PreTrib PilgrimSearch the library
Search by subject, then refine by approach. A prophecy study may also be apologetic or discerning because subject tells you what it examines, while approach tells you how it examines it.
58 results for “Church and state”
Clear searchChrist the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing
Are Abraham's Seed and the Israel of God the Church? Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing Galatians contains two of the strongest arguments for identifying the Church as Isr…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
Are Israel and the Church Really the Same? Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose The New Testament teaches a unity so profound that it would have startled the ancient world. In Christ, Jewis…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
Israel and the Church: Why This Series Matters The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God Has the Church replaced Israel in the purpose of God? Some Christians answer yes, alth…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
How Supersessionism Took Root in the Early Church A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension Supersessionism did not appear in one moment through one theologian. It developed as the Church became increasingly Gentile…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
Do All God's Promises Transfer to the Church? What "yea and Amen" in Christ means for Israel and the covenants Paul makes one of the most comprehensive statements about the promises of God: "For all the promises of God in him ar…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
Has God Abandoned Israel? What Do the Covenants Say? Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ Israel broke God's law, rejected the prophets, and nationally refused its Messi…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…estament Reaffirm Israel's Promises? Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy The Old Testament repeatedly promises Israel preservation, regathering, cleansing, the kingdom of David's Son, and a restored relationship with God. A strong supers…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
The Unshaken Truth of God's Promises One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel This series began with a question: has the Church permanently replaced Israel in the purpose of God? The answer cannot be reached by asking whether Ch…
Read article →What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
Twelve Thrones and Twelve Tribes What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future Peter once asked the question which many faithful disciples have quietly wondered: what will those who sacrifice for…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
Are Gentile Believers Grafted into Israel? The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor Romans 11 pictures Gentile believers as branches taken from a wild olive tree and grafted into a cultivated olive tree. They now share its nourishing root alon…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
Was the Kingdom Taken from Israel? The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards Few statements of Jesus appear to support supersessionism more directly than Matthew 21:43: "Therefore say I unto you, The ki…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
The New Testament Is a Very Jewish Story Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world To many Jewish people, Christianity appears thoroughly foreign. Its historic centres became Rome, Constantinople, Canterbury, Geneva, and countless cities far from…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…rael, Which Are of Israel" Mean? Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation Romans 9:6 is often used as a definition of spiritual Israel: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." —Romans 9:6 The usual argument is straightforwa…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
The Restoration of the Nation of Israel Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come Israel's history contains both judgement and preservation. The Jewish people were conquered, exiled, dispersed across continents, denied sovereignty,…
Read article →Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
Does Romans 2:28-29 Make Christians "Spiritual Jews"? Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew Paul's description of the inward Jew is often treated as a decisive redefinition of Israel: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is tha…
Read article →The LORD, Zion, and the meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5
Is Israel Married to the Land? The LORD, Zion, and the Meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5 “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
No Holy Land? Covenant Discipline, Gentile Blessing, and Israel's Future A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God Michael Horton's essay, “No Holy Land: Does Is…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
Test the Spirits Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God Human beings have always sought to pass beyond the boundaries of ordinary consciousness. Across cultures and religions, people have reported visions,…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…sents a severe test of theology. God chose the nation, gave it His law, sent it prophets, and brought the Messiah through its line. Israel repeatedly rebelled and, when Messiah came, the nation did not receive Him. What happens to divine promises when their recipients prove unfai…
Read article →Edward Burman · Historical survey · 1984
…on alone. Burman shows how the institution developed, how it operated in different places and periods, and how religious conviction, political authority, fear, and coercion became entangled. It is disturbing history, but necessary history for understanding what can happen when a…
View recommendation →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…has examined covenants, prophecies, apostles, thrones, tribes, branches, seeds, kingdoms, and the difficult words upon which the debate turns. We have tried to hear the strongest opposing arguments, concede what they genuinely establish, and refuse conclusions which extend beyond…
Read article →What Christ’s promise establishes—and what claims about infallible teaching still need to prove
Does Matthew 16:18 Establish Church Infallibility? Few promises offer Christians greater assurance than these words of Jesus: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” — Matthew 16:18…
Read article →Brian E. Daley · Historical theology · 1991
I recommend The Hope of the Early Church because it showed me how varied early Christian thinking about death and the world to come really was. Daley traces the development of the intermediate state, apokatastasis, resurrect…
View recommendation →J. C. Ryle · Doctrinal and pastoral essays · 1874
I recommend Knots Untied because Ryle's excellent Bible teaching and practical approach shine through even when he is handling controversy. He states the question plainly, identifies what is really at stake, and repeatedly brings the reader back to Script…
View recommendation →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…sed by slogans before it is defined. It allegedly began with John Nelson Darby, turns the Church into God's failed contingency plan, ignores the fulfilment of prophecy in AD 70, baptises modern politics, and restores animal sacrifices in competition with the cross. Some dispensat…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
“I Am the First, and I Am the Last” Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ If YHWH alone is Creator, Saviour and Lord of all, what are the New Testament writers saying when they place Jesus wi…
Read article →Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
Where Is the Church during Revelation's Judgements? Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse The argument that the word church disappears after Revelation 3 is often…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
Your Party Is Not Your Church How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal Political parties do not merely ask for our votes. Increasingly, they offer an entire identity.…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
Have Evangelicals Become Neo-Gnostics? History, Heresy, and the Temptation of Private Christianity The accusation identifies real evangelical deformations—secret-key religion, escape rhetoric, elite conversion status, and churchless faith—but fai…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
