Q&As

Questions and Answers

You say that the Great Tribulation will last approximately 3 1/2 years, followed by the Heavenly Signs and the Day of the Lord. You also say that the Day of the Lord will last approximately one year and that at the end of the Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ will return. Others say that the Great Tribulation will last for seven years. Does this mean that once the Great Tribulation begins, there will be at least 4 1/2 years [or even 8 years] until Christ returns (3 1/2 years [or seven years] duration of the Great Tribulation plus 1 year duration of the Day of the Lord)?

No, it does not mean that at all.

First, let us establish how long the Great Tribulation is supposed to last. In a previous Q&A on this issue, we wrote the following:

“When the Great Tribulation ends, Christ will return. In fact, He will return to shorten the time in order to prevent all human beings from being destroyed (compare Matthew 24:22)… Some claim that the Great Tribulation will last for seven years. However, there is absolutely no Biblical evidence for that teaching. The Bible dogmatically postulates throughout that the Great Tribulation will not last longer than approximately 3 1/2 years… We read in Daniel 7:25: ‘He [an endtime religious leader, the ‘man of sin,’ also called the ‘false prophet’ in Scripture] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand FOR A TIME AND TIMES AND HALF A TIME.’

“During the Great Tribulation, a religious power under the lead of the ‘false prophet,’ in collaboration with a military power under the lead of the ‘beast,’ will persecute the saints. They will do so for ‘a time and…

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How do you “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter” as mentioned in Proverbs 24:11? Specifically, who are “those” and how do you hold “those” back?

Throughout the written Word of God, we see the record of prophets who have arisen to warn people of impending punishment—both on an individual basis and that given to nations. We find the warnings and the consequences that followed!

In His great love and patience, God has sought to turn people from their rebellion against Him: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live” (Ezekiel 18:23)?

This proclamation is echoed in the writing of the apostle Peter when he states: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Likewise, the apostle Paul writes of God that He “…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

From these statements we see that God’s purpose is to save people from death!
This is the message that His servants are to bring to those who stand in opposition to God and whose course of life is leading to their destruction.

Following the very severe…

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In Luke 2:49 we read Jesus' reply to His parents when they had found Him in the temple. Wasn’t this a little disrespectful?

This account in Luke 2:41-51 is about the time when Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for the “Feast of the Passover” (verse 41). At that time, Jesus was just twelve years old (verse 42). Jesus then lingered on and after three days, His parents realised that He was not in the company (verses 43-44). They returned to Jerusalem to look for Him (verse 45). They found Him sitting in the temple, both listening and asking the teachers questions (verse 46). In verse 48 we read that Mary said to Jesus: “Son, why have you done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Jesus answered in verse 49: “Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

It is interesting that in verse 50 we read: “But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” And in the following verse it states that “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject (obedient) to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.”

In Luke 1:30-33 we read the announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus:…

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Why don’t you preach the truth door to door?

We realise that some groups approach the preaching of the gospel by going from door to door. But this is not in accordance with Scripture, and it can do more harm than good.

First of all, we have to realise that this is not the only day of salvation. In 2 Corinthians 6:2, it states the following: “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you..’.” We have long understood that this verse is a mistranslation of Isaiah 49:8 where it states that this is “a day of salvation” (Authorized Version). If today was the only day of salvation, then Satan, who has the world in the palm of his hand, would be winning the battle outright. Of course, that is not the case.

Many Christian denominations have this idea that if we are not “saved” now, we will be lost for all eternity. They do not realise that God does the calling and in His own good time. John 6:44 gives Christ’s answer to this mystery: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at…

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What would have happened if Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life? What kind of a world would we have today? Would they still have sinned from time to time? If so, what would have been the consequence?

First, let us explain what the two trees in the Garden of Eden symbolized.

We are quoting the following excerpts from chapter 2 of our free booklet, “Human Suffering–Why…And How Much Longer?” :

“When God created the first human being, Adam, and his wife, Eve, He placed them in a garden—the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. God also created two special trees in this garden—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told man that he was allowed to eat from all the trees in the garden with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This means that man could eat, and should have eaten, from the tree of life.

