BY SANDRA BLACKMER, News Editor for the Adventist Review At print time, Amazing Facts president/speaker Doug Batchelor is into his second week of a 20-meeting evangelistic series called The Prophecy Code. The programs are being broadcast to 1,900 sites March 4-26 throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, and are being uplinked from the General Conference headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Batchelor discussed the series with the Adventist Review. AR: This is the first time a satellite evangelistic series has been uplinked from the General Conference headquarters. What unique advantages or challenges has this different venue presented? DB: I'm very thankful for the way the people in the GC office have bent over backwards to accommodate the series. It's a disruption in how the office flows, so I just appreciate the positive way the people have responded. There was some apprehension, however, about whether non-Adventists would come to meetings held at the headquarters of the Adventist Church. But on opening night, 50 percent of the 1,000-plus people who were here were non-Adventists. How does that number compare with your more typical campaigns? It's actually in keeping with the percentage of non-Adventists who attended our Amazing Facts series in New York City-a totally neutral venue. Why did you choose the theme The Prophecy Code? Well, one reason is that we're capitalizing on a heightened interest in prophecy right now. After NET '99 many Adventists wondered whether interest in Bible prophecy would wane because the millennial fever-many called it millennial madness-had dissipated. But actually the opposite has happened. Some of the most recent best-selling books have involved Bible prophecy, such as the Left Behind series, The American Prophecies, The Da Vinci Code, Beyond Iraq, The Bible Code. So we are trying to capitalize on this interest. But in reality there is a code in the Bible-a code of symbols. For example, a woman represents the church, a sword is the Word of God, bread is the Bible. So we're trying to help people understand that when you apply some of these symbols, they unlock Bible prophecies. Once you give people the keys to what those symbols are, prophecy starts to make sense. What's the most challenging topic that you present, and why? This might seem surprising, but it is probably my message on the law. There was a day when preaching on the Ten Commandments wasn't difficult because most of the people who attended our meetings had some Christian background. But attitudes in just the short time that I've been a Christian, which has been about 25 years, have really changed. Today if you talk about obedience, many people equate that with legalism. Is obedience legalism? That's a difficult subject-trying to explain the balance between grace and love and law. Some Adventist evangelists are calling only for commitment to Christ, rather than to Christ in His church, as a condition for baptism. How do you feel about that? Well, I have problems with that theologically, because the church is the body of Christ. We can't separate joining Christ from joining the church. What do we baptize people into? We baptize them into the body of Christ. To me this notion sounds like a man proposing to a woman and he tells her, "I love you and I want to marry you, but do we have to live together?" Why would you not want to? I've heard this statement before, and it disturbs me. A baptized person is like a newborn baby. If a newborn baby is not placed in a family, that baby is at high risk. What part do Adventist lifestyle issues-diet, dress, modes of Sabbath keeping-play in your evangelistic series? Do you agree with those who say that these matters are best handled after a person has joined a local congregation? I'm very concerned about the idea that a person would join the church and then later be told about some of these profound lifestyle differences. I don't think that's fair to people. I believe being a Seventh-day Adventist is a very high and holy calling, and people need to understand the specifics. If we act as if we're embarrassed about these things before we bring people into the church, I think we're sending the wrong message. There are very strong biblical reasons for these beliefs. Living a holy lifestyle is part and parcel of the commitment to Christ, and I don't believe we can separate the two. I was baptized at age 22, and I was smoking cigarettes up to two weeks before my baptism. The pastor said to me that baptism symbolized a leaving behind of the old life. I responded, "Well, can't I quit smoking afterwards?" and he said, "No, you can quit smoking now. What kind of witness is it if you blow smoke in someone's face and then say, 'I'm a new Seventh-day Adventist' "? So, if someone joins the Adventist Church and he or she isn't living up to church beliefs, it destroys that person's witness. Tell me about the response you've had so far to the meetings. It's been very good. Actually, we've been surprised by the enthusiasm. We had expected a more austere audience because we're at the church's corporate headquarters. But the audience has been very exuberant. We're really happy about