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 dispensational position). Put simply, Thomas [...]

With all kinds of alarming end-times predictions in the air, there has rarely been a greater need for some common sense on Bible prophecy. I would like to introduce you to a resource that meets that need perfectly: A Beginner’s Guide to Interpreting Bible Prophecy: A Five-Part Study. The topic of Bible prophecy is always in the news. The latest prediction is that something prophetic is going [...]

In a previous article (Joel Richardson Issues Challenge to Hank Hanegraaff Over “Replacement Theology”) I dealt with some of the exegetical issues related to the charge that if a Christian does not follow the end-time prophetic scenario of dispensational premillennialism and some of its sister views, then that person is labeled a “supercessionist” who believes that the Church replaces Israel in Go [...]

A few years ago I wrote “A Beginner’s Guide to Bible Prophecy.” It’s in four parts, and it’s illustrated. It’s the very beginning of trying to understand the topic. Some of what’s included in the guide are points I make during some of my talks on the subject. You can download it here: A Beginners Guide to Bible Prophecy Feel free to pass it around. “ [...]

One of the foundation stones of dispensationalism in particular and futurism in general is the claim that “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 either refers to a future generation (“the generation that sees these signs”) or the Jewish race. Norman Geisler, in his critique of Hank Hanegraaff’s The Apocalypse Code, argues that the Greek word genea should be translated “race.” He writes: “as virtually [...]

I was doing my typical daily research when I came across the article “The Jews in End Time Bible Prophecy” written by David R. Reagan of Lion and Lamb Ministries. In it he claims the following: “We are living in exciting times when we can witness Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes. Many of these prophecies relate to the Jewish people and their nation.” As I and others have written [...]

The first of four Blood Moons has appeared in the sky. Millions of Christians have become fascinated with the phenomenon. Books have been written on the subject. Why all the interest and excitement? Because the lunar event is supposedly all about Bible prophecy and the end of the world or the so-called “rapture” of the church that these prophecy prognosticators claim will usher in the Second Comin [...]

There’s a new study out that is giving the impression to some people that the loss of religion is the result of the Internet. The UK Daily Mail article does not make a causal relationship, but some Christian sites give the impression that it does. Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, “is careful to note that his research has revealed a correlation [...]

This comment was made in a post about the number of the Beast (Revelation 13:18): The question is: Why should we use Hebrew gematria in a book that is written in Greek for the Greek speaking churches of Asia Minor? Gematria is an interpretive method that assigns numerical value to letters, words, and phrases. Most of us are unfamiliar with this method since we have a separate alphabet and numberin [...]

For centuries prophecy writers have been predicting prophetic events based on a whole host of supposed end-time indicators, from wars and rumors of wars to earthquakes and stellar phenomena. The latest prophetic speculation centers around four “blood moons” called a “tetrad. Two will occur in this year and two next year. Some prophecy theorists intimate that they may have something to do with the [...]

Over the weekend I spoke at a conference on postmillennialism in Torrance, California, on the topic, “Evidence that Postmillennialists are Winning the Prophecy Debate.” I only got through a small portion of what I prepared. Ken Gentry also spoke. Kirk Cameron was there at my invitation. He gave a great talk about his prophetic pilgrimage. I hope to get at least the audio portion of my talk. While [...]

For centuries prophecy writers have been predicting prophetic events based on a whole host of supposed end-time indicators. The latest prophetic speculation centers around four “blood moons” — called a “tetrad” — that will occur in 2014/2015. There’s nothing new about speculating on prophetic matters. When Israel became a nation again in 1948, prophecy speculators claimed that the final generation [...]

Because of the latest developments in Syria, prophecy prognosticators are coming out of the woodwork . . . again. The same thing happened in 2011 when prophecy hobbyists were claiming that Isaiah 17 was being fulfilled right before our eyes. Here’s an example from a video that was uploaded on July 21, 2011: Damascus in Isaiah 17 is going to be destroyed in 1 day. This is about to occur in our life [...]

A few weeks ago I wrote an article with the title “Another Prophetic Nonsense Conference.” It was about an upcoming prophecy conference sponsored by Jan Markell’s Olive Tree Ministries. I pointed out that these types of conferences have been going on for a long time and have done little to help Christians really understand Bible prophecy. In fact, they have done more damage than good. Without the [...]

Sixty five years ago today, Israel became a nation again. Prophetic writers saw this event as the end-time sign that something called the “rapture” could not be far off. Within 40 years of that May 14, 1948 date, prophecy writers were telling us, Jesus would return and take His Church to heaven to be followed by a seven-year period where the temple in Jerusalem would be rebuilt, animal sacrifices [...]

James Hamilton, representing a hybrid view of historical premillenialism, said something like the following during the Symposium that he, Sam Waldron, and I participated in on February 23, 2013 in Reno, Nevada: “If preterists didn’t have Josephus, they wouldn’t be preterists.” I’m working from memory, but this is pretty close to what he said, and if it’s not exactly what he said, it accurately rep [...]

For decades now, modern-day prophecy writers have been claiming that the increase and severity of earthquakes are sure indicators that we’re living in the “last days” and the “rapture” is near. It happened again when an earthquake hit Haiti January 12, 2010 and also the March 11, 2011 earthquake that sent a tsunami to Japan has already revved up current end-time speculation. Tim LaHaye, the best-s [...]

On February 23, 2013 I participated in a Symposium on the book of Revelation with Sam Waldron (SW) who holds to an Idealist interpretation and James Hamilton (JH) who holds to a Futuristic Premillennial (non-dispensational) interpretation. I represented the Preterist position. We each had 55 minutes to present our case. We then had 20 minutes to offer a critique of the other two positions. This wa [...]

In preparation for the Reno Symposium on Revelation, I did a lot of preparation work. Some of it I was able to use (some of which you can find here). The following concerns the claim that Revelation should be interpreted in a consistently literal way. Nobody interprets the book of Revelation literally, as the word is normally understood. Hal Lindsey, for example, is best known for his claim that t [...]

In preparation for “Revelation: An Evangelical Symposium” to be held on February 23, 2013 in Reno, Nevada, that will explore three different views of the book of Revelation, I’m developing a series of questions that people might ask about the preterist view of Revelation. All three positions (preterist, futurist, and idealist) will consider when prophetic events were to take place and how they wou [...]