Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 105 Gary dismantles a popular end-time belief, exemplified to an extreme in a Facebook video, about the Earth being burned to a cinder in the end in order to be remade. The language of 2 Peter 3 is certainly apocalyptic and world ending, but is Peter describing the end of the space time universe as we generally conceive it or is he describing the end of [...]
“You shall not steal” is a fundamental biblical commandment that’s found in both Testaments (Ex. 20:15; 21:16; Lev. 19:11, 13; Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9). If property is theft, as one Christian stated on his Facebook page, then every person in the world is a thief because everyone owns something. Let’s stop using words like socialism and communism. People are advocating theft by using the power and a [...]
Gary discusses the conference that is being planned for next year in Franklin, Tennessee. If Jesus’ kingdom is “not of this world,” so the argument goes, then how can Christians claim to have a responsibility to be involved in kingdom work? Since God’s kingdom is exclusively in the future and in heaven, as some assert, there can be no earthly manifestation of God’s works other than redeeming the l [...]
If you question the modern-day claim that Jesus is physically returning “soon” (Rev. 1:1; 22:6) because “the time is near” (1:3; 22:10), then you are a ‘scoffer’ or a ‘mocker.’ This is standard prophetic agitprop. If the Bible says (and it does) that Jesus’ coming was “near … right at the doors” (James 5:7-9), and He hasn’t come after nearly 2000 years, then it’s necessary to evaluate popular prop [...]
Gary discusses some arguments people are raising online against trying to reform our current system of government. God did not reserve His commandments for just the nation Israel and the church. Scripture makes it clear that all kings in Israel should copy the law in the presence of the Levitical priests so the rulers would be careful to observe every word of the law (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). Even n [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 104 Gary does a deep dive on the absence of a seven-year period discussed in the New Testament, which is crucial for many end-time theories. Could God have placed a “gap” between the sixty-ninth and seventieth years of Israel’s captivity, adding, say, a hundred years and still maintain that He had kept His word? There is no way He could have done it and [...]
Actress Rosie O’Donnell told former Saturday Night Live star Amy Poehler that being gay is a “doomed” existence that no one would choose because being gay “is no different than being left-handed or having blue eyes.” This claim was used in a scene from the 2005 film The Family Stone. I saw something similar years ago in a Facebook post: “Why would anybody CHOOSE to be gay, with all the stigma that [...]
Gary responds to a comment made by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch about the “American Creed.” The concept of jurisdictional boundaries and limitations is not new to our time. God established property and moral boundaries when He instructed Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). From beginning to end the law is a code of boundary l [...]
After the defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich, war crime tribunals were set up in Nuremberg, Germany. The purpose was to judge those who had participated in the grossest of atrocities, the planned extermination of the Jewish race. John Warwick Montgomery explains the problem the tribunal faced: When the Charter of the Tribunal, which had been drawn up by the victors, was used by the prosecution, the de [...]
Gary discusses three recent items that address the ideas of the intellectual “elites” who believe they know how to understand and fix the world. The long-term consequences of brains, bodies, and babies are that in the end we are nothing more than meat machines that have no intrinsic value. If this is so, and science tells us it is so, then in the future there will never be a valid mora [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 103 Gary answers a question he often receives about having conversations with dispensationalists. One of the difficulties dispensationalists have in understanding the Messianic kingdom promised by the prophets is with regard to its fundamental nature. Several major misconceptions lead them astray in this regard. We highlight but three: they assert that t [...]
Brock Hollett’s book Debunking Preterism opens with a discussion of “time texts” like “near,” “at hand,” “shortly,” and “quickly” and seven particular passages where the words appear in the book of Revelation (1:1, 3; 3:11; 22:6, 7, 10, 12, 20). He writes that these “time statements appear in the introductory and closing sections of the Apocalypse.” He claims that “[t]his type of literary device i [...]
Gary concludes his talk on the importance of knowing our own history. (Part One is here.) A further study of American history will show that there were many founders who were outspoken Christians who are rarely mentioned by historical revisionists. Consider, for example, John Dickinson (1732-1808) who was a lawyer, militia officer during the American Revolution, Continental Congressman from Pennsy [...]
James wrote to his fellow Christians at a time when hostilities and attacks were coming from the religious leaders of Israel. The book of Acts shows that some (many?) Jews opposed the Gospel, and many Jews embraced the Gospel (Acts 1-2), including some priests. Priests first confront Peter and John in Acts 4:1, where they, along with the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees, arrest the ap [...]
In a talk he gave recently, Gary discusses the importance of knowing where we’ve been in order to see the way forward. No matter what the Constitution states, ultimately “We the people” are the ones who decide. The Constitution could declare that God is sovereign over our nation’s civil governments, and the people could still ignore this truth. All 50 states mention God in some way or anothe [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 102 Gary responds to a recent video by Pastor Jack Hibbs about the “expiration date of the United States.” When we approach the Scriptures, we must understand, first and foremost, that the Bible is a history book about redemptive history. So, we must ask, “Whose history of redemption is the Bible concerned with? Where was or is this history h [...]
While I was visiting my late friend Mike Britton, I spoke with a man who had been discipled by Mike. He’s been teaching a Bible study on prophecy. We spoke on the phone. He told me about a back-and-forth debate he was having with a friend. This friend would not look at alternative arguments. When he was confronted with some hard facts, he dismissed them. One of his arguments was that the early chu [...]
Gary discusses the current state of education in public schools and universities. The biblical view of the future presents the truth that history is moving forward, and every Christian is responsible before God to show himself a good and faithful steward of his God‐given gifts. God requires an accounting. The kingdom of God has purpose because God directs its every movement. History is not bound b [...]
• “In 1905, a Vermont doctor and his chauffeur were the first to successfully drive a car across the country from San Francisco to New York. It took them 63 days. Today you can fly cross-country in a matter of hours while using wireless Internet.” — David Bahnsen • “Nothing is more responsible for the Good Old Days than a bad memory.” • Everybody is always talking about ‘the good old days,’ and a [...]
Gary discusses Christian worldview, the pastorate, and current events. Government consists of sovereignty (legitimacy to rule: Romans 13:1), representation (accountability to the rule of another: Exodus 18:17- 23), law (a moral code by which to rule: Romans 13:4), jurisdiction (authority to enforce sanctions in the name of the ruler: 1 Peter 2:13-14), and continuity (stability and longevity of gov [...]
