Picking up with Gary’s interview with the Resistance Chicks from a few months back, this third part deals with Dispensationalism and how it influences both eschatology and politics. It is evident from Scripture that with the coming of Christ (particularly after His formal, public manifestation at His baptism) the Kingdom has drawn near. There is a repeated emphasis on the proximity of the ki [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 9 Gary puts the popular claim of dividing Matthew 24 into past and future events under the exegetical microscope to see if it stands up under scrutiny. Matthew 24:33 tells us what audience Jesus had in view: “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” It’s obvious, and without any need for debate, that the [...]

Gary discusses the second volume of the book, The Hope of Israel and the Nations, and what Kim Burgess calls the “meta-hermeneutic” of the New Testament. History cannot be “sliced and diced” without destroying it. History is an organic whole! One also has to understand what the German term, Sitz im Leben, the “situation in life,” is getting at, for it is vital. One has to take fully in [...]

Jonathan Sedlak, author of Reading Matthew, Trusting Jesus: Christian Tradition and First-Century Fulfillment within Matthew 24-25 (listen to Gary’s fascinating two-part interview with Sedlak here and here), told me in a recent phone call that it was John MacArthur’s book The Second Coming: Signs of Christ’s Return and the End of the Age (2006) that led him to investigate preterism because i [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 6 Gary responds to a clip on Facebook that claims to “prove” the Rapture with two Bible verses. If Revelation 3:10 is the passage that teaches that Christians won’t go through a future seven-year tribulation period, then it needs to be studied carefully. Can it be shown that John being told to “Come up here…” (4:1) is a type of rapture that [...]

Help us turn $10K into $20K! Some people on Facebook responded to my previous article “New Covenant Theology and God’s Law” that posted September 3, 2024. Here’s one example: We have Gods law written on our hearts. We do not need ministry of death and condemnation brought by tablets of stone. Where there is law, sin multiplies. We know what is good and what is wrong. We feel it within. All of us. [...]

There are numerous critics of the application of God’s law found in the Old Testament as a standard of righteousness in the New Testament. It seems that anyone who advocates such a position has a misunderstanding of fulfillment. It’s a common charge that has been answered numerous times. The letter to the Hebrews describes in detail what laws from the Old Covenant no longer apply, and there isn’t [...]

Gary answers two listener questions, one about the Bible itself and another about sovereign citizenship. We do not defend the Christian faith as a series of separate propositions. We defend the whole package. Men are in sin. God in His grace has pursued man and has provided a revelation of himself. And what we are defending is the entire Bible. There is no way around it. And in the Bible, Jesus is [...]

Help us turn $10K into $20K! I was on a radio show some years ago talking about, naturally, Bible prophecy. I woman called in and claimed that the land promises made to Israel had not been fulfilled. There wasn’t any more time on air to discuss the claim, but I took her call at the close of the show. I took her to Joshua 21 and read the following: Thus, the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 2 Gary responds to comments on Facebook about the man of lawlessness (or sin) from 2 Thessalonians 2. Is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” a reference to the Second Coming, that is, an event that is still in our future, or is it a coming in judgment upon first-century Jerusalem that would be the event to bring the “last days” to a close (2 Thess. [...]

Gary is interviewed by Darren Doane about what actually happened during the 2023 “Three Questions” controversy. Traditionally, Christians have gotten their understanding of what passes for Biblical eschatology from the historic creeds, confessions of faith and catechisms of the Church, and from the various systematic theologies that have been written in the course of Church history per [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 1 Gary begins his new Friday series called “Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope.” A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be ev [...]

It must not be forgotten that under the Puritans in Massachusetts there was no religious freedom. They persecuted those who did not believe their way. Many of those calling for a return to “Christian America” have forgotten what this so-called “Christian” state was like. Ironically, some of them are Baptists, who have forgotten that Roger Williams—a Baptist preacher and signer of the Declaration o [...]

“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and WILL THEN RECOMPENSE EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Debates continue over which biblical passages refer to the AD 70 judgment coming of Jesus and those that refer to what is commonly called a yet physical Second Coming of Jesus. As I have pointed out, there is no agreement among scholars on this question, espec [...]

Gary answers a question from one of his YouTube videos about partial preterism, full preterism, and everything in between. The New Testament says much about the temple as a New Covenant expression of the Christian’s new life in Christ. Jesus’ completed redemptive work makes the need for a physical temple unnecessary and contrary to the redemptive principles of the New Covenant, “for the Lord God t [...]

Gary discusses the concept of “church ages” and what the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 represent. A popular argument for a pre-tribulation rapture is the claim that while the “church” is mentioned 19 times in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, in chapters 4–18 “there is absolute silence.”[1] Similar to the way Hitchcock places a gap in time betwee [...]

When is a miracle not a miracle? Answer: When it is a sign. This is not simply an exercise in semantics; it is an important theological point. Our English Bibles often treat the two words as synonyms, but this is not at all accurate. The “miracles” that Jesus performed were not merely supernatural events to amaze first-century Jews, they were intended to point to Him as the fulfillment of all that [...]

It’s distressing to read posts and comments on Facebook about the power of Satan. When I question this preoccupation, I was told I didn’t believe the Bible. “What about the magicians in Pharaoh’s court? They produced bloody water and frogs.” Haven’t these people ever watched Penn and Teller? I’m no magician, but I can make a card float inches from you. I’m doing it here: It’s a trick. I’m using de [...]

Gary responds to a recent podcast critiquing aspects of his interpretation of Bible prophecy. Many believe that 2 Thessalonians 2 describes the end times leading up to the rapture of the church, the revealing of antichrist, and the second coming. Tim LaHaye, a representative of this perspective, writes: “Second Thessalonians 2:1-12 contains the rapture, Tribulation, and Glorious Appearing all in o [...]

Gary concludes his response to a recent sermon by Pastor Jack Hibbs tying Matthew 24 and Ezekiel 38-39 together and claiming the events are still to happen. Ezekiel writes that the forces gathered to fight against Israel are after silver, gold, cattle, and goods (Ezek. 38:12–13). The Jews who had returned to Jerusalem brought silver, gold, goods, and cattle with them (Ezra 1:4–11; 2:69; 5:14; 6:5; [...]