Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 38 Gary discusses Revelation 20 with his friend Robert Cruickshank at the recent Berean Bible Conference. We are not told that “with the Lord one day is a thousand years.” Rather, “one day is as a thousand years.” Are dispensationalists willing to admit that the thousand years of Revelation 20 can be reduced to a single day, week, year, or generation? Wi [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 37 Gary discusses common misunderstandings of Bible prophecy based on over-literal interpretations and misreadings of the Old Testament. There is a long history of forcing prophetic texts from Scripture to fit current events, and there is also a long history of abject failure. For example, John Gill (1697-1771) interpreted the locusts as the main competi [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 36 Gary discusses the fact that ALL Christians are preterists, at least to some degree. If you believe the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact—you are a preterist. A preterist is someone who believes that certain prophecies have been fulfilled, that is, their fulfillment is in the past. For example, Floyd Hamilton, w [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 35 Gary gives an overview of the book of Revelation and helps readers to put the confusing book into perspective. Revelation is the most “Biblical” book in the Bible. St. John quotes hundreds of passages from the Old Testament, often with subtle allusions to little-known religious rituals of the Hebrew people. In order to understand Revelatio [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 34 Gary responds to a video that critiques a preterist interpretation of Matthew 24. The critique gives the impression that 1) a preterist interpretation is “new” (it’s not); and 2) that it’s not biblical (it is). Jesus appropriated language from Ezekiel and applied it to the prophesied coming judgment on Jerusalem that would take [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 33 Gary riffs on a short clip from an individual trying to explain away the meaning of the word “soon.” Commentator Robert Thomas uses 1 John 2:18 in an attempt to prove that “Scripture has a different standard from ours” when it comes to measuring time. This can only be true if one [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 32 Gary reviews a new book by Dr. Sam Waldron about eschatology called “The Doctrine of Last Things.” Like a number of commentators, John Murray argues that the disciples were confused about the “end of the age” (Matt. 24:3), believing that when the temple was destroyed, it would als [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 31 Gary responds to a short audio clip from a pastor who claims we’re currently in the great tribulation and that Donald Trump is the end-times bad guy called the Antichrist. “Psychic” Jeane Dixon claimed to have received a divine vision on February 5, 1962, about a coming worl [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 30 There are many signs mentioned throughout the NT by Jesus and others that are said to come during the “last days.” Why did Jesus treat the first-century generation of Jews so harshly? Why was their generation destined for destruction? They made up the generation that had to make a [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 29 In this conclusion to his talk from a few years back, Gary gives a quick hermeneutics lesson using Matthew 24. Many dispensationalists assume that Matthew 24:1–34 describes a distant future tribulation, rapture, and physical return of Christ. This is a convenient interpretation for those who hold to a future orientation for all prophetic passages in S [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 28 In this talk given a few years back at a conference in Nashville, Gary introduces the topic of Bible prophecy and why it is important. At first reading, the New Testament seems to teach that the temple would be destroyed (Matt. 23:38; 24:2), Jerusalem would come under siege (Matt. 22:7), and the Old Covenant order would come to an end before the last [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 27 Gary discusses new “research” that has now determined and revealed China’s role in Bible prophecy. Ezekiel was given a revelation that described his world. Consider the following description of the trading that was taking place among the various nations in Ezekiel’s day and note how these same nations are mentioned in Ezekiel 38. Spe [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 26 No matter what happens in the Middle East—good, bad, or indifferent—it is claimed to be a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The Bible shows that the events described in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in the first century and fell upon the generation of Jews who “did not recognize the time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and crucified “the Lord of glory” ( [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 25 Gary answers a listener question about progressive dispensationalism. For centuries, theologians declared that the Papacy was the biblical antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the beast all rolled into one. I have several books in my library that take this view. For example, Richard Hurd’s chapter “Prophecies Concerning Antichrist” in his book An I [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 24 Gary responds to several critics on Facebook that disagree with his interpretation of Bible prophecy. The temple, sacrifices, city, nation, land, and feasts found their fulfillment in the New Covenant “in reference to the Spirit”: Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]