where they lead.

We were able to rise above that, because we were serving the American people.

And as Christians, we're serving mankind as well.

Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel.

He didn't have a litmus test for Republicans, for Democrats, for Libertarians, for Independents.

He said, all people, all have fallen short of the glory of God.

We're all sinners.

And I think if we can rise to that level and take advantage of these times of unrest, and preach the gospel like Amazing Facts has done,

been independent, not afraid to stand for truth, but to be bold and unashamed, but to do it in a tactful, dignified, right way, we can rise above it.

Just like Daniel did.

He served what, multiple administrations?

Yeah, that's a good point.

Yeah, Daniel served in both Babylonian and Persian courts.

But everyone knew that his primary service was to another kingdom.

That's right.

Yeah.

So he was faithful.

And yet he was uncompromising.

Yeah.

Serving the Lord.

And yet he was a good administrator.

Now, I guess we've had some questions that have been coming in.

We did.

And of course, maybe just mention, we do have the phone lines that are open.

And if you have a Bible question, the number to call is 800-463-7297.

We haven't taken any of the callers.

So if you're waiting, just wait.

We'll get to your call here in just a few moments.

We wanted to take a few moments to visit with Eric and learn more.

And then we're going to go to the phone lines.

I do want to mention, though, we do have a free offer, Pastor Doug.

It is something we don't always offer.

But it's one of Amazing Facts' more popular magazines.

It's called America in Bible Prophecy.

And then we've got a couple of questions talking about that.

So we want to make this available.

It's free.

All you have to do is call the number 800-835-6747.

And we will send you, if you're in North America, in Canada, the U.S., you can call us.

We'll send you the magazine, America in Bible Prophecy.

If you're outside of the U.S., you can get that by, or at least reading it, by going

to the website, theamazingfacts.org or .com.

Also, you can receive a digital copy, I believe, by just dialing pound 250 on your smartphone.

And you'll receive it right there on your phone.

You'll be able to read it right away.

But if ever there was a need for us, Pastor Doug, to understand what the Bible is saying

and how America ties into Bible prophecy.

I think it's now.

It's an important time.

As a matter of fact, here's a question I'm going to ask.

These are some of the questions that have come in.

And this is an interesting one.

It says, does the attempted assassination of Trump fulfill Revelation 13, 6, where it

says the beast receives a deadly wound, but its deadly wound is healed?

Talking about one of the heads receiving a deadly wound.

Right.

Is that what happened yesterday?

You know, I remember when Pope John Paul II was shot, he received, he was, you know,

attempted assassination.

And he survived.

And everybody quoted that.

And they said, this is the fulfillment of that.

And one of the heads of the beast received a deadly wound.

And no, there are two beasts in Revelation 13.

And Protestant Reformation theology is that the first of those two beasts would be Catholicism

based in Europe.

And the second beast would be Protestantism based in the US.

But that first beast that gets a deadly wound is the one in Europe.

So no.

And that's a historical event that occurred in 1798 with the French Revolution.

Yeah.

That actually, and get this magazine, I think.

That's all in there.

It'll talk about that.

But I was surprised when I saw that question because I thought, wow, that was a creative

spin on what happened in the news.

Yeah, that is.

All right.

Here's another one.

And Eric, maybe you've got some insights on this.

What about Christian nationalism and the rise of that in the US today?

Could that somehow be the fulfillment of prophecy?

And is that connected to this Project 2025?

Yeah.

Well, I'll jump in.

Yeah.

I'll let you discuss 2025.

That's a, what, 400 scholars, conservative scholars, and it's a massive document.

Yeah.

People, it's been in the news a lot lately, and I think folks are not aware that neither

administration, whether it's a Democratic or Republican, is obligated to follow the

recommendations of the studies of the think tanks.

Correct.

The Republican think tank is called the Heritage Foundation.

And then there is a Democratic think tank that's got 275 employees called the Center

for American Progress.

Washington is full of think tanks.

Yeah.

And they all have their recommended, what they are is their ideals.

And it's been actually just for campaign purposes, folks have made a big deal out of one of the

think tank's recommendations, which usually are ideals.

But now you asked about Christian nationalism, and that is a term, I was looking it up this

week, it says it depends on what your definition is.

You've got two words, Christian and nationalism, and those are pretty comprehensive terms,

and it can mean something different for a lot of different people.

I think it all depends on how it's framed.

I mean, look at, let's rewind 10, 15, maybe 20 years ago.

There was an element of bias on either side of the aisle in reporting the news.

But now it seems we've gone to strictly, quote, opinion journalism.

