Last Christmas my brother Condy and I purchased box sets of the writings of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick.  A friend tells me that this is the only science fiction writer to have his works published in the Library of America series, though I haven’t confirmed that.  Anyway, I have only just finished his novel, Ubik and I thought I would share just a few thoughts.  I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “trippy” in my life, but here goes:  this was one trippy read!  It was gloriously weird but also very interesting and well done.  It’s hard to describe, really, but I’ll give a few summary statements to (hopefully) give a sense of what Ubik is like.

In the future, there are companies that employ anti-psi’s who are hired to thwart the nefarious actions of those with psychic powers.  One such company, Runciter Associates, has its team of inertials (anti-psi’s) partially killed…or killed…or not killed…or seemingly killed…by Hollis who lures them into a deadly trap.  The uncertainty concerning death has to do with the fact that, in the future, if a person is put on cold-pac quickly enough they can be kept in a state of half-life for a time where they can still communicate with their loved ones or associates.

All of this is told engagingly and with fascinating precision.  Dick’s imagination really is a thing to behold!

As the story unfolds, it focuses in on the character of Joe Chip, a member of the Runciter Associates team who was one of the many targets of Hollis’ attack.  As Chip begins to observe very strange things happening around him, he has to come to terms with what has…or possibly has…or has not happened to him and what it means!  Throughout it all, the mysterious product “Ubik” keeps making appearance in the chapter headings in advertisement lingo heralding its marvels but also hinting at its dangers.

I’m not sure what to say next…this is really just an experience that needs to be had by the reader.  It does raise certain tantalizing philosophical, religious, and existential questions.  Theologically, we even see Molinism peek its head up above the surface. The vision it unfolds of the future is intriguing and also terrifying.  If you like good science fiction, and if you don’t mind just holding on for the ride without always knowing what’s happening, you’ll really like Ubik.  We did!

I have been wanting for some time to share some thoughts about Barbara Kingsolver’s amazing novel, The Poisonwood Bible.  I realize that I am very much late to the party in doing so as it was published over a decade ago and has been widely hailed as a modern classic for years.  But though I’m late to the party I did still want to show up for The Poisonwood Bible is one of the most remarkable novels I’ve ever read.  This is not to say that I did not find some aspects problematic.  Rather, I am saying that even in light of these areas I found this to be one of the most well-told, provocative, insightful, powerful, unsettling, and well-written books I’ve ever encountered.

The Poisonwood Bible is about a Baptist missionary family who is taken to Africa by their dominant and domineering preacher husband/father Nathan Price.  The story is told from the perspective of the Price women:  Nathan’s wife Orleanna and their daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May.  We never hear Nathan in his own voice but we do hear Nathan a great deal and, likely, a great deal too much.

How to describe this story?  It is a story of one man’s descent into madness and the demons that drove him, of one woman’s story of survival in the face of her husband and the cultural and geopolitical quagmire that they encounter in Africa and, indeed, the world at large, and of four daughters’ experience of being children (of varying ages) in the midst of these powerful familial, religious, and cultural cross-currents.

Kingsolver’s decision to tell the story through the voices of the Price women turns out to be very effective.  The development of each of their unique characters was nothing short of enthralling.  By the end of the novel you feel that you know the quirks, the personalities, and the hysterical, irritating, and, at times, infuriating (i.e. Rachel) idiosyncrasies of each.  I was especially struck by the character Orleanna, who emerges as a bruised, wounded, but ultimately victorious picture of courage and sheer grit.

I am a Baptist pastor who believes in missions, so the book simultaneously challenged and  irritated me.  It irritated me to think that the character of Nathan will feed into and bolster the worst possible stereotypes that some have of missionaries and perhaps especially of Baptist missionaries.  I want very much to say that I have never met Nathan Price, though I offer two caveats:  (1) I have met people with certain of his traits and (2) I do not deny that creatures like him exist.  The history of missions is too clear to deny his appearance on the stage here and there.  But, in my experience as a Southern Baptist pastor pastoring conservative churches in the South, not only have I never met Nathan Price, but I consider him to be monstrous, I consider much of his theology to be blasphemous and absurd, and I could not personally be in the presence of such a person long without giving voice to this.  The people I know and go on the mission field with would say the very same.

Even so, there is Nathan Price in all of his offensive arrogance:  the complete lack of consideration of the culture in which he was, the thinly-veiled disdain for the people he was, in theory, trying to reach, the maddening belief (seemingly) in mechanical baptismal regeneration, the sanctimony, the stupidity, etc. etc.  I would say this to any who might come across this review after having read the book:  yes, in the two-thousand year history of the Church despicable characters like Nathan Price have emerged far too many times, but please know that most of us are not only not like him but we recoil in horror at the sight of him.  Furthermore, many missionaries over the years have done amazing work and been a great blessing to the lives of those to whom they have ministered.  (And I gather, thankfully, from some of Kingsolver’s interviews, that she would not dispute this.  She was herself the daughter of missionary parents and has made clear that this is not a story about them.)

