Gary discusses some arguments people are raising online against trying to reform our current system of government. God did not reserve His commandments for just the nation Israel and the church. Scripture makes it clear that all kings in Israel should copy the law in the presence of the Levitical priests so the rulers would be careful to observe every word of the law (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). Even n [...]
Actress Rosie O’Donnell told former Saturday Night Live star Amy Poehler that being gay is a “doomed” existence that no one would choose because being gay “is no different than being left-handed or having blue eyes.” This claim was used in a scene from the 2005 film The Family Stone. I saw something similar years ago in a Facebook post: “Why would anybody CHOOSE to be gay, with all the stigma that [...]
Gary responds to a comment made by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch about the “American Creed.” The concept of jurisdictional boundaries and limitations is not new to our time. God established property and moral boundaries when He instructed Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). From beginning to end the law is a code of boundary l [...]
After the defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich, war crime tribunals were set up in Nuremberg, Germany. The purpose was to judge those who had participated in the grossest of atrocities, the planned extermination of the Jewish race. John Warwick Montgomery explains the problem the tribunal faced: When the Charter of the Tribunal, which had been drawn up by the victors, was used by the prosecution, the de [...]
Gary discusses three recent items that address the ideas of the intellectual “elites” who believe they know how to understand and fix the world. The long-term consequences of brains, bodies, and babies are that in the end we are nothing more than meat machines that have no intrinsic value. If this is so, and science tells us it is so, then in the future there will never be a valid mora [...]
Gary discusses the current state of education in public schools and universities. The biblical view of the future presents the truth that history is moving forward, and every Christian is responsible before God to show himself a good and faithful steward of his God‐given gifts. God requires an accounting. The kingdom of God has purpose because God directs its every movement. History is not bound b [...]
Gary discusses Christian worldview, the pastorate, and current events. Government consists of sovereignty (legitimacy to rule: Romans 13:1), representation (accountability to the rule of another: Exodus 18:17- 23), law (a moral code by which to rule: Romans 13:4), jurisdiction (authority to enforce sanctions in the name of the ruler: 1 Peter 2:13-14), and continuity (stability and longevity of gov [...]
In the 1950s, the John C. Winston Company, later to become part of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, published “Adventures in Science Fiction,” a series of juvenile hardcover novels that made up a collection of thirty-six books. Some of the world’s greatest science fiction writers got their start with the series: Arthur C. Clarke (best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey), Ben Bova, Lester Del Rey, Donald W [...]
I heard a pastor say that the Session of the church where he was being considered as a pastor would not be permitted to preach on politics. He agreed with the restriction. This was troubling to me. No one can preach through the Bible and ignore politics. The Bible is filled with politics. There are two books of the Old Testament named Kings. The books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First and Second [...]
Gary is interviewed by Pastor William Ochoa from Guatemala about presuppositional apologetics. All of us think in terms of worldviews. A worldview is the way each of us looks at and evaluates everything that is seen, experienced, or thought about. Worldviews have been described as a web of beliefs that we carry around in our heads that becomes an “interconnected system of all that we believe. Tied [...]
Gary discusses the need for biblical and worldview teaching and preaching that helps Christians to understand how God’s truth applies and informs every area of life. Does the Bible have a clear standard of ethical behavior that should be followed by sinners everywhere? Why the need to go to general revelation if the Bible already gives an answer? When you lead someone to Christ, do you point [...]
Political liberals are more than willing to use every means necessary to get their message out, even breaking tax laws they supported. When, in 1800, President John Adams received a letter from Germany, proposing to send over to this country “a company of schoolmasters, painters, poets, etc., all of them disciples of Thomas Paine,” he made prompt and emphatic reply as follows: “I had rather counte [...]
For decades, pastors have been timid about preaching politics from the pulpit. The Old Testament prophets would have been stunned by such timidity. Many modern-day churches believe they have good biblical reasons for not addressing politics. They believe they are prohibited from doing so because it will jeopardize their tax-exempt status. It won’t, but even if it did, so what? Faithfulness to the [...]
Gary responds to recent criticisms about certain rich people in America and whether they “need all that money.” The modern world has debased its coinage. No nation’s mint issues silver coins as common coinage—only as collectibles. By the mid-1960’s, silver coins were replaced by central bank counterfeits. In 1965, most money was not coinage, as is true today. Most money was a combinati [...]
In 1783, at the close of the war with Great Britain, a peace treaty was ratified that began with these words: “In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain.”[1] The treaty was signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay [...]
Thomas Paine is often called a Founder of the American Republic. But is it the Paine of Common Sense or the Paine of The Rights of Man (1791) and The Age of Reason (1793-94)? Since Common Sense was written on the eve of the Revolution and The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason were written after the ratification of the Constitution, we should begin with Common Sense. Paine’s Common Sense put fort [...]
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 discusses a new book about America’s Christian past. Our constitutional Founders inherited a nation founded by Christians and built, to use a phrase from John Adams, on “the general principles of Christianity,” even though not every religious believer at that time held to every tenet of Christian orthodoxy. Part of the problem with Throckmorton’s argument is that he views America’s foun [...]
Gary discusses the World Cup and the responses of international fans visiting America for the first time. God did not reserve His commandments for just the nation Israel and the church. Scripture makes it clear that all kings in Israel should copy the law in the presence of the Levitical priests so the rulers would be careful to observe every word of the law (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). Even nations ou [...]
Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller are stage magicians. They also attack frauds who claim to be supernaturally endowed with psychic powers and communication with the spirit realm. They aren’t the first to do this. Reginald Scot (c. 1538-1599), author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), exposed the witch-hunting craze of his time. He also applied his observational skills by explaining that many p [...]
