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00:08 Doug Batchelor: You probably heard the expression before, "If 00:09 you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait. 00:12 It'll change." 00:14 And you've also heard, "Everything is bigger in Texas," 00:16 the ranches, the belt buckles, the cowboy hats, but the most 00:20 famous slogan about Texas is "Remember the Alamo." 00:25 ♪♪♪ 00:28 Doug: The violent battles and bravery of iconic heroes have 00:31 been the stuff of legends throughout which entire cultures 00:34 often draw their identity and pride, even long after centuries 00:38 have passed. 00:40 And in Texas, the story of the Alamo has been a rallying cry of 00:42 Texas independence for 200 years. 00:45 One reason that Texans love to brag that everything is bigger 00:48 in Texas is, of course, because Texas is the largest of the 00:51 lower 48 U.S. states. 00:54 It's hard to believe that this massive state got its beginning 00:57 in a very small Christian mission during the Battle of 01:01 the Alamo. 01:03 Every year, this famous mission museum receives over two and a 01:05 half million visitors from all parts of the planet that are 01:08 eager to get a good look at this legendary site. 01:12 The Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. 01:16 In December 1835, Texans and Tejano volunteers battled 01:20 Mexican troops cordoned in the city, forcing General Martin 01:23 Perfecto de Cos, to surrender. 01:26 The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo and 01:29 strengthened its defenses. 01:31 Famous Americans like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Colonel 01:35 William Travis, made this location, this ancient mission, 01:38 the beachhead, the last stand in an epic battle to win 01:42 independence of Texas from Mexico. 01:45 On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio Lopez 01:51 Santa Anna, nearly caught them by surprise. 01:54 Undaunted, the Texans and Tejanos prepared to defend 01:57 the Alamo. 01:59 For this small, ragtag group of rebels, the youngest of who was 02:01 about 16, and the oldest, 75, was against the well-trained and 02:05 organized Mexican Army of 6,000-plus soldiers. 02:09 It was a fierce and lopsided battle, yet the small force of 02:12 rebels was able to repel the troops for 13 days. 02:16 Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help 02:20 fading, Colonel Travis drew a line in the ground with a sword 02:23 and asked any man willing to stay and fight, to step over 02:27 the line. 02:29 All except one crossed over. 02:32 The final assault came before daybreak. 02:34 On the morning of March 6, 1836, the 13th day of the siege, 02:38 cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back 02:42 several Mexican attacks. 02:44 Regrouping, Santa Anna's soldiers scaled the walls and 02:47 rushed into the compound. 02:49 The desperate struggle continued until the defenders 02:53 were overwhelmed. 02:55 By sunrise, the battle had ended, and the garrison 02:57 were slain. 02:59 You know, historians may debate some of the details regarding 03:01 the Battle of the Alamo, but none of them questioned the 03:03 incredible sacrifice that was made and the courage that was 03:06 displayed during that intense conflict. 03:08 They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives, 03:12 and this is why the story of the Alamo is so inspiring and 03:14 so encouraging. 03:16 You know, and that's why the Bible is so inspiring, friends, 03:19 because someone was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and 03:22 give His life so that you can have freedom and eternal life. 03:25 Don't you think you could trust your life to a friend like that, 03:28 that would give everything? 03:30 The story of the Gospel is a story of courage and hope. 03:33 It's a story of a God who will never leave you without defense 03:35 and support. 03:37 Jesus is the good news, and the Gospel is a story 03:40 worth remembering. 03:42 ♪♪♪ 04:23 Doug: Hi, friends. 04:24 Welcome to our "Sabbath School Study Hour." 04:27 We're so thankful that you're joining us here. 04:29 We have a very important lesson we're going to study in just a 04:32 minute, but before we get to the lesson, a couple of 04:34 important announcements. 04:37 As always, we have a free offer that goes along with our lesson. 04:39 Today we're offering you the book "12 Steps to Revival," and 04:43 it's very simple. 04:45 If you'd like to get a free copy of this, you can simply call the 04:47 number 866-788-3966. 04:52 That's 866-Study-More, or you can text "SH001." 04:59 You text "SH001" to 40544, and you can download a free copy 05:07 of this. 05:10 If you call us, ask for Offer Number 780. 05:12 You'll get a free copy of "12 Steps to Revival," written by 05:15 yours truly. 05:18 And sometimes, lately, I've been doing these lessons with 05:20 Pastor Ross. 05:23 We've been being interactive. 05:25 Today he's participating in graduation of their daughter, 05:27 and so he could not be with us today. 05:29 Another important announcement, as we often do with our study, 05:33 I've got some faithful helpers here in the studio if you have 05:36 questions about today's lesson. 05:38 Now, the lesson today is a really important one. 05:40 It's dealing with difficult Bible passages, and I won't 05:44 pretend that I've got all the answers to all the difficult 05:47 Bible passages, but we're going to address some of those today, 05:50 and we're going to talk about how to approach difficult Bible 05:54 passages in our study today. 05:57 But before we get into our study, it's always a good idea 05:59 to pray, and so we'd like to invite you to join us. 06:02 Loving Lord, thank You so much for Your blessings. 06:06 Thank You so much for the Word of God, and we just pray that 06:09 the Holy Spirit will take charge of this study today, that, as a 06:13 result, when the dust settles, our faith will be stronger in 06:16 the infallibility of Your Word, and so we just pray that You 06:21 will be glorified and You'll speak, in Jesus' name, amen. 06:27 So our lesson today is "Dealing with Difficult Passages," and we 06:32 have a memory verse. 06:34 And the memory verse-- [clearing throat] 06:37 Excuse me. 06:39 The memory verse comes from 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 and 06:42 16, and this is a very important passage for a number of reasons. 06:46 "And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is 06:49 salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the 06:54 wisdom given him, has written to you, also in as all his 06:59 epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some 07:03 things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and 07:08 unstable, they twist to their own destruction as they do the 07:12 rest of the Scriptures." 07:14 And this is from the New King James Version. 07:17 In the things that Paul says, there are some things that 07:19 people who are untrained twist to their own destruction as they 07:24 do other Scripture. 07:26 Very important verse. 07:28 For one thing, he's calling the writings of Paul Scripture, 07:30 while Paul is still alive. 07:33 And so they understood that the writings of the apostles were to 07:35 be added to the sacred canon, even in their own lifetime. 07:38 And something else I just think is worthy of notice that so 07:42 often when people get mixed up in false doctrines relating to 07:48 law and grace, they almost universally turn to Paul's 07:52 writings because they twist these Scriptures, and they 07:56 misunderstand them. 07:58 So what do you do when you come into difficult passages or 08:01 apparent contradictions in the Bible? 