Yeah.

And things are drumbeated over and over and over again.

So you can take a buzzword like Christian nationalism and turn it into anything you want.

If everybody comes together and says, well, this is what it's going to mean, we're going to put that out there and drumbeat that.

So anything can become dangerous when you have the media playing it over and over.

They create new definitions.

Exactly.

And they actually, it forms the language for the country.

Sure.

Yeah.

Because they repeat it.

So, but just in a nutshell, when people are saying Christian nationalism now, I think they're talking about Christian groups that are wanting the United States to adopt Christianity as the national religion.

Now, that is against what our founding fathers believed in.

But you've got to be careful because then people go to the other extreme and say, we're to become a country of no religion.

Roger Williams, I think, put this as well as anybody in that he said that everyone in America should be following the morals that are outlined in the Ten Commandments, in particular the second table, meaning those last six commandments between man and your fellow man, that the government must support morals.

And you'd get them from the Ten Commandments that you honor property, you honor life, you're not to covet, you're not to, you honor marriage and parental authority.

And all those things.

But the government should not be enforcing the first four commandments that talk about what is the name of your God, you know, how do you worship him, when do you worship him, and so forth.

So, there needs to be a distinction there, but you can't completely throw out morality and say any effort to keep morality in our country is Christian nationalism.

I know that they were talking about putting the Ten Commandments in some of the public schools.

I think Oklahoma.

And, well, that shouldn't be shocking.

They were in public schools when I was a kid, and I don't know that it hurt anybody.

And, you know, they used to pray in the schools.

Above the Supreme Court, the Ten Commandments are there at the pinnacle on the building.

So, that's not Christian nationalism.

That's to deny that America had Christian roots, you know, that we come from a Judeo-Christian culture, the founders.

That's just, that's history.

And so, believing that and recognizing that is not Christian nationalism.

And people say we have a U.S. Constitution, we're okay.

But the Constitution is printed on a piece of paper.

What gives it its authority?

It's the American people, the people behind it, having a sense of morality and decency and enforcing that, which gives it its power.

Just like, say, a $100 bill.

It's a piece of paper.

It has a perception of being the value that it is because of the full faith and credit of the United States government to pay its bills.

If they can't do that, that $100 bill or that dollar bill is worth nothing.

And so, it takes, like you said, a level of morality and decency of a people to be able to enforce that Constitution, to make it real.

Yeah.

Well, that probably brings the next question then is, as a Bible-believing Christian,

what is our responsibility with reference to the government?

How involved do we get in politics?

What is our responsibility when it comes to voting?

What would we say?

What are the principles in Scripture?

Well, it's a separate book, but we do have a book in Amazing Facts, and it says, Should a Christian Vote?

And it basically talks about that, you know, first of all, our allegiance should be to another kingdom.

Let's not forget that we're preparing to live in a different kingdom.

But while we're in this kingdom, you know, we want to do what we can to protect the freedom to live and proclaim the gospel.

And because we are a government that is run by the people, we need to be involved to some extent in preserving that freedom.

You know, for all Christians to go bury their head in the sand and say, I'm a citizen of another kingdom.

I don't care what happens now.

That's really becoming detached.

But you don't want to get so involved.

You know, Jesus said, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.

And to God the things that are God's.

So we don't want to be where we're worshiping another God through politics.

That's at least my kind of attitude on that.

You know, sometimes politics can almost become a religion to people.

Oh, yes.

And, you know, they just can't live without it.

They've got to get the latest.

And they're supporting whatever candidate they—

Is there a difference, though, Pastor Doug, let me ask you, between supporting maybe an individual versus supporting issues that we as voters get to vote on?

Yeah, of course.

And you're welcome to chime in, Eric.

When, you know, when you're voting for a president, you know, as a Christian, you know you're not voting for a national pastor.

So you're not looking for him to be a pastor.

And you're looking for, you know, what will the policies be?

And will those policies, like I said, free Christians to live their convictions and allow them to proclaim their convictions?

That's what it's all about.

And so.

And so sometimes when you look at the people's personal lives, you sort of have to hold your nose and vote.

But—and there may be times when you're convicted that it won't make a difference if you vote one way or the other.

Our founding fathers were—many of them were Christians and they believed in giving the government to the people.

We often hear that mantra, for God and country.

Yeah.

But what's the first thing that's said?

For God.

So we stand on our anchor, the Word of God.

Yeah.

And the Bible advocates what?

Freedom.

God's government is based on freedom.

So we stand on biblical principles.

