A popular argument for a pre-tribulation rapture is the claim that while the “church” is mentioned 19 times in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, in chapters 4–18, dispensationalist Mark Hitchcock writes, “there is absolute silence.” Similar to the way dispensationalists place a gap in time between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel 9:24–27, they place a gap between the last verse [...]

If this past election has taught us anything, it tells us that facts don’t matter. Showing an image of a nearly full-term baby in his mother’s womb to members of Congress did not dissuade the Democrats from supporting abortion until and even after a baby’s birth. Democrats ignore the science and the empirical data behind the transgender movement. The ACLU has declared that there is no advantage fo [...]

Eschatology is still big business. It’s not that a lot of people are making money with it, although some are, but because many Christians can’t seem to think in other terms. When things go bad, many Christians immediately conclude that we’re living in the last days even though this type of thinking has been around for many centuries with the same results. We’re still here fighting the same battles [...]

Through a comment on Facebook, I learned that Ed Dingess posted a 45-minute critique of a message that James White gave on the topic of postmillennialism that served as a response to a sermon that John MacArthur gave. You can listen to the Dingess’ “rant” (as he calls it) titled “James White’s New Dance with Postmillennialism” here. I’m not going to offer a response to it. James White is more than [...]

A popular metaphor for prophetic irrelevance is the sinking Titanic theme. “This metaphor was made famous, of course, by the 1950s radio preacher J. Vernon McGee, who warned his listeners with the rhetorical question, ‘Do you polish brass on a sinking ship?’ (Quoted in Gary North, Rapture Fever: Why Dispensationalism is Paralyzed (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1993), 100.) Apparent [...]

God tells Israel that He will not bring another calamity on Jerusalem like the one He brought in Ezekiel’s day: “And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again” (Ezek. 5:9). One commentator who believes that there is yet to be a future Great Tribulation to surpass all the tribulations brought upon Israel writes the follow [...]

One of the stumbling blocks to a preterist interpretation of the Olivet Discourse is Jesus’ statement about the Great Tribulation “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall” (Matt. 24:21). Critics of a preterist interpretation of the Olivet Discourse maintain that such a tribulation has never occurred even though Jesus made it clear that all the events He [...]

One of the arguments used against preterism is that it was developed by Spanish Jesuit Luis De Alcazar (1554–1613) who wrote a commentary titled Vestigio Arcani Sensus in Apocaplysi or Investigation of the Hidden Sense of the Apocalypse in which “he proposed that all of Revelation applied to the era of pagan Rome and the first six centuries of Christianity.” Here’s a typical example: “The Praeteri [...]

It all started with comments that Grace Community Church Pastor John MacArthur made where he “warned that today’s world is ‘perfectly suited for the Antichrist to come’ amid the chaos and ‘lawlessness’ stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.” MacArthur went on to say: Now we are a global world. And that is a setup that we’ve been waiting for through redemptive history since the Lord promised that the [...]

Frequently, around Christmas time, we are treated to yet another (often just a repeat of previous “findings”) naturalistic explanation of the biblical “Star of Bethlehem.” Natural explanations of biblical phenomena can sometimes have their place, but they can also be diversions—for unbelievers and believers alike. A far better approach for believers is to know and receive the deep, rich biblical m [...]

Click here to listen to the podcast based on this article. In Luke 2:22-40, we are introduced to two individuals named Simeon and Anna. They were in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to “present him to the Lord.” We learn that Simeon and Anna were faithful believers expectantly awaiting the Messiah’s promised appearance. We are also told that Simeon was waiting for “the consol [...]

The following is the introduction to two talks I produced for the “A Purchased Victory” online conference that will be available to view December 18–19 at CruciformMinistries.org. There’s a scene in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer where Josh Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc, is being taught that the complexities of chess require knowing more than where the pieces on the board are at any [...]

FrontPage Magazine is one of my favorite go-to sites. It was started by former Communist David Horowitz. Horowitz is Jewish, as are many of the site’s writers. In addition to his memoir Radical Son, he has written Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America as a warning to once Christian America. He understands that the United States was founded on fundamental biblical principles even if tho [...]

Like clockwork, when something bad happens in the world, Bible prophecy prognosticators start with their end-time claims. They are part of a “thought collective” where adherents share their beliefs in a closed system using the same language and shortcut responses to those who criticize their conclusions. When challenged with this question, “Where in the Bible does it say that?,” they avoid answeri [...]

Almost daily I get questions about prophetic topics. In most cases, I’ve already dealt with them in my books Last Days Madness, The Early Church and the End of the World, Why the End of the World is Not in Your Future, Wars and Rumors of Wars, 10 Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered, The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation, Prophecy Wars, Identifying the Real Last Days Scoffers, and Left Be [...]

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 particular prophetic events are on the horizon, that a “rapture” of the Church precedes a seven-year period that includes the rise of an antichrist, a rebuilt temple, and a Great [...]

Vern Poythress wrote “2 Thessalonians 1 Supports Amillennialism.” It was originally published in THE JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY in 1995. The following is from the Abstract of the article: 2 Thessalonians 1 supports amillennialism because it is in tension with all the other major millennial views…. 2 Thessalonians 1 is in tension with postmillennialism. The text of verses 5–7 in [...]

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be on no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. . . . For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision me [...]

I knew it was going to happen. On September 16 I did an hour and forty-minute interview with Hank Hanegraaff for his “Hank Unplugged” podcast that is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 22nd. I mentioned that the various peace talks with Israel and Arab nations will be seen by some as an end-time event that will usher in the antichrist. According to some prominent prophecy writers, the antichrist [...]

While there has been a dramatic shift in Bible prophecy teaching since I started writing, speaking, and debating the topic when I was in seminary in the mid-1970s, there are still a lot of people who continue to push the belief that we are living in the last days. The following meme caught my attention, especially when there were a lot of “Amens” in the responses: What “end” was Peter referencing? [...]