08:04 If you got questions about that, friends, we want you to go ahead 08:07 and send those in to the Doug Batchelor Facebook page or the 08:11 Amazing Facts Facebook page, and they're going to just hold up 08:14 their hand, and I'll--it'll be like you're raising your hand, 08:18 and we're going to get to be--we'll be selective with the 08:20 questions because we want to make sure they're on topic. 08:23 We'll try to make this study time as interactive as possible. 08:26 And something I'd like to begin with before we delve into some 08:30 of the dealing with difficult passages, what is the official 08:33 position of the Seventh Day Adventist Church regarding 08:36 the Scriptures? 08:39 And this is from our Fundamental Belief Number 1: "The Holy 08:43 Scriptures, the Old and New Testament, are the written Word 08:47 of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of 08:50 God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 08:54 In this Word, God has committed to man the knowledge necessary 08:58 for salvation. 09:00 The Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of 09:03 His will." 09:05 Now, notice that wording there. 09:07 It's not saying that there might not be some scribal or clerical 09:11 error in the translations. 09:14 It's saying that in the Scriptures, you find the 09:17 infallible revelation of the will of God. 09:20 "They are the standard of character, the test of 09:23 experience, the authoritative revealer of doctrines, the 09:26 trustworthy record of God's acts in history." 09:30 So some people say, "Well, Seventh Day Adventists, yeah, 09:35 don't you base your writings on a magazine or on a committee or 09:39 on a particular person?" 09:41 No, we base our teachings on the Bible, the Word of God. 09:44 Folks sometimes confuse us for others, and we are a 09:48 Bible-based church. 09:50 The Bible is the final arbiter, final Word of God in determining 09:54 what is truth. 09:56 Now, having said that, are there any--well, certainly, there are 10:00 apparent misunderstandings in the Bible, and there are some 10:04 apparent contradictions in the Bible. 10:06 We'll get to those in just a minute. 10:08 That should not shake our faith in the Word of God. 10:12 Now, what are some of the possible reasons for apparent 10:16 contradictions in the Word of God? 10:18 You look in 2 Timothy chapter 2--and I'm going to read verse 10:22 10 to 16. 10:24 "Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that 10:28 they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ 10:31 Jesus with eternal glory. 10:33 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we'll also 10:37 live with Him. 10:39 If we endure, we will also reign with Him. 10:41 If we deny Him, He will deny us. 10:43 If we are faithless, He remains faithful. 10:45 He cannot deny Himself. 10:47 Remind them--" 10:49 Paul is telling Timothy, "Remind them of these things, charging 10:52 them before the Lord not to strive about words or--that do 10:56 not profit, to the ruin of hearers. 11:00 But be diligent to present yourselves approved to God, a 11:03 worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the 11:07 word of truth. 11:09 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will 11:12 increase to more ungodliness." 11:15 You know, it was even someone like Mark Twain, who said, "It's 11:18 not the mysteries in the Bible that caused me sleepless nights. 11:21 It's the good, I understand, I know I should do that 11:24 troubles me." 11:26 And so there are people who will quibble over small, apparent 11:31 discrepancies in the Word of God, and then they neglect the 11:34 very clear, unmistakable, consistent truths, the vast 11:38 preponderance of evidence. 11:42 They neglect that, and they focus on a fly on the wall, and 11:45 they miss everything else. 11:47 And so don't make that mistake. 11:49 Paul is telling us, "Look, shun the vain and idle babblings. 11:54 Study to show yourself approved unto God." 11:57 All right, question is, "If God is the Creator of all things, 12:00 how can God be good and create evil?" 12:04 The Bible says God is good. 12:06 Look in the garden of Eden. 12:08 Everything was good, good, very good, and Bible tells us that 12:11 "Only God is good." 12:13 In fact, the word for "good" in English is connected with the 12:17 word "God." 12:19 But why is there evil? 12:21 Because God is good, He makes His creatures free, and that 12:24 means they're free to choose, and His intelligent creatures, 12:27 they can choose between good and evil. 12:30 And in order to love Him, they have to be absolutely free. 12:33 And so, if God only makes creatures that will love Him and 12:37 worship Him, then it's not true love. 12:39 In order to have true love, there must be true freedom. 12:42 That means you take a risk that some will choose not to love. 12:45 And I think it was C.S. Lewis, who said, "The lake of fire is 12:49 the greatest evidence that God is a loving God, that He really 12:53 makes His creatures free." 12:55 All right, now, I want to give you something to think about. 12:57 We're going to take a look at some of the inconsistencies in 13:01 the Bible. 13:02 We're going to invite you to maybe ask about some of them. 13:04 And you just remember, look at Psalm 139 verse 6: "Such 13:09 knowledge is too wonderful for me. 13:12 It is high, I cannot contain it." 13:15 As we are talking about God and the Word of God and the things 13:18 of God, there are some things that it takes a while for us 13:22 to understand. 13:24 There were simple truths in the Bible that I did not understand 13:26 because I was unlearned. 13:29 And it's like Peter said, "There are some people who are 13:31 unlearned and unstable, and they twist the Word of God to their 13:34 own destruction." 13:36 I remember when I first started reading the Bible, I smoked, and 13:39 I drank, and I got convicted by the Spirit that I should stop, 13:43 but I did not want to stop. 13:46 And then I read that verse that said, "It's not what goes in a 13:49 man's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out." 13:51 And I took that Scripture, and I twisted it to my 13:54 own destruction. 13:55 I said, "Well, there you have it. 13:57 It's not what goes in my mouth, whether it's smoke or alcohol. 14:00 It's what comes out." 14:02 And I just felt that was not a good interpretation. 14:04 I was still convicted, and, finally, God said, "Doug, what 14:06 goes in your mouth affects what comes out your mouth," and 14:10 whether it's tobacco breath or alcohol that makes you say 14:14 things you're ashamed of. 14:16 And so I was not rightly dividing the Word of God and--or 14:20 I read that verse in the Bible that said, "If your right hand 14:23 offends you, cut it off. 14:25 Better to enter heaven missing the hand than go to hell with 14:27 two healthy hands." 14:29 That's a paraphrase. 14:32 And then I realized, "No, God is not saying that anybody should 14:34 pluck out their eye or cut off their foot or their hand if they 14:36 offend because, if you steal with your right hand, then you 14:40 get it cut off, you'll just deal with your left hand." 14:42 It happens in the heart. 14:44 Jesus was using that to illustrate that, even if it 14:46 means separating yourself from something or someone so close to 14:49 you, they're like a right hand or an eye or a foot, it's better 14:53 to do that. 14:54 Make that sacrifice. 14:56 Go through that struggle than lose eternal life. 14:59 And so, when you read the Word of God, you need to rightly 15:02 divide it and know what are the parables, what are the 15:06 metaphors, and even the disciples sometimes understood. 