The dispensationalists begin with the claim that God’s redemptive program to Israel failed at Jesus’ first coming. Because of this failure, so the argument goes, God turned His attention to a new redemptive people called “the Church” and a new redemptive era called the “Church Age.” Like the pre-trib rapture doctrine, there is no verse that actually describes such a distinction. Nowhere do we find [...]
“Please unsubscribe me from all mail from American Vision. Your replacement theology viewpoint is not in accordance with Scripture.” -from an email received at AV Replacement theology has become dispensationalism’s latest prophetic boogeyman. If you want to end a debate over eschatology, just charge your opponent with holding to replacement theology. What is “replacement theology,” sometimes [...]
The following article was written in 1996 in response to an article that former President Jimmy Carter wrote on the topic of “Judge Not” as it relates to homosexuality and abortion. I decided to revive it for two reasons. First, it’s been reported that Carter’s son Jack may run for the Senate in Nevada. He is described as a “social liberal with conservative Southern roots.”[1] That’s exactly what [...]
Many who are arguing for “under God” to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance are doing so by declaring that the phrase has no particular religious meaning for our nation today. This was the view of Solicitor General Theodore Olson when the Pledge issue first came before the Supreme Court in 2004. “Olson argued that the phrase is viewed as an ‘acknowledgment’ of religion’s role in the lives of Americ [...]
“I will never purchase a book published by Tyndale again. If they are going to publish that trash by Hannegraff [sic] I have no more time for them.” This emailer was responding to American Vision’s offer of the latest novel by Hank Hanegraaff that takes a preterist perspective on Bible prophecy. While the Left Behind series, also published by Tyndale, places the NT prophetic texts in our future, H [...]
While answering questions about the “rapture” on Stu Epperson’s radio show out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one caller claimed that the land promises made to Israel have not been fulfilled. For the dispensationalist, there remains a reanimation of covenant promises that, according to the Bible, already have been fulfilled. The caller continued to insist that the land promises had not been ful [...]
The official emblem of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is adorned with three crosses. A federal lawsuit alleges the crosses, which are religious symbols, are unconstitutional because they appear on public property. **“**The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens,” said the lawsuit filed by Paul F. Weinbaum, a member of the recent [...]
Simon Wiesenthal died on September 20, 2005. Wiesenthal made it his mission in life to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. He is best known for his role in tracking down SS leader Adolf Eichmann. “Eichmann was found in Argentina, abducted by Israeli agents in 1960, tried and hanged for crimes committed against Jews.”[1] Wiesenthal was after justice not revenge. This is an important distinction. B [...]
In an April 2004 article, Hal Lindsey claimed that the Bible predicts that oil will be discovered in Israel. Now there is a book that attempts to make the same case: Breaking the Treasure Code: The Hunt for Israel’s Oil.[1] The book’s description reads as follows: A treasure map was hidden in the Bible more than three thousand years ago. The treasure, a gift from God to Israel, was buried in the s [...]
A Greenville Technical College official twice referred to New Orleans evacuees in Greenville, South Carolina, as “yard apes.” The college immediately removed the offending employee. “She’s not a member of this institution today,” said Greenville Tech President Tom Barton. “Too much damage had been done.” As we might expect, there was outrage—and rightly so. How can someone in the twenty-first cent [...]
Some dispensationalists are dangerous. When Jews were being exterminated under Adolf Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy, a number of prominent dispensational writers believed that prophecy had set the course of inevitability for the Jews. According to dispensationalism, two-thirds of the Jews will be killed during a future “great tribulation” (Zech. 13:8). This led some to advocate a “hands off” approach [...]
When the topic of the end times comes up in conversation, the first piece of evidence given that our generation is indeed the “Rapture Generation” is the state of the world, both its moral character and natural calamities. Nearly all prophetic writers point to the signs of wars, famines, plagues, lawlessness, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes as prime indicators that the whole prophetic scenar [...]
One of the keys that opens prophetic texts is the time element. Abraham’s descendants were strangers in the land of Egypt where they would be “enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). This prophecy was fulfilled “to the very day” (Ex. 12:40). Joseph was told of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine (Gen. 45:6). Times of famine and plenty that follow these two seven-year i [...]
The prophetic prognosticators are at the prediction game again. Greg Laurie, author of Are We Living in the Last Days?,” is peering through contemporary events like Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, 9–11, and the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004 and claiming that these events are a prelude to the “rapture” of the church. George Noory, host of “Coast to Coast AM,” follows a sim [...]
The American Atheists organization says President Bush should stop urging prayer for Hurricane Katrina victims because it violates the Constitution. Ellen Johnson, president of the group, said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Bush “should not be violating the Constitution by telling people to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It’s unconstitutional for government officials to be promotin [...]
The blame game will continue as politicians and political action groups jockey for position and funding for the upcoming elections in 2006 and 2008. Acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, and just plain hard work will be rightly honored. Religious organizations will gain new respect from the people being ministered to in both body and spirit. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will probably be rebuilt after [...]
Evolutionary scientists have just been let loose in the Genome candy store. After comparing the genetic structure of humans and chimpanzees, they’ve discovered that they share “an almost identical genetic inheritance” an “‘elegant confirmation’ of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.” Here’s the first part of Steve Sternberg’s description of the announcement in USA Today:[1] The 3 billion genetic [...]
Gas panic hit Atlanta on Wednesday. Prices went from $2.65 in the morning to $3.10 by mid-afternoon. Some stations were selling gas for nearly $6.00 per gallon. Some have called this “price gouging.” A rumor, factual or not, had been circulating that gas supplies were limited and new inventory was hampered because of pipeline disruptions. Uncertainty figures into economic decision making. How does [...]
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is blaming the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on climate changes that are the result of the United States’ unwillingness to be trapped by the provisions of the Kyoto Treaty. I find it interesting that Kennedy and other secularists have no problem believing that “Mother Nature” is in the judgment business, but an all holy God is not. Polluting the air seems to be to [...]
I’ve always wanted to see the La Brea Tar Pits. Ever since I was a boy I had heard stories of the famed petroleum pits that hold millions of fossils. When my wife, my youngest son, and I were in California a few weeks ago, we took time to visit the archeological find in the heart of downtown Los Angeles located in the Miracle Mile District.[1] Oil literally seeps to the surface through fissures in [...]