Even so, I am glad that Kingsolver created Nathan Price.  He needs to be seen.  He is as much a walking cautionary tale as a walking contradiction.  He is religion at its worst.  He is, to put it mildly, anti-Christ, all the while claiming to be serving Christ.  And, on a personal level, the depiction of such a character challenged me to make sure that I never fall into the kind of obscene pitfalls into which he fell.  It also challenged me to try to view the missionary task through the eyes of those to whom we go and to ask, “What might I be doing that communicates disinterest in or disdain towards the actual lives of the people to whom I seek to minister?”  That is not an unimportant question.

There is so much more than could be said about this amazing book.  Its political message is worth hearing and its cultural insights are really fascinating.  But, for me, the characters make the book.  It is a story of a family.  It is a gripping tale.  It gets under your skin and stays with you.

This is a very very good book.  I would say it is also an important book.  In truth, I think it should be read in seminary missiology classes.  Regardless, you really should read The Poisonwood Bible.

Mark 13

²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³² “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵ Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— ³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

What do the following dates have in common?

66-70 / 365 / 375-400 / 500 / April 6, 793 / 800 / 799-806 / 848 / 992-995 / January 1, 1000 / 1033 / 1200-1260 / 1284 / 1290-1335 / 1346-1351 / 1370 / 1378 / 1504 / February 1, 1524 / February 20, 1524 / 1524-1528 / May 27, 1528 / October 19, 1533 / April 5, 1534 / 1555 / 1585 / 1600 / February 1, 1624 / 1648 / 1651 / 1654 / 1656 / 1655-1657 / 1658 / 1660 / 1666 / 1673 / 1688 / 1689 / 1694 / 1697 / 1700 / 1705-1708 / 1716 / April 5, 1719 / 1700-1734 / October 16, 1736 / 1736 / 1757 / May 19, 1780 / November 19, 1795 / October 19, 1814 / April 28, 1843 / December 31, 1843 / March 21, 1844 / October 22, 1844 / August 7, 1847 / February 13, 1925 / September 1935 / December 21, 1954 / April 22, 1959 / February 4, 1962 / August 20, 1967 / 1967 / August 9, 1969 / 1969 / 1972 / January 1974 / 1975 / 1976 / 1977 / 1980 / 1981 / 1982 / April-June 1982 / March 10, 1982 / June 21, 1982 / 1985 / April 29, 1986 / August 17, 1987 / September 11-13, 1988 / October 3, 1988 / September 30, 1989 / April 23, 1990 / September 9, 1991 / 1991 / September 28, 1992 / October 28, 1992 / 1993 / May 2, 1994 / September 1994 June 29, 1994 / October 2, 1994 / March 31, 1995 / December 17, 1996 / March 26, 1997 / August 10, 1997 / October 23, 1997 / March 31, 1998 / July 1999 / August 18, 1999 / September 11, 1999 / 1999 / January 1, 2000 / April 6, 2000 / April 6, 2000 / May 5, 2000 / 2000 / 2001 / May 27, 2003 / October 30-November 29, 2003 / September 12, 2006 / April 29, 2007 / 2010 / May 21, 2011 / September 29, 2011 / October 21, 2011 / May 27, 2012 / June 30, 2012 / December 21, 2012 / August 23, 2013 / April 2014 / September 2015 / September 23, 2017 / October 21, 2017

If you guessed, “Those are years in which people predicted the world would end!” you are correct! In truth, this list is incomplete and other dates could be added. Furthermore, the list does not include future dates that have also been predicted. These are just the dates that have been predicted and have already passed.

When you look at that list it is hard not to think, “Why do we keep doing this? Why do we keep trying to predict when the world will end?” But we do indeed do it! Human beings just cannot help themselves.

For Christians, this is utterly inexcusable for Jesus specifically said that we cannot know the exact time of His return. We cannot know the exact time, but we can read the times and live in preparedness. It is very important that we get this right or else we can really get sidetracked, disillusioned, and do injury to our faith. Let us consider what Jesus says about the coming of the end.

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Exodus 32

¹ When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. ⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

Tony Merida has offered some noteworthy comments about the pervasiveness of idolatry in modern life and about the human propensity for idolatry in general.

A few of our pastors and interns took a trip to Boston recently to explore the idea of sending a church planting team to New England. The need for churches in the Northeast is great. One Christian leader there calls the area north of Boston “the desert.” Some estimate that it is currently 1-percent evangelical at best.

As our friends described their culture to us, they pointed out that people actually worship in the Northeast. Some people worship the Red Sox. Others, in the world of academia and research, are slaves to ambition. In Salem, Massachusetts, they statistically have more witches than Christians. The Northeast is really no different from anywhere else in the world. Left to ourselves, we will worship something other than the living God. To paraphrase Calvin, “The human heart is an idol factory.”