But at the same time, we live in society and we want to perpetuate freedom because that's what God stands for.

And so I think we—this is our litmus test on where we stand and how we vote.

But if we just turn, like you said, put your head in the sand and do nothing, then how are we standing up for liberty?

How are we standing up for freedom?

Yeah.

And a lot of the issues that really affect people's day-to-day living is dealt with.

That's right.

More at a state level than necessarily a federal level.

I know in California, from time to time, there are different things, ballots, you know, different measures on the ballot that really could define morality in the state.

I remember a number of years ago, they had the marriage—

Proposition 8.

That was on there.

Yeah.

And at the time, California actually voted to support marriage between a man and a woman.

That eventually changed.

So I think as Christians, we definitely have a role to play in trying to preserve that.

Yeah.

That's right.

We have to preserve what is right as long as we can.

All right.

And Pastor Doug, you can probably speak on this, but just going back to Daniel, I'm sure

politics were thick in the air in Babylon.

And how was he able to navigate through all that, yet stand 100% for his belief without

compromising?

Yeah.

Well, it tells you in Daniel 6 that as far as possible, the king of Persia, Darius, he

was going to set Daniel over everything because he was so efficient and faithful.

But Daniel 6 says,

Daniel's prayer time with God took priority over even the king's decree.

Or Joseph.

Yeah.

Same thing with Joseph.

Good point.

Well, Eric, we've got you for about another 60 seconds.

And any closing thoughts in the backdrop of what's happened with this very unfortunate

and sad event, an attempted assassination?

Just coming from a Christian perspective, if you could say anything to our viewers and

listeners, what would you say?

I would say focus less.

Focus less on the conspiratorial ideas and get into the Word every day.

Have a personal relationship with the Lord, because this is going to stand the test of

time.

One thing that gives me hope and courage in a world of strife and confusion is the Bible

says that one day, every knee will bow.

Every tongue confess.

That He is Lord.

Amen.

That is comforting.

Yeah.

Get into the Word.

Have a relationship with Him, because that is what's going to last.

Yeah.

And you may be called upon like a Daniel.

Yeah.

Or a Joseph one day.

Amen.

Well, thank you, Eric.

We sure appreciate your joining us and driving down to help with our presentation.

We'll say goodbye to you for now.

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Now, let's rejoin our hosts for more Bible Answers Live.

Welcome back, listening friends, to Bible Answers Live.

And if you've just tuned in,

this is a live international interactive Bible study,

and this is a special program.

We've been talking a little bit during our first half

about just what should a Christian response be

in light of the tragic events of the attempted assassination attempt.

And it's kind of stirred a lot of the political divide into a fury,

and at the same time, other people, I think, are recognizing the madness and calming down.

So we've been taking some of the questions about

does this event have any role in Bible prophecy?

And we do have a free offer that deals with the subject of American Bible prophecy.

My name, by the way, is Pastor Doug Batchelor.

And John Ross.

And you see there on the screen the magazine called America in Bible Prophecy.

And this is our free gift to anyone who calls and asks.

It's one of our premier gifts.

Just call and ask.

It's 800-835-6747.

You can ask for offer number 879.

Or you can dial pound 250 on your smartphone

and say Bible Answers Live and ask for the magazine

America in Bible Prophecy.

Pastor Doug, we're going to take the phone calls,

but here you have an interesting picture that you saw

that came out of somebody that was, I guess, doing a TV interview

at the rally there after the shooting occurred.

Yeah, one of the most famous books on Bible prophecy

and America in prophecy is that classic called The Great Controversy.

It's been reprinted under a number of titles.

We sell that book here at Amazing Facts

under the title The Rise and the Fall of Jerusalem

or The Fall and the Rise of Jerusalem.

And here this woman is being interviewed,

it looks like, on Fox News.

And she's got the book in her hands.

And you can actually see it.

I don't know if she was giving it away

or someone had just given it to her.

But I thought it was very interesting

that here is somebody at this event yesterday,

this historic event.

They're holding a book on American Bible prophecy there.

So that was rather remarkable.

Absolutely.

All right, well, we're ready to go to the phone lines.

Our first caller, thank you for your patience in holding.

Gary, welcome to the program.

You're on the air.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, it says,

The coming of the lawless one is according to the workings of Satan,

with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

and with all unrighteousness, deception among those who perish

because they love not the truth.

They love not the truth, that they might be saved.

And for that reason, God will send them a strong delusion

that they should believe a lie.

So my question is, with so many different faiths

and so many different denominations,

how do you know when you're in the truth?

Oh, good. That's a great question.

