My cousin passed away recently. She was 64 and mentally handicapped since the age of 5. I always called her one of Jesus special little children because she loved to color and play with stuffed animals. When she goes before Jesus will she appear as a child from when she lost her mental abilities at 5? Or will she appear as a fully functioning adult? Are people like her protected under the blood of Jesus? I know she loved Him because she has told us so.

Were all the disciples Jewish? There seems to be some controversy whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile.

Do 2 Thes. 3:10 and 1 Timothy 5:8 also apply to people who are willing and and have desire to work but can’t find a job?

Could you tell me why the King James Version says that Jesus sat ON the well in John 4:6 while most other versions say BESIDE the well?

Some of my believing friends say the Kingdom of God hasn’t come yet, but I say when you repent and accept Jesus Christ you’ve entered the Kingdom. I know we’re not yet in the presence of the Lord, but I believe that because I’m striving to live according to the instructions of His Word from day to day, then I’m living the Kingdom life right now. Please comment on the above.

RE: Zechariah 12:2-3. My Bible notes say this passage is talking about before a battle right before Armageddon but it certainly does seem to describe how the World is feeling about Gaza and Israel right now. What do you think?

First of all, thank you for your wonderful website.

I have a question about Matthew 5:39, where it says “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also”. By this, shouldn’t we all be pacifists? Doesn’t this mean we should dismantle our armed forces, take no action to prevent Iran becoming nuclear, and just roll over and let it nuke us? Doesn’t this mean that fighting against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in WWII, we were doing the wrong thing, and the right thing would have been to let them conquer us? That Israel resisting Hamas’ attempts to obliterate it is wrong? That we should take no forceful action to defend ourselves or anything else, ever?

I have a question bout Balaam in the book of Numbers. He was obviously a legitimate prophet in the sense that he spoke with God. But I am wondering why it is God gave him that gift, why He gave him permission to go then got mad (though I do understand that there is God’s perfect will and permissive will). And lastly if God was in a relationship with Balaam shouldn’t it have been to further His plan in which case wouldn’t it make sense that God would have been already trying to get Balaam to join Moses or aid in that effort in some way? I was just curious about these things and I know none of them are explicitly answered in scripture, but wondered if maybe there were any traditions associated with them. Thanks for your help.

Re: 2 Corinthians 13:1-10. I hope all is well and could you please explain what Paul meant by “I will not spare them– since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me.”…. and…. “that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.”

What exactly was Paul able to do in his authority? And do we also have this authority in Christ as Paul did? And how severe could he be with this authority? I realize that in part it has to do with the people sinning, but it appears that Paul has reached the boiling point of “no more grace for you, now it’s the power of God time”. This passage for some odd reason reminds me of Clark Kent turning into Superman!

I was wondering whether you could shed some light on something for me. Although I know that we all sin many times and it is the grace of God that is our only hope, I have become concerned lately by the lives of Christians in my church. There is a tremendous amount of gossip and backbiting. People have parties where the wine flows freely, and although the Lord has no objection to people drinking, I feel that being drunk and telling ‘suggestive’ and rude jokes is dishonoring his name. I was under the impression that our changed lives should be our greatest witness. These people work hard for the Lord, doing many good works throughout the church, so why do I feel so uneasy about their behavior? Am I becoming judgmental and legalistic?