Blog Archives
“Disclosure Day” Discloses Truth
I don’t think I have seen the gushing, positive reviews for a Speilberg movie for years like those about “Disclosure Day”. I went alone on Friday to see this movie along with about twelve other people. I was prepared to be thrilled, encouraged, and emotional moved.
Here is what I took away from the movie.
The existence of alien life doesn’t threaten the belief in God. Something I have long held to.
If we paid more attention to others’ needs and hurts, a process the movie labels “empathy”, this world would be a better place.
There has been and will always be an underlying threat of war as long as the human race exists. This is despite the process of empathy.
The last word of the movie is the most powerful word of the movie.
Speilberg can still show without fail the range of human awe and wonder in the average human face.
The government hides secrets it believes will protect the human race. But perhaps those secrets also benefit the development of weapons.
Emily Blunt is an amazing actress.
I have always felt that cardinals carry a special message that God is watching over us.
So, is it the best movie Speilberg has made? If I did not already believe in the power of empathy, the existence of God, and the hope for our future this movie delivers, it would be the best movie. But I already believe these things. But our current culture has lost its way.
Our culture celebrates self: self love, self care, selfies, selfishness, self, self, self. We have lost the basic common sensical notion of Jesus’ call “to love each other as you love yourself”. We miss the point the Good Samaritan is not about the Good Samaritan. It is about the cold, uncaring response of the priest and the judge that leave the poor man to die in the ditch! They were supposed to be the cultural representatives of love and compassion. Instead, they cared only for themSelves!
I am getting the notion that our younger generation is having a break through moment turning their backs on this self centered cultural emphasis and realizing you can never get help if you don’t help others first. Do unto others, well you should know the adage. That came from Jesus also, by the way. In fact Jesus said His followers would be known because “you love one another”. Show love. Demonstrate love. That means considering someone else before yourself. So counter-cultural. Maybe it’s time we protested in support of unconditional love and empathy instead of resorting to violence.
Seems like there was a certain pastor who preached that message back in the 1960’s and because he said, “I have a dream” he was assassinated.
I’ve gone on too long. Younger generations have too short of an attention span to read this entire post. I can’t blame you. We’ve made you that way. We don’t teach patience. We teach instant gratification. Now is already too late.
Go see Disclosure Day and pay very close attention to what is said. Every word. You will be encouraged, filled with hope, and walk away with a heart full of the desire to empathize with those around you. It may not be the best movie Spielberg has made. But, it the most important movie for our times!
Is Reading a Book About Demons Dangerous?
I am often asked why a Christian reader should purchase a novel about demons. After all, isn’t reading about demons exposing oneself to the influence of Satan?
Let me clue you into a disturbing fact: if one is a Christian, one is already under the influence of Satan!
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6: 12,13 (And verse 13 is why I call my publishing entity 613media).
If you are a Christian and you are totally unaware of the influence of Satan in your life there is a good chance he has you right where he wants you! J. Warner Wallace of coldchristianity.com calls most people in our culture, apatheists. They just don’t care about God or demons or religion.
But for those who have dedicated their lives to following Jesus Christ, we are in a battle between the forces of good and evil. True, God and his angels are on the winning side but Satan and his fallen angels (demons) are making headway in today’s culture. Ignoring spiritual warfare is to relinquish the battle to the enemy! For example, 26% of Americans identify as “nones”, someone who has no identification with religious issues. This means that over one quarter of Americans do not believe there is a God!
My “demon” books do not glorify Satan or his minions. Rather, these books expose the nature of demonic influence in our lives. Each book is built around an important tenet of Christianity and discusses methods and means to protect oneself from the influence of the enemy.
Here is a graphic that illustrates the widespread influence of the forces of evil in our world.
In my fictional accounts of spiritual warfare, my broken, angry hero, Jonathan Steel, faces off against humans hosting powerful demons from a “Council of Darkness” dedicated to opposing the plans of the followers of Christ. Each book features an important spiritual concept and, usually, a cultural “deception” to divert attention from the work of the Lord,
My books do not contain profanity or gratuitous violence. They can be read by teenagers and people of all ages. One of the main character is a teenager. Let me tell you two stories about the genesis of these books.
Way back in 2010, I visited Abilene, Texas with my good friend and apologist, Michael Licona. He asked me to interview a man who had experienced a near death experience and to comment on the medical side of his experience. The specifics of that story, I’ll save for another day but the evening of the first day, a group of us were eating at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. Jessie, the man who had experienced significant trauma, had survived, and had a religious epiphany said he often saw “Dad”, as he called Jesus, walking around the room and speaking to him. You can imagine this doctor had a bit of skepticism about his visitations!
Jesse sat across from me at the table and suddenly stopped talking and looked over my shoulder. I glanced behind me. No one there. He looked back at me and said, “Dr. Hennigan, what does the number thirteen have to do with you?”
Salad fell from my open mouth. “What did you say?”
“Dad said to ask you about the number thirteen.” He said innocently.
