I’m having a difficult time separating God’s chosen people from God’s elect. I’ve always thought that Israel is God’s “chosen” people, but when we get into verse like cutting short for the Elects sake in Matt. 24 I get a little confused. Is Israel both the “Chosen” and the “Elect” and if so what is a Christian to identify with? I ask this because I find it nearly impossible to convince post-trib believers that the verses in Matt. 24 are only about Israel and the 2nd coming, not the rapture of the church. Is there a way to convince them with scripture that show clearly that Jesus is speaking of Israel and not the church?

I have a difficult question which has been puzzling me, which I hope you might be able to answer please. If a person dies not having heard of Jesus, “when” would you think he /she would be judged – at the Bema judgement or would they be part of the Great White Throne judgment and therefore could be saved out of it (if they would have accepted Jesus had they heard)?

There’s this person I’ve been talking to for over 5 years on a message board we both belong to. Over time I have found out that he was once a pastor who now claims to be an unbeliever (he is very militant in his denial of God). During one of our many discussions about the existence of God he said, “If God exists and still performs miracles as you Christians believe, why doesn’t he ever regrow people’s limbs that they’ve lost? I couldn’t answer the question.

I don’t think he’s really an atheist. I think something bad happened to him and now he’s mad at God and is rebelling against him. I don’t know him personally, but I feel that I should help him and I don’t know how. Could you assist me in this?

Because my sister is a non-believer, and accordingly will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, my question is will she know WHY she’s in Hell and understand that had she just accepted Christ as her personal savior she would be in Heaven? And because she’s a good, kind, generous, and giving person, will her punishment be less than say someone who murders or molests children? I continue to pray daily for her salvation because I know what’s coming.

This question deals with Is.43:10. If you do a quick read of Is.43:10 it almost sounds as if God himself was formed. This can’t be, can it? Wouldn’t that negate his being eternal, past and present? Appreciate your thoughts.

There are so many versions of the bible out, NKJ, NIV, etc to name just a few, and then there is the Catholic Bible with the Apocrypha. How do we know that we have the right books in the bible? Maybe that’s why there are cults out there that state that the bible has been changed and by man. Could you explain why certain books are in our bible and why there are certain books that were not accepted and why is it that the Catholics have additional books that the Protestant world doesn’t? Are those “missing books” not the word of God?

I have thoroughly enjoyed your series on The End Times According to Isaiah. Each week I print the next part off and study carefully. We are also studying the Book of Isaiah in my Sunday School class. But we have differences in opinion. Some in my class think that Isaiah was prophesying in the 700’s BC to events which later occurred between the 600’s BC up to the beginning of the first century AD. They have difficulty applying Isaiah to “end time events” soon to come. How can I reconcile Isaiah’s prophecies to both Israel’s times of trouble before Jesus’ birth and also to upcoming “end time events?” Is there scripture to support God’s prophetic judgments through prophecy to equally apply to past history and the future?

The Bible says that if we are saved then we will show good works. So what are good works? Is it not sinning, or is it helping an old lady across the road? And if it is helping an old lady across the road well, I’m going to say that unsaved people do that!!

Thank you for this ministry. I have grown in my faith and understanding from reading your articles. I was reading Luke 13:6-9 and I realized I had never read about (or heard discussed/preached about) the meaning of this parable. I recognize the man who owned the vineyard was God, and the visiting the tree over three years’ time was Christ’s ministry on Earth, but I wondered who might the vine dresser of the vineyard be? Also, when the vine dresser asks to be allowed to “dig around it and fertilize it,” what does that infer? I notice there’s no time period mentioned for waiting to see if this action produces fruit before the decision is made to cut the tree down. Is that a reference to the Church Age?

I heard from my pastor years ago when he preached on the story of Joseph that God put him in bad (difficult) situations and says God will sometimes put us in bad situations. I have read Q&A on your website and you state that God does not put us in bad situations. In the story of Joseph, I believe he was hurt badly and deeply though God was not the cause of his problems nor did He put him in situations like that. But I believe He allowed him to be sold into slavery and put into prison and God used his bad situations and turned them around for his good (Romans 8:28). Do you think God put Joseph in these situations or allowed these bad things to happen to him?