Ministry Feedback
Dr. GentryI have benefited greatly from your writing, and my wife and I were pleased to see your ministry goals at GoodBirth. I wish there were more churches and teaching outlets of your ilk available in our area. There is certainly a desire for it among the people in our church.
D.S. (Palmyra, Penn.)
Dr. GentryI have read you for years now. Thank you for your scholarship and sound teaching. God bless you!
JH (Des Moines, IA)
Hello Dr. GentryI just wanted to thank you for all that you've done for the kingdom of God. I am from Turkey and a Muslim convert to Christ. I was at Dallas TheologicalSeminary last year but for theological reasons I transferred to WestminsterTheological Seminary in Dallas. I will be the third seminary graduate and the first Postmillennial in the entire country of Turkey.
I just wanted to thank you for your studies in eschatology, I was Amillennial when I was at DTS but studying Premillennialism in more detail made me realize more things about Amillennialism and its inconsistency. Now, I am asking my friends at DTS to watch your The Beast of Revelation Identified DVD and read your other books, such as Before Jerusalem Fell. I hope I'll be able to meet you in person as well.
YK (Turkey)
Dr. Gentry:I read Covenantal Theonomy with extraordinary profit. Just as I've read most of what you've written with that kind of profit.
Now what we need is to get that 2 Volume set on Revelation published so I can preach Revelation in 2009. I've read Chilton's work. I've listened to your 20 CD lectures. I'm familiar with Hendrickson's work but what I need to fly is Dr. Gentry's work! (And I'll probably look at Beale's work as well.)
Looking forward to your next big release,
BLM (Charlotte, MI)
Dr. Gentry:I just wanted to let you know that I've finally settled on one more biblical issue as direct result of your teaching: I now believe that tongues ceased in the 1st Century.
I've been wrestling with it for a couple years now, but recently i've not only found myself decided, but 3 other people have been convinced as well through my relaying your teaching to them. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. When i was first born again, i was heavily involved in the very charismatic churches and movement. I attended the 'Toronto Blessing' of which i'm sure you've heard. There's something i know that very few charismatics will ever admit: the "gift" of tongues is nothing more than a horrible burden. The pressure in those circles to speak in tongues can make you feel like a lesser believer until one day you finally just do it and somehow force yourself to believe there's something spiritual going on - all the while your brain is telling you that your simply making weird noises. Of course, then they tell you that your brain is getting in the way.
Anyways, i haven't spoken in tongues in years, but it still has been freeing to finally put to rest that issue. My spiritual journey has taken me a long way and you've been a big part of it. In 1994, I was charismatic, arminian, dispensational, premillenial, baptistic, christian zionist, you name it -- and i was vehemently against the opposing views. However, I've always had a thirst for truth and my life's prayer has been to consistenly ask God to rid me of false doctrine and lead me into truth.
He has been faithful to answer that prayer and I thought it might be encouraging to you to know that when an insignificant person such as myself asked Him to lead me into Truth -- he led me, in great part, to your teaching.
Today, against all odds, I'm a 5-point Calvinist, paedo-baptist, covenantal and "replacement" theology, A/Postmillenialist, orthodox preterist, and lately ... cessationist. I can't tell you how all those terms seemed so horrible to me 14 years ago -- and now I am all of them. With the exception of Calvinism, God used you to change my mind on all of them. Thank you.
Sorry for the long email. Won't happen again... :)
A.K., WA
Dr. Gentry:What a gold mine of info. Thanks for the work. As a graduate of DTS, and now Reformed and Presbyterian, it's good to know you are here and a great source for information.
Pastor Timothy
Dr. Gentry:I appreciate very much seeing articles as these turning the hearts of Christians back to the truth presented by the Scriptures. I too was taught dispensationalism as a new Christian. Gradually, the truth of scripture suplanted the wrong dispensational arguments. I lost friends who would rather continue to believe this man made series of errors than to study Scripture for absolute truth.
Anonymous
Dr. Gentry:I have been a beneficiary of your ministry now for many years. When I was in seminary I recall some vague, disparaging remarks made about your eschatological position.. That was my introduction to your work. Since then I have purchased numerous of your books and benefited immensely from your scholarship in many dimensions of biblical studies. Having come from a typical, dispensationalist perspective, I am now a Reformed postmillennialist. Humanly speaking, your writings have been used by God to influence my thinking to a very great degree. While there are no infallible interpreters of Scripture, I nevertheless have come to place great confidence in the thorough and careful scholarship that your work always exhibits. I have been looking forward for many years to your long-awaited commentary on Revelation. May God continue to bless and multiply your ministry for His glory.
