I was reading your article about the nature of post-rapture salvation. The Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth, and everyone will be responsible for maintaining their own faith in God in order to be saved.

However, I am confused as to how this works (and I suppose this question applies to Old Testament believers, as well); what would be the “threshold”, so to speak, at which one loses salvation? How could that be measured? How would temple sacrifices play into that? And one could “lose” his/her salvation and then “regain” it later?

And one must believe in man’s need for a savior and that Jesus Christ is that savior?

Of course, being church-age believers has left us with no need to worry about these issues – because the Holy Spirit is sealed within us, we’re forever saved in spite of what we do after. That’s why the concept of maintaining your own faith in order to be saved sounds strange to me.

One last question – does a post-rapture believer simply have to maintain faith, or would they have to “behave” as well? If such a person sinned profusely during the day (which is another idea I’m confused about…sin is sin and there’s not really any “measure” of it) but genuinely confessed and asked for forgiveness every night (and still truly believed in Christ anyway), would the person be saved?

I was just wondering if there was any reason why Judah was chosen to be the tribe that Jesus descended from? If I remember right Reuben lost his inheritance due to the sin of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines. He was first born. I thing Judah was born fourth and from Leah. Doesn’t it seem more logical that Jesus would come from Rachel’s son Joseph as she was who Jacob really wanted for a wife, not Leah and he was Rachel’s first born as well?

When reading your article “The End times According to Isaiah, Part 12” I was struck by the message for today-that we are to pray for peace in Israel. How do we do this? We know that there will be no peace in Israel until the Lord comes. God has told us that the times for Israel are going to get quite bad. I would like to pray for Israel but I don’t know how to go about it. How do I pray for peace when God has already said there will be no peace? Could you share with me how you pray for Israel?

I read an article the other day that presented a different idea about the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars.

He said the earth may tilt on its axis and it’s rotation may speed up, causing the earth to go into a 16 hour day…a loss of 8 hours or 1/3 of a day.

With the polar shift that is predicted for 2012, would you agree this is a possibility for the scripture in revelation concerning the loss of 1/3 of the night sky?

I’m confused about the Ark of the Covenant. I know that it was not among the things reported stolen by any of the conquerors of Jerusalem, and that it has been missing for 2.5 K years. But there is much speculation about its location, particularly for use in the Third Temple certain Israeli groups are preparing for.

John saw it in the Celestial Temple, but the Bible never mentions it again as being on earth, or anywhere else, for that matter. Because of its enormous importance for Temple worship, I find the absence of further reference to it interesting. It suggests to me that it will never be found. Can you shed any light on the subject?

Thank you so much for your websight, I look forward to it everyday. I have learned so much since I started reading what you have to say. My question is will Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 occur after the rapture?

On 02/14/09 you wrote: “The Psalmist said that the Lord is a shield for us, (Psalm 3:3) our refuge and our fortress. (Psalm 91:2) The Lord’s protective power will keep the ruthless at bay during His 1000 year reign, and at the end of it He will destroy them like He destroyed Babylon.”

Who are the “ruthless” that will be kept at bay during the Millennium? Where are they; what are they if all the world is to be Edenic?

Our church is in the country and we have 10 acres of land. We have decided to have a vegetable garden to help feed those in our church that have lost jobs or anyone else in need. We hope to be able to home-can some of the bounty. Now my question. Several elderly women have cautioned us that if a woman is having her period, she must not help with the canning because it would cause spoilage. This sounds like an old wife’s tale to me but they insist it is true. Someone suggested that since this part a female’s life is caused by the original curse on Eve for touching and eating the forbidden fruit, that the curse continues today. Does that have any biblical foundation? I have not been able to find and scientific reason for it to be true.

I thank you for your website! “Ask-A-Bible-Teacher” is my homepage and I have learned much as of late. I do have one quick question:

All my life, I was taught to pray both God the Father and Jesus. I recently heard a Bible teacher on the radio (of whom I have great respect and admiration), say that are not to pray to Jesus. He said that when we pray, we pray to God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. I do agree w/ that. But is it wrong to pray to Jesus?

I was told to tithe off of gifts too. Is this biblical? I tithe off of my gross & also give offerings. I thought tithing was off of your “income” (ex. paychecks, investment profits) but I’ve never heard it taught where you also tithe off of gifts. I do not want to be under a curse, please give me your views.

Also, if I get a scholarship award for schooling, am I to tithe off of that even if the total went to the school & I received no money personally? Thank you so much for your time!