The American Vision

The Dried-Up Euphrates as a Sign the Rapture is Near

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:52:23 -0400

It’s being argued that the dried-up Euphrates is the marching route of a 200-million-man army from China on horseback (Rev. 9:13-21). The drying up of the Euphrates takes place after “the stars fell from heaven to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs … [a]nd the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places” (Rev. 6:13-14). Every horse and everything else would have been killed! When we get to Revelation 12, we see a giant woman, a dragon, and a third of the stars thrown down to Earth (vv. 1, 4). Then there’s Revelation 13, where we’re told we’ll be microchipped. If these events are physically going to happen as written, by the time we get to chapter 16, Earth will be a burned-out cinder.

Why would China mount such a vast army after plagues and stellar phenomena had just wiped out a third of the earth’s population? The world would be in such chaos (if it still existed) that the last thing on anyone’s mind would be to round up 200 million horses (that don’t exist), soldiers, weapons, saddles, and enough food and water so they could make an impossible trek from China (16:12) to Israel.

David Chilton has a helpful discussion of Revelation 16:12 in his commentary The Days of Vengeance:[1]

Corresponding to the Sixth Trumpet (9:13-21), the Sixth Chalice is poured out upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. As we saw on 9:14, the Euphrates was Israel’s northern frontier, from which invading armies would come to ravage and oppress the Covenant people. The image of the drying of the Euphrates for a conquering army is taken, in part, from a stratagem of Cyrus the Persian, who conquered Babylon by temporarily turning the Euphrates out of its course, enabling his army to march up the riverbed into the city, taking it by surprise. The more basic idea, of course, is the drying up of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21-22) and the Jordan River (Josh. 3:9-17; 4:22-24) for the victorious people of God. Again there is the underlying note of tragic irony: Israel has become the new Babylon, an enemy of God that must now be conquered by a new Cyrus, as the true Covenant people are miraculously delivered and brought into their inheritance. As Carrington observes, the coming of the armies from the Euphrates “surely represents nothing but the return of Titus to besiege Jerusalem with further reinforcements”;[2] and it is certainly more than coincidental that thousands of these very troops actually did come from the Euphrates.[3]

The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition on the Book of Revelation

David Chilton's extraordinary verse-by-verse exposition of Revelation is as welcome as a cool drenching rain upon a dry, thirsty ground. From the very beginning, cranks and crackpots have attempted to use Revelation to advocate some new twist on the Chicken Little Doctrine: "The Sky is Falling!" But, as David Chilton shows in this careful, detailed exposition, St. John's Apocalypse teaches instead that Christians will overcome all opposition through the work of Jesus Christ.

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Kenneth Gentry adds historical details about what was taking place militarily at the time of Israel’s judgment, as described by Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

What is more, the four angels from the Euphrates probably reflect something of the actual military circumstances involved, which included four Roman legions and also the prominent mention of the Euphrates. When Nero originally declared the war, he sent Vespasian “to take upon him the command of the armies that were in Syria,” where he “gathered together, the Roman forces” (J.W. 3:1:3 §7). The Euphrates River (Rev 9:14) touches Syria, where the Romans normally kept four brigades: “The huge stretch of territory between this end of Syria and the Euphrates was controlled by four brigades” (Tacitus, Ann. 4:5).

Regarding later actions in the Jewish War, Josephus mentions a great body of troops from the Euphrates who become a part of Titus’s forces when he takes over for his father Vespasian: “There followed him also three thousand drawn from those that guarded the river Euphrates” (J.W. 5:1:6 §44; cp. 7:1:3 §17). Thus, “at the siege of Jerusalem four legions were involved (the Fifth, Tenth, Fifteenth and Twelfth)”…. Josephus expressly mentions these four legions: “The [siege] works that belonged to the four legions were erected on the west side of the city” (J.W. 6:8:1 §376; cp. Tacitus, Hist.5:1:6 §41-42). According to Josephus (J.W. 5:1:6 §40–44).

*****

Not only is the Euphrates Israel’s ideal northern border, but it is also the extent of the power of Israel’s two most powerful kings, David (2Sa 8:3; 1Ch 18:3) and Solomon (2Ch 9:26). As the northern most boundary of Israel, as Beale notes (506), the Euphrates can serve as an apocalyptic image of God’s threatened judgment upon his covenant people by means of invading forces (Isa 7:20; 8:7-8; 27:12; Jer 1:14-15; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20; Eze 38:6, 15; 39:2; Joel 2:20-25). This is because historically “from the River Euphrates had come Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, destroyers of Samaria and Jerusalem; by now the Euphrates has become a mere symbol for the quarter from which judgment is to come on Jerusalem” (Carrington 165).[4]

Some additional interpretive factors to consider. First, Revelation was written about events that were “shortly” to “take place” (1:1) because “the time is near” (1:3; 22:10). Near for Revelation’s first readers, who made up the seven churches in Asia Minor (Rev. 2-3).

Second, there are hundreds of references to the Old Testament found in Revelation that are mostly used as symbols by taking their characteristics and character and applying them principally to the near events of John’s day: Jezebel (2:20), Sodom and Egypt (11:8), Babylon (17-18), Gog and Magog (20:7-9). Jerusalem, “the great city” where Jesus was crucified, is “mystically … called Sodom and Egypt” for typological reasons. Jerusalem is also described as “Babylon.” Jerusalem had taken on the characteristics of these Old Testament cities. We find something similar in Matthew 24:29, where Jesus applies the events of their generation (v. 34) to Babylon and other Old Testament nations under judgment (Isa. 13:10; 24:23; Ezek. 32:7; Amos 5:20). This is true of many allusions to the Old Testament found in the book of Revelation, and that would include the Euphrates River. Notice how stars are thrown down to the earth in Revelation (6:12; 8:12; 12:9). If these were actual stars, the earth would have been vaporized several times.

Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction

In Left Behind: Separating Fact From Fiction, Gary DeMar takes a critical look at the theology behind this popular fiction series and challenges readers to consider a different interpretation. With confidence based on years of biblical study, DeMar carefully examines eleven major components of the pre-tribulation rapture theology and offers clear, convincing alternatives to the interpretations of Bible prophecy presented in Left Behind.

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Third, if you believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, then nothing this side of the “rapture” has any prophetic significance. According to the pre-trib view, the so-called “rapture” could have happened at any time in the past 2000 years, whether the Euphrates was wet or dry.[5]

Fourth, numerous dams have been constructed along the Euphrates, affecting its flow. An increase in irrigation water use is also a contributing factor.

Abdul Razzaq al-Aliawi, an engineer and former director of Syria’s maintenance department for the Euphrates River, told Al-Monitor, “The Euphrates River bed witnessed six historical eras, including the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Greek, Byzantine, in addition to the Islamic era.” Building dams in the first place, he said, was “an unjust decision” [because of the cemeteries that were there].[6]

Fifth, “The drop of the Euphrates and Tigris waters during the past three years [since 2020] has uncovered many archaeological sites that were submerged in the waters of the two rivers that cross through Syria, Iraq and Turkey.”[7] The discovery of these sites shows that the Euphrates’ flow has changed in the modern era due to dam projects. “Recent news articles have reported that the Euphrates River is indeed drying up. According to a study by the University of Arizona, the river’s flow has decreased by more than 60% over the past century due to dams and irrigation projects in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.”[8]

[1] David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1987), 407-408.

[2] Philip Carrington, The Meaning of the Revelation (London: SPCK, 1931), 265.

[3] See Josephus, The Jewish War, 3.1.3; 3.4.2; 5.1.6; 7.1.3.

[4] Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation, 2 vols. (2024), 1:808-810.

[5] Gary DeMar, Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2010), chap. 2 and Gary DeMar with Francis X. Gumerlock, The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2020).

[6] Mohammed Hardan, “Falling Waters of Euphrates, Tigris Rivers Reveal Submerged Archaeological Sites,” Al-Monitor (August 27, 2022). Link here.

[7] Hardan, “Falling Waters of Euphrates, Tigris Rivers Reveal Submerged Archaeological Sites.”

[8] “Is The Drying Up of The Euphrates River the Fulfillment Of Bible Prophecy,” Encounter Today (January 31, 2023). Link here.

What Does the Bible Really Say About the End Times?

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:03:28 -0400

In this second part of his recent interview on a Canadian television show, Gary continues the conversation by taking a closer look at the context of the New Testament.

What about world conditions? Aren’t we seeing prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes? This protest is offered when people are hit with an interpretation that does not fit their long-held doctrinal views. They shift from the clear teaching of Scripture to current events. The Bible is then read through the lens of today’s newsprint, a form of “newspaper exegesis.” When current events change, somehow the clear teaching of the Bible on these subjects also changes. Few people ever take the time to check what prophecy “experts” wrote ten years earlier.

Our nation, and every nation, could go through the most tumultuous upheaval that history has ever experienced, and this still would not mean that Jesus was returning “in our generation.” For date setters, history is ignored and the Bible is twisted to fit a preconceived view of prophecy; the result is that the church experiences wild gyrations in the field of biblical prophecy. Last Days Madness was written to take a fresh look at the Bible. There is little that is new in the following pages. As you will read, the views expressed herein have been around for centuries. Unfortunately, they have been buried under millions of copies of paperback books that have assured us year after year that the end is near.

Last Days Madness

In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of "end-times" fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.

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In this second part of his recent interview on a Canadian television show, Gary continues the conversation by taking a closer look at the context of the New Testament. Being a Berean means questioning popular assumptions to “see if these things are so.” A careful and honest study must be made to determine whether the time markers in the New Testament point to a distant future—or to a fulfillment tied to the first-century audience.

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Watch the video interview here

Click here to browse all episodes of The Gary DeMar Podcast

The ‘Rapture’ is Being used to Boost Book Sales

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:29:14 -0400

Once again, the Bible is being interpreted through the lens of current events. “All the signs are in place,” prophecy “experts” tell us.

Nearly eight out of 10 Evangelicals say they believe the ongoing violence in the Middle East is an indication that the rapture is on the horizon, a new survey … shows.

Research conducted by the Brookings Institute’s Center for Middle East Policy on Americans’ attitudes toward the Middle East and Israel found that 79 percent of Evangelicals say they believe “that the unfolding violence across the Middle East is a sign that the end times are nearer.” (Christian Post)

But this is not true if a person believes in a pre-trib rapture. David Jeremiah, who believes in an “any moment rapture,” wrote a book with the title The Book of Signs. Mark Hitchcock wrote, Seven Signs of the End Times. Nearly every book, podcaster, and Bible prophecy expert wannabe believes that signs indicate a near rapture. But the “rapture” is said to be a signless event.

The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation

For decades Christians have been enticed with the belief that they would be taken to heaven before a coming tribulation period in an event called the “rapture.” Since the national reestablishment of Israel in 1948, countless books and pamphlets have been written defending the doctrine assuring readers that it could happen at any moment. Some prophecy writers claimed the “rapture” would take place before 1988. We are far removed from that date. Where are we in God’s prophetic timetable?

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There is little that is new in these types of surveys. For centuries Christians have believed current events were precursors of the end times. Two world wars in the 20th century, the French revolution in the 18th century, “wars and rumors of wars” throughout the world, the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) of the Middle Ages, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and even the rise of Islam centuries ago have been considered end-time signs. Once again, Christian prophecy enthusiasts are being conned to boost book sales.

The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) made Hal Lindsey a multi-millionaire. The Left Behind series did the same for Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

The following was written by prophecy writer Wilbur Smith (1894-1976) about Egypt and the end times.

Personally, I must confess that when this recent crisis [of 1956] occurred in Egypt, I was driven to examine, for the first time in years of study of Biblical prophecy, the whole subject of Egypt in Israel’s history and in the Old Testament predictions concerning certain other nations of that part of the earth. Had someone placed before me, six months ago, an examination covering Egypt in Biblical prophecy, I would have “flunked” it, even if the questions were not of a technical nature. However, when newspapers were recently filled with reports from Egypt day by day, I was unable to escape a desire to review the whole theme of Egypt in the Biblical writings, both historical and prophetical.[1]

Like today, the newspapers in Smith’s day (1956) were “filled with reports from Egypt,” and because of that he concluded those events had something to do with Bible prophecy. The events he was referring to happened 70 years ago. The same claims, only the names, countries, and dates have changed.

The “recent crisis of 1956” that Smith referred to concerned who would control the Suez Canal, a significant world chokepoint connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Without this narrow passageway water transportation between Europe and Asia one would have had to navigate around Africa. When’s the last time you heard anything about the Suez Canal? Now it’s the Strait of Hormuz.

Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered

Since the reestablishment of Israel in 1948, “end-time” prophetic speculation has been on the rise. While there is a long history of date setting, the past century has seen an exponential increase in the number of books proclaiming that the end is near. It’s time that the “Boy who cried wolf” syndrome be dealt with in a biblical way.

