Washington’s Dentures, Syphilis, and Deism

I received the following email from a Christian-school family: My daughters attend a Christian School in Tucson, AZ. The 11th grade US History teacher told the class that the “founders” were deist, didn’t have a relationship with Christ – so, were not Christians, that George Washington had a sexually transmitted disease – her explanation due to the fact that he wore a [...]

Does Gold Have 'Intrinsic Value'?

Almost every conservative talk show is pushing gold and silver as a hedge against inflation, the devaluation of the dollar, and protection against uncertain economic times. Glenn Beck has been the most vocal proponent of owning gold, so much so that some liberals have called for an investigation. These are the same guys who create money out of thin air. Typical. In one particular Beck advertisemen [...]

Phony as a Counterfeit $100 Bill

The average American and most Christians have grown up with a “smorgasbord theology.” As a result, they can no longer tell the real from the counterfeit. The writer to the Hebrew Christians describes this mind-set. He stops in mid-thought, wanting to explain the priesthood of Jesus and how it is similar to the priesthood of Melchizedek. He recognizes that their spiritual discernment makes what he [...]

What are Your Expectations?

An NBC poll reported that 54% of people claimed that the last ten years were the worst decade in American history. The fault here lies with those who know little about history, American or otherwise. Our tendency is to view life through our life experiences. We measure life in terms of what we don’t have rather than what we do have. Yesterday I watched the extraordinary film Endurance (1999), the [...]

Jimmy Carter Should Stop Teaching Sunday School

The Huffington Post reports that Former President Jimmy Carter said in a recent interview with “Big Think” “that the nation’s tolerance of gays [sic] had grown to a level that could facilitate the election of a gay [sic] president.” Carter believes this would be a good thing for America. James Carville, an advisor to Bill Clinton when he was president, asked, “How do we know we haven’t had one?” I [...]

Is Christmas Really Just a Pagan Holiday in Disguise?

Every year as winter rolls around, the debate over Christmas is rejoined. People get fired up over whether others say “Merry Christmas” or not. Some say that Christmas is just a pagan celebration and Christians should have no part of it. Watch this episode of Vantage Point for a worldview discussion of this very topic. [...]

Why "In God We Trust" and "Under God" are Unnecessary

The following email was sent to me in response to an article I wrote about Michael Newdow, the lawyer who has been trying to use the courts to remove “In God We Trust” from our nation’s currency and “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Dear Mr. DeMar, You wrote: Following Newdow’s logic, equality means that America should be officially atheistic. Of course, Newdow would claim that taking “In [...]

"The Patch" and Christmas

(Gary DeMar: Since graduating from high school in 1968, I’ve reconnected with a number of classmates, many of whom I had not seen in 40 years until I attended our school’s class reunion in 2008. It’s amazing to find that many of them are Christians. John Ryce is one of them. His story is very similar to mine. I know you’ll enjoy “‘The Patch’ and Christmas.”) By John R [...]

The Christmas Story is Not about a Homeless Couple

With Congress wrangling over amnesty for illegal aliens, the budget, taxes, earmarks, and the extension of unemployment benefits, it won’t be long before we hear liberals telling conservatives how unchristian they are for not voting for more government aid to help the poor. And they will appeal to the Bible in an attempt to make their point. Every Christmas season we hear the inevitable revisionis [...]

A Modern Crime from the Bible

My daughter-in-law’s mother teaches orchestra at a local public school. One day, as she was going down the stairs, she slipped and fell and received a sever shoulder injury that required surgery. She could have been killed. It turns out that a student had squirted baby oil on the steps. The administration did very little to track down the culprits. No one was ever charged. My daughter-in-law&rsquo [...]

Democracy Good and Bad

“You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice” (Ex. 23:2). As I mentioned in a previous article, The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) claims that American Vision believes that the “U.S. was founded as a ‘Christian nation’ and that its democracy should be replaced with a theocratic government ba [...]

Prophetic Speculation under the Microscope

In yesterday’s article, “Testing the Prophets (Again),” I began a brief response to Greg Laurie’s article “Are these signs of the times?” I included comments From H. Wayne House who is a NT scholar and takes a dispensational premillennial approach to the passage. One of House’s points is that the “wars and rumors of wars” mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:6 had to be global. But notice Jesus’ words [...]

Testing the Prophets (Again)

As this millennial decade comes to an end and North Korea is rattling its military sword, popular Christian writers will reach into their prophecy bags, appeal to the Bible, and tell us that the end is near. The more judicious ones don’t come right out and say Jesus’ coming will take place in “our generation”; they temper their claims with something like this: “So is the end of the world near? [...]

A Biblical View of Private Property

[caption id=“attachment_3757” align=“alignleft” width=“130” caption=“Jezebel and Ahab Plot to Steal Naboth’s Vineyard”][/caption] God’s sovereignty includes ownership of all His creation. Melchizedek, in blessing Abram, said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19; cf. v. 22). The Bible continues the relat [...]

How a Legacy Can be Squandered

Frank Schaeffer, the son of the late Christian worldview apologist Francis Schaeffer (1912–1984), writes the following in a post-election article that was published on the ultra-liberal Huffington Post website: “One reason the Republicans won on Tuesday is because many of their supporters have already given up on this world and are waiting for the next. I know, I used to be one of them.” One of th [...]

Does the Bible Teach Bullying?

Bullying is a hot topic right now, especially in relation to homosexuality. Some would argue that the teachings in the Bible regarding homosexuality lead to bullying and mistreatment of homosexuals. When the law arrests someone for committing a crime, is that bullying? [...]

Post Election Reflection

There’s been a lot of post-election reflection. One of the more interesting trends that has surfaced is that evangelicals got back into the political battle. From about 1925 to 1975, evangelicals were not viewed as a definitive voting-block. Evangelicals were generally dismissive of politics for a variety of reasons. The 1973 pro-abortion Roe v. Wade decision and the earlier 1962 prayer ((Engel v. [...]

The Historical Revisionists are on the War Path

At the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s Nov. 9-10, 2010 annual meeting in Hampton, Virginia, the participants “adopted a resolution decrying versions of American history that minimize or deny the role of church-state separation and encouraging diligence in correcting mistaken historical accounts.” The resolution, which was passed by a wide margin, considers it “‘a threat to the flourishin [...]

Is There a Distinctly Biblical Economics?

Can economics be studied from a Christian perspective? Is there a distinctly biblical economics, or is the biblical approach to economic issues only one approach among many? Some might maintain that economics is a “neutral” enterprise where religion in general and Christianity in particular are irrelevant. This, however, is not the Christian view. Economics deals with relationships, the exchange o [...]

Why Liberals Can't Deal with Bullying

The television show “Glee” (a show I’ve never seen) is going to deal with bullying later this season. I suspect that bullying has been going on for a long time. The strong often prey on the weak for any number of reasons. Bullies are cowards. They are middle management. Those at the top of the social pecking order hardly ever bully. They don’t need to. Those in the middle bully to claim what’s lef [...]