Does the Bible Teach an Israel-Church Distinction?

Gaining a proper understanding of the Greek word ekklēsia, most often translated “church” in the New Testament, ((The Greek word ekklēsia is used 115 times in the New Testament, and in most translations it is translated as “church.” Exceptions are often found in Acts 7:38, 19:32, 39, 41, and Hebrews 2:12.)) is the key in answering the charge that non-dispensationalists teach that the church replac [...]

Chuck Smith Says the End is Near – AGAIN!

Chuck Smith is predicting that the end is near – again! At a three-day conference, with 8000 in attendance and the usual suspects misinforming thousands about Bible prophecy, Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel, delivered “a strong message of hope in a fallen world,” the Christian Post reported. And what is the message of hope? “We’re on the verge of, it looks like, a war in the Middle East [...]

Is Damascus About to be Destroyed in a Nuclear Holocaust?

A number of websites are pushing the belief that Isaiah 17 is being fulfilled in the events of the Middle East. Their claim is that the events prophesied in Isaiah 17 about Damascus were never fulfilled in history. Here’s an example: Damascus in Isaiah 17 is going to be destroyed in 1 day. This is about to occur in our lifetime in just a matter of months. It’s in the news and everywhere you [...]

Dispensationalist says Pendulum Has Swung against Dispensationalism

The following is from Michael Vlach’s article “My Thoughts on the Dispensational Study Group at ETS.” (ETS is the Evangelical Theological Society that meets yearly.) “The panel discussion was interesting. [Bruce Compton, of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary] believes there is a pendulum swing against Dispensationalism today, but he is hopeful the pendulum will swing back toward Dispensati [...]

Young Earth Creationism and Gap Theology

Young Earth Creationism (YEC) is all about interpreting the Bible literally. They take the days of creation literally as well as the genealogies. YECs are very critical of Old Earth Creationists (OEC) for not taking the Bible literally on these and other creation issues. For years I have tried to get YEC organizations that push for literalism on creation issues to insist on the same hermeneutical [...]

When Prophecy Books Go Bad

“The single best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s was not The Joy of Sex or even The Joy of Cooking; it was Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth.” ((Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York: The Free Press, 2001), 93.)) It was declared by the New York Times to be the “no. 1 non-fiction bestseller of the decade.” ((Quoted in Nan [...]

Atheists Make Better Thieves, Murderers, and Rapists

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes. Atheists are at it again” (Proverbs 26:4-5). The Backyard Skeptics have unveiled a billboard that claims “Atheists make better lovers.” The atheist billboard tells us why atheists are better lovers. It’s not due to love but because “nobod [...]

Another Liberal Argument Bites the Dust

I was surfing through Facebook looking for some good articles to comment on, and I came across this post with an accompanying sign: “If God didn’t make gays, there wouldn’t be any.” Most of the hundreds of comments I read didn’t see how absolutely illogical this attempt at being logical in support of homosexual behavior actually is. Too many of those who commented saw this as a slam-dunk refutatio [...]

Why Our Constitution Fails in Other Countries

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being raked over the coals for her comments about the use of the U.S. Constitution in a post-Mubarak Egypt. She said the following in an interview on Egyptian television: Q: Would your honor’s advice be to get a part or other countries’ constitutions as a model, or should we develop our own draft? A: You should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone [...]

The Christian’s Lot in Life is to be “Oppressed and Disenfranchised”

The following article is a follow-up to “Are Lobbying, Rallying Voters, Organizing Protests, and Harnessing the Evangelical Movement UnChristian?,” a response to Phil Johnson’s “Salt of the Earth” article that was published in the January 2012 issue of Tabletalk magazine. Our duty as citizens is to see that civil government stays within its jurisdictional boundaries. [...]

Are Lobbying, Rallying Voters, Organizing Protests, and Harnessing the Evangelical Movement UnChristian?

There is a reason we call the revelation given to us from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 the “Bible.” The Greek word biblos (βίβλος) — from which we get the English word Bible — means “book.” The Bible is one book even though it has 66 (39 + 27) individual parts. No single verse can be properly explained and understood without considering it in the light of the whole Bible. No verse can or should stan [...]

Why Liberalism Will Die by its Own Hand

On the eve of 39th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade pro-abortion decision, the Obama administration has mandated that “many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for employees.” This does not mean that Christians will have to get abortions. Keep this in mind as you read the rest of this article. Not only is Obama the food stamp president, the unemployment presiden [...]

White House Mixes Religion and Politics

Christian pastors, you are now free to talk about politics from the pulpit. You can even endorse a candidate. And when your sermon is finished, you can register people to vote right in your church. Who gave you this right? Well, first, the First Amendment does: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of [...]

Interpretive Gymnastics

I’ve been reading through the book The Big Three: Major events that Changed History Forever written by Dr. Henry Morris III, the son of Henry Morris who co-authored The Genesis Flood with John C. Whitcomb in 1961. In The Big Three, Morris has a chapter with the title “Interpretive Gymnastics.” A good title. He writes: “No one has the right to change the words of God to suit his idea of what [...]

The Stealing of America

While channel surfing, I came across The House I Live In (1945), a ten-minute short film starring Frank Sinatra. Made to oppose anti-Semitism and racial prejudice at the end of World War II, it received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe award in 1946. It reminded me of where I grew up. While Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my hometown, is not as ethnically diverse as a city like New Y [...]

Revising History for Our Destruction

It’s been said that the victors write the textbooks. I supposed this is the way it should be. As a nation, if we want to know who has won the ideological war in America, take a look at the our textbooks and popular writing on historical subjects. Dr. Gary North writes: When children are required by law to attend tax-funded schools and read state-approved textbooks, these textbooks establish the te [...]

Did the Old Testament Predict 9-11?

Jonathan Cahn, a messianic rabbi from the Jerusalem Center-Beth Israel Congregation in Wayne, N.J., writes that there is a prophetic connection between Isaiah 9:10 and the events of 9–11. He’s not the first person to make such a claim. Did you know that a dollar bill can be folded to show the World Trade Center going up in smoke? The character set of Wingdings can be manipulated to show a plane cr [...]

Hitler’s War on Christmas

Every December a battle ensues over the acknowledgement that the 25th is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s called Christmas. Retailers who make a boat load of money during the Christmas season have tried to walk the narrow line of political correctness by using the less religious “Happy Holidays” greeting. They don’t want to offend atheists, New Agers, and Satanists who do not celeb [...]

How We Lost the Colleges and Universities

How were Christian institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton lost to the humanists? There was no crossing of swords or firing of weapons. The presidents of these institutions were not kidnapped and held for ransom if Christianity was not expunged from the curriculum. The takeover came by way of a generous spirit of acceptance of less orthodox views in the name of tolerance by the institutiona [...]

Was Jesus a Liberal?

The American Family Association is promoting a “Naughty or Nice?” Christmas campaign by listing the top retailers and how they recognize Christmas. There are three categories: 1. Companies that use the term “Christmas” on a regular basis are considered Christmas-friendly. 2. Companies that refer to Christmas infrequently, or in a single advertising medium, but not in others. 3. Compani [...]