Is the Beatific Vision the Whole Christian Hope? Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation The beatific vision is the Christian teaching that the redeemed will see God and find their perfect happiness in Him. It draws upon magnificent promises: “Bl…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
The Sum of These Things Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
The Foundation and Its Seal How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name Can a person possess true faith while showing no movement towards godliness? Can someone belong to Christ while rema…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
The King, Zion and the Coming Kingdom: Reading Isaiah 32–35 Across the Prophetic Horizon The near was real. The far is still coming. The historical horizon and the question of fulfilment “Was this fulfille…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
Daniel's Seventieth Week and the New Testament Tribulation Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem The seven-year Tribulation is sometimes dismissed as an interval invented t…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…es, Jewish interpretation, Christian preaching, sectarian disagreement, devotional legend and stories carried across languages by travellers, merchants, clergy and ordinary believers. That observation does not disprove revelation. A revelation delivered within history will natura…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
What Really Happened at Nicaea? Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die The Council of Nicaea has become a screen upon which almost every conspiracy about early Christianity is projected. Constantine invented the Trinity. Jesus w…
Read article →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
Did Darby Invent the Pretribulation Rapture? What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not The historical objection is often stated in absolute terms: no Christian taught the rapture before John Nelson Darby devised it in the nineteenth century. The conclusion…
Read article →The Gospel, Human Perception, and the Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit
WHAT DID THEY REJECT? The Gospel, Human Perception, and the Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit We sometimes describe an evangelistic conversation in a single sentence: “I explained the gospel, and he rejected it.” That may be an accurate de…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
What Restrains the Lawless One? Rome, Israel, and a Working Theory While researching The Kingdom Still to Come, my premillennial sequel to my rapture book, I have been revisiting Paul’s account of the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2. So…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…hat Allah gave Jesus the Injeel. It was a true revelation from God. It contained guidance and light. The Qur'an claims to confirm it. The People of the Gospel are told to judge by what God revealed within it. Yet when Christians open the Gospel they possessed for centuries before…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…tters when we speak about Jesus Jesus slept in a boat because He was weary. Then He arose and commanded the wind and the sea, and they obeyed Him. He grew in wisdom, yet He knew what was in man. He was tempted, yet without sin. He said that He did not know the hour of His return,…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…tain was carried in human arms. But what happens when a philosopher encounters that glory and tries to fit it back inside his own system? A recent study by Matthew R. Crawford draws attention to a remarkable historical example. (See Note 1.) In the third century, the Platonist ph…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…Matthew 24 Place the Rapture after the Tribulation? The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery Matthew 24 contains the most direct Gospel objection to a pretribulation rapture. Jesus describes Great Tribulation, cosmic disturbance, His coming…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
…of John 6. The argument appears straightforward. Jesus said that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we have no life in us. His hearers understood Him literally. Rather than correcting them, Jesus repeated the saying in still more graphic language. Many disciples found…
Read article →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
Beyond the Tunnel of Light Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ Many years ago I read Tal Brooke's The Other Side of Death: Does Death Seal Your Destiny? The book stayed with me. Published in 1979, when the modern fascination…
Read article →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
Did Jesus Really Die? The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an Christianity and Islam cannot both be correct about the death of Jesus. The Gospel declares that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, died, was buried and rose bodily fro…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
Did the Incarnation Limit God? Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words Why this is useful to know: The language we use about Jesus creates a picture in the mind. If that picture presents God merely occupying a human body, C…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
Does Eternal Mean Divine? Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation Why this is useful to know: On your walk through life, you will encounter challenges to the deity of Christ from television shows and documentaries,…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
Was Christ Begotten at the Resurrection? Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son “This day have I begotten thee” appears to be applied to Christ’s resurrection. Did Jesus become the Son of God when He rose—…
Read article →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
If Antichrist Must Come First, Is Christ's Coming Imminent? Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await Imminency does not mean that Christ was required to return within the apostles' lifetime. It means that no revealed prophetic event must first occur…
Read article →The event is explicit; the real dispute is its timing
…in Christ are raised. The second is when that event occurs in relation to the Tribulation and Christ's public return to the earth. Christians may disagree seriously about the second question. The first should not be controversial. Paul describes the event directly. "For the Lord…
Read article →Trusting God when voices seek to weaken our confidence
…k to weaken our confidence One of the most instructive details in the account of Hezekiah and Rabshakeh is easily overlooked: the people did not answer. Rabshakeh had come as the spokesman of the king of Assyria. Standing outside Jerusalem, he spoke loudly in the language of its…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…ult Texts for Pretribulationism The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day A cumulative case should be exposed to the passages which appear least friendly to it. Four objections deserve particular attention: Second Thessalonians 2 appears to place…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…thout Biblical Basis? A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation In an article published by the Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff argues that the pretribulation rapture has no biblical basis. He presents it as a system in w…
Read article →Michael Brown, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the public vindication of the saints
When Do Persecuted Christians Receive Rest? Michael Brown, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the public vindication of the saints In his presentation Why I Reject a Pre-tribulation Rapture, Michael Brown identifies 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10 as a decisive passage. Paul is writing to…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…vet Discourse "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light... And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…e eternal Son assumed our complete humanity, including a genuinely human mind, affections and will. That truth helps us understand His obedience, suffering, sympathy and saving work. Suggested excerpt: The Son assumed not only the part of us that can bleed, but the human life tha…
Read article →Why apantēsis does not settle the timing of the rapture
…ng. When a ruler or honoured visitor approached a city, a delegation went out to meet him and escorted him back to the place he was visiting. If Paul invokes that custom, the objection continues, believers rise to welcome Christ and immediately accompany Him back to earth. There…
Read article →