15:09 Jesus is crossing the sea. 15:12 I'm saying even the disciples sometimes misunderstood. 15:15 Going across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus said, "Beware of the 15:18 leaven of the Pharisees," and all the disciples in the boat 15:22 looked around, said, "Oh, we forgot the lunch again." 15:25 And Jesus said, "No, that's not what I meant. 15:27 I meant beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees." 15:31 So sometimes even the disciples misunderstood and misapplied the 15:35 Word of God. 15:36 So don't be surprised if church members do if the apostles 15:39 sometimes did it. 15:41 So I remember reading a verse in the Bible, in Proverbs 24--or 15:48 26, verse 4 and 5, and I thought, "This is 15:50 a contradiction." 15:53 Proverbs 26, verse 4 and 5, Solomon said, "Do not answer a 15:56 fool according to his folly, lest you be like him." 16:00 If you start trying to argue with a fool, you sound foolish. 16:02 But the very next verse says, "Answer a fool according to his 16:07 folly, lest he is wise in his own eyes." 16:09 And I'm thinking, "Solomon, make up your mind. 16:12 Do we answer fools, or do we not answer fools?" 16:15 Why does he say two opposite things? 16:17 Which is it? 16:19 Answer the fool, or don't answer the fool? 16:21 And, finally, it occurred to me, what Solomon is saying, tongue 16:24 in cheek, is "If you argue with a fool, you'll lose if you don't 16:28 answer him. 16:31 He'll think he's right. 16:32 And if you do answer him, you sound like him." 16:35 Any communication with a fool is a lose-lose situation. 16:39 It's like someone said, "Don't wrestle with a pig because 16:41 you'll get dirty, and the pig will enjoy it." 16:44 You just--it's not helping anybody out. 16:47 What if it's someone who's even part of your own family? 16:49 Well, not if you're married to them. 16:52 Bible tells us what the criteria for marriage is. 16:55 If you have somebody that is taking you away from the Lord, 16:59 sometimes a person will convert, and their family are 17:02 unbelievers, and their family are making it very difficult for 17:05 them to live out their convictions, they might want to 17:08 separate from those family members so they can live out 17:11 their convictions. 17:14 Jesus said, "You need to love Me more than father, mother, 17:16 sister, brother, husband, wife, houses or lands, anything." 17:18 Loving the Lord first. 17:21 All right, let me give you a common misconception that 17:25 is--often comes in. 17:27 People say, "Pastor Doug, why does the Bible say, 'Thou shalt 17:29 not kill'?" 17:31 in Exodus 20:13, and then you read in 1 Samuel 15, God says to 17:36 King Saul, "Go and attack Amalek," the Amalekites, 17:39 "utterly destroy all that they have. 17:41 Do not spare them. 17:43 Kill man and woman, infant, nursing child, ox, sheep, 17:46 donkey, camel." 17:48 God said, "Don't kill." 17:50 Then he says, "Kill." 17:52 Well, the answer to that, firstly, is the word is not 17:54 really "kill." 17:56 I know King James says that. 17:58 If you look in the New King James Version, it says "Thou 18:00 shalt not murder." 18:02 And even in the King James Version, when Jesus, in the New 18:03 Testament, quotes the Ten Commandments, he says, "Thou 18:06 shall not murder." 18:07 "Murder" is different from "killing." 18:09 "Murder" is the unlawful taking of innocent life. 18:14 When soldiers come home from defending their country in 18:18 battle, they are not convicted of murder. 18:21 Now, of course, there are certain wartime rules of law 18:23 as well. 18:25 There are war crimes, but, you know, if they're lawfully 18:28 attacking the enemy, when God told Saul--and other times: 18:31 Joshua, when they entered the Promised Land, they were told to 18:34 attack and sometimes annihilate the enemy. 18:37 When God sent the flood in Noah's day, what's God doing? 18:41 He annihilated everybody in the world except Noah and 18:44 his family. 18:46 God has the right to judge. 18:48 And, by the way, if God doesn't send annihilation, we're all 18:50 under a death sentence. 18:52 Everybody is dying. 18:54 If God speeds up that process of judgment, if He uses 18:56 floodwaters, if He uses another nation, what's the difference? 18:59 People are all dying without the Gospel, and God can send His 19:02 judgment any time. 19:04 Question is not "Why does God kill?" 19:07 But the question is "Why does God spare?" 19:10 If the penalty for sin is death, why is He so merciful with us? 19:14 Everybody spins that the wrong way. 19:17 So it's really "Do not murder." 19:19 By the way, it's in Luke 18:20, where Jesus said, "Do 19:22 not murder." 19:24 "Murder" is different from "killing." 19:26 If you pull a weed, you're killing the weed. 19:28 That would be considered a sin if you take it by that 19:31 clinical definition. 19:33 And--but we need sometimes people to help us understand, 19:37 and this is part of the job of Christian teachers. 19:40 That's one of the gifts of the Spirit, pastors, evangelists, is 19:43 to expound, to explain, to exhort what the Word of God 19:46 is saying. 19:49 This very bright--he's an Ethiopian treasure for 19:52 the queen. 19:53 He's obviously a smart man. 19:55 He's riding along in his chariot. 19:57 He's reading the book of Isaiah. 20:00 Philip asks him, "Do you know what you're reading?" 20:01 And he said, "How can I understand unless someone 20:04 guides me?" 20:06 God has a place for teachers. 20:08 And all of us are really ignorant, just in 20:11 different areas. 20:13 We need sometimes someone to explain and to teach us and help 20:16 us understand things. 20:18 Don't ever be afraid. 20:20 Now, there are times where you're going to run into not 20:22 just misunderstandings in the Bible or 20:25 apparent contradictions. 20:27 There are some very real areas that are hard to resolve. 20:32 They're not many, but there's a few. 20:34 Let me read a statement to you from the "Spirit of Prophecy." 20:37 This is in your lesson under the first section, Selected Messages 20:40 Book 1, page 16: "Some discrepancies in Scripture might 20:45 be due to minor errors of copyists, translators. 20:49 Ellen White stated, 'Some look to us gravely and say, "Don't 20:54 you think there might have been some mistakes in the copies to 20:57 the translators?" 20:59 This is all probable, and the mind that is so narrow that it 21:03 will hesitate and stumble over the possibility or probability 21:06 would just be as ready to stumble over the mysteries of 21:09 the Inspired Word, because their feeble minds cannot see through 21:12 the purposes of God.'" 21:14 That should not shake the faith of anybody. 21:17 I got a question coming in. 21:19 "So since Jesus said there will be plagues before the Second 21:22 Coming, do we need to do what the Israelites did and maybe put 21:25 blood on our door before the seven last plagues to protect 21:27 our family?" 21:30 No, in the Hebrew plagues, that lamb's blood was a symbol for 21:33 Christ's blood. 21:35 We must have the blood of Christ applied to our lives. 21:38 Just like only those who were in the house of Rahab with a red 21:41 rope in the window were saved, only those that are in Christ, 21:45 with the red blood of Christ, they've accepted His sacrifice, 21:48 are going to be spared. 21:50 So, in that sense, it's similar, but it's a symbol. 