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I have read about the seven Churches and that we are at this point in history considered the Church of Laodicea. Beginning with the first Church, Ephesus, what was it’s length of time and also the length of time of the rest of the Churches leading up to present. I am curious to know the average length of time for each of these seven Churches.

Can you tell me what 2 Timothy 2:4 means? “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

My question is on Satan and the Garden of Eden. “The Serpent,” told Eve it was OK to eat of the tree. Then she does and God puts a curse on the Serpent. He says, “Because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (Gen. 3:14). So before the curse, he was something other than what we recognize as a snake. Any ideas of what he may have looked like?

There’s a man in my church (Southern Baptist) who knows when someone is hurting in a particular area of their body. He can announce to the group that someone has a pain in some area of the body and when someone acknowledges that pain and wants prayer for healing he prays for them and the pain goes away right then. He claims to get pain in the same part of his body and that’s how he knows that someone else is hurting too. How do you explain this to the church and where is the scripture to back up what is going on? This man says sometimes God reveals who is hurting to him but not very often. Is this biblical?

Can you please explain what does predestination mean because this word confuses me. At times I think it means to be programmed before time to come to God, but when I come to think that God gave us a choice to choose to believe in the redemption of our sins by Jesus Christ then my concept of predestination does not make sense. When you are explaining it please do that by also touching where Paul speaks about it in the book of Ephesians.

Could the falling away happen due the the lack of sound preaching? It is so very difficult to find a church that has preaching and teaching based strictly on the Bible.

I have been given a challenge by a Christian brother to explain how Christ’s prophecy of Peter’s denials were fulfilled as prophesied without contradiction. When reading the account in the four gospels they seem to convey conflicting thoughts. Was the prophecy actually fulfilled as prophesied? Do the scriptures contradict themselves? Or did the tattletale rooster fail to do his part? Can you explain how the denials were fulfilled as prophesied without contradiction?

I thought I’d add something to consider regarding a generation. I have looked at 70 years as the date of a generation. Also 40 years etc… The Bible tells us that no man shall live more than 120 years (after the period of the flood) and in fact, that is the age of Moses when God took him. So in my estimation, the very last date would be 1948 + 120 years or at the extreme latest 1967 + 120 years. Your thoughts?

I just watched (a well known author’s) program talking about Psalm 110. Are you familiar with his Prophecy in the Psalms ideas? He gives a strong feeling about reading Psalm 110 as a prophecy concerning the rapture. I re-read your last two articles concerning 2010 and you didn’t mention Psalm 110 in either one. Do you have any thoughts about Psalm 110 being prophetic?

I’ve been on the net studying dinosaurs in the bible and it appears that the “Kronosaurus” (leviathan) is talked about in Job 41, Isiah 27:1, and Psalm 104:25,26 and the “Brachiosaurus” (behmoth) is talked about in Job 40:15-24. If these animals are dinosaurs, how could they have escaped the flood? What are your thoughts on this?

I’ve recently read your article regarding Messianic prophecy in the O.T. You mentioned that Matthew’s genealogy traces Joseph’s line, while Luke’s traces that of Mary, mother of Jesus. But I’m struggling to see how Luke shows the line of Mary – albeit v.11 mentions Nathan, David’s brother. But how does that relate to Mary?

In several earlier responses, you’ve said that, in our next life, there will be no remembrances of past things because that would then introduce sin, or memories of it, into our lives and that isn’t in accord with eternal joy. My problem is that another Biblical scholar (unnamed, but solid), said that Jesus’ resurrection body was an example of what ours will be and since his body was able to move through solid objects ours will too, and that since Jesus could travel through time, we can too, and now it comes apart. If we went backward in time, then we would, in fact, be introducing sin or sinful memories into heaven. See my dilemma?

In a similar vein, others have said that, in heaven, we’ll have all of our questions answered. O.K, but how can a person have questions about things that aren’t remembered? I like the idea of time travel it seems proper, helpful that we could see the incidents of Jesus life. Why would the Lord not want us to remember that?

I would like to know your thoughts on natural disasters. If God is omnipotent and omni-benevolent, why would he allow people, including children, to perish in natural disasters? I know we live in an imperfect world, but surely an all-powerful God could stop these things from happening.