that. We'd much rather have a lively audience that is participating. What about the response as far as those e-mailing questions and comments? Quite honestly, we are a little bit embarrassed because we thought we had enough volunteers to answer all the questions that would come in. I answer only a very small sample of questions during the meetings themselves, but we have retired pastors and other church members who help to answer everybody's questions. But, unfortunately, we're able to handle only about half of them right now. So far, though, nearly all of them have been very positive, and folks are quite enthusiastic. We've been getting literally hundreds of questions on a wide spectrum of topics, and it's been fun reading them. Do you think the church revival series you held last November and uplinked from Chattanooga, Tennessee, helped prepare church members spiritually for this current series? Do you think it made a difference? Yes, I do. We've tried a lot of programs and methods of preparation, and we believe the best preparation is prayer. We felt that if church members would experience a revival and begin praying for the meetings, this would prepare us to receive the influx of new members. That was the purpose of our November series. At one point we really began to worry because the time for the meetings to begin was drawing near, and we had only about 300 sites registered. But then the number of sites almost tripled in one week, and by the time the meetings began we had 1,900 sites registered. Color Press printed 3.5 million handbills for the series. Do you have a personal story you can share about someone who has been learning about God and the Adventist Church for the first time through these meetings? A man from the Washington, D.C., area has been attending since opening night. He had previously been an overseas diplomat, but he now works in the legal profession and supervises 200 other employees. He told me that five years ago he prepared an estate for a client who gave him a Millennium of Prophecy tape from NET '99. He kept it on his shelf for a while, then finally watched it-just so he could say to his client that he had viewed the tape. He then returned it to her, and she asked him if he would like some more. He ordered the whole set. The videos sat on a shelf for a long time, but just a few weeks ago he began watching them. He said they have turned his life around. He then heard about The Prophecy Code series, and he came and joined our audience here at the GC. He has not yet been baptized, but the man is just totally on fire. His wife is slowing trying to digest what's happening in her husband's life. He's basically embracing the entire Adventist message, and he's come to just three or four of these meetings so far. So, the Lord used the first series to prepare him for what's happening now, more than five years later. That's very exciting. A unique aspect of The Prophecy Code is that it's being broadcast simultaneously with Mark Finley's satellite series in Kiev, Ukraine. Eleven time zones are being covered by both events, so, in essence, the gospel message is being preached in every country throughout the world. Do you think the collaborative effort is resulting in greater interest and attendance? I think that the confluence of the two events is helping. It's inspiring for the church to see that the gospel is virtually being preached in stereo right now-Finley in the Eastern Hemisphere and me in the Western Hemisphere. We have the same start date and the same end date. It was totally a "God thing" that it worked out this way. Originally, Mark and I were going to hold a joint series in Dallas, preaching on alternate nights. But because of unforeseen circumstances, the meetings were canceled. So, Mark and I had to scramble to decide what to do. Amazing Facts was already slated to hold a NET series this year, so we worked it out to uplink from the GC. Mark was able to pick up a meeting during the same time in the Ukraine, so we said, "Let's cross promote." And so, that's what happened. [Watch for an article about Mark Finley's It Is Written series being held in Kiev, Ukraine, in an upcoming issue of the Adventist Review.] How do you view the future of satellite evangelism? I'm convinced that the opportunities for sharing our message through the media are not diminishing, but expanding. I've seen a little bit of apathy among our church members; some have lost interest. But we need to remember that the people in the world and in our communities have not lost interest. Media is continuing to be one of the most effective methods of communicating today. Now with the increased coverage provided by Hope Channel, ACN, and 3ABN, The Prophecy Code meetings are getting more visibility on television than any previous series, and the messages are being translated into French, Portugese, Spanish, and Mandarin. Combining the power of these satellite links around the world with the personal touch-inviting people into our homes-it's working. And the meetings are also streaming on the Internet, so, technically, they're available throughout the whole world. So don't give up on satellite and Internet evangelism. They have a big future.