In a debate I had with Dr. Michael Brown, I asked him what he thought of the supposed future Jewish holocaust that’s part of premillennialism’s prophetic system based on Zechariah 13:8-9: “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the LORD, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, [...]
Gary answers the perennial charge of “replacement theology,” a phrase that is designed to end debate by those who teach that the church and Israel are distinct and separate. Israel’s spiritual destiny is the same as it is for non-Israelites: Repent and believe in Jesus! No one said anything about a delay in the promises that had been made to Israel centuries ago. In fact, Peter clearly [...]
Gary discusses a new article by Greg Laurie that makes the (same old) argument that modern events “could be” fulfilling biblical prophecies. Most interpreters have tried to find the fulfillment in events of their day using current events as the interpretive grid. For example, in the fourth and fifth centuries, Gog was thought to refer to the Goths and Moors. In the seventh century, it [...]
There’s a great deal of confusion today regarding the last days and the role that Israel is said to play. I hope the following will clear up some of the mischaracterizations of Israel and the last days. Are we to believe that one last-days generation will be grafted into the olive tree mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Romans 11 after 2000 years, and that’s what Paul means when he wrote that “all I [...]
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 [...]
Homosexuals have been able to convince many Americans that homosexual behavior is normal using some bad logic. Since most public schools do not teach students how to think, it’s no wonder they fall for fallacious arguments. Homosexuals have also been adept at using pop culture to their advantage, placing homosexual characters in non-stereotypical roles. Then there is the normalization of homosexua [...]
Gary discusses an article from the Christianity and Civilization series about politics, Christians, and activism. In Genesis 1:1, God set up two realms, heaven and earth. The goal of history is not for earth to be forsaken, but for heaven to impress its pattern on earth. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, ” we pray. The duality of heaven and earth is to be resolved, e [...]
Gary discusses the recent ousting of Speaker McCarthy and what political writer Jason Whitlock calls the “Gaetzful 8.” Whitlock compares the 8 to Gideon’s 300 and the idea of the remnant. Gideon is called Jerubbaal, the Baal-Fighter. He is going to war against Baal, in the confidence God had given him the night before. They rose early, with the sun. The rising of the sun is a pic [...]
Personally, I don’t care much about the names of buildings or sports teams. If residents of a city, municipality, or state want to rename a building after Barack Obama, as some in a town in NJ want to do, I’m fine with it so long as it doesn’t cost me any money. The name change won’t do one thing for black people. They won’t get a better education (see test scores Baltimore Maryland public schools [...]
Gary discusses a speech given by Pastor Jack Hibbs to the Family Research Council about the state of the culture. One would be hard pressed to find modern politicians who would claim that the State is divine, but more often than not actions speak louder than words. For modern secularists, the political sphere is no less divine than the city-states of Greece and Rome and the deified nationalism of [...]
We’re entering a time when operating assumptions about the real and unreal are being put to the test. All ideas have consequences, good or bad. There is no third way. Those who deny the existence of God must experiment with operating assumptions. They can never know what will work because their worldview does not operate in terms of fundamental truths. Their “truths” are manufactured as we seen wi [...]
Gary highlights a few recent news articles that are actually encouraging. “Society” possesses no will of its own, but reflects the people’s will. The will of the people is either based on the autonomous will of men or reflects the will of the Triune God of Scripture. E.C. Wines (1806-1879) writes: In political, as well as physical science, there are certain great principles, true or false, from wh [...]
Gary answers a listener question regarding Matthew 24:29-31. Jesus’ disciples did not inquire about the end of the world (kosmos), but about the end of that covenant age (aion). When the tribulation of “those days” was completed, the religious and political structure of Israel as a covenant nation came to an end before that first-century generation passed away. Even futurists do [...]
It’s not hard to find people who are ignorant about other people’s beliefs. All you have to do is watch man-in-the street interviews. A good portion of the population is ignorant about a whole range of topics. Even students at some very prestigious universities are more familiar with the latest Taylor Swift event and love interest than with what’s happening with Ukraine, the Bidens, the plummeting [...]
Gary deals with an argument making the rounds on social media about Biblical Law. He points out that it’s very similar to the “borrowed capital” argument that atheists rely on to make their own case. Scripture does not present the law-covenant as fundamentally opposed to the grace of the New Covenant. For example, consider Hebrews 3-4. According to New Testament theology, why was [...]
It seems everyone is getting into the “last days craze.” The latest entry is Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. I’m surprised at this since AiG has stayed away from the topic. I wrote two articles about the importance of eschatology in the same way Ham wrote about the importance of creation (see here and here). I’m a big proponent of showing how the origin of life is impossible no matter how many year [...]
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 [...]
Part One of Two. Gary responds to a recent Facebook article posted by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Commentators often argue that Matthew 24 contains both a discussion of the A.D. 70 destruction of religious, social, and political Judaism as well as a reference to a yet-future return of Christ. This supposed distinction is drawn by contrasting “this generation” and “that day and hour.” Gentry wri [...]
If there is a single doctrine that both excites and divides Christians, it’s the ‘rapture.’ The doctrine of the ‘rapture’ deals with a future event where the church is said to be taken off the earth in one of five different times related to a seven-year period described as the Great Tribulation: before (pre-trib), at the mid-point (mid-trib), partial, just prior to God pours out His wrath (pre-wra [...]
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 [...]
