Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 52 Gary discusses the popular signs spoken of in the NT that people today use to claim that the last days are upon us. The New Testament describes the nearness of the Lord’s coming and the “end of all things,” that is, the end of the distinctly Jewish era with the shadows of the Old Covenant. [...]
Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), Premier of the former Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964, described a time in the Communist republic’s history when a wave of petty theft was sweeping through the government-owned plants. To curtail the stealing, guards were placed at factory entrances to watch the laborers as they entered and departed. At the L [...]
Hal Lindsey continued to make predictions even after his failed 1948 (Israel’s nationhood) + 40 (the number of years that determine a generation) = 1988 (when the rapture would take place) failed miserably. A few years before his death in 2024, he said this about earthquakes and the last days: As we grow closer to the end of this Age of Grace, it may become harder and harder to find places that ar [...]
Gary debunks the idea of the “good old days,” and how people claim they want to return to them. Worldviews are seen as vehicles for cultural transformation. Many in the entertainment field believe, for example, that they are the nation’s conscience and the only guiding light for change. Francis Ford Coppola, best known for the critically acclaimed Godfather trilogy, believes that only [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 51 Gary answers a commenter who claims that 2 Thessalonians 2 refers to the need for a rebuilt (third) temple in our future. God’s presence was a sign of blessing because of Israel’s special covenantal status (Isa. 55:3; Jer. 1:19) and His departure was a sign of judgment, neither of which were physical. For the nations, God’s presence was a sign of judg [...]
A popular belief that ends up disengaging Christians from applying God’s Word to every area of life in a way that would realize long-term change is the belief that we are at the point in history that the end is near. We’re repeatedly told that the world is in such bad shape that our only hope is the “rapture of the church” or some other end-time event that is always on the immediate horizon. [...]
Gary responds to an interview clip from a state representative from Texas named James Talarico, who claims abortion is compatible with the Bible. In simple terms, a Christian Reconstructionist is anyone who believes that the Bible applies in some way to issues beyond personal salvation. Do you believe that the Bible has some very direct instructions on how a pre-born baby ought to be treated and t [...]
“Just preach the gospel.” How many times have you heard pastors and critics of social and political action scold Christians concerned about the moral direction the church is taking for mixing the gospel with politics? The gospel is more than a life insurance program or a “Get Out of Hell Free” card. It is to transform everything we think about and act on. There is no neutrality or areas that are o [...]
Gary discusses the newest book project for American Vision: The Great Debate: Does God Exist? Because of the great success of modern scientific and technological achievement, Western civilization has tended to discount metaphysical questions. Instead, our mind-set is more toward the sense-oriented, empirical scientific method. You must recognize this default bias of modern man because you need to [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 50 Gary discusses a short video clip by John MacArthur regarding the chronology of the book of Revelation. Perhaps the leading interpretive principle for understanding any document can be summarized in three words: “Context. Context. Context.” Before we arrive at Revelation 1:7 upon opening John’s book, we must pass through verses 1 and 3. And as we have [...]
American Vision runs ads on Facebook for several products. The topic of America’s Christian history and heritage gets the most vitriolic response. It’s obvious that most of those who comment have a skewed version of history. This is not surprising given how our nation’s public schools (1) don’t mention America’s Christian background except the statement by Thomas Jefferson about the separation of [...]
Gary answers a question that we get often: “If so much of the New Testament is fulfilled, now what do we do?” In the book The 1980’s: Countdown to Armageddon, prophecy writer Hal Lindsey wrote, “The decade of the 1980’s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it.” How long and wrong can prophetic speculation go on before a cultural collapse takes place? What a person b [...]
Matthew 7:1 (“Judge not…”) is the favorite NT verse of atheists and always taken out of its immediate context (see vv. 2-5 and John 7:24). Cherry picked passages from the Old Testament come in a close second. Chip Gaines judged Christians for judging their show’s normalization of homosexuality and homosexual marriage and adoption. Their show’s episode should have gotten as much [...]
Gary discusses the recent controversy with Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new show and homosexuality. Paul teaches elsewhere that all men—even pagans who do not love God and do not have the advantage of the written oracles of God (cf. Rom. 3:1-2)—nevertheless know the just requirements of God’s law. They know what God, the Creator, requires of them. They know it from the created order (1:18-2 [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 49 Gary responds to a challenge issued to him on Facebook about the great tribulation and the “end times.” St. Paul tells Timothy, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ” (I Timothy 4:6). The members of Timothy’s congregation needed to know about what would take place in th [...]
A documentary film called 1946 claims that the 1946 Revised Standard Version translation imported the word “homosexuality” into the Bible when the New Testament does not use the word “homosexual.” Someone brought up this argument regarding Joanna and Chip Gaines and their defense of having a homosexual couple on their new show. “[A] translational error caused the word homosexual to be added to the [...]
Gary revisits a topic he discussed a few months back about churches and pastors making political endorsements. In the Georgia General Assembly Unannotated code the following instructions are given to the state’s archivist: “Encourage the study of historical documents including but not limited to those which reflect our National Motto, the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the Cons [...]
The year 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the Scope’s Trial. Mark A. Noll’s review [1] of Garry Wills’ Under God: Religion and American Politics forced me to look at Wills’ perspective on the infamous Scopes Trial. Most of what America knows of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial held in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925, comes from the fictionalized stage play and screen version titled Inherit the Wind.[2] Willia [...]
Gary responds to a video clip of Bart Ehrman about various laws from Leviticus. All of life is ethical, and all of the Bible is permeated with a concern for ethics. Unlike the organization of an encyclopedia, our Bible was not written in such a way that it devotes separate sections exclusively to various topics of interest. Hence the Bible does not contain one separate, self-contained book or chap [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 48 Gary deals with recent claims of what or who the “antichrist” is and how 666 fits in. The antichrist of today’s speculative theology combines the characteristics of Daniel’s “prince who is to come” and other features from the book of Daniel (9:26; 7:7-8, 19-26; 8:23-25); elements from Matthew and Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” (Matt. [...]