E.D., Pennsylvania
Dr. Gentry:First I just want to thank you, your writings and speaking have greatly impacted my life and theological outlook. Keep pressing forward with that Revelation commentary, may Christ uphold you in your endeavors.
J.A.
Prof. Gentry:I once thought I was a rebel because I didn't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. I'd never heard of a preterist or the preterist position. That darn Scofield Bible didn't have any of that stuff in it. My view of the world and the future were complete. John Hagee said so.
Thank you for blowing all that stuff apart. I don't know exactly what to make of what I've looked at regarding preterism (so far all I've seen is the Apocalypse Code from CRI and your co-book The Great Tribulation - Past or Future?) but it's starting to make portions of the Bible I couldn't understand seem to fall into some kind of organization. I will say that I've come to appreciate three things I never really thought about before: 1) the sustained persecution of the first generation church orchestrated by the Jews and contributed to by the Romans even before Nero came along; 2) how really bad and consequential the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD actually was to the Jews while being a really good thing to get Christianity moving toward a world arena; and 3) how hard it can be to determine symbolic from literal in some Bible passages.
R.M.
Dr. Gentry:You probably don't hear this enough so let me say that I believe that the work that you have done and are currently doing is some of the most important in Christian academics (or frankly, in any academics) today. We can talk all we want about a Christian Worldview, but if we hold to an eschatology that deflates any type of motivation for influencing the culture in the future then, I think, we're going to always have a near-sighted vision.
From what I've observed, your groundbreaking work on early dating of Revelation along with a clear-headed approach to 1st-century history and apocalyptic is leading many to see the truth in preterism and postmillennial thought. Your debates with Tommy Ice and others show your careful and thoughtful approach to the issues. As the presuppositions of dispensationalism, futurism, and premillennialism are being questioned and disputed to an ever increasing degree, I believe that your work is and will continue to be key to this revolution in thought. Then, maybe we'll see many reprintings with millions of copies in multiple languages of your works. Thanks again for your faithfulness in your study and teaching of God's Word.
B.K.
Dr. Gentry:I just want to thank you for your contribution to eschatological studies. I was a "dyed in the wool" dispensationalist until about two years ago, when a friend of mine challenged me with the question of whether Jesus was lying or just confused in Matthew 24:34. I had learned the standard dispensational interpretations of that verse, but I had begun to see other holes in their eschatology and, frankly, had begun to get tired of their hopeless view of the Church. You see, I had started to read the Puritans and other Reformed writings some years before, and the two views just don't jive. Now I had a choice to make and I wanted it to be a biblical one. That was when I discovered your books: The Beast of Revelation, Perilous Times, and He Shall Have Dominion (Now going through my second reading). I really appreciate your sound approach to the Scriptures and I have become newly committed to doing my part to carry out the Great Commission.
Thank you.
M.S.
Dr. Gentry:The Lord has recently provided me with a mentor and I have truly enjoyed learning of Greg Bahnsen's presuppositional and theonomic understanding. I came across your name and writings which led me here to begin to enjoy your writings and knowledge, as well. I have a great desire to attain to a greater understanding of applied presuppositionalism and theonomy. Before now I had shelved all eschatological viewpoints except as taught by Scripture. I am finding myself heading toward postmillenialism as truth and am finding that I will not be able to grow much more until I finally embrace the true eschatological viewpoint in my Christian worldview. From what I am beginning to understand, you are an excellent expositor of postmillenialism. I am 44 now and am only a babe in Christ but I truly desire His truth and the application of it in every aspect of life.
J.D.
McConnells, SC
Dr. Gentry:I have the utmost respect for you and you have been a great teacher to me through your books, videos and audio recordings. Thank you for your help and know that you have made a great impact upon me.
May God continue to bless you richly as you serve Him and His people.
R.C.
(Baptist Pastor)
Dr. Gentry:It is a pleasure to help you in some way. You are the best theologian in eschatology that I ever knew. May God bless you always! Many people in Brazil are criticizing me for hold the preterism and postmillennialism, but the truth is more important.
Thanks for your ministry!
F.S.
Brazil
Dr. Gentry:I have almost finished reading your book "He Shall Have Dominion", and it has convinced me of the Biblical case for theonomic postmillennialism. It is amazing how your view of the future, raising your children, managing your money and all other aspects of Christian living become more important and more religious when you are preparing for a glorious future rather than awaiting the growing apostasy of amillennialism. Life takes on more of a sense of purpose with the Biblically based optimism afforded by this view.
Thanks for your help and God bless you for your ministry. Authors such as yourself have improved my relationship with the Lord by helping me develop a more Biblical view of God.
D.S.
