Dispensationalists vehemently maintain that the Church (ekklēsia) was unknown to the Old Testament writers. The so-called church age is said to be a “mystery,” a parenthesis, a gap in prophetic time, until the pre-tribulational “rapture” when the church will be removed from the earth and God will deal with Israel again. If they are correct, then the New Testament writers were awfully confused, in [...]

Many modern Christians believe that God’s kingdom will be manifested solely in the future. This means that we are living in a purely secular kingdom with purely secular laws cut off from the governance of heaven. This is the worldview of deism! If this is the view of any part of the church, then the secularists are right in condemning the mixing of any of God’s laws with the State. How can God as [...]

A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be every Christian’s rallying cry. The church needs to take another look at the topic of eschatology, the study of last things. The topic has no [...]

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 Jesus the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures that predicted a coming redeemer? Jews who rejected Jesus as the promised Mes [...]

That’s the question being asked on the Christian Post website. Here’s the first paragraph: Many believers are anxious for Jesus’ return and, in the natural, some feel God is postponing His return despite knowing that the scriptures, such as 2 Peter 3, teach that God is not slow, but is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, said Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson of the “Prophecy Pros Podcast.” Kinley a [...]

Many prophecy writers try to get around the biblical meaning of genea by translating it as “race” when it should be translated as “generation” since this is what the word means in the genealogy in Matthew 1:17 where it’s used four times and cannot mean “race.” There weren’t 42 races, but there were 42 generations. Wars and Rumors of Wars Skeptics read the Olivet Discourse in the right way, but com [...]

David Jeremiah has written a flurry of books on Bible prophecy that deal with end-time themes that claim that the rapture of the church is near with the rise of “the Antichrist” and a great tribulation to follow. The following is about his 2021 book Where Do We Go From Here?: I’ve studied the signs of the times and believe we’re approaching a global cataclysm — one predicted in our Scriptures and [...]

In my 2020 debate with Kent Hovind, the topic of Daniel’s 70-weeks-of-years prophecy in Daniel 9:24–27 came up. Like all futurists like Hovind who hold to a rapture during a seven-year interval in which supposedly the antichrist shows up and makes and breaks a covenant with Israel, the temple is rebuilt, and the Great Tribulation takes place, includes a parenthesis after the 69th week (483 years). [...]

As a Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Bart Ehrman is well-regarded in the area of New Testament textual criticism. He has written many books and given many lectures on the topic. He even participated in a debate in early 2009 with Dr. James White on the topic of the reliability of the NT manuscripts. Dr. Ehrman’s recent fascination is with [...]

How should the Bible be interpreted? Most conservative Christians will immediately respond with the answer “literally.” But what does it mean to interpret literally? How should a book written thousands of years ago by multiple authors in different settings and cultures be understood by modern readers? Paul Lee Tan is helpful when he writes: “Literal interpretation of the Bible si [...]

Technology has always played a part in the dispensational explanation of the “mark of the beast” and “buying and selling” discussed in Revelation 13. Sensational teachers rely on fear and current events to sell books and fill conferences with participants ready to hear the latest “end times” theory. But what does the Bible actually say? Should Scripture be inter [...]

Gary was recently interviewed by Pastor Richard Henry about current events and eschatology. Gary addresses biblical hermeneutics and the current phenomenon of “internet exegesis,” which seeks to apply modern events to Bible prophecy. Internet exegesis is simply a computerized version of “newspaper exegesis.” Last Days Madness In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears th [...]

In response to my article “The Eschatological Vacuum,” someone commented that I was the one preoccupied with eschatology. Yes, I write a great deal on the subject because I believe prophetic speculation is a hindrance to the proclamation of the kingdom of God that so many prophecy “experts” claim is future but not before the rise of the antichrist, a rebuilt temple, and the rapture of the church. [...]

Eschatology is inevitable since history moves forward. Every ideology is eschatologically oriented. Eschatology — pessimistic or optimistic — is an inescapable concept. You are either eschatologically engaged or you are being swept along in someone else’s eschatological stream. Too many Christians believe they are floating in an eschatological stream that’s going to take them to heaven in an event [...]

What identifies a premillennialist — classical and dispensational — is that the Jews that survive the Great Tribulation will reign with Jesus from Jerusalem during the thousand years of Revelation 20. This is the definition, and yet, Revelation 20 does not say anything about the Jews reigning on earth with Jesus from Jerusalem in what is described as a millennial paradise. Once again, we have a do [...]

In 2007, John MacArthur delivered “Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillennialist” at the March 2007 Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. The premise of MacArthur’s talk was based on the everlasting covenant with Israel. MacArthur, who believes in “sovereign election” as it relates to individual salvation, is surprised that many of his sovereign grace colleagues who are amil [...]

As happens at least once a week, I get involved in a discussion concerning eschatology. What’s happening in Afghanistan and the push for a global reset is bringing out the prophecy pundits. The following comment caught my attention: Do you also blame the Roman empire on the present-day rush towards globalism, a global digital currency, and a global government? how does Nero factor into what [...]

With COVID-19, mask mandates, compulsory vaccinations, some are speculating that we could be entering the era of the Mark of the Beast and the (always) “rapture of the church.” Revelation 13 is not about vaccinations. For those who claim to interpret the Bible literally, we would be seeing the number 666 everywhere. I’d be willing to wager that there are some prophecy pundits right now who are try [...]

In my previous article (“A Seismic Shift in Eschatology Has Begun”), the letter writer begs the question by assuming dispensationalism is true, biblically foundational, and has a long and respected historical pedigree. He doesn’t argue for these positions; he simply states them as fundamental, self-evident truths. His arguments, such as they are, are similar to those used by evolutionists, global [...]

Similar to the way there is a fundamental shift taking place in the realm of theology by a reconsideration of Calvinism,[1] a seismic shift is taking place in eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the “last things.” The more popular terminology is “Bible prophecy.” There are numerous schools of thought on the subject. The most popular version—dispensational premillennialism—teaches that certain [...]