As anyone who is familiar with Bible prophecy knows, Russia was the designated end-time bad guy throughout the last century. With the fall of the former Soviet Union, prophetic speculators have regrouped to paint a new end-time picture based on current headlines. The takeover of the American Embassy by a group of Islamic extremists during the Carter administration fueled speculation that Islam was [...]

“[P]rofessional God-slayer Richard Dawkins begrudgingly admitted that Christianity may actually be our best defense against aberrant forms of religion that threaten the world.” Here’s what he said: “There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for aposta [...]

I’ve been writing on the subject of eschatology (the study of the last things) for a long time and countering the argument that a near end-time apocalypse is around the corner. Over the years I have participated in innumerable debates, written ten books on the subject, and published nearly 100 articles. If there’s anyone new to this subject, I can assure you that there’s nothing new in what prophe [...]

People have been trying to identify a particular antichrist for centuries. Christopher Hill’s book on the subject just deals with antichrist in seventeenth-century England. (There were many more through the centuries and in other countries.) The candidates included Protestants, the Pope, radical sects, bishops, the Crown, the “‘Establishment’ generally,” the universities, and “the Turk,” an early [...]

“The newspaper has no prerogative to challenge God’s word of truth. Nor do those who read the newspapers.” ((Greg L. Bahnsen, “The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism,” The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Symposium on the Millennium, ed. Gary North, 3:2 (Winter 1976–77), 53–55.)) With Russia involved in Syria, the prophecy pundits are making prediction [...]

William Cowper’s hymn “God moves in a Mysterious Way” is an apt description of what is happening in public (government) schools across our nation. One would have thought that tens of millions of Christian parents would have realized by now that the schools that propagandize their children six hours each day, five days each week, ten months each year for 12 years would have gotten the message by no [...]

In a previous article, I mentioned that dispensationalist Thomas Ice and semi-dispensationalist Alan Kurschner will be debating the “rapture” question on September 25th in Plano, Texas. The debate thesis is: “The Church Will Face the Antichrist Before the Rapture.” Kurschner is taking the affirmative (prewrath, semi-dispensational position) and Ice is taking the denial (pretribulational, full disp [...]

Dispensationalist Thomas Ice and semi-dispensationalist Alan Kurschner will be debating the “rapture” question on September 25th in Plano, Texas. The debate thesis is: “The Church Will Face the Antichrist Before the Rapture.” Kurschner is taking the affirmative (prewrath, semi-dispensational position) and Ice is taking the denial (pretribulational, full dispensational position). Put simply, Thomas [...]

With all kinds of alarming end-times predictions in the air, there has rarely been a greater need for some common sense on Bible prophecy. I would like to introduce you to a resource that meets that need perfectly: A Beginner’s Guide to Interpreting Bible Prophecy: A Five-Part Study. The topic of Bible prophecy is always in the news. The latest prediction is that something prophetic is going [...]

In a previous article (Joel Richardson Issues Challenge to Hank Hanegraaff Over “Replacement Theology”) I dealt with some of the exegetical issues related to the charge that if a Christian does not follow the end-time prophetic scenario of dispensational premillennialism and some of its sister views, then that person is labeled a “supercessionist” who believes that the Church replaces Israel in Go [...]

The following is reported on WND’s website: “It could shape up to be a battle between theological titans. Religious teacher, human rights activist and New York Times best-selling author of “The Islamic Antichrist” Joel Richardson is calling for a public debate with Hendrik ‘Hank’ Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute. The subject would be ‘replacement theology,’ a c [...]

I’ve been asked by a number of people to respond to an article by Erica Williams Simon titled “There are 6 Scriptures about homosexuality in the Bible. Here’s what they really say.” Here’s her introduction: “I’m the daughter of two ministers and still spend every Sunday in church, so I grew up studying the Bible pretty closely. But in all my years, I&rsquo [...]

I know I’m going to get into trouble for writing this article. That’s OK. It needs to be said. While there are numerous contributing factors as to why we are at this point in time with the Supreme Court about to redefine the very nature of the family and what it might mean long-term for our nation, there are two specific items that I want to address in this article. [...]

The attached article deals with the argument that preterism was concocted by the Jesuit Luis De Alcazar to divert attention away from the Reformational claim that the Roman Catholic Church is the end-time antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the harlot. While the article is mainly geared to answering the charge of dispensationalists, it also applies to Historicist critics of preterism. The arti [...]

The enemies of the truth are always awfully nice. Truth is the strong compost in which beauty may sometimes germinate. Christopher Morley (1890-1957) President Obama said the following during an Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House: “On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love. And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than loving express [...]

Deflated footballs are in the news. In fact, the story is so popular that all the major networks led with the story even though almost nobody in the United States will be financially affected by the outcome. No one will lose any freedom, be forced to pay a tax, or have a pile of new regulations stacked on them. “On Thursday night, the ‘big three’ of ABC, CBS, and NBC each covered the news that the [...]

A few years ago I wrote “A Beginner’s Guide to Bible Prophecy.” It’s in four parts, and it’s illustrated. It’s the very beginning of trying to understand the topic. Some of what’s included in the guide are points I make during some of my talks on the subject. You can download it here: A Beginners Guide to Bible Prophecy Feel free to pass it around. “ [...]

Newsweek magazine has published its first 2015 issue with the lead article “The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin” written by Kurt Eichenwald. The question is, however, who is misunderstanding the Bible? Could it be that Mr. Eichenwald is the one doing the misunderstanding? Certainly a lot of people do misunderstand the Bible. Much of the misunderstanding comes from a simple lack of Bible knowled [...]

Three articles caught my attention. In the first one, a former Seventh Day Adventist pastor “pledged to live 2014 god-free in order to test his faith.” He “now says he is contemplating leaving religion for good.” Ryan Bell had “resigned as pastor of the church he had worked at for 19 years. He had become uncomfortable with the way his religion has handled homosexuality and felt that the organizati [...]

One of the foundation stones of dispensationalism in particular and futurism in general is the claim that “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 either refers to a future generation (“the generation that sees these signs”) or the Jewish race. Norman Geisler, in his critique of Hank Hanegraaff’s The Apocalypse Code, argues that the Greek word genea should be translated “race.” He writes: “as virtually [...]