I’ve got a question, probably unanswerable, about our roles in eternity. My understanding is that believers will be assisting the Lord in governing in, what…earth, New Jerusalem? But, at that time, won’t everything be perfect? Who and what are we supposed to govern? How can you fix something that isn’t broken? I’m told our roles are kings and priests, but again, kings over what/who and what does a priest do?

I always heard that Isaiah 7:14 refers to the prophecy fulfilled by Jesus Christ himself, since He is Immanuel – God with us. But then, the context of the chapter and paragraph gives specific description of something that couldn’t refer to Jesus. The very next verse said: … when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose right… and so on. And then, Isaiah mentions Assyria. How can you explain that? Does he talk about separate events?

You’re always very honest in answering everyone’s questions, so I need yet another honest answer from you. My wife and I have two girls (ages 8 and 6), and we made the mistake of allowing Santa Claus to be “real” to them. Now that the oldest is starting to figure out truth from fiction, it won’t be long before the truth about Santa comes up. When it does, how do we explain that Santa’s not real….but Jesus is? We are a family of believers, so the girls have been taught about Jesus throughout their short lives. Unfortunately, they’ve believed in Santa this whole time, too. So how do we tell them the truth without jeopardizing the reality of Jesus?

I have been a Christian for years. I prayed to accept God and jumped into ministry right after. I heard God through whispers, countless blessings, and saw Him at work. I even brought a coworker to Christ. Then I fell on hard times, and over a period of years fell away from Him. I stopped reading and praying and turned my back on Him. I cursed at Him and questioned if I ever knew him. My heart feels empty and cold and lonely now. My soul is in anguish for what I have done. God brought me to Hebrews 6, 10, and several other passages that spoke of the dangers in falling away. I don’t know what I am now. I know God is there, but I know that I denied Him. I question if I ever knew Him. It seems to be either that, or I was a believer who didn’t maintain fellowship and let sin overtake me to the point that I disgraced God, and He left me. What do I do now? What does this all mean in terms of scripture?

Why is it important that Jesus sit at the right hand of God the father? There seem to be a lot of verses that talk about the right hand, why?

Re: Will I Be Left Behind Because Of My Habits? I read in this article you state “the Bible doesn’t mention drug use” I agree 110% that the only requirement for salvation and being part of the rapture is believe alone, by faith alone and by Christ alone. 1 Thes 4:14 says if we believe that Jesus died & rose again we’re in. However, the Greek word translated sorcery in Gal 5:19-21 is “pharmakeia” where we get the English word pharmacy. It’s talking about drugs.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

We continue our study of the Book of Malachi with chapter 3. As we’ll see the Lord isn’t finished with His criticism of Israel’s behavior, and as was the case with the previous chapters some of His complaints about them could just as easily be made about us.

Could you explain James 2:19 in relation to salvation and works? I’ve heard many use this verse to say “see, just believing isn’t enough for salvation because the demons believe and aren’t saved”. They say your fruit is indicated by your “works”. Can you put this into proper perspective?

Can you please explain the scripture “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house” from Acts 16:31?

A patient and I were discussing the plight of a little girl I’m also treating who recently had major surgery and then 10 days later was rushed back to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. His response was this.

“That poor girl…I’ll never understand what God has in mind with all the pain and suffering the young have to endure. Who could ignore the cries of a child? It seems like we’ve been forgotten and he’s moved on to another project.”

I know he’s not a believer. How can I respond to this in a way that could perhaps change that?

My wife has leukemia and they recently stopped all treatment since it was not working anymore. I think in one of your studies you said that when we get to heaven we will not be bound by time, but will be similar to what God experiences now. If that is true, when my wife gets to heaven will she experience time without her family or will that time not be noticed? Do you know what I mean? If she is not bound by time she will see the rest of her saved loved ones as soon as she gets there even though in this life we are not dead or will she have to wait until we die?

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

We continue in our study of the Minor Prophets with chapter 2 of the Book of Malachi to see what the Lord had him say to the Israelites, and how it applies to us today.