Brannon Howse: Aired April 16, 2013

Dr. John Whitcomb joins Brannon for “Ask Dr. John.” Question: For several months now, I have been teaching through the life of Moses to my juniors Sunday School class and have accumulated a few questions. Is there any significance to the fact that the first plague in Exodus 7 involved turning water to blood, while Jesus' first miracle in John 2 was the turning of water to wine?
Question: In Ex. 20:26, God instructed the children of Israel not to “go up by steps to My altar" (NKJV), however, in Ezek. 43:17, God told Ezekiel that the future Millennial Temple should have "its steps face toward the east" (NKJV). This appears to be contradictory. Could you please clarify this?
Question: How can Jesus be God and still be a servant of God the Father? (This question comes from my 11-year-old son.) Question: What does Acts 2:17 mean if the apostolic gifts have ceased and are not available to us today? Do you have any materials on this that you can suggest?
Question: My pastor says that after we pray we should stop talking and be still and listen to God talk back to us with “a still small (inaudible) voice.” He teaches that prayer is a two-way conversation and that we should stop talking so much to hear God speak back to us, which He will do if we are still enough to hear. Is this biblical? Would this be considered contemplative prayer?

Question: My pastor believes you can lose your salvation if you lose your faith in Jesus Christ and it is an act that, once done, can never be reversed. I have also heard that an apostate is someone who was once in the faith and has divorced himself from God. Is there any truth in these statements?

Question: Does Matt. 24:15-20 indicate that the church will go through the tribulation or part of the tribulation?

Question: The Bible says that the antichrist cannot come into power until the restrainer (the Holy Spirit) has been removed, which would be the rapture. If this is the case, how will people be saved in the seven-year tribulation?

Question: Will the Holy Spirit indwell those who believe during the tribulation? What else will change as compared with this age of grace?

Question: How can we say that the curse will be removed during the Millennial Kingdom (with no sickness and harmony between humans and animals) if there will still be sinful people?