In an interview I did a few days ago, I mentioned that it’s difficult for people to change their views when confronted with contrary evidence, especially when there are many credible and influential people who teach a popular position. This is especially true of Bible prophecy. Since I first wrote on the topic of eschatology in the 1980s, Bible prophecy has become a hot subject again similar to th [...]
Christians will use all types of excuses to keep themselves out of today’s religious-moral-cultural battles. One of the most diabolical excuses is to claim that Satan is the rightful god of this world. This translates into believing that this world is demonic. Let’s see what the Bible actually says about this. Satan is a creature. Like all creatures, he has certain limitations. Even under the Old [...]
Gary discusses an economic statement made by a seminary professor surrounding economics and Revelation 6. Prophetic speculation is popular. Who doesn’t want to know what’s going to happen in the future, especially if it’s bad and there’s a way to escape it? The rapture is the escape hatch for a troubling future. That’s why the rapture has been described by some as the Great Escape. Charles Wesley [...]
The following is a brief exchange I had with two people in the comment section who were responding to Dr. Michael Brown’s article “What does the Bible say about the end of the age?” on the Christian Post site (watch for an upcoming podcast for my comments on Dr. Brown’s article). I don’t answer every point these commenters make. If you want more specific answers, see my books Is Jesus Coming Soon? [...]
Gary discusses several recent instances of Christians not being able to answer basic challenges to a biblical worldview. Many Christians seem to believe that thinking is an act of unbelief. They do not even begin to understand how the Bible might apply, for example, to science, economics, politics, law, or education. They might have opinions about these topics but no formulated, thought-out biblic [...]
I saw the following post on Facebook by a woman who identifies as a Christian. It’s typical of the barely literate when it comes to the Bible: “Jesus said absolutely nothing about homosexuality.” Following this line of argument, that if Jesus didn’t say it, it’s not a law, one could claim that tripping blind people, rape, pedophilia, cannibalism, not having a fence around an open pit or roof, kidn [...]
Gary shows how to force unbelievers to live consistently with their stated anti-God beliefs. All worldviews are by definition belief systems. A person does not have to believe in God to be considered religious. John H. Dietrich, for example, admits that he is a religious humanist. For centuries the idea of God has been the very heart of religion; it has been said, “No God, no religion.” But humani [...]
What you’ve read up to this point (here and here) is enough to refute Hicks’ claims that “this generation” refers to “trans-historical people” that “includes (past generations) tied to Cain, through to the contemporaries of Jesus, and will extend down until the return of Christ.” There are a few more issues that need to be discussed. Early in his 26-page article he refers to me and other preterist [...]
Ian Hicks has a novel interpretation of the meaning of “this generation.” While he believes the phrase applies to the generation of Jesus’ day, he also claims it refers to “trans-historical people [that] includes (past generations) tied to Cain, through to the contemporaries of Jesus, and will extend down until the return of Christ. My view of genea,” Hicks argues, “is not limited to a singular gr [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the supposed historical fact that Antipas (mentioned in Revelation 2:13) was martyred in the mid-90s AD under Domitian. Francis Gumerlock, author of numerous English translations of ancient Latin commentaries, offers his conclusion based on the commentaries he surveyed: So in all of the Revelation commentaries that are extant from 200–700, not one of them sta [...]
The following is the beginning of a multipart response to an article by Ian Hicks who argues against a preterist interpretation of the meaning of “this generation.” Keep in mind that numerous scholars who do not identify as preterists argue that Jesus’ use of “this generation” refers to the generation of His contemporaries. See Chapter 10 in my book Wars and Rumors of Wars. It’s a high bar to clea [...]
Gary discusses the early history of the colonies, and how they founded their laws and constitutions on the Bible. A misconception is held by many that the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence was the beginning of our nation. Abraham’s Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (Nov. 19, 1863) contributes to the confusion with the opening line: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers bro [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the word “church” and how it is used by the Bible and interpreters over the years. English translations have obscured the biblical and historical meaning of ekklēsia by translating it as “church” rather than “assembly” or “congregation.” It’s unfortunate that John Wycliffe (c. 1324–1384) and the translators of the Geneva Bible (1560) chose to tra [...]
A lack of a comprehensive biblical worldview has left Christians open to a blind-side attack from humanists who have developed a comprehensive secular worldview. The adjective secular comes from the Latin saeculum, which means “time” or “age.” “To call someone secular means he is completely time-bound, totally a child of his age, a creature of history, with no vision of eternity. Unable to see any [...]
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 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 [...]
Click here to read the first part of this article While most Christians would claim that they have a biblical worldview, I suspect that many of them could not (1) explain what a worldview is or (2) what the particulars of a biblical worldview are beyond personal salvation, keeping some of God’s commandments, and working to raise children in a Christian home. These, of course, are good worldview st [...]
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 [...]
Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism Students at Reformed Theological Seminary where I graduated in 1979 who were interested in cultural Calvinism were directed to Abraham Kuyper’s 1898 Lectures on Calvinism. It was here that we were told that we would find a fully developed, comprehensive, biblical world-and-life view. Kuyper’s brand of Calvinism has been described as the “only modern exception [...]
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 di [...]
