When I first came to Mountain View in 1982, we met in what we now call “the classic building” – built in 1955.  The concrete block walls were two different shades of drab green and the carpet was orange and tearing loose from its backing at several places, bunching up and creating tripping hazards.  Each of the eighty chairs had a removable white seat cushion decorated with American eagles.  Old c...  Read More

My heart’s musing these days often involves looking back over my experiences to see what can be culled from them for the next generation.I have a few thoughts about change.A soul once complained to me, “Our church is no longer the church I came to years ago!”.  My first thought: “Good thing!”.  Churches that never adjust (or change) are usually best described as ‘stagnant’.God Himself doesn’t chan...  Read More

‘Due process’ is a term people use without knowing what it means. Due process is simply whatever legal process is owed you in a given circumstance.  The law itself prescribes what is owed you.  The details of due process differ from case to case.Mark Twain once asked:  “Do women dress more for the eyes of women or for their effect upon men?”  I am always baffled by those who promote ‘natural livin...  Read More

In the time I’ve spent in evangelicalism there’s always been much ado about “the mark of the beast”.  According to Revelation (13.17, 14.9), it’s a mark of some sort on the right hand or forehead related to the name of the beast (Revelation 14.11 – “the mark of its name”) that will indicate your loyalty to the Antichrist.  If you possess the mark, you can buy and sell and live normally in the Anti...  Read More

Let’s talk a little bit about “the antichrist”.  I would note first of all that the Greek preposition anti has two meanings:  in opposition to (or against) AND in place of.  So an antichrist either opposes Christ or tries to take the place of Christ (a counterfeit).  And an antichrist could be both at once!There are only five occurrences of “antichrist” in the Bible, all in the short epistles of J...  Read More

Early in my ministry I was speaking with a missionary about my views of the end times.  He was surprised when I said I believed Christians would go through the tribulation.  I was surprised when he said, “If I believed we could suffer persecution, I would never have gone to the mission field!”“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus said.  “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 1...  Read More

The vision of Ezekiel 40-48 describes a Temple which is clearly not Solomon’s or the second Temple or Herod’s.  Many students of the Bible, insisting on ‘literal interpretation’, believe Ezekiel was predicting a fourth Temple that would be rebuilt (as well as restored animal sacrifice) in the end times.  A few thoughts on these matters…Ezekiel says repeatedly that this is a vision (40.2, and 3x in...  Read More

Is there a future for a re-united national Israel as predicted by the ancient Hebrew prophets?  If there isn’t, what are we to make of those ancient prophecies about a re-united Israel?The system of theology that teaches that the kingdom belongs to national Israel is built on the Old Testament without input from the New.  But Christians believe the Old Testament must be interpreted in light of the...  Read More

A woman who had been attending our church for some time asked me about my views on the end times.  When I explained my perspective, she grew visibly angry and said, “THAT’S REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY!” and accused me of teaching false doctrine.I had never heard the term “replacement theology” and upon researching it, discovered it’s a pejorative term used for my view by those that oppose it, and (I migh...  Read More

A second parable Jesus told in the last week of His earthly life elaborates the significance of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 21.33-46).Jesus begins with a parable borrowed from Isaiah 5.  A man builds a vineyard and a wine-vat protected by a hedge (fence) and a tower.  In Isaiah 5 the vineyard owner thought with all his care he would get good grapes, but it only yielded wild (and unusable...  Read More

Jesus mentions the destruction of Jerusalem in a parable told the last week of His earthly life (Matthew 22.1-10).  In it, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a wedding feast thrown by a king for his son.  Servant after servant was sent out to summon the guests to the feast, but those invited refused to come.  Some shrugged off the messengers and continued their daily routines.  Others arrested, humil...  Read More

We conservative Christians are familiar with the Bible, but less so with extra-biblical history.  For example, we don’t know much about Jewish history between Malachi and Matthew or about events that took place after the things recorded in the Book of Acts.At the end of Acts, Paul arrives in Rome (AD 60) and the biblical history ends with Paul living there for two years (till AD 62), waiting for a...  Read More