While cleaning up my office, I came across a cassette tape of a sermon preached by Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel on December 31, 1979. He told his very accepting audience that the rapture would take place in 1981. Russia was about to invade Israel. The former Soviet Republic had gone into Afghanistan. This was the prelude to a full-force invasion of the Middle East, Smith told his audience. Today, [...]

When Christians hear the phrase the “end of the world,” they assume it’s a reference to a great end-time prophetic event like Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, or the inauguration of the New Heavens and New Earth. Actually, the phrase “end of the world,” as in the end of the physical world, is not found in the Bible. There is Psalm 19:4, but in context “end of the world” is a geographical d [...]

Non-dispensationalists like me would say that all the promises made to Israel have been fulfilled, and the redemption of Israel according to those promises made it possible for Gentiles to be grafted into an already existing Jewish assembly of believers that the Bible calls the Church. Soon after Jesus’ ascension, the gospel is preached to “Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation u [...]

WorldNetDaily published my article “Why Pat Robertson is Wrong” yesterday.[1] It dealt with Robertson’s claim that today’s earthquakes are signs of the soon coming of Christ. As usual, I received my share of hate mail. Words like “stupid,” “lukewarm,” and “heretical” were thrown about with careless ease. The nastiest letters I get usually come from people who believe we are living in the last days [...]

“I will never purchase a book published by Tyndale again. If they are going to publish that trash by Hannegraff [sic] I have no more time for them.” This emailer was responding to American Vision’s offer of the latest novel by Hank Hanegraaff that takes a preterist perspective on Bible prophecy. While the Left Behind series, also published by Tyndale, places the NT prophetic texts in our future, H [...]

While answering questions about the “rapture” on Stu Epperson’s radio show out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one caller claimed that the land promises made to Israel have not been fulfilled. For the dispensationalist, there remains a reanimation of covenant promises that, according to the Bible, already have been fulfilled. The caller continued to insist that the land promises had not been ful [...]

In an April 2004 article, Hal Lindsey claimed that the Bible predicts that oil will be discovered in Israel. Now there is a book that attempts to make the same case: Breaking the Treasure Code: The Hunt for Israel’s Oil.[1] The book’s description reads as follows: A treasure map was hidden in the Bible more than three thousand years ago. The treasure, a gift from God to Israel, was buried in the s [...]

Some dispensationalists are dangerous. When Jews were being exterminated under Adolf Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy, a number of prominent dispensational writers believed that prophecy had set the course of inevitability for the Jews. According to dispensationalism, two-thirds of the Jews will be killed during a future “great tribulation” (Zech. 13:8). This led some to advocate a “hands off” approach [...]

When the topic of the end times comes up in conversation, the first piece of evidence given that our generation is indeed the “Rapture Generation” is the state of the world, both its moral character and natural calamities. Nearly all prophetic writers point to the signs of wars, famines, plagues, lawlessness, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes as prime indicators that the whole prophetic scenar [...]

One of the keys that opens prophetic texts is the time element. Abraham’s descendants were strangers in the land of Egypt where they would be “enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). This prophecy was fulfilled “to the very day” (Ex. 12:40). Joseph was told of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine (Gen. 45:6). Times of famine and plenty that follow these two seven-year i [...]

The prophetic prognosticators are at the prediction game again. Greg Laurie, author of Are We Living in the Last Days?,” is peering through contemporary events like Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, 9–11, and the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004 and claiming that these events are a prelude to the “rapture” of the church. George Noory, host of “Coast to Coast AM,” follows a sim [...]

Prior to the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant, God instituted the Noahic covenant. Even though “the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” God says that He “will never again destroy every living thing” (Gen 8:21). The everlasting nature of this covenantal promise is so secure that the earth itself would have to pass away in order for it to be postponed, put off, or revoked (8:22). M [...]

All prophetic eyes are on Israel. A majority of fundamentalists believe that what happens in the Middle East determines the fate of the world. The world moves at Israel’s pace. For the dispensationalist, what the rest of the world does is irrelevant and meaningless because not only are all prophetic eyes on Israel, but God’s eyes are on Israel. The New Testament focuses on Israel as well. Jesus “w [...]

Ed Hindson, writing in the May 2005 issue of the National Liberty Journal on the topic of “The New Last Days Scoffers, states that “The basic assumptions of preterism rest on passages that refer to Christ coming “quickly” (Revelation 1:1), or ‘this generation will not pass’ (Matthew 24:34). [Preterists] insist these must be related to and limited to the first century. By contrast, premillennialist [...]

If you ever find yourself in trouble when you’re in a debate, there is a sure-fire way of diverting attention from the inadequacies of your arguments and the strengths of your opponent’s arguments. If the debate is political, call your opponent a Nazi or a fascist. If the debate deals with anything where race might be a factor even though it isn’t, call your opponent a “racist.” It works every tim [...]

The point of departure for Dr. Hindson’s article, found in the May 2005 edition of the National Liberty Journal, is 2 Peter 3:3–4: “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as it was from the beginning of creation.’” He c [...]

For nearly 2000 years orthodox Christians have believed in the life-transforming power of the gospel (2 Cor. 5:17), the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:11), the sufficiency of Scripture as a blueprint for comprehensive living (2 Tim. 3:16–17), the sovereignty and providence of God in time and in history (Rom. 8:28), the subjection of Satan to the finished work of Christ and the church [...]

A fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament shows that the number of the Beast of Revelation 13 is 616. Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, states that “the majority opinion seems to be that it refers to [the Roman emperor] Nero.”[1] The early fragment supports the view that Revelation was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A. [...]

Is the antichrist alive somewhere in the world today? Cardinal Biffi, emeritus bishop of the archdiocese of Bologna, Italy, thinks so.[1] In addition to wanting to ban Mozart’s music because the composer was a Mason,[2] Cardinal Biffi also believes Italy should stop the flood of Muslim immigrants and protect Italy’s “national identity.” These are just some of his politically incorrect comments abo [...]

Beginning this Wednesday evening (April 13, 2005), NBC will air the first installment of its “Revelations” series.[1] Like so many evangelicals, the series operates by asking this question: “Could the end be near? To get a jump on the commentary that will follow the series, I’ve decided to jump start the discussion by dealing with questions that Christians often have about the book of Revelation. [...]