Every time American Vision promotes the 1864 book The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States on Facebook, the historical know-it-alls come out of the woodwork. They spew the typical cliches. • The United States was founded as a secular nation. • Our nation’s founders were deists, and they used deistic language instead of biblical language. Long before 1776 and [...]
Gary responds to a recent article that discusses Matthew 24:22. The majority of today’s prophecy writers see today’s “wars and rumors of wars” as clear evidence that we are living in the last days. A study of the period before Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70 tells a different story. The Roman historian Tacitus (A.D. 56–117) writes in his history of the period that there were “disturbances in Ge [...]
Gary continues his talk about teaching history and how to make it relevant and interesting. Probably the most famous product placement story is how Reeses Pieces got an advertising boost from a loveable alien. “Stephen Spielberg asked the makers of M&Ms if they would grant him permission to use their product in the 1982 film E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, but was turned down. Spielberg then turne [...]
It’s been embarrassing reading and listening to Christians who pushed the belief that the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse was an end-time event sign. Why do so many Christians fall for these types of end-time hoaxes? I first saw it in 1973 with Hal Lindsey’s mega-bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth. Long before Lindsey, prophetic speculation was rampant, and it’s no less true today. It’s all over [...]
In a talk from a few years back, Gary discusses how to teach history so that it’s relevant, memorable, and applicable. Much of what we remember sticks in our mind because of repetition. That’s how we learned to speak, read, and write. Learning to ride a bicycle, drive a car, play a musical instrument, or learn a sport came by way of repetition. We struggled when we first got on a bicycle, bu [...]
Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has a bone to pick with Jesus and Bible prophecy. He has written on the topic of Jesus and prophecy in Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (1999), Misquoting Jesus:The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (2005),and his most recent book Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says About the End (2 [...]
Gary discusses the claim that the end times are finally upon us because three eclipse paths are writing Hebrew letters across the United States. During World War II biblical references to falling heavenly bodies were thought to be bombs dropping on the cities of Europe. Supposedly there was even a Russian postage stamp to support the interpretation. The stamp showed apocalyptic symbols—lightning a [...]
In his final response to “eclipse fever,” Gary discusses the importance of using the Bible to interpret itself, rather than eclipse patterns and town names and a few scattered verses that seem to affirm the modern interpretation. It is because the heavenly bodies show God’s glory that we delight in looking at beautiful pictures of them in astronomy books. We live in a happy age, [...]
In an earlier article, I mentioned Jack Hibbs and his claim that “replacement Theology” is the theory that the Christian Church has replaced Israel as the people that God no longer has a prophetic plan for Israel. He said the following: “Friends, that’s false doctrine. Any ministry, any pastor, any group that says ‘Israel as a nation and the Jew doesn’t matter,’ that is a doctrine of heresy, pure [...]
Gary continues his response to a video promoting “eclipse mania” about the April 8 event. Archaeological, biological, astronomical, and geological evidences do not speak except to inform us that all we see are not accidents that materialized out of the void of nothingness. The Psalmist tells us, “The heavens tell of the glory of God; and their expanse declares the work of His hands” (P [...]
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, stated that according to the Bible, Israel is a “prerequisite” for the End Times. He made this claim by denouncing something called “Replacement Theology” as “heresy.” Replacement Theology is said to be a false doctrine that declares that the church has replaced Israel, and that God is done with the Jews. (I’ll deal with the particulars [...]
Gary discusses the history of speculation and the baseless theories of those saying they interpret the Bible “literally.” What’s true of sun, moon, and stars, representing the nation of Israel, is also true of “the powers of the heavens [that] will be shaken.” With this type of language, “God is redrawing the map of world politics, and the familiar structures of international affairs w [...]
Gary discusses why the United States is NOT a democracy, despite how many politicians and reporters say it is. Most Americans are under the false impression that our system of constitutional government is a democracy. To be sure, there are certainly democratic elements present. The First Amendment to the Constitution states, “The people” have the right “to petition the Government [...]
There’s a video going around by Jim Staley titled “The 2024 Solar Eclipse and INSANE Prophecy Events Are Coming!” Here’s the description: This solar eclipse could be THE SOLAR ECLIPSE that unleashes one of the seals of Revelation. I wasn’t a believer at first, but after hundreds of hours of research, I am literally in awe of all the “coincidences.” DO NOT miss this, whatever you do! Along with doz [...]
Gary discusses statements made by Texas state representative James Talarico, who claims to be a Christian and recently said a number of things publicly that actually pit the Bible against itself. Many Americans might be surprised to learn that the Supreme Court building has a number of depictions of the Ten Commandments and other lawgivers prominently displayed, some of which are carved in stone, [...]
In September 2021, many people went into a frenzy when the United States Postal Service announced that their mail delivery service would become permanently slower. This new phenomenon is called Pre-Parcel Anxiety. “We live in a society where we build expectations and uphold perfectionism. We want things here and now. We want efficiency and struggle with patience,” psychotherapist Owen O’Kane expla [...]
Gary concludes his talk about Christian involvement in culture and politics by summarizing several popular objections. Pastor and author John Piper uses Hebrews 13:14, 1 Peter 2:11, and Philippians 3:20 in an attempt to dispel the idea that Christians can have a lasting impact on this world. He writes that Christians “exert influence as happy, brokenhearted outsiders” who should only count on havi [...]
Gary continues his talk about worldviews and Christian involvement. During the French Revolution, Christianity was deliberately being erased by political elitists, but this did not mean that religion itself would be banished. The vacuum was filled with a new god. The French “proclaimed the goddess of Reason in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and in other churches in France… In Paris, the godd [...]
To understand the relationship between Church and State we need to go to the source, and that source is not the United States Constitution. Modern-day social theory is based on an evolutionary model. This means that there is no way to account for morality, governmental jurisdictions, or separation of powers since these principles are found in the Bible. Some will argue that they can be accounted f [...]
In this first part of a recent talk, Gary discusses the worldview implications of Bible prophecy. Biblical Christianity has always been historical. The early creeds of the Church are simply recitals of the history of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. These all occurred on earth, in history (Luke 1:1–4; 2:1–2; 3:1–2). It would be more than strange if the King had come to earth, died on earth, [...]