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John F. Walvoord’s 1974 book, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis, has undergone several revisions as supposed prophetic events changed. The book opens with this claim: “Each day’s headlines raise new questions concerning what the future holds.”[2] That was in 1974. Described as “the world’s foremost interpreter of biblical prophecy,” in 1991 he expected “‘the Rapture to occur in his own lifetime.’”[3] Walvoord died in December of 2002.

Walvoord’s Armageddon book was reprinted in 1976 and then sank without a trace until a revised edition appeared in late 1990 based on then-current headlines. It was decisively predictive based on events that were taking place during the first Gulf War 36 years ago!

The world today is like a stage being set for a great drama. The major actors are already in the wings waiting for their moment in history. The main stage props are already in place. The prophetic play is about to begin…. Our present world is well prepared for the beginning of the prophetic drama that will lead to Armageddon. Since the stage is set for this dramatic climax of the age, it must mean that Christ’s coming for his own is very near.[4]

Not many people realized that the revised editions core content was nearly sixteen years old when it was reissued. When the Gulf War ended abruptly, the book was twenty-five cents a copy if bought by the case! But by then the book had sold nearly 1.7 million copies and was “the recipient of the Platinum Book Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.”[5]

Tyndale House Publishers released a third edition in 2007 with a revised title and content edited and written by one of his sons and Mark Hitchcock to reflect a change in a set of new current events: Armageddon, Oil, and Terror.[6] The promotion material assured readers that its content “is as current as today’s news . . . and every prediction rings true.” Where have we heard that before? That’s right! In 1974 when the first edition of Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis was published, and the same wording was used—33 years later.

I suspect that the 79% who believe that current events in the Middle East relate to the end times don’t have a clue about the assured predictions of past prophecy writers. The Christian Post article cited above goes on to report the following:

Meanwhile, 63 percent of Evangelicals and 51 percent of non-Evangelical Christians believe that “for the rapture or Second Coming to occur, it is essential for current-day Israel to include all of the land they believed was promised to biblical Israel in the Old Testament.”

There is a problem with this statement. First, the New Testament doesn’t say anything about Israel returning to the land as being a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Israel was already in the land in Jesus’ day and the lead up to the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times

If you’re willing to take the Bible at its word, the study of prophecy can strengthen your faith, but if your trust is in man’s speculations, you will be disappointed every time. And that is why Bible prophecy is such a crucial area for apologetics. Skeptics of all stripes have condemned the Bible as inaccurate merely because various well-meaning Christians have been in error about the End Times.

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Second, the Old Testament did predict Israel would return to the land. The people returned, the nation was reestablished, and the temple was rebuilt. The Jews returned to the land after the Babylonian captivity (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). That’s why there were Jews living in Israel when Jesus was born and the temple was being refurbished.

Third, Israel had received all that had been promised regarding the land:

So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass (Josh. 21:43-45).

This was confirmed during Solomon’s reign: “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance [Deut. 1:10; 7:7; 10:22; 26:5; 28:62; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 32:12; 1 Kings 3:8; Jer. 33:22; Heb. 11:12]; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing. Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life” (1 Kings 4:20-21).

Fourth, the most popular end-time perspective today is called dispensational premillennialism. This view teaches that no prophecy can be fulfilled until the church is “raptured,” an event that has not taken place yet. (The Bible does not say one word about the church being taken off the earth before, during, or after seven years.)

Well-known dispensational author Earl D. Radmacher (1931-2014) made an important point related to people who claim that certain world events are signs of an end-time event:

Equally as unjustified as date-setting for Christ’s return are the numerous sermons attempting to find fulfillment of prophecy in this age. Typical of them is a popular author, conference speaker, and television personality who has stated his belief that the “paramount prophetic sign” is that Israel had to be a nation again in the land of its forefathers. This condition was fulfilled, he claims, on May 14, 1948.[7] This pronouncement is simply representative of hundreds, perhaps, thousands, of others who, although eager in their anticipation of Christ’s coming, distort the Scripture and cause terrible confusion for God’s people.[8]

Radmacher called using Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 a prophetic sign a distortion of Scripture that causes “terrible confusion for God’s people.” “This conflicting emphasis,” he wrote, “begets the rather embarrassing plight of talking about signs of a signless event.”[9]

[1] Wilbur Smith, Egypt in Biblical Prophecy (Boston: W. A. Wilde Company, 1957), 5.

[2] John F. Walvoord and John E. Walvoord, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1974), 7.

[3] Quoted in Kenneth L. Woodward, “The Final Days are Here Again,” Newsweek (March 18, 1991), 55.

[4] John F. Walvoord, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 228.

[5] As reported in “Zondervan Book on Prophecy Receives Bestselling Award” by Zondervan Publishing House (1991). On file.

[6] John E. Walvoord and Mark Hitchcock, Armageddon, Oil, and Terror: What the Bible Says About the Future of America, the Middle East, and the End of Western Civilization (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2007).

[7] “The one event which many Bible students in the past overlooked was this paramount prophetic sign: Israel had to be a nation again in the land of its forefathers.” (Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 43.

[8] Earl D. Radmacher, “The Imminent Return of the Lord,” Issues in Dispensationalism, eds. Wesley R. Willis and John R. Master (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 248.

[9] Radmacher, “The Imminent Return of the Lord,” 248.

Separating Prophetic Fact from Fiction

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:43:37 -0400

In this first part of his recent three-part interview on the Canadian television show, Thrive, Gary recounts his own history with Bible prophecy.

The interpretive methodology outlined in Last Days Madness is not innovative. For nearly 200 years Christians have been sidetracked by a novel interpretive methodology known as dispensational premillennialism. While Last Days Madness is not primarily directed at dispensationalism, much of what is addressed herein is critical of this very popular interpretive prophetic belief system.

After doing numerous radio interviews and debates, I learned where certain arguments could be better stated and supported by Scripture and history. Most of the new books on prophecy simply restate the tired and still unproven assumptions of the old books. The additional study that went into this edition of Last Days Madness has continued to solidify my conviction that the time texts are key indicators of when certain prophetic events will take place. Most books on prophecy do not interpret time texts literally. In fact, some books ignore the time texts altogether.

For example, Robert Van Kampen quotes a portion of Revelation 1:1, leaving out this very important phrase: “the things which must shortly take place.” He follows the same method when he does not quote all of Revelation 1:3, leaving out “for the time is near.” He claims to interpret the Bible literally, but he refuses to handle these texts in a literal way. In his latest book, Van Kampen once again suspiciously fails to deal with the time texts. There is no discussion of Revelation 1:1 (“shortly”) and 1:3 (“near”). Matthew 16:27-28, a crucial time text, is not dealt with. On the dedication page, he concludes with “Come quickly, Lord Jesus,” and yet he does not expound on Revelation 22:20 where Jesus said nearly 2000 years ago, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” In his analysis of those of us who believe the time texts are supremely important, he writes:

Both the allegorical and spiritualized views must deny a literal understanding of the prophecies found in the Book of Daniel, the Olivet Discourse, and the greater part of the Book of Revelation. Preterists view these passages as past, historical events (even though nothing historically has ever happened that bears any resemblance to these specific passages), with minimal end-time relevance.

A preterist is someone who believes that certain prophecies have been fulfilled, that is, their fulfillment is in the past. For example, Floyd Hamilton, writes that there “are in the Old Testament 332 distinct predictions which are literally fulfilled in Christ.” All Christians are preterists regarding these prophecies since they believe they have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jews who are still waiting for the promised Messiah are anti-preterists since they believe these prophetic passages have not been fulfilled. They are futurists.

Last Days Madness

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In this first part of his recent three-part interview on the Canadian television show, Thrive, Gary recounts his own history with Bible prophecy. Most Christians have never heard any other view of Bible prophecy than the popular Christian bookstore version, and the hosts of this show wanted that to change for their audience.

Click here for today’s episode

Watch the video interview here

Click here to browse all episodes of The Gary DeMar Podcast

Episode 86: How to Identify the Abomination of Desolation

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 07:49:25 -0400

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 86

Gary responds to another video by Joel Richardson and his claims about the “abomination of desolation.”

The abomination of desolation is mentioned in one Old Testament book (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). The book of Maccabees, a non-inspired book written during the intertestamental period, mentions the abomination of desolation and its relationship to Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.) (1 Macc. 1:10-64; 4:36-59; 6:7; 2 Macc. 10:1-8). First-century Jews would have been familiar with the theology and history surrounding the abomination of desolation. There was no doubt in the minds of those who read and understood Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:15 that the abomination of desolation prophecy was fulfilled in events leading up to the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70. The Apostle Paul would later address the concerns of the Thessalonians about the “day of the Lord” with a discussion of the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2). The man of lawlessness was a contemporary figure who was identified with the “abomination of desolation.”

Further study on this important topic should leave no doubt that Matthew 24:15 was fulfilled in its entirety before the passing away of the generation that heard Jesus’ prophecy on the Mount of Olives. Again, the time text of verse 34 compels us to look for a candidate within the time frame of the generation that heard the prophecy.

“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)…” (Matt. 24:15).

There is an unbroken transition from verse 14 to verse 15 in Matthew 24. By comparing Luke 21:20-21 and Matthew 24:15-18, we can pinpoint the time when the abomination of desolation was to appear. Luke tells us, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city” (Luke 21:20-21). Was Jerusalem ever surrounded by armies prior to A.D. 70? Yes! Did Jesus’ disciples flee the city? Yes!

While futurists (typically dispensationalists) generally acknowledge that Luke is describing events prior to A.D. 70, they assert that Matthew is recounting a different series of events that are still future. For these futurists, Matthew’s abomination of desolation will appear in a rebuilt temple during the so-called “seven-year tribulation period” after the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. Only a preconceived theological system could ever twist these verses in this way. It is obvious that all three gospel writers are describing the same series of events and period of time.

Last Days Madness

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Gary responds to another video by Joel Richardson and his claims about the “abomination of desolation.” Gary walks through the Bible and shows what it actually teaches about this “abomination” and where it was fulfilled in the past, not the future. A temple must exist for this prophecy to happen, which can’t make it relevant to today. But wait, the temple will be rebuilt…

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Joel Richardson's Abominable Interpretation of the 'Abomination of Desolation'

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:43:15 -0400

“Therefore, when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand—” (Matthew 24:15).

“When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”

Joel Richardson claims that Matthew 24:15 has not been fulfilled. The temple was still standing when Jesus issued this dire prediction. To be fulfilled sometime in the future (our future) requires another rebuilt temple. The NT never mentions that the temple would be built again. Not a single verse. This point alone negates Richardson’s future abomination of desolation belief.

The goal in interpreting the Bible is to be familiar with a text and its context. The Bible can be made to say anything if verses are separated from their context and strung together with other verses separated from their context:

• “Judas went out and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5).
• “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
• “Whatever you do, do quickly” (John 13:27).
• Because “there is no God” (Ps. 14:1).

Myths. Lies, and Half-Truths

In order to demonstrate the validity of Christianity as a religion for all of life, it is necessary to demythologize the misrepresentations that have been nurtured by a bewildering number of unorthodox theologies. These “cherished myths” have had the effect of neutralizing the Word of God as it relates to this world. Christianity has often been accused of being too “otherworldly” in that it has failed to offer viable political, economic, judicial, and social programs for the world order.

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Joel Richardson does this repeatedly in every podcast I’ve seen of his.

First: Audience Relevance

The solution to the “when” of the abomination of desolation, is asking, To whom is Jesus speaking? Who were the plural “you”? Jesus made it clear that the “you” were the people who asked the question. “When will these things be?” (Matt. 24:3). They were the audience. They were the “you.” It’s so obvious that a person must make up stuff to get around this fact. It’s indisputable that abomination of desolation was a first-century event.

How would those who first heard what Jesus said have interpreted “you”? If you were in that audience, and heard what Jesus said, what would you have thought? If Jesus had a distant future audience in view, He would have said “when they see the abomination of desolation.” But He did not. The “you” was them. This point alone should end the debate.

Second: The Historical Setting

What comes before 24:15?

Wars and rumors of wars. There were wars and rumors of wars before that generation passed away. Look at the historical record of that time.

Earthquakes are mentioned in Acts 16:25-28 and in the historical record of that time.

A famine is mentioned in Acts 11:28 and in the historical record at that time.

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False prophets (1 John 4:1).
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The gospel going to the whole *oikoumenē*. The gospel has been preached to all the nations at that time, “being proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8; 10:18-21; 16:25-26; 1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 1:6, 23).

I cover all these points in my books ***[Wars and Rumors of Wars](https://store.americanvision.org/products/wars-and-rumors-of-wars)*** and ***[Last Days Madness](https://store.americanvision.org/products/last-days-madness)***. John Bray also deals with them in his book ***[Matthew 24 Fulfilled](https://store.americanvision.org/products/matthew-24-fulfilled)***.

