Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant A few years ago, some atheists ran an ad campaign with this banner: “Relax: hell does not exist, or heaven either, enjoy your life.” Who defines what gives someone joy and on what basis? The Declaration of Independence mentions “the pursuit of happiness.” One person’s happiness could be another person’s dread. How do we know? The Declarat [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Gary recommends a book by Pete and Rachel Wrue called End Times Explained. This book presents the many different end time views held today, without promoting any one in particular, allowing the reader to be the judge. It provides scriptural evidence as well as quotes from proponents of each position and clearly explains not only WHAT they [...]

Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.[1] [...]

“Just preach the gospel.” How many times have you heard pastors and critics of social and political action scold Christians concerned about the moral direction the church is taking for mixing the gospel with politics? The gospel is more than a life insurance program or a “Get Out of Hell Free” card. It is to transform everything we think about and act on. There is no neutrality or areas that are o [...]

Gary responds to a video clip of Bart Ehrman about various laws from Leviticus. All of life is ethical, and all of the Bible is permeated with a concern for ethics. Unlike the organization of an encyclopedia, our Bible was not written in such a way that it devotes separate sections exclusively to various topics of interest. Hence the Bible does not contain one separate, self-contained book or chap [...]

Gary discusses a few “contradictions” commonly pointed out by critics. The Bible is literature. God speaks to us in words and themes that can be understood. Not all literature can be interpreted in the same way. Some will claim that the Bible must be interpreted literally. But what does that mean? There are always caveats. Does a dragon really mean a dragon? Should you really pluck out [...]

Gary answers email questions that he has received recently about Romans 11 and what “all Israel” being saved means. During the sixteenth century, in the Reformation and immediate post-Reformation period, several theologians addressed the question of Israel’s place in God’s plans for the future. Theodore Beza, John Calvin’s successor in Geneva, taught, according to Eng [...]

Gary answers a listener question about the parenthetical statement in the Gospels about “letting the reader understand.” Earlier in Israel’s history, God threatened desolation because the Jews had defiled the temple with detestable things and abominations. “‘So as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all [...]

STEPHEN WHITSETT, M.Div. Th.M. Ph.D., is a Professor at Southern Region LIFE Bible College. I have not been able to find anything about this college. It does not matter because going to college and having academic credentials carry little weight with me. He wrote some comments about my response to Jason Bradfield on mellō. (see my articles on Americanvision.org) Whitsett is a published author. He [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Gary responds to comments from critics on Facebook to his recent article about Acts 24:15 and the Greek word mellō. As we have repeatedly had occasion to say in this serie [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Guest article by Jake Litwin About the image: “The bar chart that runs along the bottom represents all the chapters in the Bible, starting with Genesis 1 on the left. Book [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Jason Bradfield seems to have forgotten what he wrote in his first article about mellō. Let me refresh his memory with what he quoted from Kim Burgess in the first volume [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Gary responds to a critic accusing him of nefarious Bible study tactics, including “cherry picking” select commentaries and tools. Jesus clearly specified that [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Jason Bradfield responded to my article about mellō (“What Does Mellō Mean in Acts 24:15?”) which was a response to his article about mellō that was a response to a commen [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Gary responds to a listener from Australia that asks about how certain Greek words are translated in the new Legacy Standard Bible. An indispensable rule in Bible interpre [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Jason Bradfield posted a lengthy article titled “Mellō and the Real Bias Problem” where he challenges the claim that the Greek word mellō always means “about to.” He state [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. Ken Gentry keeps changing his views about preterism. That’s OK because we all make changes. I believe his charges are designed to avoid having to deal with challenges to t [...]

Important Note: Gary DeMar’s Facebook page has been taken down. To keep up with the latest from Gary and American Vision or to continue the conversation from articles, podcasts, or videos, please go to the AV Facebook page here. In his well-known introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, C.S. Lewis recommends that Christians read old authors (like Athanasius, for instance) to hedge aga [...]

There has been considerable debate over the best way to interpret the three-days and three-nights language of Matthew 12:40, either as three 24-hour days of exactly 72 hours or parts of three days and three nights. Because you can’t get three full days if the count begins on Friday, some interpreters have argued for a two-Sabbath approach and a crucifixion on Wednesday and a resurrection on Saturd [...]

Gary concludes his response to a recent video discussion about his eschatological views. What does the New Testament say about when Jesus would come to judge the living and the dead? Jesus’ ascension and session are historical facts as are the other creedal statements. He came “again with glory to judge the living and the dead.” Did Jesus come “again” before that first-century generation passed aw [...]