21:53 Now, talking about some of the discrepancies in the Bible, if 21:57 you're walking through Colorado mountains, and you're dying of 22:02 thirst, and you suddenly see a creek where there is 22:06 crystal-clear water coming down from melted snow, no factories 22:11 above this mountain, it's as pure as you can find on earth, 22:14 you probably would not hesitate to get down and to drink some of 22:17 that water, and it would save your life, and you would very 22:20 likely be just fine and much better for it. 22:23 But if you take that water to a laboratory, and you look at it 22:26 under an electron microscope, in that water, you're going to 22:30 probably find microscopic particles of clay, sodium, 22:35 algae, some bacteria, and even microscopic particles of gold. 22:41 Even the bottled purified water that we drink is not 100% pure. 22:47 It is 99.999% pure, depending on the water and the company that 22:52 you buy--get it from, but we don't have any problem drinking 22:57 that water because we know that it is really pure water. 23:01 The Bible--just keep perspective, friends. 23:05 The Bible has 783,137 words in the King James 23:10 Authorized Version. 23:12 That's 3,116,480 letters. 23:17 When you take all of the apparent contradictions in the 23:20 Bible, sometimes they are one digit of a number that is 23:23 different from another place. 23:25 That's one character out of three million. 23:28 Sometimes it is one letter, a word, or said letter that may--a 23:35 name may have been pronounced differently in one book 23:37 than another. 23:40 One letter in the name was different. 23:42 And people say, "Ah, there's discrepancies in the Bible. 23:44 It can't be trusted." 23:46 Folks that look at stuff like that will die in the mountains 23:48 because they won't drink spring water. 23:50 The Bible is a pure book. 23:52 So I wanted to establish that because now, as we go through 23:54 the inconsistencies, I want to make sure you understand they 23:57 are microscopic when you can look at the size of the Bible, 24:02 how big it is, and how much is in there. 24:04 Okay, let's keep moving here. 24:06 Let's deal honestly and carefully when we run into 24:09 discrepancies in the Bible, or apparent discrepancies, because 24:13 not all of them are discrepancies. 24:15 Some just look that way at first glance. 24:17 1 Chronicles 29:17, "I know also, my God, that You test the 24:23 heart and have pleasure in uprightness. 24:26 As for me, in the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly 24:30 offered these things, and now with joy I've seen Your people, 24:34 who are present here, who offer willingly to You." 24:37 Something that God really values is honesty and an uprightness 24:41 and a willingness of heart. 24:43 And so as we encounter different challenges in reading the Bible, 24:49 don't just, you know, put in your prejudice right away, what 24:53 your opinion is. 24:55 Don't defend something if you really don't know what the 24:57 answer is. 24:59 Say, "You know, that's a good question. 25:01 I'm going to have to study that and find out more." 25:03 We do a Bible-answer program every week, and sometimes people 25:05 ask me a question, and, frankly, I don't know the answer. 25:07 I said, "You know, can you call back next week? 25:09 I'm going to look that up and see if I can find a better 25:11 answer for you." 25:14 Only God knows all things, and so have a humble, 25:16 teachable spirit. 25:19 God respects that. 25:21 Why do the four gospels seem different when it describes the 25:23 women that went to the tomb? 25:25 Actually, that's one of the examples where there really is 25:27 perfect harmony. 25:29 What you have that's different is the timing. 25:31 Now, I researched this in depth because I wrote a book, called 25:33 "At Jesus' Feet: The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene," 25:36 and I had to sort this out. 25:39 But Mary is the first one who comes to the tomb. 25:41 She comes alone while it's still dark. 25:43 As she sees the stone is rolled away, she leaves. 25:46 She encounters the other women, and then she goes back with them 25:49 to say, "Look, see? 25:51 It was as I said." 25:54 They then go, and they tell the others. 25:56 Peter and John come. 25:57 Mary is there. 25:59 Peter and John leave. 26:01 Mary stays. 26:03 Jesus then appears to Mary. 26:04 And so it's the sequence of how it happened that looks like 26:06 different groups are coming at different times. 26:08 And, of course, each gospel writer, they're reporting the 26:10 absolute truth. 26:12 They're reporting different parts of the chronological time 26:14 of the Resurrection morning. 26:17 Okay, back to the lesson here. 26:19 In Proverbs 2, verse 7, it says, "He stores up sound wisdom for 26:23 the upright." 26:25 You want to understand? 26:27 Be upright in heart, be honest. 26:29 "He's a shield to those who walk uprightly." 26:32 1 Timothy 4:16, "Take heed to yourself in the doctrine. 26:37 Continue in this, for in doing this, you will both save 26:40 yourself and those who hear you." 26:42 In the process for searching out the truth--and Jesus said, "Thy 26:46 word is truth." 26:48 The Bible is true. 26:50 God has miraculously preserved His word and kept it pure. 26:53 And something else I thought you would find interesting, I was 26:57 doing some research on the average book when it's printed. 27:03 Oh, yeah. 27:05 Errors in a typical novel. 27:07 There are millions of books that are printed in the world and in 27:09 North America, and a top publishing editor said, "A book 27:15 that's been hastily proofread by just one proofreader may display 27:19 one typo per 1,000 words. 27:23 This is not an unusual thing among published books. 27:26 I have been sent to read and review. 27:30 I'm more comfortable with three typos, single-letter errors, or 27:35 two letters transposed per 10,000 words." 27:38 Based on the very best publishing editors, the Bible is 27:42 above all of that, when you consider there are three million 27:44 words and very few of these typographical errors that you're 27:51 going to find in the Bible. 27:53 All right, let's move on here. 27:55 In Matthew chapter 13:19, Jesus said, "Those who are 27:59 unstable," if you're not grounded in the Word, "you can 28:02 be easily confused." 28:04 "When anyone hears the words of the kingdom, if he doesn't 28:06 understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away that 28:09 which was sown in his heart. 28:11 This is he who receives the seed by the wayside." 28:15 And so, when we first read, you really need to pray for the 28:18 Holy Spirit. 28:20 If there's part of the Bible you do not understand, or it seems 28:22 there's a discrepancy or some contradiction, hold fast to that 28:27 which is good and keep reading. 28:29 The answers will come as you continue to study. 28:32 Remember, Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the 28:38 earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 28:41 than your thoughts." 28:44 Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom 28:48 and the knowledge of God. 28:50 How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past 28:53 finding out." 28:55 So here's an example of some of the discrepancies that you might 28:59 run into, and, believe it or not, in our lesson today, I'm 29:03 trying to cover most of the major ones here that we 29:06 run into. 29:08 By the way, I should mention that Amazing Facts has a couple 29:10 of books out that deal with answers to difficult Bible 29:13 questions, and on the radio program, we've compiled the most 29:17 common questions we get: "Who did Cain marry?" 29:21 And some of these, you know, "Why did God say kill?" 29:23 And it's often just that people are not--they don't continue 29:29 reading, or they're not reading it in context, comparing 29:31 Scripture with Scripture. 