It is Near

Could the ancient struggles and prophecies of Israel hold the keys to a future where peace reigns supreme? Join us as we traverse the spiritual and geopolitical landscapes that have defined Israel's place in history, and ponder whether current events could be signaling the fulfillment of biblical prophecies. With a compassionate eye, we consider the tribulations faced by both Israelis and Palestinians, and the role of the international community in shaping media narratives.

In this episode, we take you through a journey from the past to the prophetic future of the Middle East. From the covenant of the Israelites with God under Moses's guidance to their profound societal contributions, we explore the historical tapestry that has been woven through conflict, discipline, and resilience. We scrutinize the prophecies of Ezekiel 38, decoding potential alliances and adversaries, and discuss the intricate dynamics between Israel and nations like Iran and Yemen. The tensions surrounding Jerusalem, a sacred city to many faiths, are also dissected, along with the diplomatic endeavors to broker peace, including the commendable efforts of President Carter.

As we conclude, our heartfelt respect for the Jewish people and their prophetic destiny shines through. Embracing the scriptural promise of a miraculous epoch to come, we invite listeners to engage with the Israeli narrative with empathy and a desire for understanding. This episode is a tapestry of admiration, prophecy, and a shared hope for a time when all will celebrate the realization of ancient promises. Join us as we navigate these complex topics, seeking wisdom and insight into one of humanity's most enduring stories.

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Thirty-one years ago we took on an emergency family project -- we wrote a point for point rebuttal of a full page newspaper ad placed by Holocaust denier Bradley Smith in the Ohio State Lantern. In this podcast, I read the article we wrote, which was also published at the University of Michigan and other places where Smith had spread his lies.  Objective truth is often the only way to challenge lies -- especially when the lies are bold, outrageous, and dangerous. 
After a summer break, this episode marks the first in a new series of episodes that will explore significant areas of disagreement about what is true. We will try to avoid the common pitfall of painting those who disagree with us as the ones who are liars or believing falsehoods. But we will discuss all the tools we have for determining the truth of a claim. We will call in question what Christians have been doing lately, and attempt to contrast our cultural norms with what the Bible says in its writings about law, ethics, character, and prophecy. 

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Owen Kindig has a man to man conversation on what the Bible says about Hell with J. Murray Murdoch, emeritus professor of History at Cedarville University. Their viewpoints could not be more different, but their respect for the Bible and each other is profound. Enjoy this earnest and honest comparison of viewpoints on the most important themes of the Bible: what is faith, what is the gospel, what is salvation, and what are the genuine, biblical hopes for life and salvation for all people on planet earth? 

In this episode we discuss what the Bible says about "judgment", "sleep", "the soul", "hell", "the second death", and many other concepts spoken of by Jesus, the apostles, the prophets, and all the writers of the Bible. 

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

We all live in a tent city. Temporary, half-baked, unfixable. But the vision of Abraham persists. "A City with foundations". Many long for it. Is it a vain hope? An impossible dream? The end of death; a global resurrection. 
Even the findings of physics and astronomy -- that all the heavier atoms that make life possible, literally came from heaven to earth. Supernovas that happened billions of years ago sowed the seeds of human life and flourishing. 
How strange, then, that the final vision of the Bible shows a completed city, made of one of the heaviest metals (metaphorically) descending to earth, with God and man to be reunited and reconciled? 
We keep walking down this path, examining evidence as we go....

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Who wants to live in a tent? Millions don't have a choice. But Abraham did and today we'll find out why. Something permanent is coming ... and it is near. This wide-ranging episode looks at migrants, including the recent ship full of them who were lost at sea. We turn to Abraham for seven insights about what is important, and what the future holds. 
Then our journey takes us to the subject of the kind of faithfulness that Abraham modeled. The a definition of this elusive way of thinking may surprise you. And to trace the footsteps of God, hidden in plain sight, we meditate on tragedies that have haunted the Jewish people across the centuries -- and yet simultaneously provide reassurance of the destiny of joys and blessings that await them -- and all of us.