What comes after?

Homes with flat roofs. When’s the last time you were on your roof? Flat roofs were common in Israel in Jesus’ day (Mark 2:4).

The importance of cloaks. “The man working in the field is not to bother going back for anything, not even his cloak. The cloak is the one thing that is so precious and needful that it cannot be taken as a pledge during the nighttime hours but has to be returned each night to its owner (Ex. 22:26-27).” Why would anyone today go back for his or her cloak?

Sabbath still operating. Where? Mostly in Israel and places like New York City like the [Eruv](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv). A Sabbath day’s journey was still in use in the first century (Acts 1:12).

Escape on foot to the mountains outside Judea. It was a local judgment, not a worldwide event.

We know the temple was destroyed just like Jesus said it would be (Matt. 24:2) before their generation passed away (v. 34), a fact that is attested by history that no one disputes. “‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down’” (24:2). Jesus was discussing what stood right before their eyes; the temple that was “there.” Their question was prompted by what Jesus said in Matthew 23:38: “Your house will be left to you desolate.” That’s why Jesus’ disciple asked about the temple. “You mean this temple that is being rebuilt greater than its former glory? (Luke 21:5)

Richardson then drags the antichrist into the context: “what the antichrist will do in the last days,” he says. There is no mention of “the antichrist” in Matthew 24, and that includes verse 15 unless the apostate priesthood were the antichrists as defined by John (1 John 3:18, 22; 4:1-3; 2 John 7). Again, there is no mention of a rebuilt temple, something that’s required for Richardson’s interpretation to work. The NT only mentions the destruction of the temple before their generation passed away (v. 34), never its rebuilding.

Richardson mentions R.C. Sproul, Kenneth Gentry, and me in his podcast about the abomination of desolation. Here’s what Richardson says about Sproul and Gentry.

Sproul wrote the following in his book The Last Days According to Jesus, “The Roman armies brought their standards into the temple area…. These standards were objects of idolatrous worship and thus constituted the abomination of desolation.” Kenneth Gentry wrote something similar: “The Roman armies with their idolatrous standards stand in the holy place fulfilling the abomination of desolation.”

Richardson does not mention my comments on the subject, even though I include 15 pages on the topic in chapter 8 of my book Last Days Madness. I do not agree with Sproul and Gentry, and neither does preterist James Jordan in his commentary, Matthew 23-25: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Commentary: “But there is absolutely no way that the phrase ‘abomination of desolation’ can refer to a gathering of armies. More likely, Luke’s account is speaking of the gathering of Roman armies a few years after the abomination of desolation was set up.”

Matthew 23-25: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Commentary

Those who first read Matthew’s gospel only would have had as an interpretive reference what we describe as the Old Testament. They were living the history that Jesus said would take place before their generation passed away. They would have immediately noted the Old Testament parallels with the abomination of desolation (Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27), the judgment on Sodom and fleeing to the mountains to escape the coming conflagration (Matt. 24:16; Gen. 19:17), false prophets (Matt. 24:24; Jer. 14:14), signs in the sun, moon, and stars (Matt. 24:29; Isa. 3:10; 24:33; Ezek. 32:7; Amos 5:2; 8:9; etc.), the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven (Matt. 24:30; Dan. 7:13), and so much more.

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Richardson needs to do more research if he’s going to be faithful critic of what he claims preterists believe.

Why would God destroy the temple for something the Roman armies did? The abomination that resulted in desolation must have been something those who had access to the Holy of Holies did. That would have been the priesthood. Any sacrifice that was done by the priests would have been an abomination. James Jordan’s four-part article on the Abomination of Desolation also includes an exposition of Daniel 9:24-27 that Jesus references in Matthew 24:15. Here’s what Jordan says about Daniel 11:31.

[W]e need to ask who were the “forces from him” that desecrated the sanctuary and set up the desolating sacrilege? They were the reigning High Priests Jason and Menelaus, who apostatized to Greek religion, and who invited Antiochus to help them take over Jerusalem for their purposes (Josephus, Antiquities 12:5:1). In the same way, the apostate High Priests between A.D. 30 and 70 cooperated with the Romans to suppress the Christian faith and to maintain their own Sadducean combination of Greek philosophy and apostate Judaism…. Antiochus defiled the Temple, but this is only the aftermath of what the Jews had already done. Antiochus could not really defile the Temple, because he was not one of God’s peculiar people and he had no legal access to it. His defiling the temple is not the abomination of desolation, therefore.

Jordan’s article is superb. Joel Richardson should take some time off from his highly inaccurate podcasts and read it.

What took place in the lead up to the destruction of the temple had happened when the priests committed the “desolating sacrilege,” beginning in Ezekiel 8:5-18 and continues through chapter 11. I believe that’s why Jesus said, “let the reader understand” in Matthew 24:15. Jewish readers in Jesus’ day would have understood. “We’ve heard this language before.” It had happened before, and it wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar; it was the priesthood. There’s was more going on than the Roman armies or an end-time antichrist which the New Testament never mentions. The abomination was local and came from the priesthood. Read Matthew 23. It’s all there. That’s why Jesus described Jerusalem as Sodom and Egypt in Revelation 11:8.

Jordan succinctly explains who brought the abomination that resulted in the desolation of the temple: “As a result of my studies in Leviticus, I have come to the conclusion that the abomination of desolation spoken of in Daniel 9 and Matthew 24 is none other than apostate Judaism, and that the Man of Sin spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2 is the apostate High Priest of Israel.”

Exodus Mandate and Homeschooling

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 07:29:32 -0400

Gary interviews Ray Moore with Exodus Mandate about homeschooling, Christian schools, and a debate that Ray did over America’s Christian history.

When Israel was taken to the borders of the promised land, twelve spies were called on to survey the land and report their findings to the nation (Num. 13). Before choosing twelve representatives for the task, God promised the land would be theirs: “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them” (13:2). No matter what the spies encountered, the promise of God should have had priority and overruled any desire to retreat. When the spies returned, ten brought back pessimistic (unbelieving) reports (13:28–29, 31–33). Two spies, Joshua and Caleb, returned with optimistic reports because they believed God and not the fears of men, nor the circumstances they encountered (13:30). It is important to note that Caleb never denied that there were “giants in the land,” he simply believed that God was stronger (obviously) than any army of giants. Why is this so?: “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The nation responded to the report without faith. In effect, they called God a liar: “Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night” (14:1). Their refusal to believe the promise of God (cf. 13:2) brought judgment upon the entire nation. Israel did not enter the promised land until forty years passed and the unbelieving generation died (14:26–38). Their pessimistic perspective of the future affected their plans for the future. The task of dominion was seen as too great for God, hence too great for man under God’s providence. Instead of moving forward they chose retreat to the past: “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness! And why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt’” (14:2–4).

A pessimistic faith ruins Christian dominion. Israel lost forty years of dominion because the nation trusted the words of men and the circumstances of the world more than the word of God. When Israel entered the land forty years later, Rahab told the two unnamed spies what the inhabitants were thinking: “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you” (Josh. 2:10–11). The Canaanites looked upon the Israelites, at the time Israel was freed from Egyptian bondage over forty years before, as the giants. Forty years of dominion were wasted because Israel failed to trust the God who possesses the future (and controls the present in order to fulfill His plan for the future).

Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World

It's been said that "the philosophy of the classroom in this generation will be the philosophy of life in the next generation." Our earliest founding fathers understood this. That's why, after building homes and churches, they established educational institutions like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Dartmouth. Over time, most Christians have adopted the false premise that facts are neutral. They believe it doesn't matter who teaches math, science, and history, because facts are facts. The humanists took advantage of this type of thinking by gradually shaping and controlling education in terms of materialist assumptions.

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Gary interviews Ray Moore with Exodus Mandate about homeschooling, Christian schools, and a debate that Ray did over America’s Christian history. Ray is a major proponent of getting Christians to leave public schools and his organization provides support and educational materials to aid in the transition once parents decide to educate at home or even start a Christian school in their area.

Click here for today’s episode

Click here to browse all episodes of The Gary DeMar Podcast

Dispensationalism’s Predicted Inevitable ‘Road to Holocaust’

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:47:56 -0400

If The Road to Holocaust is unfamiliar, it is the title of a book Hal Lindsey wrote in 1989, published by secular publisher Bantam Books (666 Fifth Avenue, NYC). Lindsey claimed that if you did not believe in a pre-tribulational rapture but believed instead that God’s Word applied to all areas of life and Christians should work for that goal, then you believed it “could lead us—and Israel— to disaster.”

While going through some of my many files, I came across a folder containing letters from Dr. Gary North to Hal Lindsey regarding the publication of The Road to Holocaust that accused Lindsey of gross negligence and numerous errors. Dr. North, R. J. Rushdoony, David Chilton, Ray Sutton, James Jordan, Greg Bahnsen, and I are mentioned and smeared by innuendo and outright lies. Supposedly, I’m “the head of the Institute of Christian Government” (34). False. “It is rumored that [Greg Bahnsen] read Dr. Rushdoony’s works as a boy.” True. It’s a rumor. Rumors have no place in scholarly works. “Gary North earned his doctor’s degree in economics from the University of California-Riverside.” False. Gary North earned his doctor’s degree in history. The General Counsel for Bantam Books stated that The Road to Holocaust is an “exhaustive study of the published literature” of the above-named authors. Then why does Rousas John Rushdoony’s name read John Rousas Rushdoony in every footnote?

For a critique of The Road to Holocaust, see the book published by American Vision titled The Legacy of Hatred Continues.

The Legacy of Hatred Continues (PDF)

"Anti-Semitism." The word conjures up thoughts of Nazism, Adolf Hitler, and gas ovens. In our day "anti-semitism" is real, with swastikas painted on synagogues and verbal epithets hurled at Jews by the Ku Klux Klan and so-called "white supremacists." Purging our land of such an evil will not be accomplished by accusing someone of "anti-Semitism" when there is not a shred of evidence to support the claim. Hal Lindsey labeled anyone who did not agree with him on the issue of eschatology as "unconsciously anti-Semitic." Lies and slander will accomplish nothing.

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The Road to Holocaust was and remains a cover for what dispensationalism teaches about the future of Israel: there will be a post-rapture holocaust of the Jews during the Great Tribulation. At the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Mark Alan Siegel, who served as the chairman of Florida’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party, knew about dispensationalism’s required holocaust:

The Christians just want us to be there [in Israel] so we can be slaughtered and converted and bring on the second coming of Jesus Christ. The worst possible allies for the Jewish state are the fundamentalist Christians who want Jews to die and convert so they can bring on the second coming of their Lord. It is a false friendship. They are seeking their own ends and not ours. I don’t believe the fundamentalists urging a greater Israel are friends of the Jewish state.

You might ask, What was Mark Alan Siegel talking about? Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, stated that according to the Bible, Israel is a “prerequisite” for the End Times based on Zechariah 13:7-9 and other verses. What is that “prerequisite”? Here are some examples from those who also share Hibbs’s beliefs.

• On the September 18, 1991, edition of the “700 Club,” Sid Roth, once the host of “Messianic Vision,” stated that “two-thirds of the Jewish people [living in Israel] will be exterminated” during a future Great Tribulation. He based this view on Zechariah 13:8-9.

• Hal Lindsey described the judgment against Israel in AD 70 as a “picnic” compared to a super-holocaust that will lead to the slaughter of two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel.[1]

• Kay Arthur, another dispensational author, has stated publicly that what lies ahead for Israel will make Hitler’s Holocaust look like “a Sunday school picnic.” In her novel, Israel My Beloved, the heroine is standing before a future scene where the Valley of Jehoshaphat is littered with the dead based on her understanding of Zechariah 13:8-9 that only a third of Israel will survive “the fire just as Zechariah promised” during the future Great Tribulation will Israel is the target of God’s wrath: “Auschwitz was nothing compared to this…. I’ve watched as men, women, and children writhe in agony—an agony beyond the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the pogroms. Beyond the horrors of Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz—all the death camps combined…. We have experienced an agony beyond any horror the human mind can envision . . . beyond even Hitler.”[2]

• Let’s not forget Jack Van Impe’s book Israel’s Final Holocaust where he wrote that when the prophecy clock starts ticking again after the “rapture,” it “will be traumatic days for Israel. Just when peace seems to have come, it will be taken from her and she will be plunged into another bloody persecution, … a devastating explosion of persecution and misery for Israel….”[3]

• Consider what Thomas Ice wrote in his article “What do you do with a future National Israel in the Bible,” an article that no longer seems to be available: “The Bible also indicates that before Israel enters into her time of national blessing she must first pass through the fire of the tribulation (Deut. 4:30; Jer. 30:5-9; Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:14-18). Even though the horrors of the Holocaust under Hitler were of an unimaginable magnitude, the Bible teaches that a time of even greater trial awaits Israel during the tribulation. Anti-Semitism will reach new heights, this time global in scope, in which two-thirds of world Jewry will be killed (Zech. 13:7-9; Rev. 12). Through this time God will protect His remnant so that before His second advent ‘all Israel will be saved’ (Rom. 11:36).”[4]

• Charles Ryrie wrote in his book The Best is Yet to Come that during this post-rapture period Israel will undergo “the worst bloodbath in Jewish history.”[5]

• John Walvoord followed a similar line of argument: “Israel is destined to have a particular time of suffering which will eclipse anything that it has known in the past…. [T]he people of Israel … are placing themselves within the vortex of this future whirlwind which will destroy the majority of those living in the land of Palestine.”[6]

• Dr. Paige Patterson said this in a debate I had with him some years ago: “The present state of Israel is not the final form. The present state of Israel will be lost, eventually, and Israel will be run out of the land again, only to return when they accept the Messiah as Savior.”

Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times

There is a long history of skeptics turning to Bible prophecy to claim that Jesus was wrong about the timing of His coming at “the end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) and the signs associated with it. Noted atheist Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) is one of them and Bart Ehrman is a modern example. It’s obvious that neither Russell or Ehrman are aware of or are ignoring the mountain of scholarship that was available to them that showed that the prophecy given by Jesus was fulfilled in great detail just as He said it would be before the generation of His day passed away.

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How do preterists interpret Zechariah 13:7-9? Many of them claim that the events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 is the fulfillment. Unlike dispensationalists, Jesus issued a warning to leave the city and head for the mountains outside Judea (Matt. 24:16-20). It was a local judgment that where the Romans were the antagonists. It could be avoided by leaving Jerusalem. It was not a national conflagration. In Luke’s gospel, we find the following:

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are inside the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled. Woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (vv. 20-24).

Jesus warned the people to leave, while dispensationalists get excited when Jews return to Israel, where two-thirds of them will be slaughtered. It’s a dispensational predicted inevitable “road to holocaust.”

[1] Hal Lindsey, The Road to Holocaust (New York: Bantam Books, 1989), 220.

[2] Kay Arthur, Israel, My Beloved: A Novel (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1996), 433

[3] Jack Van Impe with Roger F. Campbell, Israel’s Final Holocaust (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1979), 37.

[4] Thomas Ice, “The Israel of God,” The Thomas Ice Collection. An article with the same title does not include his comment that compared to the Holocaust under Hitler, “that a time of even greater trial awaits Israel during the tribulation.” Click here to read.

[5] Charles C. Ryrie, The Best is Yet to Come (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1981), 86.

[6] John Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968), 107, 113. Also quoted in Timothy P. Weber, On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 149.

A Thousand Years Like a Day

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:47:35 -0400

Gary responds to an interview with author Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame.

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). This means, it is said, that “God’s arithmetic is different from ours,” so that when Scripture uses terms like “near” and “shortly” (e.g., Rev. 1:1, 3) or “at hand” (e.g., James 5:5–7), it doesn’t intend to give the impression of soon-approaching events, but of events possibly thousands of years in the future! Milton Terry refuted this seemingly plausible but spurious theory:

The language is a poetical citation from Psalm 90:4, and is adduced to show that the lapse of time does not invalidate the promises of God. . . . But this is very different from saying that when the everlasting God promises something shortly, and declares that it is close at hand, He may mean that it is a thousand years in the future. Whatever He has promised indefinitely He may take a thousand years or more to fulfill; but what He affirms to be at the door let no man declare to be far away.[1]

St. Peter’s encouragement to the Church of his day was to be patient, to wait for God’s judgment to destroy those who were persecuting the faith and impeding its progress. “The end of all things is at hand,” he had written earlier (1 Pet. 4:7). John Brown commented:

“The end of all things” here is the entire end of the Jewish economy in the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the dispersal of the holy people. That was at hand; for this epistle seems to have been written a very short while before these events took place. . . . It is quite plain that in our Lord’s predictions, the expressions “the end” and probably “the end of the world” are used in reference to the entire dissolution of the Jewish economy (cf. Matt. 24:3, 6, 14, 34; Rom. 13:11–12; James 5:8–9).[2]

Once the Lord came to destroy the scaffolding of the Old Covenant structure, the New Covenant Temple would be left in its place, and the victorious march of the Church would be unstoppable. According to God’s predestined design, the world will be converted; the earth’s treasures will be brought into the City of God, as the Paradise Mandate (Gen. 1:27–28; Matt. 28:18–20) is consummated (Rev. 21:1–27).

Last Days Madness

In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of ‘end-times’ fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.

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Gary responds to an interview with author Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame. Jenkins claims that the Bible tells us that time means something different to God than it means to us, yet he still makes the claim that the end times are “probably soon” to happen.

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[1] Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), 406.

[2] Quoted in Roderick Campbell, Israel and the New Covenant (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed, [1954] 2010), 107.

Episode 85: How Ezekiel 38 Debunks Futurism

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:23:26 -0400

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 85

Gary responds to a recent video from Joel Richardson where he claims to refute preterism.

Eschatological ideas have consequences, and many Christians are beginning to understand how those ideas have shaped the cultural landscape. A world always on the precipice of some great and inevitable apocalyptic event is not in need of redemption but only of escape. As one end-time speculator put it, “the world is a sinking Titanic ripe for judgment.” Any attempt at reformation would be futile and contrary to God’s unavoidable and predestined plan for Armageddon.

Thankfully, many Christians are beginning to question this popular apocalyptic scenario, not by rejecting the Bible but by taking a closer look at the very Book they were told taught these things. In addition, they have come to recognize that Western Civilization was not built by head-for-the-hills doomsayers. Unfortunately, the effects of the apocalyptic paradigm are having some unsettling results in the realm of real-world politics. Some are contending that mixing eschatology and politics could lead to some terrifying results. The ultimate question is whether the Bible teaches what popular prophecy writers claim. This can only be settled by following the directive of the Latin phrase ad fontes, “to the sources,” that is, to the Bible (Acts 17:11).

As history shows, “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6) are common, and they have been pointed to as signs that the end was near in nearly every generation. In fact, they are so common, Jesus maintained, that they should not be used as signs. The same is true for earthquakes and famines (24:7) since every generation has experienced them (Matt. 27:54; 28:2; Acts 11:28; 16:26).

None of this has stopped prophetic speculators from claiming that prophecy is now being fulfilled. They point to Ezekiel 38–39 and Zechariah 12 to make the case that there is something prophetically unique about our day. They can do this because they claim to have found a find a very specific nation mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel—Russia! Who needs the commonality of wars, earthquakes, and famines when there is a named nation right there in the Bible. The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance will test the claim that the Bible is describing prophetic events based on what Russia does.

The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance

Jet planes … missiles … and atomic weapons. You will search in vain in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and you will not find them. You will, however, find horses, bows and arrows, shields, clubs, and chariots. If the Gog and Magog prophecy was written for a time more than 2500 years in the future from Ezekiel’s day, why didn’t God describe the battle in terms that we could relate to and understand? Why confuse Ezekiel’s first readers and us?

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Gary responds to a recent video from Joel Richardson where he claims to refute preterism. Richardson mentions Gary directly and gives false information about what he believes. Besides that, Richardson’s primary claim to refute preterism actually ends up doing the exact opposite when understood in context.

Click here for today’s episode

Watch the video here

Click here for all episodes of Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope

Is There Only One ‘Day of the Lord’?

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 07:10:42 -0400

In Joel Richardson’s podcast “The One Prophecy that Debunks Preterism, Replacement Theology & the Lies of the Anti-Semites,” he began with comments about “the day of the Lord.” He then tried to show that Ezekiel 38 cannot be interpreted as fulfilled prophecy. It’s the only way it can be interpreted, as I point out in my book The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance. Richardson claimed that I argue the fulfillment occurred during the Assyrian period. Nonsense. I said no such thing. It took place during the Persian period, specifically as described in the book of Esther (1:1). The Assyrian Empire collapsed rapidly after 612 BC, when a coalition of Babylonians and Medes sacked Nineveh, destroying the Assyrian heartland by 609 BC. My podcast response to Richardson’s claim will post tomorrow.

Before trying to refute a preterist interpretation using Ezekiel 38, Richardson claimed that there is only a single day of the Lord, and that it is yet to come. Here are his extended comments:

It is important to recognize … how the New Testament interprets and understands the day of the Lord…. This is the interpretive key. If anyone disagrees with … [or] wants to argue with what I’m saying, it is unarguable that the New Testament interprets the day of the Lord as one consummate singular future day of the Lord. The New Testament never once refers to days of the Lord. You’ll never see “day of the Lord” plural in the New Testament. Nor will you ever see the coming of the Lord, or the revealing of the Lord, or the appearing of the Lord, plural. It is always the singular coming of the Son of Man, the appearing of the Lord, the revealing of the Lord. The coming of Jesus and the day of the Lord are always combined together into one event. In fact, the New Testament refers to it as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the New Testament takes the Old Testament day of Yahweh, the day of the Lord, and the New Testament multiple times actually calls it the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I’ll challenge any preterist. Show me a single verse anywhere in the New Testament that speaks of the day of the Lord or the coming of the Lord in the plural tense…. I mean in the plural. It simply does not exist.

I agree that “days of the Lord” is not used in the Bible. Even so, there is no single “day of the Lord.” The “day of the Lord” is any time God comes to judge (evaluate), as we see, for example, in Zephaniah (Zeph. 2:2), “the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you,” that is, in Zephaniah’s day (see 1:1-6). The “you” was them. The phrase appears more than two dozen times, primarily in the books of Isaiah (2:12), Joel (2:11), and Amos (5:18-20), and often refers to temporal events such as foreign invasions, the capture of cities, or divine judgment on Israel and its enemies. The day of the Lord was said to be “near” (Isa. 13:6-22; Ezek. 30:2-19). John Walvoord, a futurist like Richardson, says this about the “day of the Lord.”

The “Day of the Lord” is an expression frequently used in both the Old and New Testaments to describe any period of time during which God exercises direct judgment on human sin. The Old Testament records a number of times when Israel endured a day of the Lord, lasting a few days or, in some cases, several years.[1]

Walter Baker, in his commentary on Obadiah, states something similar: “The Day of the LORD may refer to any time God judges by entering into world affairs (e.g., Ezek. 30:3…).”[2] You don’t have to be a preterist to acknowledge that there were many days of the Lord.

At this point, Richardson should take up his claims about multiple days of the Lord with other futurists. They do not agree with his interpretation that there is only one end-time “day of the Lord.” Let’s look at some New Testament passages.

“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night.” Literally, it reads, “there is coming a day of the Lord.” The definite article “the” is absent in the Greek. Who is Paul addressing? The Thessalonians. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day [of the Lord] would overtake you like a thief” (1 Thess. 5:2). What “day” is Paul referring to? The same day that Jesus warned the generation of His day about events that were to take place before their generation passed away: “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap” (Luke 21:34). Paul was not describing events that would take place in the distant future. See the book The Destruction of Jerusalem, the Mysterious Language of St. Paul’s Description of the Man of Sin, and the Day of the Lord by Nehemiah Nisbett (1787).

The Destruction of Jerusalem, the Mysterious Language of St. Paul’s Description of the Man of Sin, and the Day of the Lord

For most modern readers, Nehemiah Nisbett (d. 1812) is an unknown writer. He’s almost never quoted or cited, and yet his works were widely read in his day. He was most noted for his works dealing with the defense of Christianity against skeptics. Most of Nisbett’s works dealt with eschatology. Nisbett would be described as a preterist on passages that many partial preterists would say are yet to be fulfilled. This is especially true of his interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 5. This new version of Nisbett’s two outstanding apologetic works is a welcome addition to any Christian’s library.

