John Bevere claims “we are closer to the return of Jesus than most believers realize.” Anyone can say this who believes the future physical return of Jesus is closer, whether it’s next week or the next millennium. Bevere considers closer to mean really close, like any day now, while he dismisses the biblical insistence that the coming of Jesus was “near” for that first-century generation (Matt. 24 [...]
Gary discusses an article on the Front Page Magazine website about the current state of craziness in western culture. The Stylites lived on pillars (stylos is the Greek word for “pillar”). These “pillar saints,” as they were called, followed the example of a recluse named Simeon who lived in the fourth century. Simeon’s desire to be a super-spiritual saint began when he was a boy. He chose the lif [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 83 Gary responds to a Facebook video where an individual claims that the Gospel must be preached in the “whole world” before the end comes. Many who read Matthew 24:14 conclude that there is no way the gospel could have been preached in the whole world before the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Our first commitment is to what the Bible sa [...]
A battle is raging over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. With the latest happenings in Iran, many Christians are excited about the prospects of doomsday because they will not be around to witness it. Gog and Magog, Zechariah 14, Jeremiah 49, Isaiah 21-22, and the mention of Elam, and, of course, “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24). For the futurist scenario outlined by modern prophecy writers to oc [...]
Gary answers a very often-asked question these days about Israel’s role in the biblical “end times.” 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 ever have [...]
I received an email about “the younger generation, millennials, genZs, etc., are not interested in the end times” but are attracted to the Roman Catholic Church. This is not a new phenomenon, and it’s not only the younger generations. The RCC is safer. A single authority speaks for the church and its members. For the most part, everyone is operating with the same playbook. There aren’t any debates [...]
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, [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 82 Gary continues his overview of biblical eschatology by refuting current speculation about the “prophecy of Elam.” The “four corners of the earth” or “land” in Isaiah 11 presents no difficulty since the Israelites that were taken into captivity were often sold to other neighboring nations (Ezek. 27:13; Joel 3:7; Amos 1:6, 9). The use of “fo [...]
There are reports that troops are being told that what’s happening with Iran is a divine end-time event related to the return of Jesus and Armageddon. I’ve seen reports that Pete Hegseth is pushing this narrative. I find that claim hard to believe, since Hegseth is a member of a CREC Church affiliated with the denomination founded by Douglas Wilson. Wilson certainly does not believe that Armageddo [...]
Gary introduces a two-part discussion about all the recent speculation and finding biblical “proof” that the current Iran invasion is fulfilling Bible prophecy. Tim LaHaye writes that the image of the sun, moon, and eleven stars of Genesis 37:9 and the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,” and having “on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1) “is a reference [...]
“You shall not steal” is a fundamental biblical commandment that’s found in both Testaments (Ex. 20:15; 21:16; Lev. 19:11, 13; Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9). If property is theft, as one Christian stated on his Facebook page, then every person in the world is a thief because everyone owns something. Property rights are fundamental in the Bible, so much so that they’ve been written into our nation’s laws [...]
Gary responds to a Facebook reel from an individual in clerical garb defending abortion. The New Testament does not accept neutrality as a Christian response to man and his world. A fellow-Jew, beaten, robbed and left for dead, is ignored by a priest and a Levite. These “religious” men, in order to protect themselves from ceremonial uncleanness, “passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:32). Isn’t th [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 81 You’ve probably heard it said that the Gospel going out into all the world is a sign that Jesus’ second coming is near. Many who read Matthew 24:14 conclude that there is no way the gospel could have been preached in the whole world before the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Our first commitment is to what the Bible says by letting its [...]
Jesse Jackson died after a long illness. In 1973, Jesse Jackson said the following: “Abortion is black genocide…. What happens to the mind of a person and the moral fabric of a nation that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience?”[1] Jackson saw there was more money to be made as a pro-abortionist. See the timeline of Jackson’s flip-flop on the issue. The Black Pant [...]
Gary invites Kim Burgess back to the podcast to conclude his series on the resurrection and 1 Corinthians 15. We are not saying the world is now ethereal; we are not being Gnostic; we are not being anti-creation in terms of the material reality of Genesis 1. We are saying that the salvation that was going to come to the Gentile nations in the Genesis space-time creation order was going to come thr [...]
In a sermon this past Sunday, we heard about Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus as He passed by. Our pastor, uncharacteristically, even sang the first few lines of ‘Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man.’ Zacchaeus was a wee little man And a wee little man was he He climbed up in a sycamore tree For the Lord he wanted to see Zacchaeus may have been a “wee little man,” but he was complicit in bein [...]
Gary gives an update on what he’s been working on lately, and responds to an article about the antichrist by Jase Robertson. No matter what century you study, prophetic speculation was prevalent. There have been numerous antichrist candidates. Early Christian thinkers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus speculated on the topic, sometimes linking the Antichrist to the Roman Empire and t [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 80 Gary responds to a Facebook video by an individual claiming that the rapture and the end times are very “soon” to begin. In terms of audience relevance related to a study of the Olivet Discourse, students of Scripture need to begin with Matthew 21:1 where we read that Jesus and some of His disciples had come “to the Mount of Olives.” By th [...]
Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates. This lack of Bible-reading explains why Americans know so little about the Bible that is the basis of the faith of most of them. For example, eight in ten Americans say they are Christians, but only four in ten know that Jesus, according to the Bible, deli [...]
It was Saul Alinsky in Rules for Radicals who wrote, “Do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing—but this will only swing people to the right. Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.”[1] It could be argued that, because we have limited our application of the Bibl [...]