“These two trees had special symbolic meaning. They represented two ways of life: Eating from the tree of life would have meant following God in obedience to His Word, thereby reaping the benefits of happiness, joy and peace. Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil meant disobeying God, and listening to and following Satan instead, thereby reaping the curses of unhappiness, sadness, suffering and war!…

“God said that man could eat FREELY from the tree…

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How can we have complete or full joy in our lives?

In John 17:13, we read: “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they [His disciples] may have MY JOY fulfilled in them.”

Joy is one ingredient of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22; compare 1 Thessalonians 1:6). When Christ, through the Holy Spirit, lives in us, then HIS joy is in us and will remain in us, and our joy will become more and more full or fulfilled (John 15:11). As we need to ask God the Father for the daily renewal of the Holy Spirit, so we need to ask for the fullness of God’s and Christ’s joy in our lives (compare John 16:24). It is God who can fill us with all joy (Romans 15:13)–even and especially in times of trials and difficulties. It is possible for us, then, to rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5:16; compare 2 Corinthians 6:10).

We must be careful, however, not to confuse godly and right joy with worldly and wrong “joy.” Solomon rejoiced in his labor, but it was the wrong kind of labor (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). The ancient Israelites rejoiced in the works of their hands–but it was the work of building the golden…

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If Satan cannot heal, how do you explain "miraculous healings," which apparently do not originate with God?

In our last Q&A, we explained that God did not give Satan or his demons the power to heal human beings. In this Q&A, we want to explain “miraculous healings,” “caused” by Satan, which, upon further scrutiny, prove to be not true healings at all.

In our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” we wrote the following in Part 2, “The World of Demons,” on pages 42-44, 51:

“We must not underestimate the power and influence of Satan and his demons. The Bible tells us that Satan ‘deceives the whole world’ (Revelation 12:9). His biggest deception, no doubt, is to convince unsuspecting man that he does not even exist. He deceives others by pretending that he is an ‘angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14). Many preach as ‘his ministers,’ transforming themselves ‘into ministers of righteousness’ (verse 15).

“John later said that ‘many deceivers have gone out into the world’ (2 John 7), and he warned us in 1 John 4:1 to ‘…test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ Christ prophesied for the end time that ‘…false christs and false prophets will rise and show great…

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Can Satan heal?

The short answer is: Absolutely not. We will explain the reason for this conclusion in this and the next Q&A.

It is important to fully understand that Satan and his demons, as well as God’s holy angels, are not all-powerful. They can only do what God allows them to do. Even in the spiritual created realm, God has placed limitations, as far as power, authority and ability are concerned.

One example is when Gabriel appeared to Daniel to deliver to him a message from God. Gabriel struggled for three weeks to get past the prince of the kingdom of Persia, a very powerful demon. When the archangel Michael came to help, Gabriel was able to free himself from the demon and to reach Daniel. We read in Daniel 10:10-13, 20-21:

“Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.’ While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first…

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Should all of God's ministers forgo employment with the Church and refuse to accept any monetary support from the Church?

In our last Q&A, we wrote:

“Paul, in bringing the gospel to the Thessalonians, worked: ‘…nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us’ (2 Thessalonians 3:8-9).”

Does this mean that God’s true ministers, in following the perceived example of Paul, must not seek employment with the Church of God and that they must not seek to be remunerated or otherwise recompensed by the Church for their services?

This is not what Paul is stating in 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9; nor is it what was implied in our Q&A.

Rather, the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary gives the following explanation:

“They preached gratuitously though they might have claimed maintenance from their converts… The Philippians did not regard it as a ‘burden’ to contribute to his support [Philippians 4:15-16], sending to him while he was in this very Thessalonica… Many Thessalonians, doubtless, would have felt it a privilege to contribute, but as he saw some idlers among them who would have made a pretext of his…

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Acts 2:44 describes the beginning of the Church of God, and it states that everyone “had all things in common.” How does this apply, today?

As other Scriptures show, this event was unique to that time in the building of the Church of God; however, this example also reveals the type of commitment that may be needed when the necessity arises.

The context of this account happened surrounding the Day of Pentecost and then the immediate period of time subsequent—perhaps several weeks and months.

Let’s first take a look at the account as recorded in Acts 2:42-47:

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart…”

The fact that this sharing attitude was sustained for some period of time is borne out in another account, as found in Acts 4:32-35:

“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the…

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