Questions & Answers
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We're very happy to answer your questions as best we're able. Some of the issues I don't understand and don't have an answer for - but, as much as possible, we're taking your Bible questions and giving you biblical answers.
Q: What do you think of Christians going dancing, listening to rock 'n' roll music, going to the movies, or watching TV?
A: This is a problem of Christian liberty - just what I can and cannot do as a child of God. First of all. I don't feel that we can set rules for Christian activities. I believe this is definitely a matter of one's own individual conscience. The Bible says, "Who are you who judges another man's servant? Before his own master he either stands or falls; and God is able to make him to stand" (Romans 14:4).
As a Christian I'm probably one of the most liberated persons in the world! We hear a lot today about human rights, freedom, liberty. But those who aren't Christians really don't know anything at all about liberty, because they're bound by the power of Satan and darkness. They have no true liberty.
As Christians it's glorious to have the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. People look upon Christianity as very restrictive, because churches have made a lot of rules. They have tried to tell you what you can and can't do as a Christian. However, the Bible doesn't make any such listings for us.
Certain Scriptures give us guidelines. In John we read, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. He who has the love of the world in his heart has not the love of the Father" (I John 2:15). Paul the apostle declares, "All things are lawful for me" (I Corinthians 6:12). I don't know of any broader theological or philosophical ethic than that! Paul also declares, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).
Paul the apostle says. "All things are lawful for me." I think that this goes into the area of skating, disco dancing, or the kind of music I listen to. But just a minute! Paul didn't stop there. Though I have a total freedom and there is no condemnation, Paul said, "all things are not expedient." "Expedient" means to help along the way. The idea is that, as a Christian, I'm running in a race. Paul said, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, and only one receives the prize." (I Corinthians 9:24). There are things that can impede my progress, which can slow me down. They can keep me from winning the race. We are told to lay aside every weight and sin which so easily besets us, that we might run with patience the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1-2). These activities can become weights. My goal is to be found in Christ Jesus, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of Christ through faith. I don't want a legal righteousness based upon my obedience to man made rules. My righteousness isn't established by my activities. It is through my faith in Jesus Christ! It's totally incorrect to say, "Since I don't go to shows and disco, this makes me more righteous." It's not a matter of righteousness, it's just a matter of expedience.
I don't want to depend on any kind of righteousness that I could achieve by my own actions, activities, works, or goodness. The only righteousness with which I can stand before God is that righteousness imparted to me by faith in Jesus Christ.
There are things that impede my walk. Thus, though it might be lawful for me, that is, it wouldn't send me to hell, yet because it would impede my walk, I won't do it. Paul went on to say, "All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not" (I Corinthians 10:23). There are some things that have a tendency to tear me down and draw me away from Christ, rather than to build me up in Jesus Christ. My desire is to be built up in Christ and to draw close to Him. Though an activity may be lawful for me and I can prove that it's not wrong yet, by the same token, it doesn't build me up in Christ. If it takes me away from Jesus, then I want nothing to do with it.
Finally Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." I have glorious liberty in Christ. I have been set free from the power of my flesh, which ruled over me for so long. If I go right back into something that brings me under its power, then I'm no longer free.
So, enjoying my freedom as I do, I won't exercise my freedom in such a way as to bring myself into bondage. However, if I exercise my freedom in that way, I'm actually destroying the very freedom I enjoy, because now my mind is under the control or influence of, say, alcohol. In exercising my freedom to drink I may become an alcoholic, and I'm no longer free. If my mind comes under the control of the alcohol so that I don't respond or react as I normally would, then I'm no longer free. I love my freedom so much that I won't allow my mind to be brought under the power of any influence other than God's glorious Holy Spirit. I don't think that, as Christians, we can draw the fine line between what is right and what is wrong. The whole issue is, "What is pleasing to the Father?" I want to do all things that are pleasing to Him. So, I measure my activities by how they affect my relationship to God, my Christian walk and, finally, my Christian witness.
Q: Is it wrong for women to wear pantsuits?
