Gary continues responding to Pastor David Jeremiah’s interview and book, The Great Disappearance. All of the texts used to support the rapture theory presuppose the validity of the theory, a theory that does not have a single text to support it. The doctrine has been constructed before texts have been evaluated. This unsound approach to Bible interpretation has done little to dissuade the ad [...]
A daily double: an article and a podcast! The article is from the July 1991 issue of James Jordan’s Biblical Horizons newsletter. It shows how Jordan’s thinking and views of the whole debate over ancient and modern Jews and the state of Israel changed from his previous views that essentially followed the Puritans and the Westminster Divines. It is vital that Christians understand this [...]
Part Two of Two. Gary continues his response to Answers in Genesis’ Ken Ham. Ham uses 2 Peter 3 to show that we are in the “last days.” John Owen asks the question that so many expositors fail to ask: Where had God promised to bring “new heavens and a new earth”? The answer, as Owen correctly states, is only in Isaiah 65 and 66—passages which clearly prophesy the period of the Go [...]
Does Isaiah 11:11-12 refer to a distant return of Israel back to their land, or did it have a past fulfillment in view? No Jew reading Isaiah 11 in Isaiah’s day, during the time of the exile, and the return under the decree of Cyrus (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4), would have considered such an interpretation given that the chapter mentions Assyria, Shinar, the Philistines, Edom, Moab, “and the so [...]
How authoritative are man-man confessions of faith? Can they ever be revised or updated? How sacrosanct is historical theology? No one should despise the work of the church over its many centuries or the work it has produced over nearly two millennia. My many published works show great respect for historical works. In some circles, when there’s a disagreement, appeals are made to agreed-upon seemi [...]
Skeptics of the Bible nitpick different accounts of similar events. If the four gospels don’t align exactly at every detail, the claim is made that there are mistakes in the Bible. It seems to me that when the Gospels were put together, the compilers would have noted differences and fixed them if they were thought to be a problem historically. They didn’t. The different Gospels are an interrelated [...]
Most Christians cannot read and translate Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the languages of the Bible. As a result, for most of us, we are dependent on translations. Vernacular translations began early. The Latin Vulgate was mostly the work of Jerome (345-420). The Vulgate was adopted as the Bible translation of the Western Church. It was the first book printed using JohannesGutenberg’s printing press [...]
Non-dispensational debates on eschatology have become big news. The topic of the resurrection is often at center stage. What passages deal with the physical resurrection of the “self-same bodies” (Westminster Confession of Faith: 32.2) and “the very same body” (Larger Catechism Q/A 52) at the physical return of Jesus at some time in the future? Larger Catechism Q/A 87, “What are we to believe conc [...]
I remember a young boy crying to his mother because, “Dad hurt my feelings.” In most situations like this is a dad doing his job teaching his children how to deal with disappointment when rules are broken. It doesn’t help when one parent coddles the child with a hug and a “there, there.” The parent should ask, “What were you doing that your dad had discipline you?” The last thing we want is for ou [...]
In this concluding part of his interview with Pastor Richard Henry, Gary further discusses the recent heresy controversy. As the New Testament makes clear, apostasy was rampant almost from the church’s inception. The apostasy about which John wrote was operating in his day. Paul had to counter a “different gospel” that was “contrary” to what he had preached (Gal. 1:6–9). He had to battle “false br [...]
It’s been a busy year. As many of you may know, I and American Vision have been attacked by some high-profile Christians because I have asked some necessary questions concerning eschatology. Some of the attacks have been vicious, mean spirited, and downright ugly. The questions I am asking have been designed to construct a better understanding of the topic. Many Christians are afraid to make a stu [...]
Gary continues his interview with Pastor Richard Henry. In this second part, he summarizes some of the controversy he was involved in a few months ago. In the immediate context of the book of Daniel, and throughout the book itself, death and resurrection is a major theme. We think of death as physical death and of resurrection as the physical revival and transfiguration of men and women at the end [...]
The world and the way it functions cannot be accounted for in the atheistic world. Atheists are bound by laws of the uniformity of nature. There is no escape from this reality. Scientists know that an experiment performed today under specific conditions will function in the same way tomorrow under the same conditions because that’s the way the world was made to work. It didn’t evolve to work the w [...]
Gary discusses the biblical lessons on hearing and seeing. The Greek word typos refers to an image impressed onto something else, for instance, wax. It is the word used in Scripture for the imprint of God’s heavenly pattern on the earth, and thus it is absolutely fundamental to a Biblical worldview. In Acts 7:44 Stephen says, “Our fathers had the Tabernacle of testimony in the wilderne [...]
Gary interviews author and artist Doug Giles about his most recent book about John the Baptist. John the Baptist is a pivotal figure in biblical revelation, not only due to his placement between the Testaments in our English Bibles, but also because of the important role he plays in heralding the coming of the Lamb of God (John 1:29–30). And like all heralds, John well understood that his task was [...]
Kim reveals his paradigm in visual form with a chart called, The Structure of the Covenants. Drawing from the influence of Geerhardus Vos, Kim shows how the covenants unfold and come to pass in history and, ultimately, through the life and work of Jesus Christ. Here’s the chart needed for this episode: Click here to listen to this episode [...]
The following is an introduction to an 80-page discussion dealing with controversies regarding preterism. It’s not designed as a published work. It’s more of an accumulation of material to help people work through the debate. It goes along with two abbreviated talks I gave at Berean Bible Church’s conference “How Shall We Then Live?” You can read and/or download a copy of the 80-page study here. * [...]
Gary discusses an article and interview by Pastor Greg Laurie where he claims it is ridiculous to blame the Jews for Jesus’ death. Preterists believe that the events described in Matthew 24:1-34 were fulfilled in the events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. “The guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of [...]
Gary looks into many verses in the New Testament about whether or not Jesus drank wine with his disciples after His resurrection. Jesus gave us the meal as a New Covenant meal. And He specifically said the covenant was in the cup—not bread, or meat, or water, or anything else, but the cup which He held. It contained “the fruit of the vine”—that is, wine. This wine was “the new covenant in my blood [...]
Gary answers two listener questions Matthew 24:3 reads more accurately, “the end of the age” (aiōn), not the “end of the world” (kosmos) as some translations have it. The “end of the age” refers to the expiration of a period of time that specifically applied to the passing away of the Old Covenant era (Dan. 9:24-27; Matt. 15:24; Luke 24:27, 44). The writer of Hebrews described this time as “these [...]