29:33 Now, here, for instance, is an example you'll commonly run 29:36 into: 2 Samuel 24, verse 1, "And, again, the anger of the 29:41 Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them, 29:44 saying, 'Go, number Israel.'" 29:47 Anger of the Lord, Lord moved him. 29:49 But you read that in 1 Chronicles 21:1. 29:51 It says, "Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David 29:54 to number them." 29:56 "Wait a second," you're thinking, "How can it be one 29:59 verse says, "The Lord moved David to number Israel," and the 30:04 other one says, "the devil"? 30:06 I mean, how could you be more confused than that? 30:08 Sometimes, when I'm preaching, I've gotten tongue-tied when 30:12 you're in a hurry. 30:15 And, you know, sometimes I've been preaching, I've gotten 30:18 "Moses" and "Noah" mixed up, and Karen's often there in the 30:21 audience as she is today, and she'll say, "Oh, you meant to 30:23 say, "Noah." 30:25 I say, "Oh, yeah, yeah." 30:27 People usually let you off the hook. 30:29 Or I've gotten my "Peter" and my "Paul" mixed up while I was 30:30 speaking quickly. 30:33 But one of the things you don't want to do is get your "Jesus" 30:35 and "Satan" mixed up, but I've done that too when I was talking 30:39 about the temptation of Christ. 30:41 And Karen said, "No, no, you mean, 'Jesus,' not 'Satan.'" 30:44 I'd say, "Oh, yeah, let's get that straight." 30:47 Well, how can you have, here it says, "The Lord moved David," 30:51 and "Satan moved David"? 30:53 Well, here's a verse in Acts chapter 2, verse 22 and 23, that 30:58 helps explain what's going on behind the scenes. 31:00 "Men of Israel," Acts 2:22, "Men of Israel, hear these words: 31:05 Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by 31:09 miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in 31:14 your midst, as you yourselves know--Him, being delivered by 31:18 the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have 31:24 taken by lawless hands, and crucified and put to death." 31:28 God's purpose allowed this in advance, but it was something 31:33 that the devil did. 31:35 Even the devil had to ask God for permission to go and to 31:38 tempt Job. 31:40 So are you going to blame God? 31:42 Are you going to blame Job? 31:44 Do you notice that Job said, "Shall we not receive good from 31:47 the hand of the Lord, and evil?" 31:48 It was the devil who did it, but Job said, ultimately, God 31:51 is almighty. 31:53 He's enthroned. 31:55 And so, you know, God sometimes loosens the devil's leash, and 31:57 so people will say, "Well, it was God," and other places will 32:02 say, "It was the Lord." 32:04 And it's just the sovereignty of God that sometimes creates 32:07 confusion in that. 32:10 So, yeah, the Lord allowed the devil, because of David's pride, 32:13 to test David, and he failed the test with pride. 32:17 Another question, "Why does the Bible say, 'Jacob I have 32:22 loved,'" in Romans, now, was it 9:13? 32:24 "Jacob I loved. 32:26 Esau I have hated"? 32:28 And, actually, when Paul says that in Romans, he's quoting 32:30 from the Old Testament. 32:32 When it says, "I loved Jacob," "I hated Esau," it's not talking 32:34 about the brothers. 32:36 He's talking about the nations that came from the brothers. 32:39 And the Edomites became carnal. 32:43 Jacob ended up wanting the spiritual birthright, and so God 32:47 is saying, "Look, I love the people that want the 32:50 spiritual blessing. 32:52 I curse, or I don't want those who are carnal." 32:55 They just want the physical immediate beans in the pot. 32:58 And so God is not saying that he pre-determined, "I'm going to 33:02 hate Esau, and I'm going to love Jacob." 33:04 God was now loving and hating how they responded to His grace, 33:08 and some wanted the spiritual blessing, some wanted the 33:11 earthly, carnal blessings. 33:14 All right, let's get back into some of those that are in the 33:17 lesson, some of the apparent contradictions 33:20 or contradictions. 33:22 Look, for instance, in Ecclesiastes 7, verse 29. 33:25 "God made man upright." 33:28 Okay, I like that. 33:30 But then, you read in Psalm 51, verse 5, "Behold, I was brought 33:33 forth in iniquity." 33:35 Well, which is it? 33:37 Were we made upright or brought forth in iniquity? 33:39 Well, the answer is that God originally made man perfect. 33:41 Everything in the garden was pure. 33:44 But after the fall of sin, David is talking here about his fall 33:48 with Bathsheba and killing of Uriah. 33:50 Here, he's saying, you know, after the fall, all of us are 33:54 brought forth with fallen natures, and so they're 33:57 describing two different things in this verse. 34:00 So when you come to some discrepancy in the Bible, who 34:03 does God give knowledge to? 34:06 The Bible says God will teach the humble, and this is under 34:08 the section "Dealing with Difficulties with Humility." 34:12 Psalm 25, verse 9, "The humble He guides in justice. 34:17 The humble He teaches His way." 34:19 Don't jump to conclusions. 34:21 If you don't know, admit you don't know. 34:23 Humbly wait and pray that, as you continue to study, you 34:26 will understand. 34:29 Read James 4, verse 6: "He gives more grace. 34:32 Therefore He says, 'God resists the proud, but He gives grace to 34:36 the humble.' 34:38 Therefore submit to God. 34:40 Resist the devil. 34:41 He'll flee from you. 34:43 Draw near to God and He'll draw near to you. 34:45 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you 34:47 double-minded. 34:49 Lament and mourn and weep. 34:51 Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy 34:53 into gloom. 34:55 Humble yourselves in the sight of God, and He will lift 34:57 you up." 34:59 So when we humbly confess we're confused on a topic or an 35:03 apparent contradiction, and we seek for wisdom, God delights 35:07 then to give us the wisdom. 35:09 You know, as you study the history of the Adventist Church, 35:12 there were a number of times when our founders were 35:15 confounded by a certain passage, things they didn't understand, 35:19 and they'd come together, and they'd humbly kneel, they'd 35:21 pray, they'd study, they'd debate, and God would 35:27 guide them. 35:29 Sometimes as final enlightenment, Ellen Wright 35:32 would be brought into vision, and she would point to the 35:35 Scriptures that gave the answer, and all of a sudden, the light 35:38 would come on. 35:40 And so sometimes we need that spiritual guidance in that way 35:42 as long as it's all based on the Bible. 35:45 That needs to be the key. 35:46 And in Zephaniah 3:12, "I'll leave in your midst a meek and a 35:54 humble people. 35:56 They will trust in the name of the Lord." 35:58 Okay, I want to start talking about some of the apparent 36:01 discrepancies in numbers in the Bible. 36:04 There's quite a few of these. 36:06 For example--and I wrote a book on this--the demoniac, if you 36:10 read in Matthew and if you read--I'm sorry. 36:13 If you read in Mark and Luke, it says there's one demoniac. 36:16 Mark chapter 5, verse 2, "When they came out of the boat, there 36:19 met Him a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit." 36:23 One man, singular. 36:25 But Matthew chapter 8, verse 28, "When He was come to the other 36:29 side, into the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him two 36:31 possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly 36:35 fierce, so no man might tame them." 36:38 And says, "Oh, well, one says it was one. 36:40 One said it was two." 36:41 It's the same story. 