Robert Van Kampen, a prophecy author who believed the events outlined by Jesus in Matthew 24 are yet to be fulfilled, wrote, “Christ tells His disciples that only after the gospel is preached to all nations, ‘then the end shall come.’” [1] Since the Bible clearly states that the gospel “was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col. 1:23), then the end spoken of by Jesus is a past event for us [...]
Futurism mandates that a new temple must be rebuilt so the events of Matthew 24 can be fulfilled. History records that the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, with the events of Matthew 24 preceding its demise. Not one verse in the New Testament mentions the need for a rebuilt temple, a fact admitted by those who believe a future temple is necessary for prophecy to be fulfilled. Thomas Ice and Timoth [...]
C.S. Lewis famously dubbed the modern ignorance of old books to be “chronological snobbery.” Thinking that only what is produced by our own modern generation is worthy of our time and attention is not only hypocritical; it is dangerous and can lead to a variety of false assumptions both about ourselves and those that came before us. Nowhere is this idea more evident than in the area of [...]
You’ve heard people claim that the Bible is not a textbook on particular topics. While that’s generally true, it also depends on what is meant by “textbook.” The Bible is a book about all of life. Everything that it speaks of is useful and true for all times and all people. Humanity needs special revelation in order to see life from God’s perspective, rather than thro [...]
Which is more important, Adam’s Fall or the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? It seems like such a simple question for a Christian to answer. The answer seems so easy. Obviously, the resurrection is more important, now and in eternity. If there had been no resurrection of Christ, our faith would be vain. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if [...]
As institutions, Church and State are separate but not so separate that either one can deny the law of God as it applies to each of them. “This separation in no way implies a radical antithesis between God and State, between Christianity and State, between morality and State, between Bible and State." [1] The biblical relationship between Church and State must be considered. A jurisdictional [...]
Family, church, and civil governments reflect the self-government of the people, whether good or bad. At the civil level, a nation gets what it votes for. Civil government, no matter how righteously conceived, cannot make people better. Leadership, like water, rises to its own level, the righteousness or unrighteousness of the people. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, gave this advice to [...]
Were the miracles in the Bible tricks? Was Jesus an extraordinary stage magician? Did He pretend to raise people from the dead, walk on water, and feed thousands? Was Jesus like Jim Jones, using some of His followers to concoct an elaborate deception on the people to build a following of nationalist zealots to overthrow the Romans? Some people believe this, even though Jesus rejected any notion of [...]
If a person rejects Christianity, he has not set himself free from the concept of faith. He has only transferred his faith to something or someone else. For Carl Sagan, the cosmos is god, a glorious accidental substitute for what he believed were ancient, pre-scientific beliefs about the deity and the origin and nature of the universe. The very idea of a personal God, in Sagan’s worldview, is simp [...]
God assures believers He will “abolish all rule and all authority and power” in opposition to His kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:24). While Satan rails against the church, God promises “the gates of Hades shall not overpower” it (Matthew 16:18). Jesus describes the church as a marching army, ready and able to move against the stationary gates of Hades. Satan and his minions are on the defensive as the [...]
The battle today is over lordship. The issue of politics today is the issue of sovereignty. Who is the Lord of all of life to whom man must give his total allegiance, Christ or Caesar? The answer to this question is the difference between liberty and slavery, justice and tyranny. The critical issue of our day is the relationship of Jesus Christ and His Word to our political and legal system in the [...]
One of the most common methods of understanding the book of Revelation today is the futurist approach which says that the visions of the book of Revelation signify historical events that will occur at the end of the world. Some early Christian writers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Lactantius seem to have held similar views. Some who hold this view today believe that the visions in the majority [...]
Theologians virtually ignore the economic commentary in the Bible. In the few cases where it gets any attention, economic commentary in the Gospels and other New Testament writings tend to lapse into simplistic class warfare nostrums. Liberation theologians import Marxism wholesale (but they try to sell it retail) into theology. Academic historians of first Century Palestine/Judea have been pushin [...]
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 image ends up killing the spirit of the message in favor of trying too hard to make sure the mess [...]
A biblical worldview is an essential part of thinking properly about God and His creation. Thanks in part to the Enlightenment and its long-lasting effects of modern thinking, we often think like humanists rather than like faithful stewards of God’s truth. In order for Christians to be effective in the culture, they need to understand what it means to think God’s thoughts after Him. Or [...]
Many in Jesus’ day saw the kingdom of God in externals only. They visualized the kingdom of God as coming, not through regeneration, but through social revolution. Jesus said of His followers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26). It was Jesus’ message about mankind’s need [...]
“This generation” in Matthew 24:34 and the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21 refers to the generation of Jesus’ day. Following this biblical evidence, most Bible commentators have interpreted “this generation” in this way, understanding that all the signs in the Olivet Discourse referred to events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem that t [...]
Guest article by Michael Wagner The modern conservative Christian political movement commonly known as the “Religious Right” or the “Christian Right” began in the late 1970s in response to adverse changes in American society. Many Christians became involved in politics for the very first time, and they were credited with contributing to the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980. Since then, [...]
In America, we are not under Nazi, English, Roman, or Communist oppression. While no civil official is (yet) demanding that ministers obtain a license to preach the gospel, restrictions are being placed on what ministers and Christians in general can say on moral issues derived from the Bible. Either God or man is ultimately sovereign. When these sovereignties clash and conflict, the Christian, fi [...]
There are obviously differences between the Old and New Testaments. Augustine said that the New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed. Changes do indeed come through the course of redemptive history, so that there certainly are exceptions to the general continuity that characterizes the relation between Old and New Covenants. God has the right to make alterations for the New [...]