Because of this universal problem, we need to understand this subject. Os Guinness and John Seel comment on the how important this topic is: “Idolatry is the most discussed problem in the Bible…There can be no believing communities without an unswerving eye to the detection and destruction of idols”…[1]

He is right, of course. Human beings have always been drawn to idols, be they the Red Sox or the moon above. In fact, so prevalent is this tendency that we are right to return again to a consideration of why idolatry is so dangerous. And we are also right to ask whether or not Guinness and Seel, quoted by Merida above, are correct when they say that “believing communities” must have “an unswerving eye to the detection and destruction of idols.” Exodus 32:1-10 would answer, “Yes! They must!”

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Mark 13

¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, ¹⁶ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁷ And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ¹⁸ Pray that it may not happen in winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰ And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. ²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. ²² For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³ But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand. ²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

As we approach the Table of the Lord this morning I am struck that our text is one of dark foreboding yet also exuberant joy. I am struck by this because, seen from a certain perspective, the symbols here on this table combine the very same elements: the dark foreboding of the violent death of Jesus on the cross at the hands of wicked men yet the exuberant joy that it was in this way that Christ won for us our salvation! Put another way, we are hereby reminded of the darkness of our sins and of the fallen world but only in order that we might proclaim the light of the coming of Jesus into the world and is death and resurrection.

Mark 13:14-27 is a text of darkness and light, of warning and hope, of bitter judgment and beautiful salvation. We have seen that the church stands in the time between the times: that time that is different from ordinary time because Christ has come and the Kingdom of God has broken into the world and is breaking into the world even now. This time between the times is the time between was has been and what will be. We live in the beginning of the end, a beginning end that might last another day or another two thousand years. We do not know. But something has changed now. The church has seen the glory come and coming. We await the coming of Christ who has come and will come again.

In our text, Jesus warns of greater darkness then heralds the victory of the light.

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Mark 13

¹ And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” ³ And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. ⁹ “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. ¹¹ And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

What would you do if you knew the world was about to end? Interestingly, there are numerous places online where some variation of this question has been asked. The comments are telling. Here’s a sampling:

I’d tell everyone who I know exactly how I feel about them. My crush, my brother, friends, everyone who I can contact within 24 hours

Play with my dog for as long as she wants to. Then pet her and hold her close.

I’m a man of simple tastes. I’d steal either a Nissan GT-R or a Porsche 911 Turbo.

I would drive away far away from the havoc that would definitely ensue with friends. I would chill with friends, kayak across that beautiful river I dreamed about kayaking on, hike on that mountain that looks like it has a beautiful view from the top, throw a party, spend the rest of my money on food, drinks and fun, get a bonfire going and chill with all the amazing people in my life and when the sun sets for the last time I’ll be watching it over the mountains with people I truly care about by my side.

Raid, pillage, and plunder to my hearts content. After all, only fools are certain.

get some beer, get some speakers, And sit on my roof drinking the lot whilst blasting out the AC-DC

I guess I’d do my laundry.

Make plans for the following day. Just in case.

And my favorite:

I would place my son in the specially-designed space capsule I have built ahead of time for just this occasion, even though the government and my peers thought me mad. My wife would wrap him in a red blanket with our family symbol on it. We would launch him toward a hospitable planet just as our planet exploded.

Ha! Somebody has seen Superman one too many times!

It is an interesting question, though, and one that is not without merit. What would you do if you knew the world was about to end?

Mark 13 is a chapter that has fascinated and perplexed interpreters over the years. It is a chapter in which Jesus talks about the end and instructs His disciples on how they, and we, should act in light of its approach.

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Mark 12

³⁸ And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰ who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” ⁴¹ And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³ And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Adolf Hitler once complained that Germany was an ostensibly Christian nation as opposed to a nation holding to a different religion. Here is what he said:

It’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?[1]

That is telling. Hitler preferred Japan’s exaltation of sacrificing for your country. He even preferred Islam. There was obviously something about it that he appreciated. But Christianity he deplored. Why? Because of its “meekness and flabbiness.” Christianity, you see, exalts the lowly and the weak. Christianity makes much of the unfortunate and those who lack power and strength. But what Hitler wanted was the uberman, the strong man, the man who knew what power was, and the Ubermensch, the master race.

Of course, Hitler was in so many ways simply repeating the mantras of Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote, “Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism to all the self preservative instincts of sound life”

Men who like the currency of power, men who like the language of strength, men who act in the theater of the pompous, these men despise Christianity and the teachings of Jesus. In particular, they despise passages like Mark 12:38-44.

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It is a beautiful thing, after this many months of work, to finally see this become available.  I  thank the many people who made this possible in the acknowledgments of the book so I won’t do so here, but I do want to say that without a lot of help from a lot of folks this volume would not be appearing when it has.  My sincere prayer has always been that these volumes will further the great legacy of Dr. James Leo Garrett Jr.  You can order a copy here.