Gary discusses a recent article that speculates about the potential end of the Biden presidency and sensational interpretations of Bible prophecy.
We should be wary of allowing current events to shape the way Scripture is interpreted. There is a long history of failure.
God had promised to give the land of Canaan to Israel (Num. 13:1–2). Just as God was about to bring the Israelites into the land, He put forth one more test. Twelve men, twelve representatives of the nation, a representative for each tribe, were sent to spy out the land (13:2). They spent forty days at their task after which they returned with evidence of everything God had told them: “Indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey” (13:25–27). But they also brought back a report about giants (13:28, 31–33).
You know the story. The majority believed the report of the spies instead of the many promises made by God. Forty years were wasted in the wilderness because of unbelief. God’s Word was evaluated in terms of external circumstances. The paganism of Canaan festered for forty more years because the salve of Israel could not be applied. A generation died in the wilderness because of the failure to believe God’s promise. But the forty years did pass.
This time Israel would enter the land, but not before God set them straight on the difference between walking by sight and walking by faith. The previous generation chose to walk by sight: “We became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (13:33). They acted on what they saw. Notice the promise about the land: “I am going to give [the land] to the sons of Israel” (13:2). Contrast the unbelieving response of the Israelites who saw God deliver them from every obstacle with that of Rahab who only heard about it:
Now before [the two spies] lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath (Joshua 2:8–11).
Forty years before, current events gave the impression that they would be defeated by the Canaanites, by the cultural giants of their day. They were mistaken. The residents of the land thought of themselves as the grasshoppers and the Israelites as the giants. Forty years were wasted in the wilderness because what they saw— “There are giants in the land!”—obscured what God had promised. Circumstances are not always accurate indicators of what God is doing in the world (cf. John 9:1–12). Instead of the disintegration of the church, we may be witnessing the disintegration of humanism.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths takes a closer look at God's Word and applies it to erroneous misinterpretations of the Bible that have resulted in a virtual shut-down of the church's full-orbed mission in the world (Acts 20:27). Due to these mistaken interpretations and applications of popular Bible texts to contemporary issues, the Christian faith is being thrown out and trampled under foot by men (Matt. 5:13).
Buy NowGary discusses a recent article written by Scott Lively on WorldNetDaily. In the article, Lively bolsters his political views about the Biden presidency by speculating about Russia, Ukraine, and sensational interpretations of Bible prophecy. Gary points out that Lively’s political arguments can stand on their own and don’t need—and aren’t helped by—appealing to dispensational “end times” prophetic scenarios.