Episode 12: Discussing Bible Prophecy With My 11-Year-Old Granddaughter

Episode 12: Discussing Bible Prophecy With My 11-Year-Old Granddaughter

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 12 Gary does a short Bible study with his granddaughter, who had a few questions about Mark 13 and Jesus’ coming. In terms of audience relevance related to a study of the Olivet Discourse, students of Scripture need to begin with Matthew 21:1 where we read that Jesus and some of His disciples had come “to the Mount of Olives.” By the time we get t [...]

Make Halloween Great Again

Make Halloween Great Again

It seemed appropriate to re-run this article, which points to the podcast on a Christian response to Halloween. Why do Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and Diwali all fall around the same time of year? Is this because paganism is so consistent and ubiquitous around the world, or is the answer much simpler? Christians seldom think in historical terms and assume that since Halloween has pagan origins [...]

Episode 11: Putting It All Together

Episode 11: Putting It All Together

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 11 Gary gives a quick lesson on how to do biblical hermeneutics, which simply means how to interpret the text. 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 quickly learn that she “c [...]

Episode 10: Prophetic Schizophrenia Under the Microscope

Episode 10: Prophetic Schizophrenia Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 10 Many modern preachers and authors are schizophrenic. They don’t seem to understand that their messages are contradictory and often cause their hearers to become paralyzed with indecision. Thousands of tracts, magazine articles, sermons and radio messages tell the people, “Jesus is coming soon!” “These are the last days of this dispensation” and [...]

Episode 9: Dividing Matthew 24 Under the Microscope

Episode 9: Dividing Matthew 24 Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 9 Gary puts the popular claim of dividing Matthew 24 into past and future events under the exegetical microscope to see if it stands up under scrutiny. Matthew 24:33 tells us what audience Jesus had in view: “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” It’s obvious, and without any need for debate, that the [...]

The Meta-Hermeneutic of the New Testament

The Meta-Hermeneutic of the New Testament

Gary discusses the second volume of the book, The Hope of Israel and the Nations, and what Kim Burgess calls the “meta-hermeneutic” of the New Testament. History cannot be “sliced and diced” without destroying it. History is an organic whole! One also has to understand what the German term, Sitz im Leben, the “situation in life,” is getting at, for it is vital. One has to take fully in [...]

Episode 8: The Nation of Israel Under the Microscope

Episode 8: The Nation of Israel Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 8 Gary discusses the idea put forth by nearly all modern pop prophecy writers that Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 is a “major prophetic sign” of the “end times.” A very popular argument for modern-day Israel being the fulfillment of Bible prophecy uses the fig tree illustration found in Matthew 24:32: “Now learn the [...]

Does John MacArthur Make His Case on the Olivet Discourse?

Does John MacArthur Make His Case on the Olivet Discourse?

Jonathan Sedlak, author of Reading Matthew, Trusting Jesus: Christian Tradition and First-Century Fulfillment within Matthew 24-25 (listen to Gary’s fascinating two-part interview with Sedlak here and here), told me in a recent phone call that it was John MacArthur’s book The Second Coming: Signs of Christ’s Return and the End of the Age (2006) that led him to investigate preterism because i [...]

Episode 7: Max Lucado's 'What Happens Next' Under the Microscope

Episode 7: Max Lucado's 'What Happens Next' Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 7 Gary discusses Max Lucado’s new book, What Happens Next: A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age. While referring to Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks of years (9:24-27), Lucado writes, “This gloomy prophecy was fulfilled on August 6, AD 70. Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem, killed a million Jews, and tore the temple apart stone by [...]

Episode 6: The Rapture Under the Microscope

Episode 6: The Rapture Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 6 Gary responds to a clip on Facebook that claims to “prove” the Rapture with two Bible verses. If Revelation 3:10 is the passage that teaches that Christians won’t go through a future seven-year tribulation period, then it needs to be studied carefully. Can it be shown that John being told to “Come up here…” (4:1) is a type of rapture that [...]

Episode 5: Jesus' 'Soon' Coming Under the Microscope

Episode 5: Jesus' 'Soon' Coming Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 5 Gary responds to recent comments made by Glenn Beck on Tucker Carlson’s national tour. The literal meaning of Scripture “embraces the normal, everyday, common understanding of the terms of the Bible. Words are given the meaning they normally have in common communication.” The interpreter should be mindful of the “historical setting.” Sentences o [...]

The Last Man on Earth

The Last Man on Earth

Help us turn $10K into $20K! Gary discusses the film, The Omega Man, and modern climate armageddonists claiming that the “end is near” due to the use of fossil fuels. The materialists are still trying to prove that God does not exist. If they could only find another highly evolved civilization among the multitude of unexplored galaxies, then such a discovery would prove that no god is [...]

Episode 4: The Olivet Discourse Under the Microscope

Episode 4: The Olivet Discourse Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 4 Gary puts Matthew 24, or what is commonly called Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, under the microscope. The question before us is simple: Does the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21) describe signs that were fulfilled in (1) events leading up to and including the destruction of the temple in AD 70, (2) a future generation, (3) a past gener [...]

Episode 3: The Man of Sin (Part Two)

Episode 3: The Man of Sin (Part Two)

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 3 On this third episode of Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope, Gary continues his study of 2 Thessalonians 2 and the “man of lawlessness.” II. The temple A. The temple was still standing when Paul wrote his letters to the Thessalonians. “[T]he hearer would naturally think of the Jerusalem temple, which would stand for two decades more.” B. [...]

Know What It Says Before You Say What It Means

Know What It Says Before You Say What It Means

Help us turn $10K into $20K! I was on a radio show some years ago talking about, naturally, Bible prophecy. I woman called in and claimed that the land promises made to Israel had not been fulfilled. There wasn’t any more time on air to discuss the claim, but I took her call at the close of the show. I took her to Joshua 21 and read the following: Thus, the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he [...]

Episode 2: The Man of Sin Under the Microscope

Episode 2: The Man of Sin Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 2 Gary responds to comments on Facebook about the man of lawlessness (or sin) from 2 Thessalonians 2. Is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” a reference to the Second Coming, that is, an event that is still in our future, or is it a coming in judgment upon first-century Jerusalem that would be the event to bring the “last days” to a close (2 Thess. [...]

What Happened in 2023? (Part Two)

What Happened in 2023? (Part Two)

In this concluding part, Gary continues giving his side of the story, as well as the biblical exegesis that informs his own views on eschatology. One of the most wonderful benefits of fulfilled prophecy, over against the speculations of self-appointed prophetic speculators, is that fulfilled prophecy can be used to support the Bible’s own claim that it is indeed the very Word of God. For example, [...]

Episode 1: Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope

Episode 1: Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 1 Gary begins his new Friday series called “Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope.” A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be ev [...]

Reading the Bible in its Own Context

Reading the Bible in its Own Context

In the concluding half of his interview with John Reddoch on The Wake Up Call, Gary discusses many different aspects of Bible prophecy and what it means to take the Bible at face-value. The Bible is the standard. If the Bible says the Beast (antichrist) appeared in the first century, then it happened, no matter what certain early Church Fathers assert. From the first century to the present, godly [...]

It’s Political Déjà vu All Over Again

It’s Political Déjà vu All Over Again

Little has changed when it comes to American politics. The names have changed, but the policies are the same. The same is true of voters. Prior to 1976, there was no designated Christian voting bloc. Christians were dragged into politics as a designated group kicking and screaming. They had all kinds of excuses: • Jesus didn’t get mixed in politics. • We can’t impose our morality on other people. [...]