You know, there's so many different denominations.

I've always said the best way that you could hide a diamond

is in a pile of broken glass.

And the devil is wanting to hide it.

The devil is wanting to hide the truth of God's church

by all these, you know, imperfect examples of it.

Now, I want to make sure and hasten to say

I believe there are many sincere Christians

that are in a number of fractured denominations.

But that doesn't mean that there's no truth.

Jesus said, Thy word is truth, and the truth will set you free.

And so when you want to know what the truth is,

you pick a church based upon picking a church

that is the closest to Bible truth.

I don't think there's any...

Well, I think that a couple of churches claim infallibility,

but most Protestant churches would not claim infallibility.

We don't, but I'm a member of my church

because I think it's the closest church to the Bible that I can find.

And that's why I spend all this time answering Bible questions.

I'm learning as I go.

We do have a book. It talks about this,

called The Search for the True Church.

As you said, Pastor Doug, we're giving Bible principles

that you need to follow when you're looking for a church

that's faithful to the Word of God.

Just call and ask. It's 800-835-6747.

That is our free resource line, I should say.

And ask for the book, The Search for the True Church.

We'll be happy to send it to anyone who calls and asks.

We've got Eric in Mississippi. Eric, welcome to the program.

Hello, pastors. Yes, good evening.

Evening.

I don't have a prophecy question,

but I do have a history question tonight

in regards to Genesis chapter 11

and the passage covering the Tower of Babel.

I ran into some historical commentary

that suggested that there was a remnant

that remained, specifically possibly from

the descendants of Seth and the sons of Eber

that did not participate or want to participate

in the building of the Tower of Babel.

And if so, I was wondering,

does that mean that their language was not scrambled?

Or, I guess my question is,

is there any biblical proof that Hebrew

is the original language that was spoken by Adam?

You know, that's a good question,

and I'm sorry to say that's a question

I probably can't answer.

The reason is, I don't see anything in the text

that tells us specifically that there was

one of the languages of the world

that was not affected or changed or altered

by whatever happened at the Tower of Babel.

And the other thing that's interesting is,

over time, even just within a couple of hundred years,

languages evolve.

I was back in England.

I know you've been there, Pastor Ross.

You probably look like Wycliffe's Bible.

And, you know, he translated the Bible into English.

And when I look at that original English

of Wycliffe's Bible, the S's or F's,

and just the wording, it's almost impossible

for someone who speaks American English,

even England English, to read it.

So languages evolve.

So to say there's any language in the world today,

that is identical to what they spoke in the Garden of Eden,

I think that's probably remote.

What language would it be the closest to?

I can't wait to get to Heaven.

That's one of the many questions I want to find an answer to.

But I don't know.

You got any thoughts on that?

No, I agree, Pastor.

I mean, languages change.

But it is interesting that, yeah,

the descendants of Seth, at least you have Noah and Seth,

and then his descendants,

that didn't participate in the Tower of Babel,

whatever language they spoke, that was not confused.

Now, as you said, if it was Hebrew,

it was a very different Hebrew

than probably what's spoken today in Israel,

just because languages change over time.

We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls

that Hebrew is even a little different today

than it was 2,000 years ago.

But great question.

My Spanish friends say Spanish is the language of Heaven,

but we'll have to wait and see.

All right, we've got Alejandro in Kansas.

Alejandro, welcome to the program.

Hello.

My question is,

why did God let Satan live?

Okay, why did God let Satan win?

Thanks.

We appreciate your courage in calling in with your question.

Well, Satan has not won.

There are battles that it looks like Satan has won

because of the evil that we see in the world today.

But in the end, the Bible tells us Satan is going to lose.

He is going to be cast into a lake of fire,

and he is going to be punished for his sins.

And the Bible tells us in Ezekiel,

never will you be anymore.

So, yeah, there's been...

In a war, you have many battles,

and it looks like Satan has won some battles.

But when you read in Revelation 12,

Michael and his angels fought with a dragon,

that's the devil, and his angels,

and they were cast out.

And so, ultimately, the devil is a loser.

All right.

And you know, we do have a set of lessons.

Alejandro, I don't know, you know, six, seven,

you might be getting close to that.

We do have a set of lessons called Amazing Adventure.

And it's for kids, and it talks about that.

You know, where did sin come from?

Where did pain and suffering come from?

It's in those lessons.

So you might want to have your parents check that out.

It's called The Devil's Egg.

Is the lesson.

The Dragon's Egg.

Oh, good.

We've got Glenn listening in Ohio.