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What do we make of Acts 2:20 and Peter’s mention of “the great and glorious day of the Lord”: “‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD COMES. Peter quotes Joel and explained, “This is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel” (2:16). What does “this” refer to? The events that took place at Pentecost. John R. Stott stated, “Peter introduces his sermon with the words ‘this is that’ ([Acts 2:]16, AV), i.e, ‘this’ which his hearers have witnessed is ‘that’ which Joel foretold,”[3] the day of the Lord. F. F. Bruce makes a similar point: “Joel, like other Old Testament prophets, had spoken of what was going to take place in the ‘last days.’ Peter’s quotation of this prophecy [at Pentecost] means that these days, the days of fulfillment of God’s purpose, have arrived.”[4] John Lightfoot (1602-1675) comments:

There is much mention of the ‘last days’ in Scripture, which in most places is not to be understood of the last days of the world, as some take them and so mistake, but of the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish state. And indeed, the greatest mercies that were promised to that people were promised to occur in those last days [Isa. 2:2; Hos. 3:5; Joel 2:28] as he is cited by this our apostle [Acts 2:17]: these things are not to be allotted to the last days of the world, but to the last days of that city; as Peter’s very allegation out of Joel makes it plain, if there were no more proof. “Now (saith he) is fulfilled that, which was spoken by the prophet Joel, ‘In the last days I will pour out,’” &c. These are the ‘last days,’ there intended, and now the thing hath received its accomplishment. For, how improper is it to construe him in such a sense as some do, — This is that which, Joel foretold, should come to pass in the last days of the world, two or three thousand years hence.[5]

Thomas Ice, also a dispensationalist, argues: “But this is [like] that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” He tries to explain the addition of “like” by claiming that “The unique statement of Peter (‘this is that’) is in the language of comparison and similarity, not fulfillment.”[6] So much for the literal interpretation of the Bible. He begs the question, assuming what he must first prove. Dispensational author Stanley D. Toussaint writes, contradicting Ice, “This clause does not mean, ‘This is like that’; it means Pentecost fulfilled what Joel had described.”[7]

What do we make of 2 Thessalonians 2:2, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” The KJV has “is near.” This is incorrect. The Greek word for “near” is not used. If the “day of the Lord” refers to the second coming, what evidence was there for it? No one had been taken to heaven. Jesus had not physically appeared. The saints were not taken off the earth. How could Paul have written a letter if either the rapture or the second coming had taken place? I cover 2 Thessalonians 2 in my books Last Days Madness and The Antichrist, Beasts, the Man of Lawlessness, and 666.

The Antichrist, Beasts, the Man of Lawlessness, and 666

Many today mistakenly use antichrist and beast interchangeably. Generally, a Christian hears the word antichrist and thinks of the beast in the book of Revelation. The number 666 has long fascinated theologians and mathematicians. Maybe the interest in the number has something to do with the attainment of wisdom and understanding since to “calculate the number of the beast” will reward the diligent (Rev. 13:18). The first readers were to have “understanding” to “calculate the number of the Beast” (Rev. 13:18). The Beast must have been a contemporary of the first-century readers. We can have the same “understanding” by studying the history of the period. We don’t have to speculate on the identity of some future Beast.

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In addition to Richardson’s comments about the day of the Lord, he also stated, “The coming of Jesus and the day of the Lord are always combined together into one event.” Ok, so what does he do with James 5:7-9?

Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, against one another, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Much more could be said about the day of the Lord and related passages, but I think this will suffice for now.

[1] John F. Walvoord, Prophecy: 14 Essential Keys to Understanding the Final Drama (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1993), 114-115.

[2] Walter L. Baker, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1457.

[3] John R. W. Stott, The Spirit, the Church, and the World: The Message of Acts (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 73.

[4] F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 60-61.

[5] John Lightfoot, Whole Works of the Rev. John Lightfoot, ed. John Rogers Pitman, 13 vols. (London: J.F. Dove, 1822), 6:292.

[6] Thomas Ice, “Acts,” in Tim LaHaye, ed. Prophecy Study Bible (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), 1187.

[7] Stanley D. Toussaint, “Acts,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 358.

Eschatology and Economics (Part Two)

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 07:46:31 -0400

The conclusion of Gary’s interview with Alex Bernardo of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast.

Today’s speculative madness related to repeated failed attempts at predicting the end must be attributed to a gross misunderstanding of Bible prophecy. As I soon learned, I was not alone in coming to this conclusion. For centuries great Bible expositors had taught that many New Testament prophecies had already been fulfilled. They taught that many texts that are often futurized actually describe events in the first century. This literature made sense of the passages that millions of Christians struggle to understand. Moreover, I soon learned that today’s prophetic scenario, so popular with radio and television evangelists and multi million-copy best sellers, has a short history going back to the 1830s.

But what about world conditions? Aren’t we seeing prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes? This protest is offered when people are hit with an interpretation that does not fit their long-held doctrinal views. They shift from the clear teaching of Scripture to current events. The Bible is then read through the lens of today’s newsprint, a form of “newspaper exegesis.” When current events change, somehow the clear teaching of the Bible on these subjects also changes. Few people ever take the time to check what prophecy “experts” wrote ten years earlier.

Last Days Madness

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The conclusion of Gary’s interview with Alex Bernardo of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast. Gary gives a short overview of some of the most misunderstood aspects of biblical prophecy, including the “antichrist” and the “man of lawlessness.” The remainder of the discussion focuses on economics and what the Bible has to say about money.

Click here for today’s episode

Click here to browse all episodes of The Gary DeMar Podcast

Dispensationalism Enables Islam, Marxism, and Secularism

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:18:48 -0400

“Joel Richardson” (his pen name) has written several books on eschatology (Mystery Babylon, When Jew Rules the World, and The Islamic Antichrist) and produced numerous videos. One of his latest is “The One Prophecy that Debunks Preterism, Replacement Theology, and the Lies of the Anti-Semites.” It’s about the “day of the Lord” and Ezekiel 38. If he thinks Ezekiel 38 “debunks” preterism, he is in for a rude awakening. I’ll address his comments in my next article and maybe in a video podcast (AV is moving to do video podcasts).

When someone like Richardson accuses an opposing prophecy view of advocating “replacement theology” and “antisemitism,” you know you’re going to be taken on a wild interpretive ride! Stay tuned. Poisoning the well is a favorite tactic when weak arguments are employed. It’s like playing the race card. “Before listening to anything preterists say, keep in mind they are antisemitic. Now I’m going to misrepresent what they have to say to prove it.” Hal Lindsey tried this in 1989 with his book The Road to Holocaust. In our rebuttal book, The Legacy of Hatred Continues, Peter J. Leithart and I showed that dispensationalism is leading Israel down the road to another holocaust.

The Legacy of Hatred Continues

We pursued all the means at our disposal to meet with Hal Lindsey over the "anti-Semitism" charges he made in his poorly researched book The Road To Holocaust and directs against amillennialists, historic premillennialists, and postmillennialists, especially Christian Reconstructionists. He would not meet with us. We were told that "Lindsey is not interested in talking about it. His basic word is write a book in response" (personal letter to Gary DeMar from a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, March 17, 1989). This is that book. We believe that Hal Lindsey is wrong in making eschatology the test of orthodoxy. As we will point out in The Legacy of Hatred Continues, the problem is not eschatology but ethics, obedience not expectations. ''Anti-Semitism'' crosses all eschatological lines, just as love for the Jews crosses all eschatological lines.

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I agree with Richardson when he writes, “I am firmly convinced that Islam is the single greatest challenge the Church will face,” but he gets this next part wrong: “before the return of Jesus.” He also gets this right, “yet most are still either asleep or in denial,” but for the wrong reason. The church is asleep and in denial because millions of Christians have bought into the end-time prophetic system called “dispensationalism.”

In 2010, I spoke with Joel at the “Take America Back Conference” held in Miami, October 15-18, sponsored by World Net Daily (WND), the publisher of his books. I mentioned that I had been working on a response to his article “Preterism: The Marxist’s Theological Tool.” In an earlier draft, he claimed Gary North was a Marxist, the only person who wrote an economic commentary on the Bible in 30+ volumes! Joel lives in the bubble of futurist eschatology. It’s his version of eschatology that allows Marxism, Islamism, and Secularism to fester and pollute our world because they are said to be inevitable tools of the antichrist who must wreak havoc on the world in the “last days.” It’s really Last Days Madness.

Last Days Madness

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The only escape from the clutches of these perverted ideologies is the “rapture of the church.” Joel believes the Antichrist is a Muslim leader, specifically the Mahdi, the messianic figure expected in Islamic eschatology. He argues that the Mahdi fulfills the biblical description of the antichrist. Muslims and unbelieving Jews are the biblical definition of antichrists: they deny “that Jesus is the Christ” and “the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22), and they do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 7). When were these “antichrists”? In John’s day. There were many of them, and their existence was evidence that it was the “last hour” then (1 John 2:18). The Bible says nothing about an end-time antichrist.

Preterists see Marxism, Islamism, and Secularism as worldview dead ends. They survive because Christians don’t have an earth-bound strategy and eschatology to confront and replace them. Marxists, Islamists, and Secularists are eschatological futurists. They believe their worldview will conquer the world, and their advocates work hard to make it happen. This is not true for end-time eschatologists like Richardson. The end is inevitably set for these movements to win.

Let’s go back to Gary North. In 1968, he wrote Marx’s Religion of Revolution: The Doctrine of Creative Destruction. In 1989, he published a much-expanded edition titled Marx’s Religion of Revolution: Regeneration Through Chaos. Dispensationalism is similar in that it teaches regeneration through chaos in an event called “the rapture of the church.” The more chaos there is in the world, the more evidence there is that the rapture is near. There’s no fighting against it because it’s a prophetic inevitability.

The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation

Since the national reestablishment of Israel in 1948, countless books and pamphlets have been written defending the doctrine assuring readers that it could happen at any moment. Some prophecy writers claimed the “rapture” would take place before 1988. We are far removed from that date. Where are we in God’s prophetic timetable?

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According to dispensationalists Mark Hitchcock, Jonathan Cahn, and others, the United States will be wiped out. How do we “know” this? Because the United States is not mentioned in the Bible! This means that we are headed for certain doom, and there is nothing Christians can do about it. It’s Bible prophecy.

Consider these statements from well-known dispensationalists:

• “This world is not going to get any easier to live in. Almost unbelievably hard times lie ahead. Indeed, Jesus said that these coming days will be uniquely terrible. Nothing in all the previous history of the world can compare with what lies in store for mankind.”[1]

• “What a way to live! With optimism, with anticipation, with excitement. We should be living like persons who don’t expect to be around much longer.”[2]

• “I don’t like cliches, but I’ve heard it said, ‘God didn’t send me to clean the fishbowl, he sent me to fish.’ In a way, there’s a truth in that.”[3] If you don’t clean the fishbowl, the fish die. We can’t and shouldn’t try to clean the fishbowl because Bible prophecy tells us it’s futile.

• “The premillennial position sees no obligation to make distinctly Christian laws.”[4]

• Ted Peters writes that dispensationalism “functions to justify social irresponsibility,” and many “find this doctrine a comfort in their lethargy.”[5]

William Edgar, a professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, recounts the time in the 1960s he spent studying at L’Abri in Switzerland under the tutelage of Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984).[6]

I can remember coming down the mountain from L’Abri and expecting the stock market to cave in, a priestly elite to take over American government, and enemies to poison the drinking water. I was almost disappointed when these things did not happen.[7]

Edgar speculated, with good reason, that it was Schaeffer’s eschatology that negatively affected the way he saw and interpreted world events. One of Schaeffer’s last books, A Christian Manifesto, called for civil disobedience as a stopgap measure to postpone an inevitable societal decline. “The fact remains that Dr. Schaeffer’s manifesto offers no prescriptions for a Christian society. . . . The same comment applies to all of Dr. Schaeffer’s writings: he does not spell out the Christian alternative. He knows that you ‘can’t fight something with nothing,’ but as a premillennialist, he does not expect to win the fight prior to the visible, bodily return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish His millennial kingdom.”[8] Tom Sine offers a startling example of the effect “prophetic inevitability” can have on some people:

“Do you realize if we start feeding hungry people things won’t get worse, and if things don’t get worse, Jesus won’t come?” interrupted a coed during a Futures Inter-term I recently conducted at a northwest Christian college. Her tone of voice and her serious expression revealed she was utterly sincere. And unfortunately I have discovered the coed’s question doesn’t reflect an isolated viewpoint. Rather, it betrays a widespread misunderstanding of biblical eschatology . . . that seems to permeate much contemporary Christian consciousness. I believe this misunderstanding of God’s intentions for the human future is seriously undermining the effectiveness of the people of God in carrying out his mission in a world of need. . . . The response of the (student) . . . reflects what I call the Great Escape View of the future. So much of the popular prophetic literature has focused our attention morbidly on the dire, the dreadful, and the destruction of all that is.[9]

[1] Charles C. Ryrie, The Living End (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1976), 21.

[2] Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1970), 145.

[3] Hal Lindsey, “The Great Cosmic Countdown,” Eternity (January 1977), 21.

[4] Norman L. Geisler, “A Premillennial View of Law and Government,” Moody Monthly (October 1985), 129.

[5] Ted Peters, Futures: Human and Divine (Atlanta, GA: John Knox, 1978), 28, 29.

[6] See Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 42.

[7] William Edgar, “Francis Schaeffer and the Public Square” in J. Budziszewski, Evangelicals in the Public Square: Four Formative Voices on Political Thought and Action (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 174.

