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The author refers to the first covenant in Hebrews 9:1. I assume this covenant refers to the law and how to worship that was passed down to Moses from God. This confuses me as there existed covenants prior to this one, for instance the covenant between God and Abram, where God along with Christ walked through the blood path.  Why do you think the author stated “first covenant” in this chapter?

A. In the context of the passage first covenant and Old Covenant are meant to be synonymous.   We know this because the term was carried over from Hebrews 8:6-7 where he used it to refer to the Old Covenant.

A. Besides praying, there are two things you can do.  You can live out your faith, not by being an uptight legalist, but by letting the joy of your salvation define your life. Philippians 4:4-9 explains how to do this.   And you can watch for the opportunities the Lord brings across your path to discuss the gospel with others and follow through on them.  The more you apply the first one, the more you’ll find opportunities for the second one coming your way.

A. I believe the seven years Israel spends burning the weapons from the Battle of Ezekiel will transpire during Daniel’s 70th week.  But remember in my article I said I wasn’t trying to tie any of the 2012 events to specific prophecies but rather show the similarity between Bible prophecy and secular prediction.

That said, I have speculated in the past on the probability that the dual magnetic polar reversal could indeed fulfill the 6th seal judgment.  In that case, then Daniel’s 70th week would have to have begun prior to that time.  From my understanding of Matt. 24:34 and Psalm 90:10 it appears that all end time events including the 2nd coming will have to happen by around 2018.  If so then the 2012 time for the 6th seal is a realistic approximation.

As a curious people, I know we want to know all things and how they will turn out and but just CAN’T know ALL those things.  Some of this leads into  counter-productive discussions  or even arguments, like Titus 3:9 warns us about.   Paul also commented about how not all things are profitable, whether they are unlawful doesn’t matter, but are they a waste of time which leads us to argument.

I am not talking about specific things that are fairly clear in the Bible and just need proper interpretation, such as pre-trib rapture, the 70th week and some of the main events of it, etc.  But who certain people are or where they come from we can’t always know.  We can guess, might even be close, but when human guessing comes into play, it leaves much room for contention, don’t you think?

A. Excessive focus on any one aspect of the Bible to the exclusion of others can give one an incomplete perspective, especially when that area is not fundamental to our belief. The Lord did command us to understand End Times prophecy (Matt. 24:15) but becoming obsessed with something like the identity of the anti-Christ is going well beyond His command.  And like you say, when it’s just our opinion we’re defending, things can get out of hand.

In my opinion, the closer we get to the end  the more our emphasis should shift from the acquisition of knowledge to its application.  For example, we’ve learned that the Lord told us to store up treasure in heaven, and that Paul told us to strive for the crowns that will be awarded there.  Now we should focus on applying that knowledge in preparation for the new life we’ll soon be experiencing.

Correctly guessing the identity of the anti-Christ will neither gain us treasure nor earn us a crown.

A. Daniel’s 70th Week (sometimes called the tribulation) begins with Rev. 6.  The 2 witnesses are first mentioned in Rev. 11 and the Great Tribulation starts on Earth in Rev. 13.  Rev. 11:7 indicates that the Lord had John tell the whole story of the two witnesses at once while he was on the subject, because there aren’t 3 1/2 years between Rev. 11 and Rev. 13.  So what I’m saying is that while their ministry is 3 1/2 years long, I don’t think it’s the same 3 1/2 years as either half of Daniel’s 70th Week, but rather overlaps the two.

A. Apparently this person looked up all the references to laughing in the Bible and picked some that seemed to her to support her view.  I takes a lot of conjecture and assumption to make it fit.  For example in Psalm 2:4 God is not laughing with joy as a celebration of His victory as she claims.  He’s laughing in scorn at the kings of the earth for being so stupid as to think they can defeat Him. It only takes looking up the word derision in the dictionary to see that.

The Bible doesn’t record a single instance of Old Testament prophets or Jesus or the Disciples or anyone in the early church rolling around on the ground laughing uncontrollably for hours.  That alone should tell us something about the likelihood of this being Biblical.

A. The Lord doesn’t hold us responsible for things we can’t control, and federal law requires that our taxes be withheld from our pay. Add them back in and then calculate your tithe accordingly.

As for the car and other non-monetary gifts, we can give a tithe based on their financial value. Since the Lord’s generosity toward us is determined by our generosity toward Him (Luke 6:38) we can’t go wrong.  But remember, unless whatever we give is purely out of gratitude it does us no good.  If it becomes something we feel compelled to do out of obligation then we’re missing the point.

A. Although the Bible doesn’t say so specifically, one can make a strong circumstantial case that there are no “untold.”  Theologically speaking, God would have no legal right to punish the uninformed, if there are any,  because doing so would violate His character as a just and righteous God.

But Romans 1:20 says that God is so clearly revealed in the Creation that men are without excuse, and Matt. 7:8 says that who ever seeks Him will find Him.  To me that leaves the responsibility with man.

I’m convinced that every person who ever lived to the age of accountability has had at least one bona fide offer of the Kingdom during his or her lifetime.

The above question is from the last paragraph of an article I read recently.  This is the first time I have ever heard of this.  Is there any validity to his argument?

A. I have read the article and have a real problem with this view.   In the first place “going up” in the Bible often refers to a change in elevation not direction.  For example people from all over Israel “go up” to Jerusalem because at 3700 feet above sea level Jerusalem’s elevation is higher than most places in the country.  Also the phrase “mountains of Israel” from Ezekiel 38:8 has traditionally referred to central Israel, the very place where Ephraim and Manasseh  dwelt in the land.  Third,  there is no Biblical basis for 10 lost tribes. We know this because 2 Chron. 11:16 says that the faithful from all the tribes moved south at the time of the rebellion, in Rev. 7 the Lord calls his 144,000 witnesses from all 12 tribes, including Ephraim (called Joseph there) and Manasseh, and in Ezekiel 48 all 12 tribes are given their new allotment of land to begin the Kingdom Age.  I think it’s best to stay with the traditional view.