Glenn, welcome to the program.

Good evening, gentlemen,

and thank you very much for taking my call.

About three days ago, I was tuning up Radio 74

and heard them finishing up their Bible reading,

and they were finishing up in the New Testament,

Matthew 23, 37 through 39.

And I'll tell you, I was stunned

as I heard them read that.

And the thing that came to my mind was

what they read was Jerusalem got a spanking,

and so did the Jewish people.

And the speaker said that they would not see his face

until they agreed that blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord.

I just, the thing that came to me,

is it possible that this could be the reasons

for the delay in the second coming?

Meaning that there needs to be a revival

among the Jews first?

Yes.

Well, first of all, let me read for our friends

that are listening.

A lot of friends are driving right now,

and they don't have a Bible in front of them.

It says there in Matthew 23, 37,

Christ is weeping over Jerusalem.

And he says,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the one who kills the prophets and stone

those who are sent to her,

how often I wanted to gather your people,

how often I wanted to gather your children together

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,

but you were not willing.

See, your house is left to you desolate.

For I say to you,

you shall not see me no more

till you say,

blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

Now, probably first and foremost,

Jesus is speaking to that generation

he's talking to physically.

Because many of those people

that he had been preaching to,

they rejected his teaching.

He walked out of the temple,

and he said,

your house is left to you desolate.

Keep in mind,

when Christ began his ministry,

he said,

my house,

you have made my father's house

a house of thieves.

It's to be a house of prayer.

But he said,

my house.

When they reject him three years later,

he says,

your house.

That generation that was judged

by the destruction of the temple,

the destruction of Jerusalem,

many of them died lost,

having rejected the Savior.

They will not see him again

till they see him in the second coming.

And every knee will bow and say,

blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

Will there be a revival

among the Jewish people?

I don't think it means

every Jew is going to convert,

but I do think

there's going to be a great revival.

Paul talks about this in Romans 9 and 10

before Christ comes.

You know,

talking about a delay

in the second coming,

Paul addresses that.

He says,

you know,

because God is long suffering,

not willing that any,

this is Peter,

not willing that any should perish,

but that all should come to repentance.

Then he says,

but the day of the Lord will come.

So there is a limit

to how long God's going to wait

for the second coming.

All right.

Next caller that we have

is Chloe,

listening in Ohio.

Chloe,

welcome to the program.

Hi.

Thank you for all you do.

I know my question is,

why do we have to have storms?

I know God's promised us

no more floods,

but why does God make storms?

Are you scared of storms?

Yeah.

You are?

I,

when I was a little younger

and there was big lightning

right above the house,

it was kind of scary.

But sometimes I like watching

the rain and the wind

and moving the trees.

It's kind of fun,

powerful.

But,

you know,

the storms in the world

actually make the world breathe.

It's the circulation of the air

and the storms

that waters the earth,

creates the humidity,

keeps the oceans

from becoming stagnant.

It's because things

are moving in the world.

And a lot of that happens

because of the moon

going around the planet,

creates tides,

the tides,

the gravity from the moon

moves the water,

moves the tides,

which move the wind,

and it creates a cycle of life.

If something sits stagnant

and it doesn't move,

it starts to die.

So,

storms are one of the ways

that God lets the world breathe.

And of course,

some storms can be very destructive.

Yes.

Hurricanes and tornadoes,

and fortunately those are more

the exception to the rule,

but...

He's not going to flood

the world again.

Yeah,

it's not going to be

a worldwide flood.

Nick in California.

Nick,

welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Yes,

thank you.

My question is about

Deuteronomy 23,

verse 3,

saying that

an Ammonite

or Moabite

shall not come

into the congregation

of the Lord

unto the tenth generation,

and how that applies

to Ruth,

the Moabitess,

especially in the context

of Nehemiah 13,

where they rediscovered

this part of the law

and had to separate

the mixed multitude.

Yeah.

Well,

that is a great question.

I've seen that before,

is the Moabites

mistreated the Israelites,

and so there was a curse

pronounced on them

that they couldn't come

into the congregation

until the tenth generation.

Well,

Ruth appears in the story

much sooner than

ten generations go by.

She marries Boaz,

becomes the grandmother

of Jesse,

great-grandmother

of David,

and David,

you might say,

is kind of part Moabite.

It's also interesting

when David was being hunted

by Saul

to protect his parents,

he sent his parents

to stay in the land

of the Moabites

in the land of the Moabites.

Now,

he wants to stay

in the land of Moab

because they were related

through Ruth.

