There is a believer I know who will behave with great respect for God’s word and direction most of the time. He’s prayed for remarkable things and has seen astounding works of the Lord in his own, and others’ lives, but once in a great while he will go off into willful sin, without any excuse. He knows Jesus is the son of God, and he knows when he asks for forgiveness he receives it. After 30 years of doing this, he thinks sinning and then asking for forgiveness and then just repeating the process, is making a mockery of the Lord’s work. Now he thinks God is so mad at him he is losing the will to live. Could you offer insight?

You responded to a reader that Tribulation people who died from other causes than martyrdom and went to heaven would be asked to “wait a little longer” for deaths to be avenged. I thought, “if there is no time, what does waiting a little longer feel like?” In fact, both my parents are now with God and do they have any concept of time on earth? I thought once we arrived in the New Jerusalem, time was no longer apparent and the time between being saved and dying (my Dad died in 1995) and our arrival, say 40 or 50 years later, would be non existent. How does one understand this?

Why The Shift Of Pronouns In Zechariah 12:10? I recently been more aware of this type of change in scripture. I believe there are so many hints that go unnoticed in the Bible that make me so thankful to some scholars who research such things

I just watched a TV series that tried to link historical records and archaeology findings to the old testament’s first five books. They interviewed prominent scholars from well known Universities. Their conclusions are deeply troubling for me. The program tried to prove that the Bible has little factual history and many of its accounts are nothing more than folktales and myths. How can we Christians rebuke these outrageous theories?

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?

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)?

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 think you wrote somewhere that when the rapture occurs, our mortal bodies will transformed to new immortal bodies and will be perfected, free from imperfection. I also was under the impression that the risen Christ, visible to the Apostles and others in Jerusalem, is a model of what our new risen bodies will be like. I wonder then, if we have perfected bodies, why the scars of the crucifixion were still evident in Christ’s body, the nail holes and his side wound? Was this specific to Christ, or are there certain “scars” that we will also maintain for eternity?

You stated that Jesus brought with him out of ‘paradise’ the old testament saints after he had been there for the three days. If I’m correct, Jesus did not ascend into heaven to be with the father right away because he was still here revealing himself to others for a number of days. If the old testament saints were brought out of paradise but hadn’t yet ascended to heaven with Jesus, where were they during this time?

What is the difference between submitting to the direction God/Jesus has for our lives and doing things because we are Christian? Example. All my life I have worked with the kids at church doing Christmas plays, puppets, etc. I struggle with “Is this the direction God had for my life?” vs. “I do these things because that is what we are to do as Christian people.” I go on mission trips because I feel it’s my responsibility to help others. I haven’t ever had this great sense of being called to do something. I do the things I do because that is what is expected. Am I wrong? Will these be burned as wood, hay and stumble at the bema seat?