A Sermon Preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA 12/15/19
Category Archives: prophecy
A Couple More – Isa 11:1-10
A sermon preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA, 12/8/19
Reading the Prophets
A recent presentation on “Reading the Prophets” made at Powhatan Community Church, Dr. Brian Hughes, Pastor. The password is “Biddle.”
An Embassy in Jerusalem, a Rebuilt Temple, and Cynical Support for Israel
The recent ceremony celebrating the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem featured two figures that call attention to the cynical character of the uncritical support of the modern nation of Israel offered by many evangelical Christians in the US.
Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas, who offered a benediction at the Continue reading An Embassy in Jerusalem, a Rebuilt Temple, and Cynical Support for Israel
Is Election the Same as License?
“I will curse those who curse you…” (Gen 12:3)
I anticipated some negative reactions to the most recent blog entry and have gotten them. In it, I argued that the United States, driven largely by evangelical Christian misunderstandings of the Bible, effectively taking sides, treats Israel as though it were untouchable. Generally, objections center around Israel’s status as God’s chosen people and seem to reflect the idea derived from God’s promise of protection to Abraham that Israel enjoys almost untouchable status in God’s eyes. To be “on Israel’s side” is to be on God’s side; to Continue reading Is Election the Same as License?
A Rebuilt Temple?
One aspect of contemporary apocalyptic doctrine held by many evangelical Christians is the expectation that a “third temple” (counting Herod’s temple as a continuation of the second temple rebuilt in the early Persian period) must and will be built in Jerusalem prior to the apocalypse. It is but a component of Evangelical Christianity’s theological program Continue reading A Rebuilt Temple?
Eclipses, Hurricanes, and an Integrated Christian Worldview
The sun will be turned to darkness…before the coming of the … day of the Lord.
Joel 2:31
Eclipses, hurricanes, and earthquakes have dominated the twenty-four hour news cycle in recent days and weeks. Total solar eclipses seem infrequent and are magnificent, but entirely harmless (unless, of course, viewed with the naked eye) and predictably regular; hurricanes and earthquakes, especially when of the magnitude of Harvey and Irma or the Continue reading Eclipses, Hurricanes, and an Integrated Christian Worldview
Dry Bones
Ezek 37:1-14
Many know the Old Testament lectionary reading for this coming Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, through the familiar spiritual. Slaves in the American South clearly heard in Ezekiel and his visions of a wheel and a valley of dry bones a promise of God’s power to bring life out of death, freedom out of slavery. The passage finds its place in the common Continue reading Dry Bones
Mere Christianity
Lately, I have read about and heard directly from pastors who have been accused of being political from the pulpit although they thought that they were simply preaching the Gospel. We live in a time when people on both sides of the political spectrum stand ready to take offense. Continue reading Mere Christianity
Go to Shiloh (Jer 7:12)
“Do not trust deceptive words, saying ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these [stones]’.” Jer 7:4, my translation
Sometime in the outgoing seventh century BCE, God sent Jeremiah to the temple in Jerusalem to warn the Judeans that, unless they changed their behavior, God would unleash the Babylonians to conquer. The venue for Jeremiah’s message proved to be as significant as the words themselves. Early in the sermon Jeremiah apparently quoted a Continue reading Go to Shiloh (Jer 7:12)