Ruth,

she was allowed

in the congregation

in the sense that

she was adopted.

She said,

I have come to worship

the God of Israel.

So,

she really became a convert

and it's not just Ruth.

You've got David's servant

called Uriah the...

The Hittite.

Hittite,

yeah,

and he was a convert

to the true God.

So,

people who converted

and embraced the true God,

I think they were allowed in.

They were.

All right,

good question.

Nick,

thank you.

We've got Titus listening

in Virginia.

Titus,

welcome to the program.

Hey,

my question is,

is there a lack

of sincerity

when you go up

every day

to rededicate

your life to Christ

when there's an altar call

each day?

Is there a lack

of sincerity?

Well,

I would,

far be it for me

to judge what's

in an individual's heart.

You know,

if you,

I think you can

rededicate your life

to the Lord every day.

I try to do it

when I get on my knees.

Every morning,

just give my Lord,

give my Lord my life

for that day.

But I know

when you have

an altar call,

some people are,

they're a little more,

they're sensitive

and they're emotional

and they just,

they feel the tug

of their conscience

and they want

to come forward.

I wouldn't know

what's going on

in that individual's heart.

But you'd think

it's probably not necessary

every week

to come forward.

You'd wonder,

you know,

do you have any peace?

Theoretically,

if everyone

in the congregation

came forward every week,

you know,

there are other things

in the church.

We talk about

the communion service.

That's a rededication

of oneself.

Exactly.

So we do have

those opportunities.

Again,

you don't want

to belittle.

Sometimes I think

by just doing something

over and over again,

you begin to lose

the power behind

why you do that.

And if you're coming up,

now obviously

if there's a special

prayer request

that you have

or a burden

that you're bringing

before the Lord,

that's a little different.

But if we're just responding,

we want to respond,

we want to come forward

every time.

Yeah.

There's a balance there.

All right.

Next caller that we have

is Alan in California.

Alan,

welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Greetings.

Bakersfield calling here.

Thank you for taking my call.

Yeah.

I had a question

regarding,

it's in Revelation 7.

John sees millions

of people

in white robes

with palm branches

and he's asked

who they are.

And it says

they are those

who came out

from the tribulation.

So I assumed

it was the people

who were killed

and he was telling me

that it's the raptured church.

And he was explaining it

and it made kind of some sense.

So I just didn't know

your take on it.

Is it the raptured church

or is it the people,

the martyrs killed

during the tribulation

or is it somebody else?

Yeah.

Good question.

And Pastor Ross

may want to also

jump in on this.

But it talks about,

first of all,

it mentions 144,000

and then there's

a great multitude

that no one can number

from all nations,

tribes,

and people.

And so,

you know,

the elder

is asking John,

you know,

who is the one

who came out

of the great tribulation

and washed their robes

and made them white

in the blood of the Lamb?

Therefore,

they're before

the throne of God.

So,

some have wondered,

well,

is this the group

that comes out

of the great tribulation

spoken of in Daniel 12?

Michael stands up,

there's a time

of trouble

such as there never has been.

And Jesus refers to that

in Matthew 24.

Or is it speaking

of the great tribulation

spoken of

in Daniel 12?

Well,

there's a time

of trouble

such as there never has been

speaking in more

general terms

of people

who have gone

through great tribulation

like the apostles did

and others

through history.

There's a great tribulation

during the dark ages.

So,

the question is,

is it speaking

more specifically

about those

who came out

of the final

great tribulation?

I don't think

it's talking about

the raptured church

at that point.

Well,

I think two things.

Number one,

there is a tribulation

before Jesus comes.

Daniel 12 makes

it pretty clear.

There's no tribulation

before the tribulation,

but they're delivered.

And if you put all

the different passages

of scripture together,

the Bible describes

a time of trouble

before Jesus comes.

The seven last plagues

are going to be poured out,

but God will protect

his people during that time

just as he did the Jews

when the plagues

came upon Egypt,

and then he will rescue them.

And that's the

second coming of Christ.

Now,

the group in Revelation 7

seems to indicate

that they are the ones

who are alive

when Jesus comes

because they have

the seal of God

now caught up

when Jesus comes

so these are

from every nation,

kindred,

tongue of people.

The everlasting gospel

goes to every nation,

kindred,

tongue of people.

These are the ones

who responded

to that last warning message

and it's describing

the second coming of Christ.

Yep,

absolutely.

Hey,

thank you.

I appreciate your call.

You know,

we do have a book,

Pastor Doug.

It's called

Who Will Sing the Song

of the 144,000.

