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I would start with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. The books and the movies are both far superior to any of the low grade "Left Behind" nonsense. Ultimately, however, as Greg Uttinger points out, the only way to counter bad fiction is with the undiluted Truth.

It was probably just for space considerations. Most hymnals only include stanzas 1, 4, and 6. The 1988 UM Hymnal is the only one I've seen which includes 2 and 3.

Ben Witherington offers his observations about the lawsuit filed against God by Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers. It seems Mr. Chambers wants to blame the Almighty "for what the insurance companies usually call 'acts of God'-- namely natural disasters, such as the tornadoes that recently...

Dispensationalists rely on inerrancy and literalism when it suits their agenda. When it doesn't (eg. Jesus said "This generation [the generation of the apostles, not some future generation 2,000 years later] will not pass away until all these things take place"), they quietly abandon it.

E. Stanley Jones (The Word Became Flesh, p. 276), the great Methodist missionary of a previous generation, told of someone once asking "the head of a mental institution why they didn't have more guards in the institution--weren't they afraid of an uprising? 'No,' replied the other, 'there is no...

Here are my choices. What are yours?

From a Wesleyan point of view, there is a huge problem with such a simplistic message. We believe not only in salvation as escaping "the wrath to come" (Wesley's only condition for being a member of the Methodist societies), but also as restoration to wholeness in the image of God. The...

"Vapid fiction based on bad theology" is being too kind. The teaching espoused by the authors of the Left Behind books is rank heresy masquerading as biblical literalism. Hank Hanegraaf has written an excellent refutation of Left Behind and the whole dispensational system, entitled, The...

I'm reading John Wesley: A Theological Journey by Kenneth J. Collins, a book best described as a spiritual/theological biography of the founder of Methodism. The chapter on the ill-fated missionary endeavor in Georgia is presented as something of a microcosm of the spiritual frustrations Wesley...

John Wesley had much to say about the eucharist (also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper). Of particular interest is his observation concerning how grace is conveyed in the sacrament. In his Journal (Works, Vol. 1, p. 280), he reflects: Note the parallels between points (1.) and...

Hell is eternal separation from God, referred to in biblical language as "the lake of fire" or "the outer darkness" where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth." Satan is a fallen angel who, having failed in his rebellion against God, has been cast out of heaven, along with those angels who...

Yeah, they can be rather "in your face" at times.

Most preterists, that is, those who build their whole theology around a preterist eschatology, would consider themselves post-millennialists. One particularly aggressive strand of post-millennial preterism is known as reconstructionism or theonomy, which teaches the eventual triumph of the...

If you are a member of the church, you are living in the "end times" because the church is the "end times" community. The "end times" began with the resurrection of Jesus. The fullness of God's plan for the redemption of the world has been revealed. The church carrying the Gospel into all the...

Wesley would not have preached on "the rapture" because there was no such doctrine at the time. It was invented by J.N. Darby in 1830. The best (and, as far as I know, only) book on Wesley's views on Eschatology is The New Creation by Theodore Runyon (Abingdon).

Here are some articles I have written on the subject. Paul's Practical, Pastoral Vision Hope Amidst the Hype Incarnation, Resurrection, and New Creation Lindsey Still Singing the Same Old (Wrong) Song Eschatology and Worldview Living Faith for a Dead Palestine Hanegraaf Breaks...

Excellent book! Should be required reading for Arminians and Calvinists, alike.

In addition to using the book with my parishioners, I write a daily devotional blog based on its lectionary readings.

This Day: A Wesleyan Way of Prayer I use this book daily, as do the members of the launch team for our new parish. Description from the Cokesbury web site: [/FONT]

Feast days fall on or near the day of the person's death. John Wesley died on 2 March 1791; Charles Wesley on 29 March 1788. 2 March is the feast day for St. Chad (patron saint of botched election ballots), so the Wesleys are celebrated on 3 March.