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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 Like his previous books, this one follows the outdated and discredited dispensational model.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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

“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 [...]

As anyone who is familiar with Bible prophecy knows, Russia was the designated end-time bad guy throughout the last century. With the fall of the former Soviet Union, prophetic speculators have regrouped to paint a new end-time picture based on current headlines. The takeover of the American Embassy by a group of Islamic extremists during the Carter administration fueled speculation that Islam was [...]

I’ve been writing on the subject of eschatology (the study of the last things) for a long time and countering the argument that a near end-time apocalypse is around the corner. Over the years I have participated in innumerable debates, written ten books on the subject, and published nearly 100 articles. If there’s anyone new to this subject, I can assure you that there’s nothing new in what prophe [...]

People have been trying to identify a particular antichrist for centuries. Christopher Hill’s book on the subject just deals with antichrist in seventeenth-century England. (There were many more through the centuries and in other countries.) The candidates included Protestants, the Pope, radical sects, bishops, the Crown, the “‘Establishment’ generally,” the universities, and “the Turk,” an early [...]

“The newspaper has no prerogative to challenge God’s word of truth. Nor do those who read the newspapers.” ((Greg L. Bahnsen, “The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism,” The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Symposium on the Millennium, ed. Gary North, 3:2 (Winter 1976–77), 53–55.)) With Russia involved in Syria, the prophecy pundits are making prediction [...]

In a previous article, I mentioned that dispensationalist Thomas Ice and semi-dispensationalist Alan Kurschner will be debating the “rapture” question on September 25th in Plano, Texas. The debate thesis is: “The Church Will Face the Antichrist Before the Rapture.” Kurschner is taking the affirmative (prewrath, semi-dispensational position) and Ice is taking the denial (pretribulational, full disp [...]