Eschatology
The End of the World as We Know It?
(Though September 23 has passed. The day and our reaction were a fascinating lesson in eschatology) As I write this, Jerusalem—the city that many Jews, Christians and even some Muslims consider the navel of this world—quietly slips into the early hours of September 23. While most of its citizens sleep and dream, thousands of Christians…
Read MoreA Total Eclipse for the Son
On Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 a total eclipse of the sun will make its way across America. The last time the contiguous United States experienced one was in 1979. But it will be the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years and the first to be visible only in this country since before it…
Read MoreLAST WORDS ARE IMPORTANT
In the movie Citizen Kane, the last words of Charles Foster Kane–“rose-bud”–served to frame the movie’s narrative and provided the key to understanding the man’s tragic but world-changing life. So too with the greatest story ever told. A little less than 2,000 years ago, Jesus was wrapping up his three-year ministry intensive with his small…
Read MoreChanging Times, Scorecards and in General Making Like a Beast
A Modern Meditation on Daniel 7 If you think the year is 2015, you’re only partially correct. For the citizens of North Korea it’s presently 104. That’s because the government retooled the calendar so that the modern era began on the day their tin-pot messiah, Kim II-sung, was born. (April 15, 1912—the “Day of the…
Read MoreChiasms and the Trajectory of Christ’s Kingdom Reign
Have you every noticed how the Book of Acts just kind of….ends? It’s almost as if Dr. Luke got an emergency call while working on chapter twenty-eight and had to quickly bring it to a close. I mean we find Paul in Rome, teaching and preaching, handing out but another rebuke to some unbelieving Jews…
Read MoreKingdom Worship: Part 1
Worshipping the one true God is man’s first, last and eternal order of business, his very source of life and joy. Through worship we honor and enjoy intimacy with the Source of all that is transcendentally true, good and beautiful. It is, as William Temple observed, “the submission of all our nature to God. It…
Read MoreCreche, Cross and Crown
As Christians we know that the best things often come in threes, including the very best thing of all: the Persons of the Godhead. And the entire creation springing forth from that Triunity very often breaks down fractally into threes: length, width and height; past, present and future; solid, liquid and vapor; body, soul and…
Read MoreSnake Handling in Middle Tennessee
A recent Huffington Post article on trends in snake-handling among some pentecostals got me in a reflective mood. So I have a confession to make that will likely surprise some of my friends and the fans of The Apologetics Group and Real to Real Ministries. I’m a long-time, habitual snake handler. And not in the…
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