I have a question regarding your response to Is Russia In Ezekiel 38? If current events in the Middle East are not leading up to Ezekiel 38, could they be the preparations for the battles of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17?

Do you believe Saint Malachy’s prophecy on the 112 Popes? Do you think the pope will be the false prophet?

I have a friend who says that Paul’s reference to the rapture is part of the “fly away doctrine” and is wrong. He quotes Ezekiel 13:20 as his reference. In reading another commentary trying to figure all this out, I saw that the daughters referenced in Ezekiel 13:17 are considered to be the modern day Bride of Christ. Any info would be helpful.

A Christian blogger has said that the joint exercise involving Syria, China, Russia and Iran can’t be leading to Ezekiel 38 because Russia and China are are not in Ezekiel’s prophecy. Is that correct? I always thought that at least Russia was part of it.

Re: 2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7. “Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.”

As I read verse 7 it looks like God will only grant relief for the Thessalonians at the second coming of Christ. Does that not mean that they will not be raptured until the second coming? If they are raptured before that, why does Paul say that God will only grant relief from affliction for them at the second coming? Also in 2 Thes. 2:1, the second coming and the gathering of the saints are two separate events but the second coming is mentioned first. Doesn’t it sound like 2 Thes. 1:7 where relief is given to the saints when they are gathered after the second coming of Christ?

My best friend ever (my dad) has been gone 3 years now. Recently I made a decision to be re-baptized and was telling my friend that I wished I had made this decision 3 years ago when dad could see this. She told me he could see this since all departed believers can “look down” and see what’s happening on Earth. She used the story of the rich man and Lazarus to support this. I’ve always believed when you go to Heaven you put the past behind, including relationships, and I can find no scripture to prove otherwise. Am I wrong?

In your response to a question claiming that in some places the Bible seems to indicate the Church’s presence for at least part of the tribulation, you said, “If you do a word study on 1 Thes. 1:10, you’ll see it promises that Jesus will rescue the Church from both the time and the place of God’s wrath in a manner that requires our prior departure.”

I can understand why some would think that this gets us out of the tribulation, but in John 17:15 Christ prayed that: ” My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” If so, could 1 Thes. 1:10 actually mean that we will be rescued from the wrath of eternal death?

The traditional view of Hell is the only “truth” in life I hate. Being separated from God forever and all he is and all he made is one thing – being trapped for eternity with your own emotional feeling of grief and sadness because of regret and all that goes with sin is also another thing I can grasp – but being tortured in physical, excruciating pain is quite another. Why did God have to make it physically painful? Isn’t separation from faith, hope and love and beauty enough?

First of all, I want to commend you for the great web-site. It really helps me put things into perspective. My question has to do with the reason for the rapture. Is the rapture of the church for protecting the church believers or is it God’s willingness to take His children out of this world to appease the unbeliever’s desire to rid the world of any godly influence?

I’ve always been taught that the judgments (of Revelation) happen one by one, after the rapture. But a few of the Bible Prophecy sites I read have given links to other theories that they don’t happen in any sort of order, and that they could happen 2 or 3 at a time kind of. I was wondering how do we know which this is? Also, there seems to be a very big debate on whether the Iran/Russia attack on Israel will happen before or after the Rapture. Anyway to know for sure which will happen first?