Posts Tagged ‘History’
History, Theology, and the Nation of Israel
How the Theological-Historical Interface Impacted the Rise of National Israel [Editor’s note: this historical survey was published in our magazine, FrontLine, in our November/December 2016 issue. We republish it today because of its relevance to the current crisis in Israel. Readers may find it helpful in putting the current situation in historical context. The author…
Read MoreGod’s Perspective on Our Troubles
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. Daniel 1:1 To the people of Judah this was a terrible time in their history. They thought Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion was disastrous and they would have hated him. There are always two perspectives to…
Read MoreThankfully, Some Things Just Never Change
Typically, when comparisons are made between current events and past events, the result is a realization that things are worse today or that negative realities of the past have been perpetuated. Rarely do we find ourselves recognizing improvement or encouragement through the passage of time, whether it be centennial retrospectives or otherwise. However, in the…
Read MoreChristmas in History and Spirit
The First Christmas Celebration Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. II Corinthians 9:15 Scrooge sternly said to His nephew: You keep Christmas your way, and let me keep it in mine. His nephew responded, But you don’t keep it! To Scrooge, Christmas was only a time for paying bills without money; a time…
Read MoreWhat’s Past Is Prologue
We have heard it said that “Experience is the best teacher” to which I add, “especially when it is someone else’s experience.” That is, we need not repeat the mistakes of others, and can benefit from their accomplishments, if we wisely learn from those who have gone before. In addition to the “experience” adage we…
Read MoreReview: In the Name of God
In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends, and Legacies of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett O. S. Hawkins, B & H Academic, Nashville, 2021 O. S. Hawkins gives us a work of much interest to fundamentalist Baptists, In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends, and Legacies of J. Frank…
Read MoreCancel Abraham
Cancel Abraham. He owned slaves and even impregnated one of them. Cancel Sarah. She enabled her husband’s escapade and persecuted the victim. Cancel David. His behavior is only acceptable in a movie. Samson and Jephthah? Let’s not even go there. How can God exalt such obviously flawed people in Hebrews 11 as examples of faith?…
Read MoreThe Handwriting on the Wall
Daniel 5:1-31 Harvard professor George Santayana once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”1 Over the years, this statement has been paraphrased in a number of ways. “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it;” “Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”…
Read MoreOne Nation under ___ – How We Tell History Speaks about Us
Our church’s recent Christian Heritage Tour of Washington D.C. accomplished what I had hoped. Neither a vacation nor strictly a historical tour, the trip proved a genuinely spiritual experience. Our tour guide, Rev. Tim Schmig, calls the tours he leads of the nation’s capital “Stories in Stone” for good reason. As we visited monuments and…
Read MoreAmbushed by Ambition
Around the same time that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, another boy was born on the faraway untamed Iberian Peninsula (which we call Spain and Portugal today).1 He was an ordinary countryside boy who dreamed of grander things. Perhaps he played with little toy soldiers in the dirt outside his home or perhaps he admired…
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