36:43 Why does one say there was one man, and one says there was 36:45 two men? 36:47 Well, because evidently there were two men, but one was 36:49 probably at the forefront. 36:51 One was the one who did the speaking. 36:53 One was exceedingly fierce, more so than the other, and when they 36:56 reported the story, they reported it based on this one 37:00 outspoken individual, but there might have been someone else 37:03 that was in the background there in that story. 37:06 You'll also find the same principle when they have the 37:09 healing of Bartimaeus. 37:12 Notice here, Mark chapter 10, verse 46, "They came to Jericho. 37:15 And as He went out of Jericho with His disciples, a great 37:18 multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the 37:21 road begging." 37:23 And this talks about this one man who said, "Son of Jesus, Son 37:26 of David, have mercy on me." 37:29 You read in Matthew, and Matthew, two times now, he's 37:32 got double. 37:34 Matthew says, "As he went out of Jericho, a great multitude 37:36 followed Him. 37:37 Behold, two blind men were sitting there, saying, 'Son of 37:40 David, have mercy on us.'" 37:42 Same event, it's the same miracle. 37:44 There probably were two. 37:46 Bartimaeus is one of them. 37:48 He was the outspoken one. 37:50 He's the one that ran forward. 37:52 The other one may have come secondly. 37:54 And so--and this is actually--this strengthens my 37:56 faith in the Bible because, if the gospel writers are just 37:58 copying each other, why would they make a mistake like that? 38:01 But Matthew, who was a firsthand witness of both those events, he 38:06 knew there was actually two, and he wrote that. 38:08 And the other gospel writer, he said, "I'm going to talk about 38:14 the one who did the speaking." 38:15 He mentioned the one. 38:18 And maybe he thought, "This is such an amazing miracle. 38:20 If you say there were two, they won't even believe it." 38:23 You know, I'll tell you a little story--is that a recent movie 38:27 was made by Mel Gibson about a Seventh-day Adventist, named 38:32 Desmond Doss, called "Hacksaw Ridge," and they tried to follow 38:37 the book as well as they could, but there's one story that was 38:41 so miraculous, they left it out of the script. 38:44 And when asked why, Mel Gibson said, "This is just so 38:48 incredible, people will think we're making it up." 38:51 But it was true. 38:53 And so, you know, sometimes the truth is even harder to believe 38:56 than fiction. 38:58 Yeah, let me give you a couple more examples of some of these 39:00 numerical discrepancies. 39:02 In 2 Samuel 24, verse 13, Nathan the prophet says, "You've got to 39:09 choose your judgment. 39:11 There'll be seven years of famine." 39:13 But when you read it in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 12, it 39:15 says, three years of famine. 39:17 Which is it? 39:19 Well, it was probably three because he talks about three 39:22 days, three months, and that stands a reason he would've said 39:25 three years. 39:27 Maybe the scribe who was doing this or the copyist who was 39:31 copying this manuscript, he was thinking about the seven years 39:34 of famine in the story of Joseph. 39:36 It was late in the day and he wrote down "seven." 39:38 That's one possible explanation. 39:40 This is a place where there's a definite discrepancy. 39:43 Another possibility is, in Hebrew, the character number for 39:49 three and seven are very similar. 39:52 Have you ever read--somebody give you a phone number, and 39:54 they put down the number two, but they wrote it so quickly, 39:57 you say, "Is that a two or is that a seven?" 40:01 And I've seen people that, kind of, halfway do a five, and it 40:04 looks like a two. 40:06 And so, same thing in Hebrew, some of these are very old 40:09 manuscripts, and the actual number one, the number seven, 40:13 and the number three, very similar, and it's easy 40:16 to misunderstand. 40:18 You can let something like that shake your faith. 40:20 The whole story is true. 40:22 God gave him these options of judgment, and when you look 40:27 also--you do corresponding documents. 40:30 When you look at the Arabic version of the Old Testament, 40:33 Josephus' writings on this account, when you look at the 40:37 Syriac version, they all say "three." 40:40 And so you, just, you go to some outside manuscripts. 40:43 You say, "Oh, okay, there's consistency there. 40:45 Here's one manuscript where he mixed up a two or a three for 40:49 a seven." 40:51 Don't let that shake your faith. 40:53 Here's another example of that: When he talks about King 40:56 Solomon's stalls for horses, you read in 1 Kings 4, verse 26, he 41:01 had 40,000 stalls. 41:04 That's quite a few stalls. 41:06 You read in 2 Chronicles 9:25, it says he had 4,000. 41:10 Well, someone says, "See, look at that exaggeration. 41:13 You can't trust the Bible." 41:15 It's just a scribal error in the numbers that were written down, 41:20 you know. 41:22 You know what a big difference it can make when you're writing 41:24 out a check if you put the comma in the wrong place? 41:27 You can end up giving somebody $10,000 instead of $10. 41:31 You got to be very careful. 41:33 One little comma can make a big difference. 41:35 Don't let that shake your faith. 41:37 Probably was 4,000 stalls. 41:39 How do we know that? 41:41 Because it talks about how many chariots he had. 41:43 Talks about how many soldiers he had. 41:45 He really didn't need 40,000 stalls for horses. 41:47 But then you go to another example when it talks about how 41:51 much water was held by the laver in the temple of Solomon. 41:56 You read in 1 Kings 7:26, there were 2,000 baths. 42:01 "Baths" was a Hebrew measurement. 42:03 You read in 2 Chronicles 4, verse 5, 3,000 baths. 42:07 Which is it? 42:09 Now, this one, I think, has an easier explanation. 42:11 Next door, you know, right now we are taping, and pretty soon 42:14 we're going to start meeting in person, friends. 42:17 This is really exciting. 42:19 Maybe even as soon as next week, we'll have a small group meeting 42:22 in a church, and we're praying about that, but right now we're 42:24 meeting in our Amazing Facts worship room. 42:27 Next door, we're finishing the worship center, convention 42:30 center sanctuary, for the Granite Bay Church, and we got a 42:34 baptistry in the front, and it is a big baptistry. 42:37 You can just about dive in there. 42:40 When you were asking, "How much does it hold?" 42:43 We have two answers. 42:45 We have how much will it hold when you do a baptism because 42:47 you do not fill it all the way when you use it, or all the 42:51 water splashes out. 42:53 So we would say, "All right, it holds 2,000 gallons." 42:55 But how much would it hold if you filled it to the brim? 42:57 Three thousand gallons because of the steps that go out. 43:00 You see what I'm saying? 43:02 And so when they give two different measurements for how 43:04 much water was held in the laver, don't let that rattle 43:07 your faith. 43:08 The priests might've been saying, "All right, for regular 43:11 use, we don't fill it to the top. 43:13 It would all splash out. 43:15 We fill it with 2,000." 43:17 Someone says, "Yeah, if you actually fill it up, though, 43:18 it's 3,000." 43:20 So, yes, there is a little discrepancy there. 43:22 That should not shake your faith in the Word of God. 43:25 So another example of a numerical discrepancy, how old 43:29 was King Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem? 43:33 2 Kings 24, says, he was 18 years of age. 43:36 2 Chronicles 36, says, he was eight years of age. 43:40 There's an error here. 43:42 He was probably 18 years of age because why would the Bible say 43:46 that he did those things that displeased the Lord, so he 43:50 was judged? 