Gary discusses electric cars, economics, and the current administration’s love affair with making political laws influenced by climate change. Almost every business in the United States started and prospered without the help of the government. This does not mean that once some businesses started and prospered that they did not try to use the power and authority of civil government to thwart [...]
Education and action are at the heart of what we do at American Vision. As a biblical worldview ministry, we seek to provide biblically faithful resources and training to fill the mind. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “as a man thinks, so he is,” which means that thinking precedes doing. Christians must become biblical thinkers before they can become biblical doers. We have long had an idea for a proj [...]
Gary discusses how Paul and the apostles approached promised persecution and tribulation during their own lifetimes and ministries. The kingdom of God does not advance by military power. Though power-directed, the kingdom’s power comes from above and works on the heart of man: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and giv [...]
Gary talks about his experience with a seminary class and discussing various views on biblical prophetic interpretation. All Christians believe in fulfilled prophecy. This makes them preterists to some degree. A preterist interpretation of prophecy puts its fulfillment in the past. What separated unbelieving Jews from believing Jews in the first century was the issue of fulfilled prophecy. Was Jes [...]
Gary responds to two individuals critical of his own eschatological view. There is redemptive continuity between the testaments. Jesus didn’t come to start something new. We know from the book of Acts that thousands of Jews came to Jesus as their Messiah. The gospel was to be preached throughout the cities of Israel before the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 10:23) and the oikoumenē, the known wo [...]
Gary answers several questions from a listener who is fearful and anxious about the world based on what local pastors are preaching and teaching about the “end times." At first reading, the New Testament seems to teach that the temple would be destroyed (Matt. 23:38; 24:2), Jerusalem would come under siege (Matt. 22:7), and the Old Covenant order would come to an end before the last dis [...]
Gary recently returned from a Pastor’s Conference in Mexico, where he spoke to a hundred pastors or so about eschatology. On today’s podcast, Gary discusses his travel to and from Mexico, his experiences while he was there, and his takeaways from teaching through a translator. Is Jesus Coming Soon? Daily on Christian radio and television and the the endless stream of prophecy books we [...]
In this second part of his interview with David Vaughn, Gary discusses worldviews and their importance. The Bible states, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). True knowledge does not take place unless one begins with the presupposition that God exists and His Word is supreme. If the starting point is something other than God and His Word, then that other thing becomes [...]
Gary is interviewed by David Vaughn on his radio show, Worldview Matters. Gary and David discuss two big topics currently in the media: abortion and mass shootings. When the sixteenth-century German Reformer Martin Luther “was called to defend his rejection of indulgences before the church and before the emperor, Luther, alone and in peril of his life, appealed to the authority of the Word of God. [...]
Gary answers a listener question about 2 Thessalonians 2 and the man of lawlessness. Many believe that 2 Thessalonians 2 describes the end times leading up to the rapture of the church, the revealing of antichrist, and the second coming. Tim LaHaye, a representative of this perspective, writes: “Second Thessalonians 2:1–12 contains the rapture, Tribulation, and Glorious Appearing all in one chapte [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the two witnesses from Revelation 11. Immediately after the destruction of the temple and the judgment of Jerusalem, the Old Covenant age came to an end. The New Covenant was realized in all its fullness. The author of Hebrews writes that God had promised “Yet once more” to “shake not only the earth, but also the heaven” (Heb. 12:26). “‘Yet once more’ &hellip [...]
Gary discusses several recent media responses to the ongoing abortion debate on today’s podcast. When a nation moves away from the absolutes of God’s law we can expect an immediate substitute to fill the void. The “human rights” idea has become the alternative to biblical law; it now forms the basis and foundation for all spheres of life. Human rights has sand as its foundation because in “h [...]
Gary responds to a recent article that discusses Matthew 24:22. The majority of today’s prophecy writers see today’s “wars and rumors of wars” as clear evidence that we are living in the last days. A study of the period before Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70 tells a different story. The Roman historian Tacitus (A.D. 56–117) writes in his history of the period that there were “disturbances in Ge [...]
Gary discusses a recent media screed about the ‘racist’ nature of homeschooling and Christian schools. All argumentation will inevitably be taken back to a single reference point from which the arguer will appeal for authority to support his worldview. That reference point, for example, might be the expert opinion of others. Of course, these experts are not the ultimate authorities. Th [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the difference between sending the disciples out to the “lost sheep of Israel” in Matthew 10 and the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28. There is a continuity of the people of God—called the ekklēsia in the Greek translation of the Old and New Testament—as well as Old Testament images that were first applied to Israel but in the New Tes [...]
Gary discusses a few “contradictions” commonly pointed out by critics. The Bible is literature. God speaks to us in words and themes that can be understood. Not all literature can be interpreted in the same way. Some will claim that the Bible must be interpreted literally. But what does that mean? There are always caveats. Does a dragon really mean a dragon? Should you really pluck out [...]
Gary walks through the book of Matthew pointing out the important passages that relate to preaching the Gospel and the impending judgment awaiting the temple standing in the first century. Does the Bible, especially the New Testament, predict that the temple will be rebuilt? It does not. Why are Jews wanting to rebuild the temple? For the same reason that the temple was maintained prior to its des [...]
Gary discusses why he spends so much time talking about Bible prophecy. The book of Genesis offers a commentary on the way God tells time. Pharaoh dreams of cows and ears of corn, some fat and some lean (Gen. 41:1–7). None of Pharaoh’s magicians and wise men could interpret the dream (41:8). Joseph is finally called upon to try his hand at an interpretation. Through this dream God was telling Phar [...]
Gary responds to a recent video and emails he has received that were critical of his views on Matthew 24. Modern writers from all different eschatological positions are beginning to recognize the historical fact that preterist interpretations of John’s visions are not a novelty that has invaded Christian exegesis in recent times. Professor Ron J. Bigalke, Jr. of dispensationalist Tyndale Theologic [...]
Gary answers a question about 1 Thessalonians 4 and encourages Christians to be educated beyond “buzz words” that tend to shut down discussion. The three basic laws of logic are the Law of Identity, the Law of Contradiction (sometimes called the Law of Non-Contradiction), and the Law of Excluded Middle. The Law of Identity states that “A is A.” This means that if any statement is true, [...]