[8] Gary North and David Chilton, “Apologetics and Strategy,” in Tactics of Christian Resistance: A Symposium, ed. Gary North (Tyler, TX: Geneva Divinity School, 1983), 127-128. Emphasis in original.

[9] Tom Sine, The Mustard Seed Conspiracy: You Can Make a Difference in Tomorrow’s Troubled World (Waco, TX: Word, 1981), 69.

[10] Jan Markell, “Kingdom Now: We’re Not Returning to Eden.” For a response, see Gary DeMar, “Is the World a Sinking Titanic?,” Biblical Worldview (May 2007), 4-6.

Eschatology and Economics (Part One)

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 06:44:26 -0400

In this first half of his recent appearance on The Protestant Libertarian Podcast, Gary discusses how he became interested in how the Bible is related to both economics and eschatology.

A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be every Christian’s rallying cry. Last Days Madness is an appeal to the church to take another look at the topic of eschatology, the study of last things. The topic has not been settled in spite of a great deal of misplaced dogmatism. If you decide to read on, be prepared to be challenged. Moreover, be prepared to gain a greater respect for the integrity of the Bible.

Last Days Madness is unique because it argues its case rather than just states it. Most popular prophecy writers simply declare their position with little analysis or interaction with competing systems, assuming that their position is the only viable interpretive model. This is especially true in books like John Hagee’s Beginning of the End: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Coming Antichrist and Ed Dobson’s 50 Remarkable Events Pointing to the End: Why Jesus Could Return by A.D. 2000. These authors dismiss, without sustained analysis, any view that does not agree with their opinion. In fact, for them no other views on prophecy even exist. Readers are left with the impression that the Church has always believed what these men claim is true.

Last Days Madness takes a different approach. It acknowledges the existence of opposing views, lists their supporting evidences, considers their line of argumentation, and offers a counter opinion with detailed exegetical and historical testimony. Unlike most books on Bible prophecy, Last Days Madness is not “an ill-digested rehash of someone else’s views” but a careful and detailed analysis of Bible prophecy.

Last Days Madness

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In this first half of his recent appearance with Alex Bernardo of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast, Gary discusses some of his own personal history and how he became interested in how the Bible is related to both economics and eschatology. The two topics are much more intertwined than one might think.

Click here for today’s episode

Click here to browse all episodes of The Gary DeMar Podcast

Episode 84: Modern Israel is not Biblical Israel

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:40:34 -0400

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 84

Gary comments on a recent interview that Tucker Carlson had with Carrie Prejean Boller about the nation of Israel.

GARY: Dispensationalists postpone the eschatological aspects of Jesus’ ministry and say that we are now living in a parenthesis—a gap—called the “Church Age.” According to them, the prophetic clock does not start ticking again until something called the rapture of the Church takes place.

The question is, if you are not a Dispensationalist, you’ve gotten rid of this gap idea, and now you have continuity from the time of Christ for the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. What then follows? What happens afterwards? What should we as Christians be doing now? Based on the things that Jesus accomplished, do they have any “this world/this day and time” application? This is a big question that needs to be answered on both sides, whether you’re Dispensationalist or Reformed; whether you’re Amillennial, Postmillennial, Radical Two Kingdom, or whatever the case may be. This is the big debate.

This was the debate when you and I were in seminary with Greg Bahnsen. What is the application of God’s Word to this time and place? How does the Word manifest itself in the world? Kim, we talked a little bit before we started recording, and you wanted to look at Revelation 2, beginning with verse 25. Why don’t you go ahead and take it from there.

KIM: I’ll set the stage for what I want to focus on to raise several questions for the Church. Jesus speaks in Revelation 2:25-29 of the saints’ reign in and with Christ. What is this dominion, this reign of the saints? When is it? If preterism is true, where is this reign? Do we experience it? Most Christians today, I dare say, would assert that they do not see it or experience it now. Futurists would say that this is proof that preterism is false. But is it the case instead that the Church just flat-out doesn’t believe it, and, as you say, in its unbelief, postpones or projects it elsewhere—into heaven when we die or at the end of time—or anywhere but not here and now. The buzz word that unbelieving detractors use to defame and dismiss this whole notion of the current reign of the saints in history on earth is “triumphalism;” a dirty word in their book. They prefer instead the poor suffering Church, trampled underfoot by the world. The saints, rather, are just “passing through” this world as pilgrims. They are not exercising dominion here and now.

The Hope of Israel and the Nations

In this second and concluding volume of The Hope of Israel and the Nations, Kim Burgess continues expounding his lessons on New Testament Eschatology. With help from co-author Gary DeMar, Kim connects all the parts of the NT and fashions them into a whole. Kim emphasizes the one-and-many approach to interpretation. The parts and the whole must be studied together. They make up the warp and woof of proper biblical interpretation. The process takes time and study, but it brings the full story of the Bible into clear focus

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Gary comments on a recent interview that Tucker Carlson had with Carrie Prejean Boller about the nation of Israel. Boller makes very good points about the modern state of Israel not being the same as the biblical nation of Israel. It’s also an opportunity to discuss another Tucker interview, one with the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

Click here for today’s episode

Click here for all episodes of Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope

Hopscotching Through the Bible to Muddy the Clear Water

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 08:29:30 -0400

Jason Bradfield has written another article that mentions me and confuses me. The confusion began when he referred to “Brenton LXX Psalm 95:13” 14 times. There are only 11 verses in Psalm 95. I was thinking to myself, “What is he talking about?” Most people would not know about this if they were to go to, for example, BibleHub.com and click on LXX 95. While they might not be able to read Greek, they would see that it only has 11 verses. Here is the link to Brenton LXX 95 translated into English which is Psalm 96 in our English Bibles. There are enough Septuagints where Pslam 95. Bradfield could have made his same arguments by sticking with any Greek translation of Psalm 96, but it would have made any difference. Then I saw that he dragged me into his discussion about Matthew 24:14 and the use of oikoumenē.

I was not going to bother answering it, but I had a lull in what started off as a busy day. I needed to write an article, so I decided to make a few comments. As of today, no one has commented on Bradfield’s article, and there are only two likes. I suspect he needs my name to get some traction for his articles. I’ve moved on from the Three Questions Letter controversy. There are bigger fish to fry.

Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times

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Quite a few years ago, I was teaching a Wednesday evening class in the chapel at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on Matthew 24. Unbeknownst to me, a woman born in Greece who spoke Greek approached me after the class. Yikes! She confirmed everything I said about Matthew 24:14. All preterists note that Jesus used the Greek word oikoumenē to describe what was going to take place in their world at that time. It’s standard preterist reasoning. The first time I saw this argument was in chapter 6 of J. Marcellus Kik’s book Matthew XXIV.

Here’s how Bradfield introduces his argument as “orthodox preterist.”

A popular interpretation, especially in orthodox and unorthodox preterist readings, limits the word to the Roman Empire, following its political usage in passages like Luke 2:1 (“a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered”). On that reading, the verse was fulfilled in the apostolic age: the gospel reached the bounds of the Roman world, and then the “end” (the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70) came.

It’s popular because that’s what the word means in this context, and that’s what his fellow “orthodox” preterists believe and teach. I could mention dozens of examples, as I have done repeatedly in the past 40 years!

Bradfield was among those who signed the “Three Questions Letter.” Kenneth Gentry also signed it. Ken wrote The Olivet Discourse Made Easy: You Can Understand Jesus’ Great Prophetic Discourse. Gentry spends four and a half pages presenting a view that is almost identical to mine. He uses the same line of reasoning in his debate with Thomas Ice in their book The Great Tribulation: Past for Future? Other signers like Douglas Wilson and Jeff Durbin would agree with Gentry, and so did R.C. Sproul. “The gospel was indeed preached in all that world in the first century, even before the fall of Jerusalem (Matthew: An Expositional Commentary, 644).

Bradfield wrote, “The lexical evidence does not merely fail to support the ‘oikoumene = Roman Empire’ reading of Matthew 24:14. It actively contradicts it.” If this is the case (and it isn’t), then he needs to get busy correcting a lot of people, not just me. He’s on a fool’s errand. Good luck.

For some reason, Bradfield goes to the Greek translation of Psalm 96:13, where he claims “the word [oikoumenē] arrives already loaded with a very different meaning. In the psalm, οἰκουμένη is not a political territory administered by Caesar.” Of course it’s not. Whoever said it is? He desperately tries to link Psalm 96:13 with Matthew 24:14. The Psalm has its own contextual meaning that the people who first read it understood it.

Bradfield claims that I believe and teach that oikoumenē only refers to the Roman Empire. I’ve never said any such thing. I wrote the following in chapter 8 of my book Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered, which deals with every use of oikoumenē in the NT, a book Bradfield never mentions.

The English word “world” in Matthew 24:14 is based on the Greek word oikoumenē which is best translated as “inhabited earth” or “political boundary.” A number of modern translations (e.g., NASV and NIV) translate oikoumenē in Luke 2:1 as “inhabited earth,” but they don’t use the same translation in Matthew 24:14. The English Standard Version (ESV) follows the King James Version and translates oikoumenē as “world” in both cases. It’s hardly possible that Rome taxed the whole wide world or that anyone had knowledge of a famine that encompassed the entire globe (Acts 11:28). (page 130)

This is a standard preterist argument, and Gentry makes the same point in his commentary on the Olivet Discourse!

Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered

Since the reestablishment of Israel in 1948, “end-time” prophetic speculation has been on the rise. Millions of books have been sold proclaiming countless false prophecies. Many Christians are beginning to take a second look at the biblical prophetic record. A seismic shift in biblical eschatology is taking place around the world because Christians, some for the first time, are willing to challenge what they have been taught based on what the Bible actually says.

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In the margin of Luke 2:1 in the NASB, where oikoumenē is translated “the inhabited earth,” there is this marginal note: “I.e., the Roman Empire.” This is from a non-preterist translation.[1]

Bradfield states the following in a note explaining “where” he’s “coming from.”

I still consider myself an orthodox preterist. I believe that some of the Olivet Discourse describes events that found fulfillment in the first century, particularly the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. But I also believe there are two different things at work in the discourse: the events of AD 70 and the “end” of history. The signs were for that generation; the end belongs to the unknown “that day and hour” of Matthew 24:36.

Given this explanation, Bradfield must believe that 24:14 was fulfilled based on verse 34: “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” That’s because verse 14 is before verse 36. One of the signs for that generation was the gospel being preached to the “whole oikoumenē.” And it was.

Bradfield omits the following verses from his article. Gentry also uses some of them in his “orthodox” preterist interpretation of Matthew 24:1-34.

• “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5).

• “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world [kosmos] (Rom. 1:8).

• “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? On the contrary: ‘THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD [οἰκουμένης/oikoumenēs)]’” (Rom. 10:18)

• “if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister” (Col. 1:23).

• “Beyond question, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh / Was vindicated in the Spirit / Seen by angels / Proclaimed among the nations / Believed on in the world [κόσμῳ, kosmō] / Taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).

• The “gospel … has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25).

Why doesn’t Bradfield mention these verses? Because they do not fit what he is trying to accomplish, which I’m not sure what that is. He goes hopscotching and meandering through the Bible to find verses he claims support his “orthodox” view, while ignoring verses that refute it. Whether it is oikoumenē or kosmos, what Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 was fulfilled before that generation passed away. As an “orthodox” preterist, Bradfield must also believe this.

The following is from the second volume of the ninth edition of Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew Delivered in the Parish Church of St. James, Westminster (1807) by Beilby Porteus.

Another sign which was to precede the demolition of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, was, that the Christian religion was first to be propagated over the greater part of the Roman empire, which in Scripture, as well as by the Roman writers, was called the world. “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” Then shall come what is called in the third verse [of Matthew 24] the end of the world; that is, the Jewish world, the Jewish state and government.

And accordingly, St. Paul, in his epistle to the Colossians, speaks of the Gospel, “being come unto all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven [Col. 1:6, 23].” And we learn from the most ancient records, that the Gospel was preached within thirty years after the death of Christ, in Idumea, Syria, and Mesopotamia; in Media and Parthia, and many parts of Asia Minor; in Egypt, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and other regions of Africa; in Greece and Italy; as far north as Scythia, and far westward as Spain, and in this very island which in habit; where there is great reason to believe Christianity was planted in the days of the apostles, and before the destruction of Jerusalem. And this, it is said, was to be “for a testimony against them;” that is, against the Jews; for a testimony that the offer of salvation was made to them in every part of the world where they were dispersed; and that, by their obstinate rejection of it, they had merited the signal punishment which soon after overtook them. (179-180)

[1] “According to TDNT: “hē oikouménē denotes the inhabited world and then comes into use for the Roman empire. In Philo it has primarily a general rather than a political sense. It is fairly common in the NT. In Mt. 24:14 the use is general; the gospel is for all nations. In Lk. 2:1, however, the reference is more political. The inhabited world is the point in Lk. 4:5 (Mt. 4:8 has kósmos) and Lk. 21:26 (cf. Acts 11:28; Rev. 3:10). Acts 17:6 and 19:27 are in accord with current Greek usage. Paul uses the term only in quoting Ps. 19:4 (Rom. 10:18). Heb. 1:6 and 2:5, however, reflect Hellenistic usage. The NT never contests the Roman claim that equates the oikouménē with the empire.”