43:52 Eight years old? 43:54 God's going to judge him and overthrow him because of 43:56 his evil? 43:58 Oh, I've known some bad boys at eight years old but--and the 44:01 other thing, it talks about his wives. 44:04 Eight years old? 44:05 No, it's easy, just like English and Hebrew, to miss one digit, 44:07 and instead of it being "18," they left something off, and it 44:13 came out "8." 44:15 The other manuscripts say he was 18 years of age. 44:17 And the other reason we know this, it says, "In the 37th year 44:20 of Evil-Merodach, he had mercy on King Jehoiachin--" 44:24 the last verse in Jeremiah-- "and he lifted his head 44:28 from prison." 44:30 So he's probably in his 50s when that happened. 44:32 It all works out. 44:34 So, yes, there is a minor discrepancy there, and some 44:37 people think that, "Well, then, can you say the Bible 44:40 is infallible?" 44:42 It is an infallible revelation of God's will. 44:45 The originals, I believe, are infallible, but as translators 44:49 and copyists go through history, you'll sometimes encounter 44:53 discrepancies or apparent discrepancies. 44:57 Ninety percent of the people who say, "I found a discrepancy in 45:00 the Bible," it is an apparent discrepancy that can 45:03 be explained. 45:04 It is not real. 45:06 It's just because of their perception. 45:08 Any last questions? 45:10 "If the Bible says the Sabbath will endure forever, because 45:12 it's holy, what about the Jewish feasts?" 45:14 No, the Jewish feasts were not part of God's law 45:17 before Creation. 45:19 It was added because of sin. 45:22 The Sabbath was part of God's perfect plan in the garden 45:24 of Eden. 45:27 You've been a great class. 45:28 I don't know if I'm going to have time to get through 45:30 much more. 45:32 I think I've shown you a lot of the apparent discrepancies, and 45:34 I want to remind you that I have more notes. 45:38 If you go to the amazing Facts website, when you look under 45:40 "Sabbath School," you can actually download our notes 45:43 that, whoever the teacher is from week to week, we post our 45:46 notes just in a Word document so you can say, "Oh." 45:49 If you didn't get through it all and you're teaching a class, and 45:51 you want to use our notes, we invite you to download 45:53 the notes. 45:55 I also want to remind you that we do have a free book that is 45:58 available to anybody, that you simply ask for it. 46:01 It's called "12 Steps to Revival," written by yours 46:03 truly, and if you want to call in, call 866--this is for North 46:08 America: 866-788-3966. 46:13 That's actually 866-Study-More, or you can text, and you text 46:17 40544, and text the letter "SH," then "001," and you can download 46:26 "12 Steps to Revival." 46:29 We trust that you'll enjoy that. 46:31 I've enjoyed talking about some of these discrepancies because I 46:34 want people to have more faith in the Bible. 46:37 And, you know what? 46:39 I just will tell you in closing, friends, over my years as a 46:44 Christian, so many times I've opened the Word of God, and when 46:46 I ran into a problem, God then, when I prayed about it humbly, 46:51 he gave light and showed the answer. 46:53 You can trust the Bible. 46:56 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 46:58 free resource. 47:00 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 47:02 download a digital copy straight to your computer or 47:04 mobile device. 47:06 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 47:09 the keyword on your screen to 40544, or visit the web address 47:14 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the 47:17 digital-download option on the request page. 47:19 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 47:22 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want and, most 47:26 important, to share it with others. 47:31 ♪♪♪ 47:34 announcer: Amazing Facts Changed Lives. 47:38 ♪♪♪ 47:43 Brittney: I was addicted to all different types of things. 47:46 I finally hit rock bottom when I got pulled over one night after 47:50 a heavy night of partying with some friends. 47:53 I was drunk, high on Ecstasy, and I realized then that I had 47:58 to make a change. 48:01 Vince: Was in the military and listening to very satanic music 48:03 every day and heard this whisper to carve "666" into my knuckles. 48:09 Contemplated on it a while, and I was sitting at my desk, and I 48:11 had my knife on me, and I started carving the horizontal 48:18 lines for the sixes into my index finger first with serrated 48:22 edges and started to enjoy it. 48:28 I wanted to make it known who I wanted to follow, actually, and 48:32 not knowing I was following Satan at the time. 48:35 Just, I thought it was a cool thing to do. 48:37 Brittney: So I met this guy online, and that was my husband, 48:40 Vince, and I noticed his ears, and we started talking, and he 48:47 was just adorable. 48:48 Vince: Flew down and actually met her here in Arizona. 48:51 Brittney: And, at that point, I found out quickly after we met 48:55 that I was pregnant. 48:57 Vince: So shortly after our daughter was born, it was a very 48:59 exciting moment, but the nurses and doctors notice something 49:02 right away that she was extremely orange with jaundice. 49:04 Brittney: And she ended up in the hospital, very sick, and it 49:08 was extremely hard on us. 49:12 We were teenagers. 49:14 We were scared. 49:16 Our baby was sick. 49:18 I was with someone that was very angry, and at that point, we 49:24 were in the hospital room, and I remember a chaplain coming in 49:30 and speaking with the people. 49:32 Since it was like a conjoined room, we had a roommate, and the 49:35 chaplain had said, you know, if he could pray for the other 49:39 family, and that's when I knew that it was my chance. 49:43 I had to take that opportunity, and I asked my husband, "Should 49:47 I go talk to him?" 49:48 Vince: I said, "No way." 49:50 I wanted nothing to do with God. 49:52 I wanted nothing to do with talking to this chaplain. 49:54 Brittney: I decided that I was going to get up anyway, and I 49:57 got up, and you could tell he was very angry that I decided to 49:59 walk over, and I went to the chaplain, and I asked him to 50:05 come over and speak to us, and he did. 50:07 Vince: And he came in, and we asked him questions, and he 50:10 actually came to visit us every single day. 50:12 Brittney: The chaplain that we met with mentioned Amazing Facts 50:15 study guides and, just, the ministries. 50:18 Vince: He showed us videos and study guides from Amazing 50:21 Facts, specifically. 50:23 It was on "Final Events" and "Cosmic Conflict." 50:26 At that point, we had transferred hospitals to an 50:29 outpatient hospital, and we were able to watch these videos, and 50:32 we were hooked on them. 50:34 Brittney: It was a huge blessing. 50:36 We would watch Pastor Doug, and we would sit up late at night, 50:41 watching sermons, and we were just teenagers. 50:45 Most kids our age were out doing crazy things, and here we are at 50:49 home with popcorn and chocolate bars, watching Pastor Doug. 50:52 Ben Lundquist: This young couple came into the Camelback Church 50:55 holding a beautiful little baby, and this was one of the first 50:59 times that I had ever met Vince and Brittney. 51:02 Vince: We needed somebody to show us that they loved us, that 51:05 they supported us, and Pastor Ben was there, giving us Bible 51:07 studies on marriage counseling as well as baptism. 