Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 82 Gary continues his overview of biblical eschatology by refuting current speculation about the “prophecy of Elam.” The “four corners of the earth” or “land” in Isaiah 11 presents no difficulty since the Israelites that were taken into captivity were often sold to other neighboring nations (Ezek. 27:13; Joel 3:7; Amos 1:6, 9). The use of “fo [...]

Gary introduces a two-part discussion about all the recent speculation and finding biblical “proof” that the current Iran invasion is fulfilling Bible prophecy. Tim LaHaye writes that the image of the sun, moon, and eleven stars of Genesis 37:9 and the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,” and having “on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1) “is a reference [...]

Gary responds to a Facebook reel from an individual in clerical garb defending abortion. The New Testament does not accept neutrality as a Christian response to man and his world. A fellow-Jew, beaten, robbed and left for dead, is ignored by a priest and a Levite. These “religious” men, in order to protect themselves from ceremonial uncleanness, “passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:32). Isn’t th [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 81 You’ve probably heard it said that the Gospel going out into all the world is a sign that Jesus’ second coming is near. Many who read Matthew 24:14 conclude that there is no way the gospel could have been preached in the whole world before the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Our first commitment is to what the Bible says by letting its [...]

Gary invites Kim Burgess back to the podcast to conclude his series on the resurrection and 1 Corinthians 15. We are not saying the world is now ethereal; we are not being Gnostic; we are not being anti-creation in terms of the material reality of Genesis 1. We are saying that the salvation that was going to come to the Gentile nations in the Genesis space-time creation order was going to come thr [...]

Gary gives an update on what he’s been working on lately, and responds to an article about the antichrist by Jase Robertson. No matter what century you study, prophetic speculation was prevalent. There have been numerous antichrist candidates. Early Christian thinkers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus speculated on the topic, sometimes linking the Antichrist to the Roman Empire and t [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 80 Gary responds to a Facebook video by an individual claiming that the rapture and the end times are very “soon” to begin. In terms of audience relevance related to a study of the Olivet Discourse, students of Scripture need to begin with Matthew 21:1 where we read that Jesus and some of His disciples had come “to the Mount of Olives.” By th [...]

Gary is interviewed by UK Pastor Alex Gillan about biblical eschatology and fulfilled prophecy. Hal Lindsey argued that Revelation was written in the form of an ancient code that needed a time machine to speed to the right prophetic era where the original Revelation symbols could be understood. “You might say,” Lindsey writes in There’s A New World Coming, “that John was put into a ‘divine time ma [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 79 Gary responds to recent comments by individuals who claim that our modern days are fulfilling Daniel 9. It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. The “gap” that has been placed between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks of Daniel’s prophecy was created because it was needed to make the dispensational hermeneutical model work. Nothing [...]

Gary uses a recent trip to a pizza restaurant (two actually) to teach a lesson about free-market economics. 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 smalle [...]

Gary discusses some of the logical consequences of the craziness being espoused by certain people lately. What people often object to is the legislation of morality that affects them personally. Some women want abortion to be legal so they can choose the procedure if a birth control device fails. They object to any legislation that would make abortion illegal and infringe on their personal choices [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 78 Gary disputes the claim of preterists being “scoffers” by using the Bible to interpret itself and also by recognizing the Bible’s own timing of when the last days take place. What does the Bible say, not just about the “last time,” but about the “last days”? In 1 Peter 4:7, we read: “The end of all things is at hand.” Whatever “all t [...]

Gary continues his interview with artist Dan Riedel about his friendship with Dr. Cornelius Van Til. Without the Christian worldview, Van Til says: Our argument, then, is that those who come apparently ever so near the Christian position but stop short or maintaining the fundamental conceptions of an absolute Christ, an absolute Scripture, and regeneration, reduce experience to an absurdity. Here [...]

Gary interviews his long-time friend, Dan Riedel, who painted the artwork for the cover of the new book, The Objective Proof for Christianity. [T]he process of knowledge is a growth into the truth. For this reason we have spoken of the Christian theistic method as the method of implication into the truth of God. It is reasoning in a spiral fashion rather than in a linear fashion. Accordingly, we h [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 77 Gary analyzes a clip from a teacher on Facebook claiming that Gog and Magog from Ezekiel 38-39 will soon be upon us. A more recent interpretation holds that Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog battle is fulfilled in the details of Revelation 20:7–10 when Rome and its international armies attacked Israel and destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. This approach is diffic [...]

Politicians constantly boast about how they are helping people. Gary disagrees. The only functions allowed to the state by the Bible are defense of its people and punishment of criminals. To go a step beyond this is forbidden. Biblical law works to prevent power being concentrated in any one institution, by creating and sanctioning many institutions—family, church, community, voluntary association [...]

One of the arguments against the preterist (past) interpretation of the Olivet Discourse and the use of the second person plural “you” is an appeal to Matthew 23:35: “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” The claim is made that Jesus’ use of “ [...]

Gary discusses ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He explains when and why it began and what its jurisdiction and purpose is. Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) establishes the proper definition of the word “right”: “Conformity to the will of God or to his law, the perfect standard of truth and justice. In the literal sense, right is a straight line [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 76 Gary discusses Jesus’ statement in Matthew 23:35 about Zechariah, son of Berechiah. There is no record of the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 1:1) being murdered. Berechiah, like Zechariah, is a common name in the Bible (1 Chron. 3:20; 6:39; 9:16; 15:17; 15:23; 2 Chron. 28:12; Neh. 3:4, 30). Jesus says that it was this Zechariah who was murdered by som [...]

Gary continues his discussion with Bob Cruickshank about the biblical usage of the word “antichrist.” (Click here for Part One.) You will not find the word antichrist in the book of Revelation. This is significant since the John who defines antichrist for us in his first two letters is the same John who penned the book of Revelation. Second, according to the Bible antichrist is not a s [...]