Defenders Podcast

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  Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 4): The Rapture Interpretation Concluded 19.08.2026 16мин

  Does the New Testament actually teach a secret "rapture" before Jesus' final return — or is that idea being read into the text rather than out of it? In this episode, Dr. William Lane Craig wraps up his case against the Rapture view by turning to the passage its defenders lean on most: 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul tells the Thessalonians not to be shaken by claims that "the day of the Lord" has already come.Dr. Craig walks through Jesus' Olivet Discourse, Paul's letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians, and a strange episode in 2 Timothy where two men taught that the resurrection had already happened — testing each passage to see whether it points to a two-stage return of Christ or a single, unmistakable Second Coming.
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  Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 3): The Rapture Interpretation Continued 12.08.2026 13мин

  Dr. William Lane Craig continues his examination of the "secret rapture" view, tracing Paul's language about the Lord's coming through 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians 15, and Jesus' own words in John 5 and Mark 13. He argues that the "coming of the Lord" in 1 Thessalonians 4 and the resurrection described in 1 Corinthians 15 are one and the same event as Christ's visible, glorious Second Coming and not a separate, secret snatching away of believers beforehand. Comparing the Greek vocabulary Paul uses (parousia, episynagoge) with Jesus' Olivet Discourse, Dr. Craig concludes that Scripture gives no basis for a pre-tribulation rapture distinct from Christ's final return.
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  Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 2): The Rapture Interpretation 05.08.2026 18мин

  Continuing the study of the Second Coming, Dr. William Lane Craig examines the popular "rapture" view — the idea that Christ will secretly return to snatch believers away before a visible Second Coming and the Great Tribulation. Tracing the doctrine's origins to 19th-century dispensationalist John Darby and its spread through the Scofield Reference Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, and pop-culture works like Left Behind, the lecture tests the rapture view against key biblical texts, including Jesus's Olivet Discourse and 1 Thessalonians 4, to ask whether Scripture actually supports a two-stage return of Christ.
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  Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 1): The Second Coming of Christ 29.07.2026 16мин

  Dr. William Lane Craig opens the eschatology unit of Defenders 3 with a study of the Second Coming of Christ. He surveys Old Testament messianic prophecy (Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-10, Daniel 7:13-14) as background, then turns to Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Mark 13, where Christ predicts wars, persecution, the "desolating sacrilege," and his own return "in clouds with great power and glory." Craig notes roughly 250 New Testament references to Christ's return and previews next week's look at Paul's parallel teaching.
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  Doctrine of the Church (Part 12): Assessment of Competing Views on the Lord’s Supper 22.07.2026 25мин

  Dr. William Lane Craig evaluates competing views of the Lord's Supper — transubstantiation, consubstantiation, and the Reformed spiritual-presence view — before defending his own position that the Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance rather than a sacrament. He argues transubstantiation lacks scriptural support, showing that Jesus' words of institution and the "bread of life" discourse in John 6 use the same kind of symbolic, Semitic imagery found elsewhere in Paul (the rock as Christ, Hagar and Sarah as the two covenants) and throughout John's Gospel (new birth, living water, spiritual food), where literalistic readings are consistently shown to be misunderstandings. He also contends that a literal eating of Christ's body confuses the nature of his physical, humanoid resurrection body. He extends similar objections to consubstantiation, adding that it improperly mixes Christ's human and divine natures in violation of Chalcedonian Christology. Turning to the Reformed view, he argues that Christ's spiritual presence in the Supper is real but no different from his presence in prayer, worship, or fellowship generally, concluding that the Supper is best understood as a memorial in which believers remember Christ's death, examine themselves, confess sin, and commune with him spiritually.
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  Doctrine of the Church (Part 11): Consubstantiation and Other Views 15.07.2026 9мин

  Having examined the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in previous episodes, Dr. Craig now turns to three more views of the Lord's Supper. He explains the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation — where Christ's body and blood are present alongside the bread and wine, grounded in Luther's doctrine of the communication of attributes (communicatio idiomatum). He then contrasts this with Calvin's Reformed view of a spiritual presence and communion with Christ, and finally with Zwingli's view of the Supper as a memorial ordinance rather than a sacrament. Next time: an assessment of these four competing views.
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 10): The Lord’s Supper - Roman Catholic Interpretation 08.07.2026 13мин

  Dr. William Lane Craig continues his examination of the Lord's Supper with a deep dive into the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist as a sacrifice. Beyond transubstantiation, Catholics hold that the Mass is a propitiatory offering to God for the sins of both the living and the dead. Dr. Craig traces this doctrine from Irenaeus's early view of the Eucharist as a thank offering, through its codification at the Council of Trent, to its further development at Vatican II — exploring what it means for Christ to be "re-presented" to God in each celebration of the Mass.
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 9): Transubstantiation 24.06.2026 13мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 9): Transubstantiation
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 8): The Lord’s Supper 17.06.2026 17мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 8): The Lord’s Supper
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 7): Believer’s Baptism 10.06.2026 16мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 7): Believer’s Baptism
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 6): Infant Baptism 03.06.2026 13мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 6): Infant Baptism
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 5): Baptism as an Ordinance - Continued 27.05.2026 18мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 5): Baptism as an Ordinance - Continued
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 4): Baptism as an Ordinance 20.05.2026 21мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 4): Baptism as an Ordinance
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 3): Baptism as a Sacrament 13.05.2026 21мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 3): Baptism as a Sacrament
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  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 2): Baptism 06.05.2026 16мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of the Church (Part 2): Baptism
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  Doctrine of the Church (Part 1): Introduction 29.04.2026 13мин

  Doctrine of the Church (Part 1): Introduction
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  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 21) 22.04.2026 24мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 21)
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  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 20): Warnings Against Apostasy 15.04.2026 21мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 20): Warnings Against Apostasy
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  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 19): Perseverance of the Saints - Arminianism 08.04.2026 16мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 19): Perseverance of the Saints - Arminianism
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  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 18): Perseverance of the Saints - Calvinism 01.04.2026 21мин

  Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 18): Perseverance of the Saints - Calvinism