Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 23 Gary discusses Genesis 6 and the whole “sons of God” controversy and how it gets tied in with Bible prophecy. Jesus said His coming “will be just like the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37). The people were doing normal things—“eating and drinking” and “marrying and giving in marriage.” Jesus told His audience that life would be going on as us [...]
When studying anything written or spoken, it’s important to pay attention to what’s stated and what is not stated. It seems so simple until you find people spouting off about something with great authority who fail at the basic level of “what does it say” and “what doesn’t it say.” We can’t move to what does something in a biblical text mean and how it applies until we cover the basics. [...]
Gary discusses two new books now available from American Vision, Gary’s North’s Victim’s Rights and Gary DeMar’s newest book Prophecy Wars. The position defended by Christian Reconstruction affirms the continuing validity of Old Testament civil laws, including especially the law’s negative sanctions, in the New Testament era. Because of this, Christian Reconstruction [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 22 Gary discusses a popular interpretation of Matthew 24 that assumes a split in time in what Jesus is explaining to His disciples. It’s significant that if there is no gap in time after Matthew 24:36 where events are yet to be fulfilled, the verses that follow track chronologically and are part of the previous signs of the discourse. This means that res [...]
For a few years I have been researching the debate over the “sons of God” or “angels of God" and the Nephilim. The amount of material on the topic is staggering. Much of it is downright crazy and sensationalistic, especially when eschatology is added to the mix. At the same time, many of the studies are scholarly by sticking to the biblical text. As a result, the topic has received a lot of a [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 21 It can be surprising the lack of understanding most pastors have about Bible prophecy. What we are seeing today is the end of a humanistic worldview that cannot sustain itself. God has placed before us a wonderful opportunity. Will we meet the challenge? Charles H. Spurgeon, the great nineteenth-century Baptist preacher, made these comments in his co [...]
It’s 2025 and we’re still here! While going through my library for a research project I’ve been working on, I came across Nicholas Guyatt’s 2007 book Have a Nice Doomsday: Why Millions of Americans are Looking Forward to the End of the World. This past weekend, I was given a book that claims it’s all coming to fruition in September of this year. The author is a premillennialist, so his view is opt [...]
Projection is “a defense mechanism in which an individual recognizes their unacceptable traits or impulses in someone else to avoid recognizing those traits or impulses in themselves subconsciously. For example, someone who bullies another for being anxious and insecure may be doing so to avoid acknowledging they exhibit those same tendencies.”[1] Long before modern psychology gave a name to this [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 20 Gary discusses one of Hal Lindsey’s lesser-known books called The Road to Holocaust. Projection is “a defense mechanism in which an individual recognizes their unacceptable traits or impulses in someone else to avoid recognizing those traits or impulses in themselves subconsciously. For example, someone who bullies another for being anxious and [...]
Memes declaring that “Jesus is Coming Soon” are all over the internet. Facebook is filled with them. There are numerous Rapture pages. It’s amazing to see how a false doctrine from the 19th century has infected the church under the guise of interpreting the Bible literally. Its spread has been exponential. Here’s what those who claim to interpret the Bible literally mean by literal: “When the plai [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 19 Gary deals with current end-time claims about the situation in Damascus. “When” a prophecy is said to be fulfilled is very important to know in determining what events fulfill the prophecy. Time indicators can tell us if the prophecy is going to be fulfilled in the distant future or in the near future. Sometimes a prophecy’s fulfillment is open ended [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 18 Gary interviews Kim Burgess about 1 Thessalonians 4 and the cryptic language that Paul uses. The people who first read the content of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 had a biblical background as to what Paul was saying. These compressed verses assume some of that background information to be able to understand it. In Acts, Luke recorded that Paul preached fo [...]
Gary discusses an article by Daniel Hummel about how concordances made Dispensationalism—and a “scientific” approach to Bible reading—possible. Having a basic knowledge of Greek to study the New Testament is helpful and can go a long way to help with interpretation issues in terms of how a passage literally reads. The Greek alphabet can be learned in a few hours since it close to our E [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 17 With the recent death of Hal Lindsey, Gary discusses his popular books and the rapture and end times that they promised yet never arrived. Jesus used the parable of the fig tree as an analogy. His point was that when leaves begin to appear on the fig tree—or, for that matter, on “all the trees” (Luke 21:29)—it is a sign that summer is near. [...]
Now that the two volumes of The Hope of Israel and the Nations are available, Gary thought it was a good time to interview Kim Burgess about the books and the hermeneutic they present. The aim of this series has been to discern from Scripture itself, in the Reformation spirit and mindset of sola Scriptura, what the Bible’s, and, in particular, what the New Testament’s own hermeneutic is and then t [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 16 In this conclusion to his interview with author Brian Godawa, Gary answers a question about so-called double fulfillment. Some claim that there will be another fulfillment, a future fulfillment. This is pure guesswork, reading into a section of Scripture what’s not there. We know this because Jesus states there will be a great tribulation before that [...]
Gary interviews author Brian Godawa about his new book, Israel in Bible Prophecy: The New Testament Fulfillment of the Promise to Abraham. If Israel and Judah’s distress was so great that there was “none like it,” then how could a future tribulation be greater? In order to get around this interpretive problem, futurists claim that “Jacob’s distress” is a yet future great tribulation. But the conte [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 15 Gary discusses biblical context and its importance to interpreting all Bible passages, but especially prophetic ones. When we study Matthew 24 in its biblical context and allow other passages to shape our understanding, we will have no other choice than to embrace a preterist interpretation. Preterism teaches that most prophetic passages in the New T [...]
Gary continues his hermeneutics lesson with discussions about time statements and the book of Revelation. Proper interpretation of the Bible depends on the type of literature that’s being studied and the way words and phrases are used in different contexts throughout Scripture in their literary setting. “The term literal comes from the Latin litera meaning letter. To interpret the Bible literally [...]
Gary is interviewed about biblical hermeneutics (the art and science of interpretation). He gives a quick lesson about how regular Christians can and should do it for themselves. Many people grow up thinking the Bible says one thing when it actually says something else. For example, when asked who cut off Samson’s hair, a high percentage of people will say “Delilah!” By reading Judges 16:19, we qu [...]
