How Ray Comfort Should Not Answer a Skeptic: Part 1

Ray Comfort has put himself on the front lines defending the Christian faith by confronting the spirit of the age and those who promote it, especially atheists. One of the recurring arguments used by atheists against the reliability of the Bible is the claim that it falsely predicted the return of Jesus within a generation. A skeptic named Jonathan asked the following question on his blog: “Could [...]

How Ray Comfort Should Not Answer a Skeptic: Part 2

A skeptic named Jonathan asked the following question on Ray Comfort’s blog: “Could anyone of you believers tell me when the end times will happen, besides soon? It seems to me that the end times have been preached by man ever since the time they created their fictional deities.” Ray’s answer is similar to an article he wrote for Christian Worldview Network. Skeptics have pointed out the prophecy [...]

How Ray Comfort Should Not Answer a Skeptic: Part 3

Bible prophecy is an empirical discipline. It can be tested. Did a prophet’s prediction come to pass as stated? The Bible takes such predictions seriously. A false prediction is a reflection of a prophet’s authority and can have grave consequences: But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that [...]

Why Creation and Prophecy Can't be Separated

When I wrote my article “Why Young People are Leaving the Church” I knew it would generate some response. I was taken to task by a few Young Earth Creationists (YEC) because I did not point out the dangers of Old Earth Creationist (OEC) arguments and how they create serious theological problems such as disease and death before the fall. Some OECs have attempted to answer this objection exegeticall [...]

Eschatology and Biblical Apologetics: A Fundamental Link

One of the ways I’m trying to add new content to American Vision is through video. Learning a new skill takes time. Adobe has come out with a new program – Adobe Rush. It’s a scaled down version of Adobe Premiere. In addition to a three-part article I’ve written, I’ve produced three ten-minute videos. The videos appear at the end of each article. Please share the arti [...]

Is Rebuilding the Temple the Next Event on the Prophetic Timeline?

An Israeli political party official wants to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. He doesn’t want to wait for years. He wants to begin now. Of course, there’s a practical problem because the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Then there’s the theological problem. Rebuilding the temple excites modern-day prophecy “experts” who claim the temple must be r [...]

Has the Gospel Been Preached in ‘All the World’?

This is my third and final critique of Ron Rhodes’ book Jesus and the End Times. You can read my first two articles here and here. In brief commentary on Jesus and the Olivet Discourse, he states, “In the Olivet Discourse. Jesus prophesied that ‘the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it’” (Matthew 24:14). (45) Like so much o [...]

What Does the Bible Mean When It Says Jesus Is Coming ‘Soon’ and that the 'Time is Near’?

In a previous article, I commented on Ron Rhodes new book Jesus and the End Times. You can read it here. As I mentioned, I’ve dealt with most of the topics he covers in my books Last Days Madness, Wars and Rumors of Wars, and Is Jesus Coming Soon? In this article, I would like to delve into the always controversial time words “soon” and “near.” I believe that these words refer to Jesus’ coming in [...]

Repetitive Prophecy Books Keep Getting It Wrong

Ron Rhodes has written many popular prophecy books. While there’s always something new in each book, most of his books repeat the same themes and errors. His latest book is Jesus and the End Times. Like his previous books, this one follows the outdated and discredited dispensational model. The next prophetic event is supposed to be the “rapture of the church” to be followed by the Great Tribulatio [...]

“Grinding Out” More Bad Prophecy Books

The same day I received David Jeremiah’s The Book of Signs: 31 Undeniable Prophecies of the Apocalypse and Ron Rhodes’ Jesus and the End Times, I also received Ray Kroc’s autobiography Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s. End-time prophecy books never cease. Publishers keep grinding them out. They are the same worn out prophetic speculations that have been published in similar books for cent [...]

Prophecy pundits say Trump's troop withdrawal leads to Armageddon

I’ve been listening to an interview that Brannon Howse had with pastor and author Andy Woods about his book The Middle East Meltdown. He, like so many prophecy writers today, believes Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about modern-day Russia and nations surrounding Israel in a war that will lead to the deaths of billions of people. For Howse and Woods, war is prophetically inevitable. Peace is impossible. Thi [...]

Is Jesus Coming Soon? A response to a critic

I received an email from an AV supporter that was sent to him by his sister-in-law. Since her criticisms are very stereotypical, they provide a good opportunity to address the most common misunderstandings. I will quote her throughout, followed by my responses. She begins: I read that book you gave me this morning. . . . He bases the whole book on the verse in Matthew that says ‘this generation wi [...]

More fake news on Bible prophecy and the "rapture"

According to a recent popular video on the rapture, “Evangelist Greg Laurie has suggested that a massive Jesus revival in America could lead to Christians being snatched from Earth, removing the U.S. from the End Times conflict.” But why couldn’t a massive Jesus revival in America instead lead to Christians changing America? In his interview with PureFlix, Laurie “recalled that one of the earmarks [...]

The Truth About the Rapture

The following is an excerpt from Gary DeMar’s, The Truth About the Rapture: A Biblical Study__. ********** Dr. Mark Hitchcock has written a free eBook for Dallas Theological Seminary with the title The Truth and Timing of the Rapture that has been promoted on Facebook. When Hitchcock writes about the “rapture,” he is referring to a pre-tribulation “rapture of the Church” prior to the start o [...]

How One Little Word Changes Everything in the Book of Revelation. Do You Know What It Is?

Prophetic speculation is rampant. Books dealing with the end times continue to flood the market. Is America part of Bible prophecy? What about Russia? Two recent books. Let’s not forget blood moons . . . earthquakes . . . ellipses . . . hurricanes . . . wars. Probably the most talked about and written about so-called end-time sign relates to Israel. We’ve been told to keep an eye on Is [...]

Wars and Rumors of Wars: An Introduction

Wars and Rumors of Wars Audio Commentary By Gary DeMar ******************** The first three audio presentations cover the Introduction to Wars and Rumors of Wars. I do not cover everything that’s in the book. You’ll want the book edition to study the Bible references and footnotes. The fourth audio in this series is a critique of Mark Hitchcock’s The Truth and Timing of the Raptu [...]

The End Times and the Islamic AntiChrist

Thomas Jefferson, serving as the ambassador to France, and John Adams, ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, the Dey of Tripoli’s ambassador to Britain, attempting to negotiate a peace treaty with the Islamic world of their time. Jefferson and Adams argued in vain that the United States was not at war with Islam. The following is from a March 28, 1786 letter addressed to [...]

The Battle of Gog and Magog: Prophetic Deja Vu

An article is circulating around the Internet that carries the title “Israel Warns World War III May be Biblical War of Gog and Magog.” It is written by Ezra HaLevi and was published in Israel National News.[1] The article begins with the following prophetic claims, not unlike so many evangelical and fundamentalist end-time assurances about the end: US President George W. Bush said a nuclear Iran [...]

The Nonsense of Plain Sense

Ezekiel 38 and 39 has been interpreted in various ways over the centuries. The most popular view sees the prophecy as a depiction of a future battle that includes an alliance of mostly Islamic nations led by modern-day Russia in an attack on Israel. Chuck Missler writes in his book Prophecy 20/20 that “the apparent use of nuclear weapons has made this passage [Ezekiel 38 and 39] appear remarkably [...]

Should We be Concerned About the World if it's All about to End?

“Insanity,” Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” For centuries prophecy writers have claimed that some form of the end was near, whether it was some version of something called the “rapture,” the Second Coming of Christ, or a cataclysmic secular event like a pole shift. They’ve all had one thing in common — they’ve [...]