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Two Christians have a calm, respectful discussion about a topic they profoundly disagree about. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? And maybe, impossible?  Murray grew up in orthodoxy, Owen grew up as a heretic. But they are good friends and brothers in Christ: and whichever side you are rooting for, you might learn something!

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

it is Near explores the immediate future -- the next two or three decades from now to 2050. 

Is it bad? Way worse than even pessimists think, 

Is it good? Way better than any of us can imagine. 
I'm hoping you will join me to look with curiosity and without fear at all of the happenings that are right around the corner. My goal is not to preach, or change you. We are exploring the human condition without trying to influence what comes next.  We need to turn down the volume on judging and blaming others, and turn up the intensity of our efforts to understand.

Regardless of your background or beliefs, you will be challenged and at times irritated when you hear things you don't believe. This will be good, because the truth is wider and deeper than all of us are able to wrap our heads around. 

It is Near focuses on the alarming and the hopeful; the frightful and the forgotten; the blinding glare of giant problems, and the dark secrets that lurk even more menacingly in the shadows of global trends. "Amazing Grace" may have taught our hearts to fear, but for most Christians and non-Christians alike, divine grace as commonly conceptualized does not those fears relieve. It is Near will be informative, accessible, comforting, and challenging to every thinking person. It will call Christians to account and provide a breath of fresh air for secularists who, for once, would like to hear a conciliatory and intellectually honest message from a thoughtful Christian voice. Owen Kindig of Sitka, Alaska is your host, and is responsible for the content.

"Even the bad news is good news."

Are you open to considering outside input about your attitudes? Most people are. Christians are by definition -- willing, even eager to know God's will and guidance regarding all of their thoughts and motivations.
That's the defining message of Christian discipleship, as described by Paul in Romans 12:1,2 -- and the focus of this message: how to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind".
It is a radical commitment to surrender -- not to any human preacher or sect or group-think, but to the word of God as revealed in us and to us by the circumstances of our life.  With practical insight, earnest exhortation and conciliatory humor, this message explores four things that God gives his children who follow Jesus. It enumerates 5 specific attitude adjustments we are all called to embrace. And in a personal testimony it the end it identifies three devices God uses as means of grace to help us when we give our hearts to him: the pressures of necessity, the discovery of our own inadequacy through failure, and the good influence of fellowship with other believers. Though the sermon started in the past, it is finished in the present, and it contemplates a glorious future, not only for Christians whom God is preparing now, but also the entire world of mankind who are promised blessing and guidance in the future.

On her 21st birthday, Queen Elizabeth pledged that her lifelong motto would be "I serve." We pay tribute to her for this noble sentiment, and remember that this character quality is the commandment of all true disciples of Christ, according to Jesus in Matthew 20:25-28. In this episode we will contrast the experience of Jesus' followers with the lessons God has been teaching the human rulers of earth. Picking up where we left off in the preceding episode, we examine Psalm 2, and look at the career of Mikhail Gorbachev to see how he was more malleable than most rulers of men in human history.  The Baltic Way, the end of the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, are presented as evidences that we are nearing the time when a new kind of social structure will be established on planet Earth: a "sabbath" of rest for the entire human race.

When describing the Power of the Cross in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul notices that most people are not impressed. Though Christianity seemed to spread to a place of world domination for many centuries, Paul's words have always remained true: the world at large, whether Jew or Gentile, sees the Cross as an evil or a folly. In this episode we look at the way in which the "the basest of men" govern humanity, apparently with no divine oversight. We will learn from Jesus' statement to the disciples in Matthew 20: those who think and act like Jesus must learn to serve others instead of behaving like lords. We study Daniel's encounter with Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4: God is secretly placing limits on the players on the world's stage.  And from Hebrews 11 we see that faith opens our eyes to God's hand in human history. "There is a Providence which shapes our ends", Shakespeare observed, and this lesson focuses on the visions written down in Daniel and the Revelation. In Part 2 we will look at recent history to see the momentous impact of a person who has been used by God to bring momentous change to the entire world: Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia.