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Many people I have come in contact with over the years in the church I go to say ” I can remember the exact date I was saved”. I personally remember walking the aisle as a young boy of about eight are nine then getting baptized when I was around thirteen years old when I became aware of right and wrong but I can not remember the exact dates. My question is how does knowing the exact date and time matter?

What is your view in regards to the book of remembrance and the rapture of the church in respect to one’s salvation? It would seem to me that one could be saved and still not go in the rapture due to their inclusion/exclusion in the book of the remembrance spoke about in the book of Malachi ch 3.

Romans 8:32 says: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” What does it mean that “…graciously give us all things”? What are these “all things”? God bless you!

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied that believers would have “a new heart” (Jer. 31:33, Ezek. 11:19-20 and 36:26-27), and Paul and other N.T. writers seem to indicate this prophecy has come true in Rom. 2:29, Rom. 6:17, and Heb. 8:10. Would you say that this prophecy has been fulfilled or do you believe the new heart is not yet available to us?

I receive a number of devotionals each day in my email. One that arrived from (a well known teacher) recently didn’t set well with me and I would appreciate your input on it. Here’s what it says in part.

He said, “God doesn’t have a “wonderful plan” for everybody’s life. Not here on earth, for sure. For some lives His plan is Lou Gehrig’s disease. For some lives (like Job’s) His plan is a life of pain. For others, heartbreak and brokenness, blindness or paralysis, or congenital complications. For many, His plan is to say no to their requests for healing. But we don’t like that. Some won’t accept it. In fact, they go so far as to say, “If you believe that, you lack faith.” On the contrary, I say if you believe that, you believe the Bible!”

If this statement is correct would you please explain to me how this could be so? If it is God who is giving us diseases, pain and suffering, what hope do we have?

My question is about sanctification. I have family members that can point to a time in their lives (30 years ago) when they accepted Christ as their personal savior, but they show no ‘spiritual fruit’ at all . They do not live as Christians in any sense of the word. I know that the bible basically says “once saved always saved”, but if there is no spiritaul growth & no desire for God or His word, meaning they are not being sanctified, is it possible that the conversion was not genuine? I’m confused about this. Does this mean that they are still saved, but it will affect their rewards once in Heaven?

Why is so much of the Bible hard to understand? Not impossible but hard! I’ve come to the conclusion was that it was meant to be that way. If the Bible read like a long list of rules or a concise way to live your life from A to Z where would be the passion that comes from studying the word? Would people dedicate their entire lives to learning scripture? What do you think?

Your website is a blessing to me. I listen to your mp3’s nearly all night while I’m working. Someone I know questioned me about John 8:31. This verse speaks of “the Jews who believed in him (Jesus) and then in the next few verses Jesus calls them children of the devil that wanted to kill him. If they believed in him I don’t understand how this could be.

I was reading your answer to a question regarding the saved that arrive in Heaven after the Rapture but before the great tribulation begins. You used Rev. 7:9-17. Am I correct in assuming that by your answer, they will all arrive at one time? To me that sounds like a second rapture event.

The pastor of my church asked the congregation to enter into a 21-day “Daniel fast” as in Daniel 10:2-3. We were to consecrate ourselves, seek the Lord’s will and then His guidance to fulfill that will. The end result was to be an action plan for the coming year regarding our family, finances, whatever we wished. Knowing our God knows better than I, I left the door open to His direction from the get-go. I asked for nothing in particular … only that he would lead me in paths of righteousness.

No children are mentioned in Daniel’s 70th Week or Rev 6-19. Is that because all children are raptured? Children are innocent; sinners of course, but not of age to even understand sin or commit their lives to Jesus. Will those living at the time of the rapture be caught up even though they are not part of the Church?

I was taught that the verses in the Bible that referenced the Jews are now meant for the Church, since they rejected Jesus Christ. We are the spiritual Jews, the chosen people. If that isn’t so and verses like Jeremiah 29:11 have no application to me personally, why read them? When I need verses to hold onto in times of trouble, verses to commit to memory to comfort me in the dark hours of the night, I want the ones that apply to the Church. Why hasn’t there been a Bible written with just verses that apply to the Church?

My Husband and I have a question regarding 1 Timothy 4:16. What does it mean when Paul tells Timothy to persevere, because if he does, he would save himself? Timothy would already have been saved. The notes in my Bible explain that although we are saved at the time of conversion, salvation is a process. Could you please explain this verse?

Over the last few years, I’ve become increasingly sensitive to deviations from the True Gospel Message. For reasons I don’t quite fully understand, our family has found it quite difficult to find a local congregation that hasn’t been affected by the emerging church, or seeker-friendly trends that promote a social gospel. As the head of our household, I am very concerned about the spiritual welfare of my family. It almost seems to me as though the true Church is being driven underground. From your experience, is this becoming more normal as we approach the end of this age?

I was recently told that there was never a man named Jesus who walked the earth and that Christians are getting it wrong if we continue to believe that there was. That we should be worshiping the Father and our Lord by their Hebrew names and I did look it up and it is true the English transliteration is rendered Jesus but there is not a J sounding letter in the Greek or Hebrew alphabet. I am not moved one bit by this claim and believe wholeheartedly in the name of Jesus but please help me to understand where this person is coming from and how do I counter this with truth?

I just finished listening to a pastor talking about Luke 7 – the story of Jesus raising the widows son. Farther along in his message, he related an experience about praying for his deceased wife, for the Lord to bless her, and used 2 Timothy 4:19 in conjunction with 2 Timothy 1:17,18 to say that Onesiphorus had died and that verse 18 was a prayer for him. Therefore, praying for the dead has precedent in the Bible. I don’t know exactly what the original language actually states – was Onesiphorus dead? Or is this just an extrapolation from the use of past tense words?

Would you please comment on LK 21:23/MT 24:19? It is a common belief that children under the age of accountability will be raptured. The same for the pre-born. Are the children and pre-born referred to in these passages conceived after the rapture? Or is this something specific concerning the nation Israel?

With regards to end time prophecy, some theories that I have read lately suggest that specific prophecies (including the Olivet discourse) are being made to ‘fit’ with events that are happening at present and are just a matter of interpretation; they teach that the end times could still be thousands of years away. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Help!! KJV – Gen 1:27 – God created Man – male and female? Then Gen 2:7 God formed man from dust and breathed life into him? I cannot find and clear understanding of these two passages. So was the first created man both male and female? And then the man “formed” from dust? Thanks much!

Several years ago a beloved pastor, who has since gone home to be with the Lord, and a few of us were having a discussion about the anti-Christ when he told us that Judas, after he betrayed Jesus, hanged himself and “went to a place reserved for one.” We were conjecturing what that could have meant.

In Acts 1:25 it says “… from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” What do you think the significance if any might be that Judas went to “his own place?” Do you think it is possible that Judas could be resurrected as the Anti Christ?

Who does Luke 12:47 and 48 refer to, i. e. who gets the beating? Is it church members at the Bema Seat or is it other people? Actually I don’t think that it is at the Bema Seat. But I heard a pastor on radio claim this. Can you please shed some spiritual light on this?

I am talking to some atheists and scientists and they have compelling arguments against Noah’s Ark and the flood. I just believed it and have read and listened to Christians talk about the corrupted DNA of the Nephilim and animals. The atheists talk about how it would be impossible to have every land animal and take care of them and their waste for forty days. How would you respond?

I have a question pertaining to Israel and re-establishing the old covenant. Israel’s return to God will come after the battle of Ezekiel 38-39, and the Jewish people will re-establish their covenant (old not new) with Him. This will require a return to Levitical practices and so a Temple will be built. In the New Testament, it states that Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. If Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, why is the law re-established? Even after God’s people finally recognize Christ as the Messiah, is the old law still practiced? If so, what is the purpose of practicing the law if Israel’s salvation is through Christ?

I have a question about something you wrote in Sunday’s Q&A (re Christians leaving the Church). At the end of the response, you included this sentence: “Finally, I believe as you do that the year 2050 will probably find us somewhere in the early stages of the Millennium.”

Please – Can you expound on this? It caught my eye and interest. I am hoping we’ll be taken well before 2050!

I read your article “How can I tell if an Old Testament verse is for me?” and you stated that you can tell if it applies to you by the context. I visit prisoners thru a church ministry. In Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus says “Blessed are you for doing these things for me”. I think Matthew 24-25 is written to the Jews. So does that mean only Jews should be visiting prisoners, and doesn’t apply to me?