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Are the End Times Near? Why you can ‘Keep Calm and Carry on.’
Sometimes it feels like there is no doubt that we are living in the End Times. Fires burn, pestilences rage, and unrest abounds. What does that mean for us now? Nothing. Well, nothing different anyway. What makes today unique is that despite what sometimes feels like rising tension in the world, the mission hasn’t changed. In these moments of history, when it feels like hardship is coming at us from every angle, it feels as though Jesus should return. It’s easy to ask oneself, where is the Lord? Isn’t today a good day to be rescued? Something about that feels like the wrong question. A better question might be, what…
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End Game
My husband and I are huge fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). We love the intergalactic battles raging across time and space, and the artfully crafted storylines that pull you in. One Marvel film, in particular, had us on the edge of our seats cheering on the culmination of decades of strife-The End Game. In this film, good and evil drew a line in the sand, as all of creation hinged on the precipice of eternal change. It’s no wonder audiences all over the world stood to their feet as the final scene played out in all of its glory. Even if you are over the superhero genre, there…
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Part II: Every Tribe, Language, People, and Nation: Revelation and Flying Buttons
If anyone happens to see the elephant standing on my chest, please ask it to step off. Could be asthma. Could be anxiety. Maybe both. At the grocery store two days ago I couldn’t believe my eyes—a crowded store with minimal social distancing or use of face masks. The governor lifted the lockdown because he wanted to boost the economy—not because the coronavirus evaporated. I want things to go back to normal, too. Or do I? The Great Realisation, a video poem circulating YouTube and Facebook, outlines the way of the world prior to COVID-19. With the catchphrase, “Hindsight’s 2020,” a father reads his son a bedtime story describing…
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When I am Afraid I Will Buy a Bestseller
In my local Lifeway store I peruse the books turned front covers-out in the “Current Issues” section: Saving Freedom, Four Blood Moons, Harbinger, Epicenter, Implosion, Charismatic Chaos, Are We Living in the End Times, Unveiling the End Times, The End… On my way out I pass the “Bestsellers” section and see: What Are You Afraid Of? You’ll Get Through This, The Reason for My Hope, Whispers of Hope and about 14 versions of Jesus Calling and Calling and Calling…And it strikes me…there’s a connection here. Who wouldn’t read the current issues books and feel like they need these best-sellers on hope and overcoming fear? Families and relationships feel…
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Knowing the End of the Story
The other day, on a friend’s recommendation, I started watching So You Think You Can Dance, which is like Dancing With the Stars only with people who actually can dance. I found it on a cable station, and watched several episodes. Then I discovered that I was watching last season’s shows, so I googled the program and found out who won. Knowing the outcome changes the way I view the competition. A judge’s critical assessment of a performance is just a bump on the road when I know the dancer will eventually win in the end. That’s one of the many reasons for reading and studying the Bible. When we…
