(Note: This is the first part of a series) In 2019 I wrote a review and critique of Ron Rhodes’ book Jesus and the End Times titled “Repetitive Prophecy Books Keep Getting It Wrong.” I’ll be including it in my upcoming book Prophecy Wars. Rhodes’ latest book from Harvest House is Bible Prophecy Under Siege: Responding Biblically to Confusion About the End Times. It’s mostly a defense of pretribula [...]
Gary responds to recent comments that people have made claiming that Jesus is not currently reigning. The Church, and therefore the world (the nations) as a whole, for centuries now, have suffered quite badly from what is surely an “under-realized” eschatology! The many explicit eschatological (preterist) time markers all through the NT either have been ignored or just flat-out denied by the incre [...]
Eschatology continues to be a hot button topic. In addition to the popular prophecy theorists who can’t help themselves from claiming the rapture is near, there are Facebook posters who add grist to the eschatology mill by critiquing arguments that are grounded on solid biblical study by people who should know better. I saw the following post on Facebook post: I sent my friend information related [...]
There must be a change in which Christians understand eschatology. I’m not only talking about the so-called rapture and how we are the “terminal generation.” Eschatology is an inescapable prospect. A pessimistic eschatology has the tendency to immobilize people. This is also true of optimistic “rescue eschatology” that has infected the church. According to them, nothing can be done or should be do [...]
Gary responds to a recent article by Pastor Robert Jeffress in Dallas, Texas about the world looking like it’s getting very close to the “end.” The central message of the Bible is salvation through Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant. Apart from His work, through which He acquired and eternally possesses the Covenant, there is no hope for mankind. He has overwhelming [...]
Gary discusses an article that makes the claim that Hamas attacked Israel in order to stop the sacrifice of the “red heifer.” Remember how Jesus had described the temple to the Jews as “your house” and how it would be left to them “desolate” (Matt. 23:38). Earlier Jesus had inspected the temple (21:12-17). There He called it “My house” (21:13) and cited two passages from the Old Testam [...]
Is Jesus on His throne now? If so, are we in the “new world”? Matthew is traditionally the first of the Gospels. In my opinion, as I argue below, the tradition is correct. Matthew was one of the disciples and was a man of letters. Who better to take notes during Jesus’ lifetime? Moreover, immediately after Pentecost there would have been a demand for a book containing the teaching and [...]
An image of Isaiah 13 from the Bible with some highlighted verses was posted on Facebook followed by a comment that stated that “the wrath of God is coming on the world,” that is, our world that was 2700 years in the future from the time the prophecy was given to Isaiah. Of course, God hasn’t stopped with judging the world when He sent Israel and Judah into captivity or with Babylon, the Medes and [...]
Gary begins a two-part podcast about preterism and God’s law. It is important to note that the noun “preterism” has been squeezed too far back as if it is about nothing more than what is past, about completed action in the past with no future application. The New Testament does address the issue of preterism and acknowledges that certain prophetic announcements—such as Christ’s Olivet Discou [...]
Gary responds to an Advent devotional in Christianity Today regarding Matthew 24. A failure to understand the symbolic nature of these passages has led many popular writers (and, surprisingly, not a few scholarly ones) to assume that such expressions as “the sun turned to sackcloth and the moon to blood” can only be understood as referring to the collapse of the physical cosmos. Nobody takes these [...]
Gary responds to a video where a pastor claims you must “rightly divide the Bible,” based on 2 Timothy 2:15. By this he means that you must rightly divide the “people” of God into Jew and Gentile and understand New Testament passages in light of “the Church age.” How could Christians believe that Jesus could come at any moment and also believe that He would not [...]
Now that the first volume of the book is available, this recap from the initial episodes of Covenant Hermeneutics and Biblical Eschatology was due for a re-run. New Testament eschatology is the eschatology of Old Testament Israel. Israel’s eschaton is what is being discussed there. But, of course, Israel’s eschaton was a subset of the greater world history. OT Israel was not the end of the road. I [...]
A few years ago, 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. Sorry to say, the recording of my talk did not turn out. Th [...]
From the archives: Gary answers an interesting question that was submitted to the Michael Heiser podcast several years ago. “This generation” in Matthew 24:34 and the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21 refers to the generation of Jesus’ day. Following this biblical evidence, most Bible commentators have interpreted “this generation” in this way, understanding t [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the “number of the beast,” Nero, and Titus. The number 666 has long fascinated theologians and mathematicians. Maybe the interest in the number has something to do with the attainment of wisdom and understanding since to “calculate the number of the beast” will reward the diligent (Rev. 13:18). Wallace John Steinhope is the physicist in Paul Natha [...]
Gary discusses a recent article by a Jesuit priest claiming that Donald Trump is the “antichrist.” Saint Martin of Tours, who died in A.D. 397, wrote of the coming antichrist whose reign would signify the last days. His prediction sounds strangely familiar. “Non est dubium, quin antichristus…. There is no doubt that the antichrist has already been born. Firmly established alread [...]
Gary concludes his interview with Paul Edward Stevenson on the Last Man Standing radio show about Israel, Hamas, and popular prophecy. When Jesus’ disciples heard His prediction of “desolation” for the temple and city (Matt. 23:29-39) when He “came out from the temple” (24:1), they “came up to point out the temple buildings to Him,” as if to say, “Lord, You can’t mean this temple that’s adorned wi [...]
In the first article on this topic, I pointed out that a prominent pastor told his congregation and viewing audience the following: “In your Bible, right next to Isaiah 66:8, you can write down May 14, 1948.” It’s obvious that Isaiah 66 describes a time when the sacrificial system was operating (v. 3), the ancient people of Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech (the archers, those who draw the bow: Ezek. 27 [...]
Gary is interviewed by Paul Edward Stevenson on the Last Man Standing radio show about Israel, Hamas, and popular prophecy. Part One of Two Without a proper context, a verse from the Bible could be used to support atheism, because as one out-of-context passage reads, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). The full reading of a passage in its proper context reveals its true meaning: “The fool has said in [...]
Gary answers a listener question about the history of the “Rapture” and the vision in 1830 of a young girl named Margaret MacDonald. Why is it that not a single sermon, address, or discussion in the book of Acts mentions the supposed rapture of the Church? Over a period of nearly 40 years, no one brings up this supposedly crucial prophetic event. There is no mention of an any-moment “r [...]
