Click here to listen to the podcast based on this article. In Luke 2:22-40, we are introduced to two individuals named Simeon and Anna. They were in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to “present him to the Lord.” We learn that Simeon and Anna were faithful believers expectantly awaiting the Messiah’s promised appearance. We are also told that Simeon was waiting for “the consol [...]
Gary continues speaking with Rick Welch of The Burros of Berea podcast about Christmas movies. These movies are not necessarily “Christian” in the sense that many modern Christians tend to think about such things. While they may lack a comprehensive Gospel message that leads viewers to the Cross, that misses the point of what makes something Christian or non-Christian. Christians should be able to [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 19 Gary deals with current end-time claims about the situation in Damascus. “When” a prophecy is said to be fulfilled is very important to know in determining what events fulfill the prophecy. Time indicators can tell us if the prophecy is going to be fulfilled in the distant future or in the near future. Sometimes a prophecy’s fulfillment is open ended [...]
Gary is interviewed by Rick Welch of The Burros of Berea podcast about old Christmas movies. Most evangelicals tend to think in “words.” This is certainly understandable because of the Protestant focus on the Bible as the sole authority (sola Scriptura) and the Lutheran concept of the “priesthood of all believers.” When this is applied to storytelling and film, this primary focus on word over imag [...]
Christians must re-learn how to think biblically. Gary points the way forward in this talk given in McAllen, Texas a few years ago. Teachers of a false spirituality in the first-century church were “forbidding marriage” and advocating “abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:3–4). Decrees such as “Do not handle, do [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 18 Gary interviews Kim Burgess about 1 Thessalonians 4 and the cryptic language that Paul uses. The people who first read the content of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 had a biblical background as to what Paul was saying. These compressed verses assume some of that background information to be able to understand it. In Acts, Luke recorded that Paul preached fo [...]
Gary discusses some of the common objections to how Christianity has influenced American civil government and sets the historical record straight. The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States… provides a treasure trove of information about the Christian foundations and essence of our history, civil government, and constitutional order. It provides long-obs [...]
Gary discusses an article by Daniel Hummel about how concordances made Dispensationalism—and a “scientific” approach to Bible reading—possible. Having a basic knowledge of Greek to study the New Testament is helpful and can go a long way to help with interpretation issues in terms of how a passage literally reads. The Greek alphabet can be learned in a few hours since it close to our E [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 17 With the recent death of Hal Lindsey, Gary discusses his popular books and the rapture and end times that they promised yet never arrived. Jesus used the parable of the fig tree as an analogy. His point was that when leaves begin to appear on the fig tree—or, for that matter, on “all the trees” (Luke 21:29)—it is a sign that summer is near. [...]
Now that the two volumes of The Hope of Israel and the Nations are available, Gary thought it was a good time to interview Kim Burgess about the books and the hermeneutic they present. The aim of this series has been to discern from Scripture itself, in the Reformation spirit and mindset of sola Scriptura, what the Bible’s, and, in particular, what the New Testament’s own hermeneutic is and then t [...]
Gary is interviewed by Marlin Detweiler from Veritas Press about recent books he has written, American history, and how to teach and live the Christian worldview. The foundation of a proper study of God, the universe, and man is God and His revelation, not man and his ideas about God. There are all types of descriptions of “god” floating around—from Aristotle’s Prime Mover to the New Age belief th [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 16 In this conclusion to his interview with author Brian Godawa, Gary answers a question about so-called double fulfillment. Some claim that there will be another fulfillment, a future fulfillment. This is pure guesswork, reading into a section of Scripture what’s not there. We know this because Jesus states there will be a great tribulation before that [...]
Gary interviews author Brian Godawa about his new book, Israel in Bible Prophecy: The New Testament Fulfillment of the Promise to Abraham. If Israel and Judah’s distress was so great that there was “none like it,” then how could a future tribulation be greater? In order to get around this interpretive problem, futurists claim that “Jacob’s distress” is a yet future great tribulation. But the conte [...]
Gary comments on a recent sermon by John Piper about the 2024 Election and Trump being “evil.” There are numerous books of the Bible that are filled with politics—from Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Samuel to 1 and 2 Kings and the Old Testament Prophets. King David is confronted by Nathan the Prophet (2 Sam. 12), Solomon is shown violating nearly every biblical admonition regarding kings, [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 15 Gary discusses biblical context and its importance to interpreting all Bible passages, but especially prophetic ones. When we study Matthew 24 in its biblical context and allow other passages to shape our understanding, we will have no other choice than to embrace a preterist interpretation. Preterism teaches that most prophetic passages in the New T [...]
Gary continues his hermeneutics lesson with discussions about time statements and the book of Revelation. Proper interpretation of the Bible depends on the type of literature that’s being studied and the way words and phrases are used in different contexts throughout Scripture in their literary setting. “The term literal comes from the Latin litera meaning letter. To interpret the Bible literally [...]
Gary is interviewed about biblical hermeneutics (the art and science of interpretation). He gives a quick lesson about how regular Christians can and should do it for themselves. Many people grow up thinking the Bible says one thing when it actually says something else. For example, when asked who cut off Samson’s hair, a high percentage of people will say “Delilah!” By reading Judges 16:19, we qu [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 14 Gary discusses the history of failed “end times” and “last days” predictions. When we study the history of prophetic speculation, we soon realize that we’ve heard all of this before. For nearly 2000 years uninformed but assured Christians have predicted, in words similar to those of Hal Lindsey, that “they were the [...]
Gary continues his interview with Gordon Van Wechel with Alchemy Precious Metals about the worldwide demand for precious metals and how countries like China and India are influencing prices. The debasement of Isaiah’s day (Isaiah 1:22-26) was kids’ stuff compared to today. That was because of the limits of deception. Pour too much dross into the molten metal, and it will no longer look like silver [...]
Gary interviews Gordon Van Wechel with Alchemy Precious Metals. Part Two is here. The call for government intervention into market pricing is ancient. This call was resisted politically in the West until the decade before World War I began. After that war ended in 1918, the West saw the triumph of the isms: Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Fabianism, and the smaller isms that arose in the w [...]
