Tag: Remnant

Deeper Waters Podcast 12/9/2017: Brian Godawa

What’s coming up? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I don’t really get into a lot of secondary issues in Christianity, but eschatology is one exception. I find myself increasingly embarrassed by what a friend of mine and I call the Rapture Brigade which wishes to interpret everything as some sign that the end is here. Since Trump has made an announcement about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, I am sure they are going to be going full throttle now.

The belief is one I abandoned years ago because I saw no Biblical support for it and eventually, I found my place in orthodox Preterism. It is the view that makes the most sense by far. It also then gives me delight when an atheist likes to tell me that Jesus got wrong the time of His return in Matthew 24.

I saw that Brian Godawa has also come to orthodox Preterism and not only has he come to it, he’s written a fictional series on the matter. The series is meant to teach orthodox Preterism and provide an entertaining read. So far, it has done a good job of both and it does have a number of notes on the claims in it. I’m not sold on the Watcher theory in there yet, but orthodox Preterism does not depend on that either.

Brian Godawa was on to discuss the first book in the series. Now he’s on to discuss this second. This is the one that tells of the beginning of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and includes the Essene community in it as well. So who is Brian Godawa?

Brian Godawa is an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter (To End All Wars), a controversial movie and culture blogger (www.Godawa.com), an internationally known teacher on faith, worldviews and storytelling (Hollywood Worldviews), an Amazon best-selling author of Biblical fiction (Chronicles of the Nephilim), and provocative theology (God Against the gods). His obsession with God, movies and worldviews, results in theological storytelling that blows your mind while inspiring your soul. And he’s not exaggerating.

What really began the War of the Jews? Could there have really been a fulfillment of Bible prophecy nearly 2,000 years ago? If this was a war against the Jewish people at the time, does that equate to for all time? Does that then lead to a charge of anti-Semitism?

Why is it also that so many Christians don’t know about these kinds of events? When we have the Rapture Brigade telling the rest of the world that events are happening and that Jesus is going to return soon or on a specific date, are we opening ourselves up to charges of embarrassment? How did early Christians handle what was happening to Jerusalem? How did the Essene community interact with Israel?

I hope you’ll be watching for the next episode of the Deeper Waters Podcast. Eschatology is a favorite topic of mine to discuss and I think it is of great importance for the church and our witness today. Please also go on iTunes and leave a positive review of the Deeper Waters Podcast.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Book Plunge: Remnant: Rescue of the Elect

What do I think of Book Two In Brian Godawa’s Chronicles of the Apocalypse Series? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Remnant is the second in the series continuing on the story of Tyrant: Rise of the Beast. The book works to explain the orthodox Preterist viewpoint in a novel form. This time, much of the intrigue is centered on Jerusalem and what is happening there as the main character try to get the Christians in Jerusalem to flee.

While there are characters that are certainly historically real, like Agrippa and Josephus, there are many who are fictional, which works just fine. There are also plenty of footnotes that show the historical sources for what is claimed. Again, this one also has the Watchers, demonic beings that act as the gods of the other countries, fighting against the angelic beings, although there really isn’t much of anything along the lines of Frank Peretti with his books of spiritual warfare.

Book one does need to be read first or else one won’t really understand what is going on. This book has the drama going on of trying to get Christians in Jerusalem to escape and uses that to also explain Johannine authorship of the book of Revelation and questions about the temple. The Essenes also make an appearance here.

There is drama as well between the characters, such as the arc of a love triangle taking place. As can be expected, there is much that cannot be said here due to the problem of spoilers. Still, much of what happened did relate especially to the way that I see many guys approaching romance and since this is the case of men that are single, I can certainly say it brought back my own thinking of what it was like.

There is some looking at what is going on in Rome. Nero has returned of course, but also there is a greater focus on Vespasian and Titus and then Domitian makes his appearance. Much is still left undone at the end of this book, which makes sense since there is another one coming.

As for the Watchers like I mentioned, you will see Allah show up this time which I’m sure would be odd to a Muslim audience, though I cannot anticipate them reading this. It’s still interesting to see a future religion showing up. Obviously, Allah will have to be active at the end of the series to some extent.

Still, while this was a good series, I didn’t find myself as intrigued as I was with the first book. I’m not really sure why. I wonder if it could be there didn’t seem to be as much of a clear villain here as Nero wasn’t as active as he was in the first one and no one else really seemed to be a main villain for this book, though Florus comes close. Apollyon also wasn’t as conniving it seemed in this one as he was in the first.

Still, it’s good to see the Preterist viewpoint being presented in this way. We need Christian writers who can write stories and stories that also don’t force the Gospel down one’s throat. Godawa also uses this volume to wrestle with questions of war and pacifism which are good for discussion. Hopefully we’ll see more Christians with vivid imaginations doing the same.

In Christ,
Nick Peters