The Church That Is Left Behind

My wife, Nettes, brought this book back from a leaders’ weekend with our network of churches. I was very interested as I’m in the process of reading Perriman’s the Coming of the Son of Man. Perriman’s book is such a tight argument that I can’t skim it without losing the plot. So I may be wrong, but from our conversations the two books appear to be converging on similar conclusions. Kobus’s book looks lighter and spends more time outlining and debunking pre-millennial theology especially extreme dispensationalism. The title is of course a reference to the best selling series of novels based on pre-millennial theology.

Having leaned towards an amillenial or postmillenial stance for many years, and more recently been interested in the transmillenial viewpoint, I tend to forget that many Christians either haven’t thought about this or, particularly in the States, have pretty much swallowed the whole pre-mill/dispensationalist argument. So I was amazed to see this hidden camera stunt on Aaron Rathburn’s blog back in September. You could only do this in America :)



I guess in some quarters these ideas are still going strong. Hopefully Kobus’s book will provide a much needed antidote to some in our circles who have picked up some of these thoughts from the God Channel or maybe from the Left Behind novels themselves.

God Bless Barack Obama

It sounds like euphoria in the States for many now that Obama has got in. The internet is full of OTT statements about this new president. It seems in Britain that many are pleased as, compared with Bush, he appears to have a very different approach to Afghanistan and Iraq. The general feeling is that we will be glad to see the back of Bush who pulled us into a war that we did not agree with. It is with these issues that I feel Obama could be a champion of righteousness and justice. Some Christians may disagree but personally I feel this is a greater issue than Obama’s stance on abortion or gay marriages.

All this talk about change for the better reminds me of when Blair became prime minister. I wonder how long it will last. I also wonder how much of his popularity is due to media hype, as we heard so much more about Obama than McCain in the lead up to the election. But if Obama can take America - and the rest of us - through the current financial crisis well and handle the Middle East and the War on Terror sensibly I think he has the potential to be one of American’s greatest presidents. I also hope that Obama’s election will be a step forward for racial equality in the States. But who knows? Only time will tell.

Thanks to Jack Thielepape and Kris Kros on flickr for the photo.

UPDATE: I've just seen this little book by a Christian publisher. It's a biography that emphasises Obama's faith in Jesus and is written for kids aged 9-12. It looks good.