Gary answers the perennial charge of “replacement theology,” a phrase that is designed to end debate by those who teach that the church and Israel are distinct and separate. Israel’s spiritual destiny is the same as it is for non-Israelites: Repent and believe in Jesus! No one said anything about a delay in the promises that had been made to Israel centuries ago. In fact, Peter clearly [...]

Gary discusses a new article by Greg Laurie that makes the (same old) argument that modern events “could be” fulfilling biblical prophecies. Most interpreters have tried to find the fulfillment in events of their day using current events as the interpretive grid. For example, in the fourth and fifth centuries, Gog was thought to refer to the Goths and Moors. In the seventh century, it [...]

A daily double: an article and a podcast! The article is from the July 1991 issue of James Jordan’s Biblical Horizons newsletter. It shows how Jordan’s thinking and views of the whole debate over ancient and modern Jews and the state of Israel changed from his previous views that essentially followed the Puritans and the Westminster Divines. It is vital that Christians understand this [...]

Gary discusses an article from the Christianity and Civilization series about politics, Christians, and activism. In Genesis 1:1, God set up two realms, heaven and earth. The goal of history is not for earth to be forsaken, but for heaven to impress its pattern on earth. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, ” we pray. The duality of heaven and earth is to be resolved, e [...]

Gary discusses the recent ousting of Speaker McCarthy and what political writer Jason Whitlock calls the “Gaetzful 8.” Whitlock compares the 8 to Gideon’s 300 and the idea of the remnant. Gideon is called Jerubbaal, the Baal-Fighter. He is going to war against Baal, in the confidence God had given him the night before. They rose early, with the sun. The rising of the sun is a pic [...]

Gary discusses a speech given by Pastor Jack Hibbs to the Family Research Council about the state of the culture. One would be hard pressed to find modern politicians who would claim that the State is divine, but more often than not actions speak louder than words. For modern secularists, the political sphere is no less divine than the city-states of Greece and Rome and the deified nationalism of [...]

Gary highlights a few recent news articles that are actually encouraging. “Society” possesses no will of its own, but reflects the people’s will. The will of the people is either based on the autonomous will of men or reflects the will of the Triune God of Scripture. E.C. Wines (1806-1879) writes: In political, as well as physical science, there are certain great principles, true or false, from wh [...]

Gary answers a listener question regarding Matthew 24:29-31. Jesus’ disciples did not inquire about the end of the world (kosmos), but about the end of that covenant age (aion). When the tribulation of “those days” was completed, the religious and political structure of Israel as a covenant nation came to an end before that first-century generation passed away. Even futurists do [...]

Gary deals with an argument making the rounds on social media about Biblical Law. He points out that it’s very similar to the “borrowed capital” argument that atheists rely on to make their own case. Scripture does not present the law-covenant as fundamentally opposed to the grace of the New Covenant. For example, consider Hebrews 3-4. According to New Testament theology, why was [...]

Part Two of Two. Gary continues his response to Answers in Genesis’ Ken Ham. Ham uses 2 Peter 3 to show that we are in the “last days.” John Owen asks the question that so many expositors fail to ask: Where had God promised to bring “new heavens and a new earth”? The answer, as Owen correctly states, is only in Isaiah 65 and 66—passages which clearly prophesy the period of the Go [...]

Part One of Two. Gary responds to a recent Facebook article posted by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Commentators often argue that Matthew 24 contains both a discussion of the A.D. 70 destruction of religious, social, and political Judaism as well as a reference to a yet-future return of Christ. This supposed distinction is drawn by contrasting “this generation” and “that day and hour.” Gentry wri [...]

Listen in as Gary is interviewed about the relationship between individual households and the State. The family is a government ordained by God where husband and wife are in covenant with God and serve as family governors. They have jurisdictional authority to lead, nurture, and direct the family as a training ground for cultural change in terms of kingdom principles. The authority and power given [...]

Gary answers a listener question about the audience change between Matthew 23 and 24. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of false messiahs. Thomas Ice argues that “there is scholarly consensus that there were not false Christs or Messiahs until around A.D. 130.” To support his claim, he cites the following from a commentary published in 1878: We possess no historical record of any false Messiahs [...]

Gary discusses an article about the upcoming presidential election and the fatigue about the entire process being experienced by the majority of voters. There are problems with some kinds of circular arguments. But you might be surprised to know that you can’t help arguing in a circle. At some point, everyone has to argue in a circle. Why? Because everyone has certain assumptions. No one is neutra [...]

Gary interacts with Carl Trueman’s newest books about “expressive individualism” and the modern “truth” of the interior self. The greatest offense to the unbeliever is the Christian’s insistence that there is only one truth. The statement that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only light seems rather closed-minded. For secularists, it seems reasonable tha [...]

Gary responds to several recent articles about the state of the world and the end times. While books on the Armageddon theme flood the market, there are a few authors who concern themselves with talk of peace by world leaders: “And now, at long last, the prospect of a peace such as the world has never known before seems to have metamorphosed from an impossible dream to a realistic hope. In fact, t [...]

Gary responds to a video where a woman is raging against Christians and the Bible. In applying all the Bible to all of life, those “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) must have a “new heart” and a “new spirit” so they can rightly understand God’s Word and the world He created for our use (1 Cor. 1:18–25). The “heart of stone” must be removed and replaced with a “heart of flesh,” that is, a he [...]

Gary discusses a recent dust-up at a school in Colorado regarding the Gadsden Flag. The 52 signers of the Declaration weren’t dropped from the sky in Philadelphia on July 2. The freshly printed document announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were now independent states and no longer part of the British Empire. The decision was not made lightly. Thomas Jefferson ex [...]

In this encore episode from a couple of years back, Gary discusses the impossibility of a “neutral” law system. Constitutional scholar Archie Jones argues there is no way to escape legislating morality: Every system of government exists to produce or enforce certain laws, and every law necessarily entails a set of moral assumptions. All morality—even that which is usually supposed to b [...]

Gary responds to an individual that claims Torah law no longer applies to Christians. Christian Reconstructionist writers revived the older expression of world-and-life-view Calvinism and added the particulars of the Genevan and Puritan models. The revival of this particular expression of world-and-life-view Calvinism has not set well with the critics. As long as Reformed churches were preaching t [...]