I love reading older commentaries that have not been tainted by elements of dispensationalism and where the authors had the freedom to publish their works without being shunned or denounced. Lightfoot is hard to go up against since his academic bona fides are difficult to question. Lightfoot was one of the original members of the Westminster Assembly that produced the Westminster Standards. His be [...]
In this conversation between Gary and Kim Burgess, the two discuss their other podcast, Covenant Hermeneutics and Biblical Eschatology. The people in Jesus’ day saw the kingdom of God only in externals. They visualized the kingdom of God as coming, not through regeneration, but by revolution. Jesus said of His followers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but beca [...]
War! What is it good for? As Edwin Starr’s classic song says: “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” But for the purveyors of modern pop-prophecy, war is good for bringing about God’s plan and purpose in our own day and age. War is the key ingredient in their speculative scenario that will yield the finished product–the much-anticipated rapture of the Church. The more news about wars and rumors of war in [...]
Gary recorded a ten-part series based on his book God and Government a few years back and this episode is the first two parts of that series. Government within our American Christian heritage which was formulated from biblical principles, begins with the individual and extends outward to include all institutions. Presently, however, most Americans are unaware of the varied nature of government. Th [...]
This article was originally published by David Lane of The American Renewal Project On December 22, 1620, the Puritans, one hundred and one in number, disembarked and set foot on land at Plymouth Rock. Thus began a new era in the history of the world. Their first act after leaving the Mayflower was to kneel, pray, and offer thanksgiving to God in the name and for the sake of Christ, taking possess [...]
Gary discusses several instances of people rejecting and opposing the current transgender push. A nation does not turn to the State for salvation overnight. There has been a general and gradual breakdown in society which finally leads a people to such desperate action. The historical circumstances of 1 Samuel 8 must be seen in the light of the period of the Judges where “every man did what was rig [...]
“Compassion and humanity are virtues peculiar to the righteous and to the worshippers of God. Philosophy teaches us nothing of them.” — Lactantius (c. 240–c. 320), Divinae institutiones Literature is often a signpost for where we are in our worldview thinking. It’s not that everybody who reads the latest popular novel holds to what an author is expressing, but popular literature can tell us someth [...]
Gary examines two recent articles about biblical inerrancy and “pornographic” content in the Bible. Henry Morris explains in his book The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, that the Bible’s approach to worldview issues is comprehensive and includes science, technology, the humanities, commerce, law, civil government, and education, in short, every facet of human culture. There is nothi [...]
Gary looks into many verses in the New Testament about whether or not Jesus drank wine with his disciples after His resurrection. Jesus gave us the meal as a New Covenant meal. And He specifically said the covenant was in the cup—not bread, or meat, or water, or anything else, but the cup which He held. It contained “the fruit of the vine”—that is, wine. This wine was “the new covenant in my blood [...]
Since I’ve been studying eschatology, there has been a great deal of pushback. First it came from dispensationalists. This was expected since it’s where I spent most of my time and effort. It’s the dominant view today. In fact, it’s dominated the prophetic landscape for nearly 200 years. End-time thinking, and prophetic prognostication goes back further as Francis X. Gumerlock demonstrates in his [...]
Gary responds to an interview with author Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). This means, it is said, that “God’s arithmetic is different from ours,” so that when Scripture uses terms like “near” and “shortly” (e.g., Rev. 1:1, 3) or “at hand” (e. [...]
Gary discusses the recent school shooting in Nashville and the “response” from the media and leftists. 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 that if there is a “God,” people should be a [...]
A Christian teacher has been fired after claiming on social media that “homosexuality is invading the church.” This prompted Cliff College in Derbyshire to suspend the lecturer. The officials allegedly threatening “to report him to UK counter-terror police over his views.” (Breitbart) These types of incidents are becoming commonplace. Aaron Edwards is right. Many churches and religious leaders hav [...]
Gary answers two listener questions Matthew 24:3 reads more accurately, “the end of the age” (aiōn), not the “end of the world” (kosmos) as some translations have it. The “end of the age” refers to the expiration of a period of time that specifically applied to the passing away of the Old Covenant era (Dan. 9:24-27; Matt. 15:24; Luke 24:27, 44). The writer of Hebrews described this time as “these [...]
One of the few chapel messages I remember from my seminary days was delivered by Dr. Jack Scott. He began by outlining all the supposed orthodox statements made by Job’s “friends.” He then asked: “Right or wrong?” Not waiting for a response, he nearly shouted, “Wrong!” Some of the comments I’ve received in emails, private messages, and on Facebook come from “miserable comforters.” Eliphaz, Bildad, [...]
Gary discusses two recent news stories involving abortion and childbirth. You have a worldview—an underlying set of presuppositions about the nature of God and man, the world, how we know what we know, how we’re supposed to live our lives, and so on—and by that worldview you evaluate everything else. But you’re entering a discussion with someone who has his own worldview, with his own underlying p [...]
The first-century church had to live within the confines of the existing laws of the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul had to confront the Roman institution of slavery when he had led a runaway slave, Onesimus, to Jesus Christ (Phil. 10). Should Paul have called for the abolition of slavery by petitioning the Roman government? Should the apostle have encouraged Onesimus to lead a rebellion against th [...]
I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. My Catholic upbringing included Catholic school through the fifth grade and serving as an altar boy through my teen years. My first dose of a foreign language was Latin, a prerequisite if you were an altar boy in the 1950s and 1960s. After becoming a Christian in 1973, I began to question several Catholic doctrines based on the Bible. It was sola scriptur [...]
Gary discusses a critic on Facebook that believes Christians should leave politics alone and not get involved. The predatory politics and violent methods of the Godfather are criminal. Everyone understands this. But what is considered criminal when practiced by the Godfather, all of a sudden becomes “government policy” in legislation coming from Washington. Lavish government spending p [...]
God’s Kingdom does not break into this world without opposition. Paul wrote: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). While Paul’s first-century readers were enduring suffering, they were also the ones that would have “the glory” revealed to them. The temporary gl [...]