A: Let me say, I think it's wrong for some women I have seen to wear pantsuits! However, I don't know of any Scripture that would prohibit women from wearing pantsuits. There is a Scripture that speaks against women wearing men's apparel (Deuteronomy 22:5). But I surely wouldn't wear one of those pantsuits and, thus I don't call it men's apparel. I think they're designed for women. In some cases and in some activities, a pantsuit can be much more modest than a dress. I really have no problem with women wearing pantsuits. I don't think you can make a scriptural case against women wearing pant suits.
Q: I have a friend who is a Seventh-Day Adventist. He says that God will reject me for not going to church on Saturday. What does the Bible say?
A: I'm glad the Bible doesn't say what your friend says. In Romans 14:5 Paul said that one man esteems one day above another while another man esteems every day alike. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Your friend esteems one day above another, and he esteems Saturday to be the day to worship the Lord as the holy day. As far as my own personal feelings are concerned, I esteem every day alike, because every day to me is a holy day to worship the Lord. It is something I don't have any problem with, because I just love the Lord and worship Him continually.
When the Sabbath day law was given in the Book of Exodus, God declared that it was to be a perpetual covenant between Him and the nation Israel. "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever" (Exodus 31:17). Nothing is ever said concerning observance of the Sabbath day by Gentiles.
As recorded in Acts, the early Church elders met together to write to the Gentiles in regards to keeping the Law. Peter said, "Why should we put on them a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear?" (Acts 15:10). There were certain "Judaizers" from the church in Jerusalem who went to the Gentile fellowship in Antioch. They told those at Antioch that unless they kept the Law of Moses and were circumcised, they couldn't be saved.
The Seventh-Day Adventists are much like these Judaizers who were creating problems in the church in Antioch. But the elders in Jerusalem only told the Gentile believers that they shouldn't eat anything strangled and to keep themselves from fornication. If they would do this, they did well. The elders didn't try to place the Gentile believers under the Sabbath day law at all!
Paul tells us in Colossians 2 that Christ blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. This, of course, is in reference to the Sabbath day law and all the other such ordinances. Jesus took them out of the way. He nailed them to His cross. He made an open display of His victory over them, triumphing over them in the cross. Because of this, Paul said, "Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come" (Colossians 2:16,17).
These things were all just shadows in the Old Testament of that which was to come, which was Jesus Christ. The Sabbath day was a shadow of the rest we as the children of God would experience in Christ. We have the substance, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the shadows that spoke of the substance have no hold on us. I'm not required to keep the Sabbath day law any longer.
If I seek righteousness by the keeping of the Sabbath day, then it would be important that I keep the Sabbath day completely. The law declares that I'm not to kindle any fire on the Sabbath. Therefore, I should turn down the thermostat in the house, because, if I allow the furnace to go on, I'm kindling a fire. I shouldn't start my car, because I'm kindling a fire in the combustion chambers the moment I turn on the engine. Thus, I couldn't drive anywhere. I would have to limit my walking to two-thirds of a mile. I would have to keep all of these little regulations!
In the Talmud, the Jews sought to determine what constituted bearing a burden on the Sabbath day. According to their final interpretation, if you wore false teeth you were bearing a burden. So, you couldn't wear your false teeth on the Sabbath!
I'm glad that I have this glorious liberty in Christ, and I don't have to worry about those kind of things. Jesus Christ has set me free from these ordinances of the law. My righteousness is now through faith in Him. Because of my faith in Christ. God will accept me, even as He accepted Abraham long before the law was ever given Abraham believed God, and it was his faith that was imputed to him for righteousness. God accepts me on the basis of my faith, not on the basis of the day that I worship Him. Thank God for that!
Q: Would you have any suggestions for someone with a non-degree business background who sincerely desires to teach God's Word?
A: Yes, I surely would. Study the Word of God! Really get into it. Then, open up your home and start a home Bible study. Take a particular book, say the Book of Philippians. If you want to write to me, I'll be glad to give you a list of some excellent commentaries on the various books of the Bible. You could also get our commentary tapes on the book you choose to teach. Then, just start teaching!
