God\u27s Purpose for Israel During the Tribulation

I recently engaged in a debate (May 26, 2006) against preterist Gary DeMar on the topic of “The Great Tribulation: Past or Future?” One of the points I made in favor of the tribulation as a future time was that one of the biblically defined purposes for that seven-year period, as it relates to Israel, did not occur in the first century. So just what is God’s purpose for Israel during the tribulation

Peter\u27s Quotation of Joel in Acts 2

Many advocates of preterism, replacement theology and covenant theology often cite Acts 2:16 as support for their interpretation of Scripture. However, I do not believe that Peter’s statements furnish a basis for their conclusions. “Preterists . . . generally see these signs as predictive descriptions of the A.D. 70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.”1 Gary DeMar believes that this passage was fulfilled in the first century.2 Instead, Peter merely references the Joel passage as support that the Holy Spirit is the cause of the events in Acts 2 just as the Holy Spirit will be the cause of events in Joel 2. Let’s look more closely at the details in the passage

Modern Israel\u27s Right to the Land

The modern state of Israel is under attack like never before since her 1948 founding from all sides throughout the world. Recently a secular Israeli said shortly after this summer’s war (2006) with Hezbollah, “Every year they hate us more.” No matter what Israel does, whether good or bad, it is viewed by most of the world as a provocation that justifies the world’s hatred toward God’s covenant nation. If that’s not bad enough, you would think that people of the Book (Christians), would be unified in their support of contemporary Israel since God is bringing His people back to their land. Yet, an increasing number of many within Christendom are speaking out, and like the unbelieving world, they too are blaming Israel for the problems in the Middle East

A Review of Hank Hanegraaff\u27s The Apocalypse Code

For the last fifteen years or so when I have heard Hank Hanegraaff, host of the Bible Answer Man radio program, field questions on eschatology (end times prophecy) it was very clear that he has been decidedly against the futurist perspective. Hanegraaff has told his audience for years that he was studying the field of eschatology and would announce his views in a book one day. Hanegraaff’s book has now been released, entitled The Apocalypse Code1, and has confirmed his rhetoric and tone heard for the last fifteen years on the radio as Hanegraaff has been treating dispensationalism as if it were a cult. Yes, Hanegraaff has been “culting” dispensationalism! Even though Hanegraaff always insisted that he was open to and had not adopted a specific view of eschatology, it has always been equally clear to anyone who is schooled in the various views of the end times that he had all along rejected dispensationalism and embraced his own version of a preterist/idealist scheme. Yet, he has never admitted this; and even after the release of his book, he still refuses to classify his own conclusions in spite of the fact that he assigns labels to virtually everyone else

The Meaning of Earth Dwellers and the Book of Revelation

Revelation 3:10 is rightly know as a passage that supports the pre-trib rapture doctrine, but the second half of the verse introduces us to the first use of the term “earth dwellers.” “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.” 3:10 is the first use in Revelation of a phrase I call “earth dwellers” but usually translated “those who dwell upon the earth.” This phrase is used eleven times in nine verses in Revelation (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10 2xs; 13:8, 12, 14 2xs; 14:6; 17:8). A preliminary working definition is that “earth dwellers” is a designation for persistent unbelievers during the tribulation

Matthew 24 and This Generation

The last few months have been a time in which I have been involved in a couple of debates with preterists. Preterism teaches that most, if not all, of the Book of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24—25; Mark 13; Luke 21) were fulfilled in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. If this notion is granted, then almost all of Bible prophecy is not to be anticipated in the future, but is past history. Their false scheme springs forth from a misinterpretation of Matthew 24:34 (see also Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32), by which they launch an upside-down view of eschatology, which does not look to the future but instead gazes at the past

Satan\u27s War Against God

In order to make sense out of end-times Bible prophecy one must first understand what happened at the beginning in order to know where we are headed and why. Although mankind is intricately involved in history, one cannot understand the purpose and goal of history without God’s revelation of the angelic dimensions. The starting point begins with Satan’s declaration of independence from God shortly after the creation