I’m enjoying reading your site, especially your comments on what I consider tough passages. My question is about “the day of the Lord/day of God” mentioned in 2 Peter 3:10&12. I always associated the destruction by fire of the heavens and earth in these verses with the new heaven and earth in Revelation 21:1. But the reference to these events coming as a thief in the night would seem to be about the Second Coming. I know that there will be major geographical renovations when He comes, but if that is the time-frame for the fervent heat Peter mentions, that would mean that the heavens and earth will be recreated twice, both before and after the millennium. What are your thoughts on this?

I have a ten year old who wants to know about the gifts of the Spirit. How can he have a gift? And he wanted to know if night vision is one of them? I would like to have an answer for him explained to him for his age.

I am curious about angels, cherubim, and seraphim. Are cherubim and seraphim a type of angel or are they a different creation? If they are the same type of entity, where does the Bible say that they are? Or do we find this information in extra-biblical writings (such as the Book of Enoch or Josephus). Angels seem to be described very different from cherubim, and I have searched in a concordance and cannot find a reference to seraphim. When angels are seen by humans, they usually have a human form, but the cherubs described in the Old Testament do not seem very humanlike. Cherubim are described with wings, but angels don’t seem to have wings.

When Stephen was being charged with blasphemy and was speaking to the council, Acts 6:15 says that they looked at him and “….saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”. I assume that this means glowing with the love of Christ. Ezekiel contains some very interesting descriptions of cherubim which would be very odd if Stephen’s face resembled them!

My question has to do with Luke 16:19-31, the story (not parable) that Jesus gave to the Pharisees and the crowd about Lazarus and the rich man. I know it’s not a parable, but I also know that it has a much deeper meaning than just a story. Look at the characters in the story and what they represent… in the story the rich man asks father Abraham to send Lazarus to his brethren’s house so he (Lazarus) can testify to them (Luke 16:27-28). But then Abraham says something very key (at least to me) he tells him…”they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (verse 29). You have stated before that Moses and the prophets refer to the OT. Then in the next two following verses it gets really good, the rich man says “nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent” (verse 30). I love Abraham’s response in verse 31…” If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

If Moses and the prophets are a type or name for the OT which points to Christ, who then is Lazarus (one rose from the dead) verse 31 picture here? I believe the Holy Ghost reveals much more in this story. What are your thoughts?

My question is: We know that God the Father is a spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24). When we are told in Scripture that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, how can that be since a spirit has no form, or does it?

Also can you explain worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth. I want to know if we are thinking the same.

I can’t express how much I look forward to reading your insights every day except to say “amen” to all the other’s comments.

My question is about tithing. When selling a home to buy another, how should the tithe be determined?

Some years ago I asked (another Christian ministry) Why God, in his foreknowledge, had set up Adam and Eve for failure if he knew the terrible misery it would cause for generations of their descendants, including the descendant named Jesus? They replied that God knew it would be necessary for them to first obtain knowledge of good and evil in order to appreciate the goodness of God and life with him. Having known only perfection since the day of their creation, they had nothing with which to contrast it and were therefore blind to its blessing. What do you think?

I know that there are different versions of fasting: some where people are allowed to eat after 3 pm, some after sunset, some can eat meat, some only chicken, some no meat at all, etc. With all the variations on fasting that are out there, I want to know if it is clear how Jesus fasted? I’ve been told that He couldn’t have done it on water alone for 40 days because his digestion tract would be so severely damaged afterward. I would greatly appreciate your insight into this!

We recently changed churches, for reasons not that important, now the church is not talking to us. The other day we ran into the pastor he was rather upset with us and told us of all the mistakes we made in leaving his church. Is this a Biblical thing? Where does the Bible tell us we have to come to the pastor and tell him we selected another church to attend. I thought that as the church we were all united in the same work.

There’s something I have been puzzling about. Let’s say there are two good Christian friends. They both dabble in witchcraft and read their horoscopes every day. Then God tells one of them to stop doing that because he doesn’t like it. So the first person changes his lifestyle, but the second one never hears from God. They remain friends, despite the change. Now why does this happen? Why does God call one person and ignore many others who are doing the same thing? If the activity is displeasing wouldn’t he tell ALL of them to stop?

From a different angle – if you’re Christian and you believe Jesus died to save you, and OSAS is true, why does God call you out of doing certain things? Because if your behavior had no bearing on being saved, then you could go around doing witchcraft or whatever and it would be okay, wouldn’t it? I’m really confused. Please help.