Dr. Gentry:I am a SBC pastor who planted and pastors a church in Southern California. Over a year ago I began to put my Dispensationalism on the "chopping block" of my study. After much study, I have come, painfully but joyfully, to a Postmillennial position. I have always been Reformed in my theology so the move wasn't as hard as it was painful to think about all those years and all those sermons about a pre-trib rapture!
I write you this email to let you know that your articles have been a great help to me in my studies.
J.R.
Murietta, CA
Dr. Gentry:I wanted to let you know first that I thank God for the work that you have done to help the church with your work in the book of Revelation. It as help me not only in understanding the Revelation of Jesus better but also helping me to understand other text of the bible much better. I have read your work the Beast of Revelation , Perlious times, and watched your video the beast revealved. All have been great in my study and growth in my understanding in Revelation and in the bible in general.
M.R.
Dr. Gentry:I can't tell you how much your teaching has effected my life. I went to a ....hold on let me get this right :}... independent, fundamental, seperated Baptist Bible College. Whew! That's a mouthfull. But, anyway, I received straight A's in Eschatology (Dispy Pre-mill). And when I spoke on the subject to others the Lord always was creating a very uncomfortable stir inside my spirit. When I decided to just take off the blinders and ask God for understanding, He brought me to Revelation. I read it 4 times in a row and discovered that everything that I believed seemed to be contradicting what I was reading. I then spotted your book at Borders where you debate Thomas Ice. I read it. And here we are. Life, Eschatology and outlook changed forever. I hope you take this as a genuine word of encouragement brother. Keep doing what you are doing. I will be keeping you in prayer. And ordering more soon.
J.D.
Dr Gentry,I first learned of your material when you spoke at a Theological Bootcamp with Doug Phillips. Since then I have devoured Greg Bahnsen's works. I have found your work on the Confession and the chapter on Revelation in Standard Bearer to be quite good. You have blessed me, and no doubt many others. May God enable you to do even more work for his Kingdom.
J.A.
Jackson, MS
Dr. Gentry,I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your ministry. You are probably aware that the Lord is blessing the works of your hands, and that the impact of your books and teachings are having a global impact.
I am a Swedish missionary in India that the last ten years has taken the journey from being a rabid dispensationalist to become a (creedal) preterist/postmillennialist. It has boosted my missionary fervor, given our ministry here the right direction (rather than only "saving souls" our ministry is more holistic) and faith for a redeemed nation.
My transition began with a dear friend of mine giving me a copy of your book "He Shall Have Dominion". It presented me with an idea that I had been thirsting for my whole Christian life - but that I'd never been offered before. It made such total sense to me that I virtually bought an entire new library - and begun reading the Bible in a whole new light. Again, thank you for your faithfulness. May God continue to bless you and your family.
A.B.
India
Dr. GentryThank you for your studies and for your teaching resources. My fiancee and I are currently listening to your 22 part Revelation lectures. We find them very interesting and helpful. We also just finished reading your "God's law in the modern world" book. I came away from that book astonished that it is not the default position of Christianity. The evidence for that position seems so strong and clear.
H.M.
California
Dr. Gentry:I have just finished reading your book The Beast of Revelation and want you to know how thoroughly I enjoyed it. In fact, I bought another five copies and have given them away in the past couple of weeks. I have also read Before Jerusalem Fell as well as The Great Tribulation-Past or Future. Your books along with Gary DeMar's Last Days Madness have been a great help to this lapsed dispensationalist pastor.
W.H.
Truckee, CA
Dr. Gentry:I have been blessed by your teaching on the subject of "the beast of revelation" (video tape) . For many years I've had missing pieces in my understanding of this wonderful and complex book. Your teaching has made my faith soar and my heart calm down from unwarranted fears(not from the excitement of my heart through better understanding).
I hope you'll continue to do these study videos as a more in-depth series when time permits you(I know you're very busy). I have been sharing this teaching and showing the video to others as The Lord leads me. I am also sharing this new found understanding to some of the "prophecy/endtimes" websites in hope to pull some or many out of the deep woods of misunderstanding (see below for an example e-mail letter).
I also have just started reading your book "Before Jerusalem Fell" and know it will be a blessing too. Thank you for doing harder work to make my yolk easier(this life is hard enough). You've blessed me greatly my friend and my good brother.
E.H.
Dr. Gentry:I am the Baptist pastor of a small congregation in Western Australia and was interested in seeing Dr Gentry encouraged to complete his work on the Book of Revelation. I am one of those who looks forward to "the soon" coming of this commentary, and hope that "soon" means something more accurate than an indefinite period of time.
R.P.
Australia