51:09 Brittney: I was still smoking and drinking lightly, and a few 51:14 things along those lines, and it was one day when I woke up on 51:19 February 15, 2011, after watching many sermons on 51:23 "Amazing Facts" from Pastor Doug, and having a really solid 51:28 church family, that I was able to say, "No more." 51:31 And from that day on, I stopped all of my addictions. 51:35 Charles White: And, ultimately, their lives began to take on 51:38 just a new dimension of congruity because Jesus was 51:42 there, and He was the one that was bringing that sense of 51:45 belonging and hope and help. 51:48 Brittney: We decided to get baptized and married, and we got 51:51 baptized one day and married the next, and it was an 51:54 amazing experience. 51:56 Ben: And we found a spot by the lake, and it was 51:58 absolutely perfect. 52:00 The evening was coming to a close. 52:02 The sun was about ready to go down. 52:04 Vince: And we were standing on the water with Pastor Ben, and 52:08 the sky was such a deep red. 52:10 The reflections off the sky was almost as if we were standing 52:13 in blood. 52:15 We were washed in the blood of Jesus. 52:17 Ben: And that was the moment that God painted the canvas of 52:20 the sky with the most beautiful colors signifying the journey 52:23 that he was going to be laying out for Vince and Brittney. 52:26 Vince: Shortly after we were baptized, about a month later, 52:29 we had realized that my scars were gone. 52:33 I was completely healed physically of not having the 52:36 "666" on my knuckles anymore, and I struggled with that for so 52:38 long because of what I did, and He forgave me. 52:43 Malcolm Douglas: Many times, when we think of the way that 52:46 we've been led to Christ, we think there's usually one 52:47 individual, but having been able to work alongside Pastor Ben and 52:50 Pastor White, it's been great to see how we've been able to work 52:55 with Brittney and Vincent and seen them just really grow. 52:58 And this has really been something that's been beneficial 53:01 to me. 53:03 You know, sometimes I think about this, and the Bible says, 53:05 "More blessed is he who gives than receives," and I feel, in 53:07 many times, more blessed, just seeing them and seeing all the 53:12 challenges they've gone through, all the difficulties, and seeing 53:14 them overcome these things, it just--it amazes me. 53:19 Vince: As I reflect back on everything I've done in my life, 53:22 completely going against God, wanting nothing to do with Him, 53:27 He still tried so hard as if I was the only one that was lost, 53:30 just as He promises. 53:33 He still went and found me even though I wanted nothing to do 53:37 with Him. 53:39 Brittney: Having Amazing Facts and the pastors in our lives 53:41 help us so much, it's really a blessing, and I feel like now 53:45 we're happy, and we have these two healthy, beautiful, little 53:50 girls, and God has truly blessed us, and I just want to share it 53:55 with everyone. 53:56 I want to scream it. 53:58 I'm so excited, and I feel really blessed to even have this 54:01 opportunity to share my story. 54:04 ♪♪♪ 54:18 Doug: We're here on the beautiful coast of the island of 54:20 Puerto Rico, and if you were to travel east about 2,000 miles, 54:24 of course, you'd be out in the middle of the ocean. 54:26 But you'd also be in the middle of a mystical sea called the 54:29 Sargasso Sea. 54:31 It gets its name because of this common brown seaweed that can be 54:35 found floating in vast mass. 54:38 The area of the Sargasso Sea is about 700 miles wide and 2,000 54:42 miles long. 54:44 Now, the seaweed itself is fascinating stuff. 54:47 It was first observed and called gulfweed by 54:49 Christopher Columbus. 54:51 It gets the name "sargum" from the Portuguese. 54:53 Some people use it as herbal remedies. 54:56 But out in the middle of the Sargasso Sea the water is some 54:58 of the bluest in the world. 55:00 It's there you can see 200-feet deep in places. 55:03 It also has a great biodiversity and ecosystem that surrounds the 55:06 Sargasso Sea. 55:09 For years, scientists wondered where the American and the 55:11 Atlantic eels were breeding. 55:14 They knew the adult eel swam down the rivers, out into the 55:16 Atlantic, but they never could find the place where 55:18 they reproduced. 55:20 Finally, they discovered it was out in the middle of the 55:23 Sargasso Sea. 55:25 So it's a fascinating place, but if you were an ancient sailor, 55:27 you did not want to get stuck there. 55:31 Being caught in the doldrums was extremely difficult 55:34 for the ancient sailors. 55:36 Of course, their boats were driven by wind and sail, and 55:39 they'd be caught in the vast mass of the seaweed that would 55:42 wrap around their rudder. 55:44 Barnacles would begin to grow. 55:46 It's an area that is notorious for light and baffling winds, 55:48 and so they'd make no progress. 55:50 They'd get stuck. 55:52 The men would become extremely dispirited. 55:54 Sometimes, violence and even insanity would break out as 55:57 people were trapped in the doldrums. 56:00 Well, friends, perhaps sometimes you've felt that you're trapped 56:04 in the doldrums. 56:05 You've gone through episodes of depression. 56:07 You feel like you're going in circles. 56:09 Life seems stifling. 56:11 You know, the Bible offers good news. 56:12 There is a way out. 56:14 The Bible talks about a famous character that was trapped in a 56:17 cycle of depression. 56:18 He was low as you could be. 56:20 Matter of fact, he even had seaweed wrapped around his head. 56:23 His name was Jonah. 56:24 But God gave him a way of escape. 56:26 In Jonah chapter 2, verse 3 through 7, we read: "For You 56:31 cast me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the 56:34 floods surrounded me. 56:37 All of Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 56:39 Then I said, 'I have been cast out of Your sight, yet I will 56:43 look again towards Your holy temple.' 56:46 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul. 56:48 The deep closed around me. 56:50 Weeds were wrapped around my head. 56:52 I went down to the moorings of the mountains. 56:55 The earth with its bars closed behind me forever, yet You've 56:58 brought my life up from the pit, O Lord, my God. 57:03 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my 57:06 prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple." 57:11 You know, friends, the way that Jonah got out of his 57:13 discouraging circumstances, he turned to God, and he prayed. 57:16 And if God could hear Jonah's prayer, just think about it: He 57:19 was as far away from God as anybody could be. 57:22 He was in the belly of a sea monster in the bottom of the 57:24 ocean in the dark, yet he turned to God, and God heard 57:27 his prayer. 57:29 You know, these ancient sailors, when they were trapped on the 57:31 deck of a ship for weeks, stuck in the doldrums, discouraged, 57:33 sometimes they would have a prayer meeting and pray that God 57:37 would send a breeze that would set them free and get their 57:40 boats moving. 57:42 They turned to God in prayer, and often miracles would happen, 57:44 and the wind would flutter in the sails and bring them out of 57:47 their seaweed prison. 57:49 Friends, maybe you have been stuck in the doldrums. 57:52 Maybe you've been caught in a cycle of depression. 57:54 If God can do it for Jonah, if He can do it for the ancient 57:57 sailors, He can do it for you. 57:59 Turn to the Lord in prayer. 58:01 Trust His Spirit to blow through your soul and to set you free. 58:04 ♪♪♪ 58:09 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2020-06-10