"James Talarico is a Woke Nutjob "

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:56:09 -0400

Gary responds to the bizarre statements being made by self-proclaimed Christian, seminary student, and potential U.S. senator, James Talarico.

Claims to authority rest upon religious presuppositions (presupposed ideas about the fundamental nature of reality). When a clash among competing authorities develops, the battle follows religious lines, because competing authorities “say” contradictory things about the fundamental nature of reality. Those who seek to overthrow existing authority structures do so in the name of morality, goodness, and right. These purveyors of the new order fight their battle with religious zeal and contrast the evil old order with the righteous new. The old order is assumed to be despotic, tyrannical, and repressive, while the new order will bring about liberty, freedom, fairness, and equality. Those rulers who “take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed” (Psalm 2:2b) want to rid themselves of the old way. They see God’s manner of living as being shackled by “fetters” and “cords” (v. 3).

The religious and political rulers of Jesus’ day understood the religious character of authority. When Jesus in effect put religious leaders on notice that their authority was suspect, they knew the battle lines were being drawn: “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23). When Jesus identified His authority with that of His Father, “The Jews took up stones again to stone Him” (John 10:31). Their hostility resulted from Jesus’ claims to divine sanction for His actions: “You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God” (John 10:33). Jesus based His authority on His Father’s authority, and on Himself as God in human flesh (cf. Mark 2:1-12). The religious and political rulers of His time based their authority on their own manmade traditions. In effect, they had become “gods walking on earth.”

The religious and political leaders of Jesus’ day were in positions of authority because the people wanted what they claimed they could offer. While liberty had been promised in previous times, tyranny was the present effect of those feeble promises. God-ordained authority was rejected for a supposed liberating authority that would free both church and State.

God and Government

With a fresh new look, more images, an extensive subject and scripture index, and an updated bibliography, God and Government is ready to prepare a whole new generation to take on the political and religious battles confronting Christians today. May it be used in a new awakening of Christians in America—not just to inform minds, but to stimulate action and secure a better tomorrow for our posterity.

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Gary responds to the bizarre statements being made by self-proclaimed Christian, seminary student, and potential U.S. senator, James Talarico. He has been on The Joe Rogan Podcast and recently defeated Jasmine Crockett in a primary. His theological statements are as wacky and unbiblical as his politics.

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‘Second Verse Same as the First’: We’ve Heard this Before

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:11:18 -0400

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. 24:33; James 5:7-9; Rev. 1:1, 3; 22:6, 10). He’s written The King Is Coming: It’s Time to Prepare for the Return of Christ, which was released on March 3, 2026, to make his case. All the usual suspects are promoting it. As a result, it’s an ‘Instant New York Times Bestseller’ and a ‘USA Today Bestseller.’

John Bevere should know better than to make claims about the timing of prophetic events, even if they are less than definite. He’s 66 years old, so he’s been around long enough to know how others made similar claims—from The Late Great Planet Earth to the multi-volume Left Behind series, and many, many, many more that go back centuries.

The Day and the Hour

Throughout Christian history, bizarre fringe groups and well-meaning saints alike have been fully convinced that events in their lifetime were fulfilling Bible prophecy. In The Day and The Hour, Gumerlock spans two thousand years of conjecture on the last days, disclosing the dreams and delusions of those who believed that their sect was the 144,000 of Revelation 7; that the 1290 days of Daniel 12 had expired in their generation; that the "Man of Sin" of II Thessalonians 2 was reigning in their time; that a Rapture of the saints, a Great Tribulation, a Battle of Armageddon were just around the corner; or that a Millennial Kingdom was about to dawn.

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To cover themselves, the prognosticators always throw in “no man knows the day and the hour.” It’s all about the “signs.” They, too, have been appealed to as well. Pretribbers can’t point to signs since the ‘rapture’ is a “signless event.” But prophecy “experts” can’t sell books without appealing to signs!

John Bevere is 66 years old. He should know better. In 1970, Hal Lindsey claimed it would all come to an end sometime before 1988. The Late Great Planet Earth sold tens of millions of copies. Chuck Smith and others worked off the same 1948 + 40 years = 1988 timetable. My library is filled with books and articles going back hundreds of years by people who claimed that some form of the end was near in their time because all the signs were in place. During the Iraq War, John Walvoord’s son repurposed his father’s book, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis (1974, 1976, 1990), for the fourth time in 2007, retitled Armageddon, Oil, and Terror. These were all bestsellers. They are outdated and only good for kindling.

Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered

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A similar view was held by Charles Dyer in his book The Rise of Babylon: Is Iraq at the Center of the Final Drama? first published in 1991 (revised in 2003). Dyer linked Saddam Hussein with Nebuchadnezzar. An image on the back cover of the first edition of The Rise of Babylon included the following text: “SADDAM HUSSEIN and the ancient world conqueror Nebuchadnezzar. Not only do they look alike, but their mission is the same—to control the world. And the symbol of this world domination is an ancient city…”

How did that work out? Any new book will be titled Is Iran at the Center of the Final Drama? What’s the difference between a ‘q’ and an ‘n’ among prophetic friends?

H. Charles R. Taylor wrote, “What you are starting to read probably is my final issue of Bible Prophecy News, for Bible prophecy fulfillments indicate that Jesus Christ our Lord will most likely return for us at the Rapture of the Church before the Fall 1992 issue can be printed.” There is nothing new in Bevere’s book except a massive advertising campaign. It’s all been said before with the same result. Bevere is taking prophetic texts used to describe events that were near to the first readers (e.g., Matt. 24-25), ignoring the context (the destruction of the temple: 24:3), the audience (the use of the second person plural “you,” which referred to those in Jesus’ audience), and the timing (“this generation” always refers to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking).

In an interview, Bevere referred to the parable of the Ten Virgins to support some of his claims. Bevere is in good company because even non-dispensationalists get the timing wrong on specific passages. This is especially true when it comes to the parables in Matthew 24-25. Even partial preterist Kenneth Gentry applies these parables to a future physical coming of Jesus. I cover his arguments in chapter 15 of my book Last Days Madness.

Last Days Madness

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A line of evidence offered by those who believe that events following Matthew 24:35 refer to the personal and physical return of Jesus is the meaning given to “delays” (24:48: chronizei), “after a long time” (25:19: polyn), and the “delay” (chronizontos) of the bridegroom (25:5). For some commentators, these examples indicate that different events are in view, one near (the destruction of Jerusalem that took place in AD 70) and one distant (a future physical coming of Christ). This is the view of Stephen F. Hayhow.

Both parables, the parables of the virgins (vv. 1-13), and the parable of the talents (vv. 14-30), speak of the absence of the bridegroom/master, who is said to be “a long time in coming” (v. 5) and “After a long time the master of the servants returned…” (v. 19). This suggests, not the events of A.D. 70 which were to occur in the near future, in fact within the space of a generation, but a distant event, the return of Christ.[1]

Notice that the evil slave says, “My master is not coming for a long time,” literally, is “delayed” (Matt. 24:48). The evil slave then proceeds to “beat his fellow-slaves and eat and drink with drunkards” (24:49). But to the surprise of the “evil slave” the master returned when he least expected him (24:50). The master did not return to cut the evil slave’s distant relatives into pieces (24:51); he cut the evil slave into pieces. The evil slave was alive when the master left and when the master returned. In this context, a “long time” must be measured against a person’s lifetime. For example, in John 5:5-6, “a certain man” had been at the Pool of Bethesda for “thirty-eight years in his sickness.” This is described as a “long time,” about a biblical generation!

The same idea is expressed in the parable of the “talents.” A man entrusts his slaves with his possessions (25:14). The master then goes on a journey (Matt. 25:15). While the master is gone, the slaves make investment decisions (25:16-18). We are then told that “after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them” (25:19). In this context, “a long time” is no longer than an average lifetime. The settlement is made with the same slaves who received the talents. In every other New Testament context, “a long time” means nothing more than an extended period of time (Luke 8:27; 23:8; Acts 8:11; 14:3, 28; 26:5, 29; 27:21; 28:6), but nothing like 2000 years. The delay of the bridegroom is no different from the “long time” of the two previous parables. The bridegroom returns to the same two groups of virgins (25:1-13). The duration of the delay must be measured by the audience. Bevere’s book is just another pop-prophecy screed that will end up in the dustbin with other prophetic “sure thing” books.

[1] Stephen F. Hayhow, “Matthew 24, Luke 17 and the Destruction of Jerusalem,” Christianity and Society 4:2 (April 1994), 4. Robert Young on the Parable of the Ten Virgins writes, “THEN], that is, when the things mentioned in the preceding chapter are taking place among the unbelieving Jews in Palestine, the rule of the reign of the heavens shall be exercised on the believing ones in a manner similar to the way in which ten virgins were treated by the bridegroom they professed to honour” (Concise Critical Comments on the Holy Bible, 25).

Castaways in a Suicidal Culture

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 08:08:30 -0400

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 life of a shepherd in an attempt to give himself the needed solitude to develop true “spirituality.” Since the life of a shepherd was not isolated enough to cultivate the true spiritual life he desired, he entered a monastery. In the nine years he spent as a monk, he never once set foot outside the confined space of his room. Seeking even more solitude and “spirituality,” Simeon went into the desert, erected a pole nine-feet high, and began his thirty-year perch. “Even then Simeon thought he was too near the earth, and little by little he lengthened the pillar until finally it reached the height of sixty feet.”[1] Simeon believed “that by living on the top of a pillar his soul would benefit.”[2]

How was Simeon’s spirituality better than those who cared for him? His attendants toiled while Simeon enjoyed the fruit of their labor. In reality, Simeon’s “spirituality” was worthless because it was self-serving. Jesus said it best: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing any more, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matt. 5:13). It was deception, Paul wrote, to believe that such practices contributed in any way to true spirituality (Col. 2:16–23). The definition of “pure and undefiled religion” is to “visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). Of course, there is no way to visit orphans and widows if you are perched atop a pole separated from the world where orphans and widows live.

Defilement does not come by way of things but from what’s inside a person, from “the things that proceed out of the mouth” which arise “from the heart. . . . For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matt. 15:18–19). There isn’t a pole high enough to escape the sinfulness of the heart. The Reformers of the sixteenth century understood Christian spirituality “in terms of the vocation of all Christians to express their faith in the market-place of life.”[3]

Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths

Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths takes a closer look at God's Word and applies it to erroneous misinterpretations of the Bible that have resulted in a virtual shut-down of the church's full-orbed mission in the world (Acts 20:27). Due to these mistaken interpretations and applications of popular Bible texts to contemporary issues, the Christian faith is being thrown out and trampled under foot by men (Matt. 5:13).

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Gary discusses an article on the Front Page Magazine website about the current state of craziness in western culture. Could all the political nonsense and cultural insanity be signals of the end of western civilization? If so, what should be the response of concerned Christians? We can either survive or commit suicide—sink or swim—by using what we have at our disposal.

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[1] R. B. Kuiper, “Not of the World”: Discourses on the Christian’s Relation to the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1929), 27.

[2] Houghton, Sketches from Church History, 28. Also see Robert J. Morgan, On This Day: 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories about Saints, Martyrs, and Heroes (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 5.

[3] James M. Houston, “Spiritual Life Today: An Appropriate Spirituality for a Post-Modern World,” The Gospel in the Modern World: A Tribute to John Stott, eds. Martyn Eden and David F. Wells (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1991), 180.

Episode 83: The Gospel Had Been Preached in the ‘Whole World’

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 08:12:29 -0400

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 says by letting its words explain what Jesus really meant. Remember Matthew 24:34: “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” One of the “all these things” is the gospel being “preached in the whole world … to all the nations.”

The word translated “world” in Matthew 24:14 is the Greek word oikoumenē rather than the more common word for “world” kosmos. This is the only time Matthew uses oikoumenē. It is best translated as “inhabited earth,” “known world,” or “political boundary” (my preferred rendering) and is sometimes translated as “Roman Empire” (e.g., Acts 11:28; 17:6), which is more of an interpretation than a translation. The same Greek word is used in Luke 2:1: “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth” [oikoumenē]. Rome could only take a census of its subjects, those who lived within the political boundaries of the empire. This more accurate translation helps us understand that Jesus was saying the gospel of the kingdom (Acts 28:23, 31) would be preached throughout the Roman Empire (the known world) before judgment would be poured out on Jerusalem.