The best way to learn is to teach. Paul the apostle may have had some degree in the Hebrew school, but he certainly never attended seminary. Peter, James, John and the rest of the disciples, never attended a formal college. Yet, they all became teachers. God's ordination is never of man. That which qualifies you is the desire God has placed upon your heart. If you really have the desire to teach, go for it!
The main point is to prepare yourself. God uses prepared vessels. So, prepare yourself in the Word. It may be that you need to prepare yourself in a school. Some people do, because they don't have enough gumption to be self-starters. Others are self-starters. I don't know whether a school is going to do that much for you. Paul the apostle went out to the desert after his conversion and for three years was taught by the Holy Spirit in Arabia. I know of no better schooling than just waiting upon the Lord, getting some good commentaries, and studying. Certainly, God can use you!
Q: Is a person who commits suicide totally lost for eternity?
A: Definitely not! I believe that a person who is driven to the point of committing suicide no longer has full responsibility for the things he's doing. Driven to a point of such mental extremes, he isn't necessarily responsible for the action of taking his own life. Certainly, Scripture doesn't indicate anywhere that this is an unpardonable sin. The only sin for which there is no forgiveness is that of rejecting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
Q: You mentioned that the Antichrist will be blind in one eye and paralyzed in one arm. Where does the Bible say that?
A: In the Book of Zechariah the prophet is dealing with the true shepherd and with the false shepherd. Jesus Christ, of course, is the true shepherd who was coming. Then Zechariah talks about the false shepherd that would arise.
In Zechariah 11:15-17 he wrote, "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd; For, lo, I will raise a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that are cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth his flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and his right eye: his arm shall be shriveled up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." This is a prophecy referring to the Antichrist about his right arm being paralyzed and his right eye blinded. Revelation 13:3 also speaks of His miraculous healing from a deadly wound on His head.
Q: John 1:12 says, "To them gave He power to become the sons of God, even those who believe on his name." Does this refer to those who believe in Jesus but haven't received the fullness of the Spirit? If so, will they have a different position in the coming Kingdom?
A: The first chapter of John introduces Jesus Christ, declaring that He is God come in the flesh. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us... He came to his own, and his own received him not." "His own" refers to the Jewish people. Jesus came to the Jews, but they rejected Him as their Messiah.
So, as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to those that believe in His name. This is a reference to anyone, Jew or Gentile, who believes in Jesus Christ. Such a person has been given the "power" (the word here means "authority") to become the son of God. The question of having received the fullness of the Spirit doesn't have anything to do with our relationship to God in heaven. I believe that if we have received Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we have received the Spirit. It's up to us to yield ourselves fully to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Every born-again child of God has the Holy Spirit in his life. God desires that our cup overflows, that we might experience the beautiful overflowing of the Holy Spirit.
As for our place in the coming Kingdom, I feel that there will definitely be degrees of position and rewards in heaven. This is certainly brought out by Jesus Christ. We should be concerned with our rewards in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). In reality, these will be predicated upon our faithful stewardship with the things that God has entrusted to us in this life. Have I been a faithful steward of those things that God has placed in my hands?
Certainly, the fullness of the Spirit in my life helps me to be a faithful witness for God. I need the power and the fullness of the Spirit, but it's just to help me and assist me in my walk here on Earth. It really has nothing to do, as far as I understand, with our rewards in heaven.
Q: When an animal dies, does its soul simply go out of existence?
A: The Bible doesn't tell us anything about the future of an animal's soul. Since the soul is the consciousness, it definitely appears that the consciousness of an animal ceases to exist when it dies. So, I'm of the opinion that its life completely ceases at death. However, the Scripture is totally silent on this particular subject. Thus, there's no way to answer the question, except in the form of conjecture and opinion.
Let me tell you one thing. My opinion isn't worth very much at all on any subject. It is what God has to say that's important. There are certain questions that, if I cannot answer from the Scriptures, I'd rather not give an answer at all. It's only then my opinion on a subject, and that's of practically no value.
Q: Is there anything in the Bible that explains the possible existence of unidentified flying objects? Could alien beings have anything to do with the end times prophecies?
A: Many people who believe in flying saucers often point to the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1. The prophet saw the wheel within the wheel, heard the noise of the wheels, etc. Was Ezekiel sighting a flying saucer?
