Ancient Paths Blog

The Time of the Rapture (Revealed by Me)

In the countdown to October 21 (tomorrow), the date set by Harold Camping for the time of the Rapture of the Church, many well known evangelical preachers – particularly those whose teaching is broadcast via radio – have preempted their regular series to rebut and clarify this issue for their congregations and listening audiences.

Why rebut and clarify?  Recall that Harold Camping first predicted the end of the world as we know it and the rapture of the Church for this past May 21.  When that date came and went with no fulfillment Camping went into brief seclusion and came up with a new date five months later, Friday, October 21, 2011.

Evil - In the Heart or Out in the World?

Last week our family finally watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis's book by the same name.  It wasn't bad as a fantasy adventure type of movie. 

On the other hand, for those of us who are fanatics for textual faithfulness and as those who affirm the solid and intentionally Christian message of Lewis's Narnia books - the movie left a lot to be desired.

One thing my wife put her finger on right away was how the movie's script shifted the main plot line from the perils encountered while seeking Aslan's country to a journey filled with perils due to an external evil.

Adam - A Priest Mediating God's Glory to All Creation

  In the short message I gave officiating at my son's wedding I made the point that the verses in Genesis 2 portray Adam, not as a glorified gardener or grounds keeper, but as a priest mediating the glory of God to all creation.

This observation was based on the fact that the words describing Adam's task in Gen.2:15 are only found together in one other context - those passages in the Torah describing the work of the priests in the tabernacle.

A Christian brother pinned me down later in the week and asked specifically what those verses are.  Here's what I wrote him:

Adam’s work was described as “to work (ebed) it and take care (shamar) of it,” Genesis 2:15 NIV.  Though these words appear by themselves numerous times, the only other passages where they appear together are in the passages describing the priest’s work in the tabernacle.  These are the verses:

9/11 - Ten Years Later

For our Sunday service, September 11, I was asked to share some thoughts on the events of ten years ago and then lead our congregation in prayer.  Here's the gist of what I said:

As Christians we are forced to grapple with events such as these from a Biblical/theological angle.  We have only two choices - 1) That God had nothing to do with the events of September 11, 2001; or 2) That He had something do do with them.

I hope that none of us take the first option.  Why?  Well, the Bible does not portray a God uninvolved in the events of the world.  Actually, it is quite the contrary.  That God has nothing to do with the events of the world is essentially the view of atheists - which no Christian could adopt. 

A Marriage Homily to My Son and New Daughter-in-Law

What follows is the message I gave as the officiating pastor at my son's recent wedding.  I received so many positive comments on this short homily that I thought it'd be a good blog post.

Though our present culture denigrates and even at times despises the notion of human marriage, the Bible reveals to us that it is in fact part of the fabric of creation; that it is of the very essence of what it means to human; and is ultimately, and most gloriously, a representation of that relationship between Christ and His Church.

The book of  Genesis tells us that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” Gen.1:1, the account of which unfolds over the space of a week.  On the sixth day we read of God saying, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” Genesis 1:27-28.