The reaction of the Jews to the preaching of the gospel by Paul in “a synagogue of the Jews” in Thessalonica led to violence and had an impact on “the world,” that is, the world of their day:

[T]he Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:5-7).

The Greek word translated “world” is oikoumenē. The New American Standard translation notes in the margin that it’s literally “inhabited earth” and references Matthew 24:14, where it’s translated “world” and Luke 2:1 where it’s translated “inhabited earth.” It’s unfortunate that while many modern translations translate oikoumenē in Luke 2:1 as “inhabited earth,” some still translate oikoumenē in Matthew 24:14 as “world.” The following explanation found in Appendix 129 of The Companion Bible offers a clear definition of oikoumenē as compared to kosmos: “[Oikoumenē] is used of the habitable world, as distinct from the kosmos…. Hence, it is used in a more limited and special sense of the Roman Empire, which was then dominant. See Luke 2.1; 4.5; 21.26.”

Wars and Rumors of Wars

A first-century interpretation of the Olivet Discourse was once common in commentaries and narrative-style books that describe the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. There is also a history of skeptics who turn to Bible prophecy and claim Jesus was wrong about the timing of His coming at “the end of the age” and the signs associated with it. A mountain of scholarship shows that the prophecy given by Jesus was fulfilled in exacting detail when He said it would: before the generation of those to whom He was speaking passed away.

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Gary responds to a Facebook video where an individual claims that the Gospel must be preached in the “whole world” before the end comes. This promise comes from Matthew 24:14 and is constrained by the timeframe of Matthew 24:34. Gary points out that the phrase doesn’t mean the entire world as we know it today, as well as several verses proving that the Gospel was preached “in all the world” before that first-century generation came to pass.

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The Myth of the Rebuilt Temple

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:42:07 -0400

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 occur, there must be a rapture of the church. We are assured (with no specific biblical evidence) that a pretribulational rapture is the next prophetic event in the dispensational system, in which Israel is said to take center stage. It is purported to set off a series of prophetic events leading up to the millennial reign of Christ, including the rebuilding of a fourth temple in Jerusalem after the destruction of the “tribulation temple.” It’s in the future post-rapture “tribulation temple” that the antichrist is to take his seat (2 Thess. 2:4), place a statue of himself for people to worship (Matt. 24:15; Rev. 13:14-15), and proclaim himself to be god (2 Thess. 2:4).

The Antichrist, Beasts, the Man of Lawlessness, and 666

The beasts, both sea and land, the mark on the hand or head, and the number 666 should be interpreted in light of the Old Testament, similar to the way Sodom (11:8), Egypt (11:8), Jezebel (2:20), Balaam (2:14), and Babylon (14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21) are interpreted. Understanding the way the Old Testament uses and applies marks, it is not that difficult to determine what John is describing in Revelation 13. Whoever carried the mark of the beast would be protected by Satan, and whoever carried the mark of the Lamb would be protected by God. Those who identified with Rome against Jesus Christ died in the destruction of Jerusalem when Titus and his army swept in to destroy the temple and the city.

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In 2018, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for the building of a third Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. You can tell from this video that it was some time ago. That was when he most likely did not know better. At least I hope so.

Tucker Carlson made a splash with this comment: “How could an American Christian or any Christian call for the building of a temple whose presence, whose inherent presence, denies Christ?” Good point, but Tucker does not understand dispensationalism. Dispensationalists believe that Jews are Christ deniers, but during the tribulation period, God is going to “purge” the Jews because of their unbelief. In his book Israel in Prophecy, John Walvoord writes.

“The purge of Israel in their time of trouble is described by Zechariah in these words: ‘And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried’ (Zechariah 13:8, 9). According to Zechariah’s prophecy, two-thirds of the children of Israel in the land will perish, but the one-third that are left will be refined and be awaiting the deliverance of God at the second coming of Christ, which is described in the next chapter of Zechariah” (108).

But what futurists need to support this end-time scenario is a verse stating that there will be another rebuilt temple, one different from the one built after the exile and renovated (rebuilt) by Herod the Great beginning in 20 BC and finally completed around AD 64 and destroyed in AD 70. Notice how clearly the Old Testament records a decree to rebuild the post-exilic temple (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; 5:6-17). The foundation stone was laid (Ezra 3:10-12), and the temple was completed (6:13-18). There was even a letter sent to the authorities of the time to determine if there had been a “decree to rebuild this temple” (5:1-17; 6:1-12). There is nothing comparable in the New Testament.

Rebuilt-temple advocates Thomas Ice and Randall Price are forced to admit, “There are no Bible verses that say, ‘There is going to be a third temple.’”[1] Having made this revealing concession, they go on to claim, “there will be a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem at least by the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation period.”[2] Randall Price’s updated 700-page book on The Temple and Bible Prophecy still can’t produce a New Testament verse that explicitly states that another temple must be built to fulfill Bible prophecy.[3] Given that two Old Testament books (Ezra and Nehemiah) detail the rebuilding of the temple after the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, one would expect to find at least one verse in the New Testament addressing the rebuilding of another distant post-rapture temple.

Price and Ice are not alone in making their unsupported claim for another rebuilt temple. Merrill F. Unger, writing in 1955, made a similar assertion: “The temple will be rebuilt, for the ‘abomination of desolation’ (Matt. 24:15) ‘shall stand in the Holy Place,’ in the ‘Temple of God’ (Jewish Temple) rebuilt (II Thess. 2:4), with an ‘altar’ and ‘worshippers’ (Rev. 11:1), and an ‘outer court’ in the ‘Holy City’ (Jerusalem, cf. Rev. 11:2).”[4] The problem with Unger’s end-time scenario is that the temple built by Herod was still standing when these prophecies were given. Unger assumes that the mere mention of a temple in a prophetic passage must refer to a rebuilt temple to be constructed during the tribulation period following a pretribulational rapture, a nearly 2000-year delay.[5] If the temple is such a crucial piece of the end-time puzzle, why doesn’t the New Testament say something about it? The silence is deafening. Notice what Matthew 24:15 says, “When you see.” Who were the “you”? The people who were in Jesus’ audience!

Does the Bible predict that a third temple will be built, one following Solomon’s temple and the post-exile temple that was still standing in Jesus’ day and was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans? Don Stewart and Chuck Missler insist, “The crucial issue boils down to how we interpret prophecy.” On this, all would agree. “There are two basic ways to interpret Bible prophecy,” Stewart and Missler write. “Either you understand it literally or you do not. If a person rejects the literal interpretation, then they are left to their own imagination as to what the Scripture means…. We believe it makes sense to understand the Scriptures as literally requiring the eventual construction and desecration of a Third Temple.”[6] If this is true, then produce a literal verse. The authors are careful to say only that another rebuilt temple is required. A third temple is required only if the Bible requires it and specifically states it. While dispensationalists require another temple for their prophetic system to work, as we will see, the New Testament says nothing about a rebuilt temple, not a single word.

Jesus’ completed redemptive work makes the need for a rebuilt temple unnecessary. His ministry begins with the declaration that He is our tabernacle (John 1:14), “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29), “the temple” (John 2:19-21), and the “chief cornerstone” (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20). By extension, believers are “as living stones . . . being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Those “in Christ” are the true temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; Rev. 21:22). Jesus and the people of God are the focus of the only temple that has any redemptive significance under the new covenant. To be “in Christ” is to be in the temple and all it stood for, “the renewed centre and focus for the people of God”[7] (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 1:2, 30; Gal. 3:14, 28; 5:6). The New Testament references to the temple of stone only refers to its destruction (Matt. 24:1-2) never its physical reconstruction. It is highly significant that “Jesus never gives any hint that there will be a physical replacement for this Temple. There is no suggestion, either in the Apocalyptic Discourse [Revelation] or elsewhere, that this destruction will be but a preliminary stage in some glorious ‘restoration’ of the Temple.”[8]

The original temple was a shadow of things to come. It was designed to be a temporary edifice looking forward to the completed work of Jesus Christ (Isa. 66:1-3; cf. 1:11-13; Mal. 1:10-11). For dispensationalists to insist that another temple is needed to complete some type of covenantal obligation with the Jews goes against the entire New Testament and makes the “first covenant … faultless,” with “no occasion sought for a second” (Heb. 8:7). Let the Bible settle the issue.

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises (Heb. 8:1-6).

The writer of Hebrews declares that Jesus entered “through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation” (9:11). Since Jesus completed His redemptive work, any new temple “made with hands” is little different from a pagan temple that has no inherent life or redemptive value (cf. Acts 17:24; 19:26; 2 Cor. 5:1). “[T]he description of the Jerusalem Temple as ‘made with hands’ … is a strong means of playing down its significance. This had been a way of belittling the pagan idols (e.g. Ps. 115:4; cf. Isa. 46:6); to describe the Temple in such a fashion was potentially incendiary.”[9] This is because “the author of Hebrews believed the Jerusalem Temple was but a ‘shadow’ of the reality now found in Christ (8:5).”[10] The “new covenant” had made the “old covenant” obsolete (8:13), including the temple and everything associated with it.

Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered

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Stewart and Missler have made it very simple for us to determine whether the Bible addresses the issue of a rebuilt temple. If the Bible is interpreted literally, the need for a third temple should be explicitly stated. What biblical evidence do they offer to support their claim that “the Bible, in both testaments, speaks of a Temple that has yet to appear”?[11] From the Old Testament, they cite Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11 for support, with only Daniel 9:27 significant to their case.

Since Daniel was written after Solomon’s temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC (2 Kings 25:8-9; Dan. 1:1-2) and before the second temple had been built by the returning exiles (Ezra 6:13-15), it stands to reason that the “sanctuary” whose “end will come with a flood” (Dan. 9:26) must refer to the second temple that had not been built at the time the prophecy was given. It was this post-exile rebuilt temple that was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes around 170 BC, but not destroyed. After a period of misuse and disuse, Herod the Great restored and enlarged this second temple, which was completed just a few years before it was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans, as Jesus had predicted (Matt. 24:1-34). It was this temple that Zacharias served in (Luke 1:9), Jesus was taken to as an infant (2:27), was found by His parents teaching when He was 12-years old (2:41-51), had been under construction for forty-six years when Jesus prophesied that He would be its permanent replacement (John 2:20), Jesus cleansed of the money changers (Matt. 21:12), He predicted would be left desolate (Matt. 23:38; 24:2), whose veil was “torn in two from top to bottom” (Matt. 27:51), and that was finally destroyed by Titus in A.D. 70.

Is there any indication in the three passages from Daniel that we are to skip over what we know was a rebuilt temple, the temple that was standing in Jesus’ day, and look for another unmentioned third temple? Would Jews living in the first century have made the historical leap over the temple that was standing before them, and suppose Jesus was describing yet another temple when He never used the words new or rebuilt? As Ice and Price admit, the Bible says nothing about another temple. The passages from Daniel cited by Stewart and Missler and Ice and Price can easily find their fulfillment in the rebuilt temple of Ezra and Nehemiah’s day that was standing during the reign of Antiochus (Dan. 11:31; 12:11) and the second temple’s destruction in AD 70 (9:27).

[1] Thomas Ice and Randall Price, Ready to Rebuild: The Imminent Plan to Rebuild the Last Days Temple (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1992), 197-198.

[2] Ice and Price, Ready to Rebuild, 198.

[3] Randall Price, The Temple and Bible Prophecy: A Definitive Look at Its Past, Present, and Future (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2006). Price has three chapters on predictions in the New Testament about the temple, but he cites no verse that says anything about rebuilding the temple again (255-324).

[4] Merrill F. Unger, Great Neglected Bible Prophecies (Chicago: Scripture Press Books, 1955), 23.

[5] Unger disputes Carl Friedrich Keil’s contention that “the New Testament says nothing whatever concerning the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and the restoration of the Levitical worship.” Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1950), 2:122. Quoted in Unger, Great Neglected Bible Prophecies, 23. Unger accuses Keil of following a spiritualizing methodology (23). Notice that the New Testament uses spiritual designations for the temple and its sacrifices under the new covenant: “spiritual house” and “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Pet. 2:15).

[6] Don Stewart and Chuck Missler, The Coming Temple: Center Stage for the Final Countdown (Orange, CA: Dart Press, 1991), 193.

[7] Timothy J. Geddert, Watchwords: Mark 13 in Markan Eschatology (Sheffield, England: JSOT, 1989). Quoted in Peter W. L. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 9.

[8] Walker, Jesus and the Holy City, 8.

[9] Walker, Jesus and the Holy City, 10.

[10] Walker, Jesus and the Holy City, 208.

[11] Stewart and Missler, The Coming Temple, 194.