Yeah,

you can just say

who are the 144,000

and they'll send you the book.

The number to call

is Lee in Texas.

Lee,

welcome to the program.

Yes, sir,

thank you.

Can you hear me okay?

We can.

Okay,

my question is,

I have one,

I have a question

about the Ten Commandments,

well,

one of them anyway

where it says

honor thy mother

and thy father

which I truly believe in

but what if

your father

has done nothing

for you to honor him about?

Yeah,

well,

there's two ways

you might respect

your honor person.

One is because

of their character

and if you're saying,

this hasn't demonstrated

a very honorable character,

well,

that makes it tough

but then you honor a person

because of their position

and,

you know,

as your father,

that's a position

that nothing changes,

when you interact with them,

you try to be

as respectful

as possible.

You know,

the Bible tells us,

Peter says,

that if a believing woman

is married

to an unbelieving man

and he may act

in,

you know,

a terrible way

but by her being

kind and loving,

he can be converted

through the behavior

of the wife.

Same thing

with your father.

If you've got a father

that is dishonorable,

first of all,

you don't have to always

interact with people.

So,

you know,

sometimes there are cases

where you need to separate

from relatives

because it's just

an unhealthy situation

but if you're in a situation

where you are interacting,

as far as possible,

be respectful

and your kindness

can sometimes soften

their heart

and bring about a change.

So,

that doesn't mean

if they ask you

to do anything immoral,

you don't listen to them,

you don't obey,

it requires you

to disobey God,

but respect them

as far as possible

because of their position.

Okay,

very good.

Next caller that we have

is Sean in Illinois.

Sean,

welcome to Bible Answers Live.

Thank you very much.

Good evening,

Pastor Doug

and Pastor Walsh.

And my question is,

in Genesis 3,

verse 14,

God spoke to the serpent

and he said,

because you have done this,

and he cursed him

to the ground,

my question is,

it sounded like

the serpent had a choice.

Yeah,

the Lord,

when it says

he spoke to the serpent,

he's actually speaking

to the power

behind the serpent,

the power that spoke

through the serpent.

Snakes were,

you know,

they kind of became

the emblem

of the devil

because they were used

by the devil.

If you go to Revelation 12,

it describes the devil

as the devil,

Satan,

the dragon

and the serpent.

And so,

that,

because the devil

chose the medium

of a serpent

to first deceive Eve,

all serpents

through history,

they may have been able

to fly at one point,

so we got all these flying reptiles

in the fossil record.

They were then cursed

to crawl upon the ground

and God wasn't taking it out

on snakes per se.

I've never heard a snake

complain about crawling

on the ground,

but it was really

the devil behind the snake.

Snakes probably

didn't have a choice.

Just like when the donkey,

God spoke through the donkey,

I don't know

if the donkey had a choice.

And the lamb didn't have

a choice to represent

the sacrifice either.

That's right.

All right,

next caller that we have

is Jeremy in Idaho.

Jeremy,

welcome to the program.

Hey guys,

how's it going?

Great.

Thanks for calling.

Hey,

I've got a quick question.

Is it okay

to read the Book of Enoch?

Is it okay

to read the Book of Enoch?

Well,

the Book of Enoch

is what you would call

an apocryphal book.

It was written

by a devout Jew

during the Babylonian captivity,

as near as we can tell.

It never appears

in history before that.

And Jude quotes

from a section

of the Book of Enoch.

Now,

let me give you an example.

Pilgrim's Progress

is an allegory

of salvation.

Pilgrim's Progress

is not scripture,

but there are

some divine statements

in Pilgrim's Progress

where John Bunyan,

their author,

was inspired.

Quoting from those

divine statements

or those inspired statements

does not make

the whole book scripture.

So,

the Book of Enoch,

it's got some

interesting things.

It's got some things

that are not

very interesting.

It's got some things

that are not

biblical in it.

But,

Jude realized

that it was

a widely known document

and he quoted

from a passage

about the Lord's coming.

Is it okay to read it?

I don't know

that there's

any danger in it.

Just know

it's not scripture.

Thanks so much.

Appreciate that,

Jeremy.

We've got time

for one more,

Pastor Ross.

Yeah,

we've got Gabby

listening in Arizona.

Gabby,

welcome to the program.

Yes,

good evening,

gentlemen.

I don't know

if you remember

when the world

is completely

destroyed

and we are back

in the new

heaven and earth

with Jesus

for eternity,

what happens

to God,

the Father

and the Holy Spirit?

Where will they

reside?

They are

total,

you know,

separate entities.

All right,

great,

good question.

