If there’s one passage of Scripture that is repeatedly brought up as an indictment against people who object to modern-day prophetic speculation it is 2 Peter 3:3–18. If you dispute with those who argue that all the signs around us indicate that we are living in the “last days,” then you are labeled a “scoffer” or a “mocker” (2 Peter 3:3; Jude 18). If this is how the passage is to be understood, t [...]
You’ve heard people claim that the Bible is not a textbook on particular topics. While that’s generally true, it also depends on what is meant by “textbook.” The Bible is a book about all of life. Everything that it speaks of is useful and true for all times and all people. Humanity needs special revelation in order to see life from God’s perspective, rather than thro [...]
I continue to see debates about the proper understanding of “this generation” repeatedly used by Jesus in the gospels. Does “this generation” refer exclusively to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking, or is it somewhat elastic and expansive to include the entire New Covenant era? First, genea (generation) always means people living at the same time. It does not mean “race” (genos) or “nation” [...]
Which is more important, Adam’s Fall or the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? It seems like such a simple question for a Christian to answer. The answer seems so easy. Obviously, the resurrection is more important, now and in eternity. If there had been no resurrection of Christ, our faith would be vain. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if [...]
Over the weekend, I spoke at two churches on Christian worldview issues. Friday and Saturday Andrew Sandlin and I spoke at Church of the King on the topic “Kingdom Culture: Far as the Curse is Found.” On Sunday morning I spoke at Christian Fellowship Church on what I have titled “Exposing Grape Juice Christianity.” The title of Sunday’s message came to me after celebrating the Lord’s Supper with a [...]
There are numerous Christians who believe that a personal and private faith is all the gospel requires. Os Guinness described this as “The Private-Zoo Factor,”[1] a religion that is caged so that it loses its wildness. When true Christianity is applied to any part of the world, it blossoms far more fully and colorfully than we ever could have imagined. Everything seemed possible within the boundar [...]
Christian social irrelevancy manifests itself in several ways even while claiming to be fully biblical. There are those who believe the church is an earthly parenthesis—the “church age” to give its proper designation—and the world is destined for an inevitable eschatological showdown with the antichrist but only before the church is “raptured” out of the world. Look at most prophecy books that hit [...]
I received a message from a supporter who pointed me to a Glenn Beck interview with Amir Tsarfati’s and his new book Operation Joktan. Tsarfati was raised in a Jewish home but later converted to Christianity. He believes Ezekiel 38–39 are about modern-day Russia. His eschatology is dispensational. He claimed in the interview that there will be an end-time antichrist and a rebuilt temple. Anyone fa [...]
So often New Testament books are interpreted without reference to the Old Testament even though they are written against the backdrop of the Old Testament (e.g., Matt. 24:29–31). Try interpreting the book of Hebrews without reference to the Old Testament. It’s impossible. The same is true for Revelation. Revelation cannot be understood against the backdrop of the 21st century even though it applie [...]
As institutions, Church and State are separate but not so separate that either one can deny the law of God as it applies to each of them. “This separation in no way implies a radical antithesis between God and State, between Christianity and State, between morality and State, between Bible and State." [1] The biblical relationship between Church and State must be considered. A jurisdictional [...]
Family, church, and civil governments reflect the self-government of the people, whether good or bad. At the civil level, a nation gets what it votes for. Civil government, no matter how righteously conceived, cannot make people better. Leadership, like water, rises to its own level, the righteousness or unrighteousness of the people. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, gave this advice to [...]
An article in GQ magazine written by the editors declared that the Bible is one of 21 books that you don’t need to read. It’s 12th on the list and the description by Jesse Ball begins with the following comment: The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. More people live by it that have not read it, and that’s the main rea [...]
Were the miracles in the Bible tricks? Was Jesus an extraordinary stage magician? Did He pretend to raise people from the dead, walk on water, and feed thousands? Was Jesus like Jim Jones, using some of His followers to concoct an elaborate deception on the people to build a following of nationalist zealots to overthrow the Romans? Some people believe this, even though Jesus rejected any notion of [...]
I saw a short video by someone named Paul Williams. I don’t much about him. Actually, I don’t anything about him. James White texted me and said he is a former Anglican who became a Muslim. But since he is a homosexual, that did not sit well with the Muslim community, who at first praised his defection from Christianity. Williams is articulate, and with his British accent, he sounds authoritative. [...]
Michael Tomasky, writing for the New Republic (January 10, 2022), called for bold political action: “In 2022, Democrats Must Put the GOP’s Threats to Democracy on the Ballot.” “Threats to Democracy”? Does he mean stacking the Supreme Court by adding more Leftist Justices because he does not like the conservatives on the court and allowing non-Citizens to vote? Does he mean canceling and censoring [...]
If a person rejects Christianity, he has not set himself free from the concept of faith. He has only transferred his faith to something or someone else. For Carl Sagan, the cosmos is god, a glorious accidental substitute for what he believed were ancient, pre-scientific beliefs about the deity and the origin and nature of the universe. The very idea of a personal God, in Sagan’s worldview, is simp [...]
God assures believers He will “abolish all rule and all authority and power” in opposition to His kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:24). While Satan rails against the church, God promises “the gates of Hades shall not overpower” it (Matthew 16:18). Jesus describes the church as a marching army, ready and able to move against the stationary gates of Hades. Satan and his minions are on the defensive as the [...]
In a previous article, I discussed some translation missteps that are frustratingly unnecessary. Let’s move on to more critical examples when it comes to verse tenses. The following is from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: KIRK: What’s going to happen when you release the whales? GILLIAN: They’re gonna have to take their chances. KIRK: What does that mean, exactly? ‘Take their chances.’ GILLIAN: It [...]
The battle today is over lordship. The issue of politics today is the issue of sovereignty. Who is the Lord of all of life to whom man must give his total allegiance, Christ or Caesar? The answer to this question is the difference between liberty and slavery, justice and tyranny. The critical issue of our day is the relationship of Jesus Christ and His Word to our political and legal system in the [...]
The goal of the Bible translator is to stay with the original text as much is linguistically possible by making judicious translation decisions that maintain the integrity of the words used by the authors. When a literal translation is not made, the reader should be notified and told why. This is done in some translations like the KJV and the NASB that italicize words that are not in the Greek tex [...]
