I have been attending a great bible teaching church and in the last few month have come to realize that the pastor believes that we don’t receive the Holy Spirit until we are baptized. We have spoken at length and agree that when you believe on Jesus as your Savior you are saved and will spend eternity with him and the father. He says that Ephesians 1:13-14 is saying we are sealed (as in marked) for our future inheritance, but the spirit doesn’t dwell and live within us until we get baptized and that is when we receive the promise of the Father. He says the Lord’s own baptism is our example of this and in Acts 2:38 Peter placed baptism before receiving the Holy Spirit.

I think that baptism is very important and we should do it because it is commanded and it is a public display of our choice to be a follower of Christ, but I disagree with my pastor on this issue. I have studied at length and hoped you might help?

I was going through the Parable of the Yeast from Matthew 13 and I have a question. Normally in Bible, Man is the term used to represent humans (both men and women). Here in this parable “Women” is used. Does she represent EVE? Through Eve, sin has been spread and mixed all over the world till now.(“until it was all leavened” means “to the end of the world”) What do you think?

Man is in a depraved state and sin was passed down thru Adam to us. Because of our sinful nature, how are we able to make the decision to be saved without God helping us? Are we that able to have something to do with our salvation? Wouldn’t that mean salvation isn’t just up to God and that it’s our work and His grace combined?

In response to your post entitled, “To Hell And Back”. I was wondering if you would please elaborate more on why you do not believe in NDE’s, and what other support there is in the Bible for this view. I’ve read some of the reports from both surgeons and patients on the topic of near-death experiences. People have been clinically dead and have been successfully resuscitated only to tell amazing stories of heaven or horrible stories of hell. Couldn’t it be possible that the experiences people witnessed in these events are another way for God to spread his message to the world? The technological age brought methods to resuscitate people effectively even after they’re clinically dead. These could fall in the category of greater knowledge during the end times as our Lord foretold.

Thank you for your incredible website! I read it daily and enjoy it tremendously. My question concerns healing. I cannot recall or find a single instance in the Bible where a woman healed someone. Is this a gift that is reserved only for men? The only mention of spiritual gifts pertaining to women that I recall are the ability to prophesy. Can you shed some light on this for me? Considering how women were to conduct themselves during services by remaining silent, are the abilities bestowed by the Holy Spirit (with the exception of prophesy) only available to men?

I have recently read the book about a man who claims he went to hell for a brief time and it has disturbed me immensely. I find myself trying to find ways to bring hell into conversations with people so I can tell them about the perils that await them if they don’t choose Jesus as their Savior. Is there any way to truly know what happens to people who die without knowing Jesus? Could there be one moment in time between their last breath and stepping into eternity where they have one last chance to make a choice? If I am praying and praying for someone’s salvation, would God truly allow them to go to hell?

What happened to Jesus after he died? Because I remember he had told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in paradise.

I have a question about the use of a “pool of bethesda” in churches today. I was at a church that used this as a means to receive blessings from God and also healing. Their reasoning is that you should start thanking God for blessings you asked for before you walk through the pool. In this way you start acting like you have already received the blessings and if you believe this, then they will come to be.

I know that the original pool of Bethesda was where Jesus performed the miracle of healing on the man that waited for 38 years for someone to help him into the pool when it was stirred. Is there any scripture that would verify this pool can be used in today’s churches to receive blessings from God?

Please could you spare a moment to tell me how you interpret Christ’s statement in Matthew 16:28? He says there were “those present who would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Some say it is evidence of Christ’s humanity – since He said that He didn’t know the time of His return. Others have said He was referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. What is your interpretation?

Would you please write to me in very few sentences what GRACE is? Any short illustration?