You know,

I think that you have

a clear answer

in the Bible.

It tells us

in Revelation,

I think it's

Be with us, and we will see his face.

Right now, Jesus said, no man can see the Father and live.

And God told Moses, no man can see my face and survive,

but I'll put you in the cleft in the rock,

and you will see my glory and my hind parts,

or see me from behind, in other words.

But now we look through a glass darkly because of our sin.

That's 1 Corinthians 13.

But then we will see face to face.

So God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit,

but God's Spirit is omnipresent.

He's everywhere, so of course he'll be in the city as well.

And of course, the New Jerusalem comes down to earth,

and earth becomes sort of the capital of the universe.

It almost replaces heaven as we know it now

because God's here, the city's here,

God's people are here, the earth is recreated.

It's amazing, this one planet that has rebelled against God

after it's been recreated becomes the center of the universe

and God's dwelling place with man here.

It's an amazing thought.

That's absolutely fantastic.

Well, let me see, we've got a minute left.

Pastor Ross, maybe what we ought to do is just wrap this up gently.

I want to explain to everybody that's listening,

if you haven't heard this before,

we are going to take some rapid-fire Bible questions.

But we, basically, we have a lot of listeners listening on satellite radio

that operates on a different clock from our land-based radio stations

and the other internet radio broadcasts.

So when we say goodbye to those on satellite,

we stay tuned.

We're going to stay tuned for a few minutes

and we are going to do rapid-fire Bible questions.

And so you can also send in your Bible questions.

What's the address for that?

Yeah, you send it to balquestionsatamazingfacts.org

and we get it and we'll try and answer as many of those questions as we can.

That's right.

And don't forget, check out everything else Amazing Facts does at our website.

Simply amazingfacts.org.

God bless.

Thank you for listening to today's broadcast.

We hope you understood.

And we hope you understand your Bible even better than before.

Bible Answers Live is produced by Amazing Facts International,

a faith-based ministry located in Granite Bay, California.

Hello, friends, and welcome back to Bible Answers Live.

And thank you for your email questions that you sent.

Again, that email address is just balquestionsatamazingfacts.org.

All right, pals, today we've got some great questions.

First one that we have here is,

Does God the Father accompany Jesus?

At the Second Coming?

All right, that's a good question.

Pastor Ross and I have talked about this because there's one statement where Christ tells the high priest,

he says, you'll see me coming on the right hand of power.

And I've always assumed that to be on the right hand of power, God being the ultimate power,

you'd have to be on the right hand of God.

But then it seems to state also that Jesus brings the redeemed world back to the presence of the Father.

He said, I go to prepare a place for you and I'll bring you back.

And so, but God the Father.

The Father being omnipresent, well, in a sense, he is coming in the presence of the Father in that God sends his presence and power with Jesus.

But yeah, and then you add to that the third coming.

So I think there's enough evidence to suggest that, yeah, Jesus comes.

He's sort of on a rescue mission at the Second Coming to gather these saints, take them to heaven.

But at the end of the 1000 years, the New Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven and Jesus comes and the redeemed come and the city comes together.

Then you think God the Father is going to be there, too.

Yeah, he's not going to be alone in heaven when everything else is happening.

That's why there's silence in heaven.

That's right, yeah.

Okay, next question we got here.

Emmanuel is asking, how long should a person pray for something even if there seems no solution?

Well, it depends on what it is.

Paul said he had an ailment, a sickness, and he prayed three times.

That probably means he fasted and prayed three times.

And God basically said, you've got to live with this.

My strength is made perfect in weakness.

If you're praying for the salvation of a loved one, don't ever give up.

The Bible says,

where there is life, there is hope in Ecclesiastes.

So you should always continue praying for loved ones you long to see saved.

And so it depends on the issue.

Sometimes God might give you a nudge and say, I've answered that prayer and the answer is not now or whatever.

And you want to just put it in God's hands and move on.

Okay.

When somebody is fasting, do you have to fast for each separate individual prayer request or can you bundle them together?

Great question.

Yeah.

Well, I bundle mine.

Because fasting, I hate missing a meal.

So when I fast, I put everything I can on the table as far as prayer requests go and try to exploit that fast as much as I can.

I actually had to fast before I went to a doctor's appointment one time.

I said, Lord, can I count this as a fast?

But yeah, fasting, of course, it's a great discipline just for self-control and you'll be blessed.

Thank you so much, friends, for participating in Bible Answers Live.

Please pray for the country.

Pray for peace and calm and God's spirit to prevail.

God bless until next week.

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