It's important to note that when Ezekiel described his vision, he was actually describing cherubim (Ezekiel 10), angelic beings that worship around the throne of God. These cherubim are a class of angelic beings. The prophet was describing what cherubim looked like, how they moved, and their sounds.
At the time Satan rebelled against God, he himself was one of the cherubim. We are told that he was the anointed cherub that covereth (Ezekiel 28:14). He had been in Eden, the Garden of God. When he fell, Satan took a third part of the angelic beings with him (Revelation 12:4,9). These fallen angels allied themselves with Satan in his rebellion against God.
So, since Satan was a cherub, perhaps other cherubim went with him in his revolt. It's quite possible that the sighting of these supposed flying saucers, with their movements and lights, are actually evil spirits, cherubim or other spirit beings controlled by Satan. Thus, UFOs could come from the realm of the spirit world, and people may actually be seeing the spirit world of fallen angels, who have the appearance of a wheel within a wheel, making whirring sounds, etc.
Outside of this reference, I don't know of any Scripture that would confirm the fact that alien beings have anything to do with the end times prophecies. However, with the increasing reports of UFO activity, it may be one of the explanations offered to those who remain on the earth after the rapture of the sudden disappearance of millions of people.
Q: In John 15:6 it appears that anyone who doesn't produce fruit will be cast "into the fire." But I Corinthians 3:15 says that a person whose works are burned up will be saved "as by fire." I'm confused. Is there any difference between the fruit and the works? How does this relate to salvation?
A: In John's Gospel, Jesus was talking about the necessity of abiding in Him. If you don't abide in Him, you cannot be saved, and you cannot bear fruit. Such people who don't bear fruit will be gathered and burned, because they're not saved. The passage in I Corinthians talks about the works I do as a child of God with the wrong motivation. I may be motivated with the desire to glorify myself or receive praise from men. Such works performed by a Christian will be burned up, though he will be saved, even as by fire.
Q: I want so much to open my heart to Jesus, to walk with Him and live by His Word, but I've been sinning all my life. Even though I love God, I still sin a lot. Does God still love me? Does He forgive people who aren't good Christians? How can I feel He's always with me and still loves me when I sin so much?
A: You can only feel it as you believe His promise to you: God's love is unconditional. God doesn't love good children and hate bad children. God loves good and bad children alike! You need to realize that glorious grace God has extended toward you and receive His love and grace - even though you realize more and more how totally undeserving you are of that love. I have discovered that accepting grace gracefully is very difficult, but I'm slowly learning how to do it. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:8-9). What is the sin for which a man will be condemned? It's the rejection of Jesus Christ. I have accepted Him. I still may be weak and fail, but at the base of my life is a love and desire for Jesus Christ. That's what He counts for my righteousness - my faith in Him!
Q: Is there any doctrine or scriptural proof that would support being slain in the Spirit?
A: Using the Bible as our final authority for all faith and practice, we would have to confess that the Bible lacks any solid, scriptural evidence for this experience of being slain in the Spirit. Those who advocate this experience seek to point out that Daniel fell on his face before the Lord when the angel of the Lord appeared to him.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the soldiers, "Whom seek ye?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth." He said, "I am He." after which the soldiers fell over backward. Some people refer to that as being slain in the Spirit. Then, they refer to Paul the apostle on the road to Damascus. But none of these cases are anything like the experience that people today refer to as being slain in the Spirit.
We don't read of Jesus laying hands on people and of them being slain in the Spirit. Nor do we find any teaching on it in the Book of Acts or in the epistles. Thus, I reject it as an unscriptural experience.
Is it of God? I don't know. There is one Scripture I find on the subject. It is in the Old Testament (II Kings 19:35). One night the angel of the Lord went through the camp of the Assyrians. In the morning, the Assyrians were all laying around dead. The angel of the Lord had smitten them that night. The Scripture says, "And the slain of the Lord were many." They were literally slain by the Spirit!
It is an experience, and there are those who would seek to create a doctrine on the basis of the experience. I run from such things. I really want no part of something for which I cannot give solid scriptural evidence.
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