I had never met Jessie before that day. He had no way of knowing I was coming or who I was. Let’s just say, he was not tech savvy. I was in the final stages of publishing my first book with a traditional publisher and no one knew this, not even Mike Licona,
“Well, I am about to publish a book entitled ‘The 13th Demon’. I turn in the manuscript in a couple of weeks.”
He smiled and looked back over my shoulder and nodded then his gaze met mine. “Dad said no matter what happens do not let Satan stop you. And that is why you have two guardian angels.”
Affirmation from God I was on the right track from the most unexpected source! The second story is creepier. Sitting in my office in one of our satellite hospitals, I had accessed the internet on what was then only a dial up connection. Hospitals are notoriously way behind time on tech! Deep in the weeds planning my next novel on vampires, I opened a search result link. The screen went completely black and from the center an image emerged. Bulbous eyes, fangs, forked tongue comprised a demonic face that grew and grew. Suddenly, the image overlapped the edges of my laptop screen! The things was coming OUT of my laptop! Impossible!
I slammed the lid shut and removed the battery (an option at that time with Powerbooks). Gasping for breath, I called my co-author and pastor, Mark Sutton. I told him what had happened. Was I going crazy? He didn’t hesitate in telling me, “God must really want you to write these books. Satan is pulling out all stops to stop you.” The follow up to this experience was my week in the “demon” house in Austin while finishing “The 12th Demon” about vampires. But I’ll save that for later. Let’s just say, that face that came out of the laptop? It became very physical!
I don’t mean to boast that my books are “God ordained”. But, I believe without a doubt I was inspired to write a series of books accessible to Christians and non-Christians exposing the underside of evil. Including my last book in “The Chronicles of Jonathan Steel”, “The 1st Demon: Imago Diaboli” there are twelve books. One for each apostle, one for each demon on the Council of Darkness. Note I am considering the prequel book, “Death by Darwin” as part of the series as it introduces Jonathan Steel.
I encourage you to consider reading my books. I assure you will learn quite a bit about spiritual matters, spiritual warfare, how Satan works, and most importantly how God is all powerful and has already won the battle.
Blessings.
The Last Book, the 1st Demon is here.
“The 1st Demon: Imago Diaboli” is now available through all book outlets online. If you go to this link you can find links to each site that offers the book.
As I stated in a prior post, this book has taken longer to write than most. I went back and read all the prior books in “The Chronicle of Jonathan Steel” as well as the prequel “Death By Darwin”. I even reviewed my Jack Merchant books as characters from those two books feature in this final story. Below, I will reveal the second chapter of the book for those who have read and those who have not read my books. In this chapter, Jonathan Steel and his main love interest, Ruth Martinez (from Death By Darwin) are driving from Shreveport, Louisiana to Austin, Texas. During the six hour drive, Jonathan tells his story to Ruth. The chapter not only recounts many of the developments from the prior books, but it also illustrates their growing relationship. Just a WARNING, this chapter contains many spoilers so reader beware.
Thanks again for all who have supported these books in the past. The final book contains many “tropes” that have become fairly common place in the last 20 years but I stuck with the story I outlined way back in 2000. If story beats seem all too familiar, I wrote them first!
Read the rest of this entryImago Dei Part 2 — Human Exceptionalism
Here is part two of my post on Imago Dei and Human Exceptionalism. Again, many will have different opinions on this matter but I am using evidence from and excellent book.
Are we mere animals? Is there scientific evidence that humans are “exceptional”? From the book, “Human 2.0” by Fazale Rana and Kenneth R. Samples, here is the evidence for Imago Dei from Human Exceptionalism:
- Symbolism
- Open ended generative capacity
- Theory of mind
- Capacity to form complex social networks
- Ethics and morality
Symbology is the capacity for symbolic behavior and correlates exclusively with the fossil remains of modern humans and can be understood from a Christian perspective to be a manifestation of the image of God. The Human capacity for symbolism manifests in the form of language, art, music, and jewelry.
“It enables us to combine and recombine basic elements such as people, objects, and actions into novel scenarios. Such nesting is also essential for reflection: our capacity to think about our own thinking. Nested thinking allows us to reason about the mental scenarios we entertain. . . . We can connect diverse scenarios into larger plots. . . . We can reflect on the relationship between past experiences and construct complex plans with embedded if-then steps.” Thomas Suddendorf
Open Ended Generative Capacity
“The capacity to offer opinions on a wide range of topics and to communicate ideas with language reflects our symbolism and open ended generative capacity.” Humans 2.0
“Human beings possess unique intellectual, cultural, and communicative abilities. Humans are thinkers, uniquely capable of abstract reasoning, and able to apply the foundational logical principle of noncontradiction (A cannot equal A and equal non- A).
Human minds alone develop propositions, formulate arguments, draw inferences, recognize universal principles, and value logical validity, coherence, and truth. Only human beings wonder why the physical universe corresponds to abstract mathematical theorems. “
Theory of Mind
We recognize that other people have minds just like ours, allowing us to understand what others are thinking and feeling.
Recent work by Spanish neuroscientists from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language indicates that mere mortals do indeed have an unusual ability that seems a bit like telepathy. When we engage in conversations with one another—even with strangers—the electrical activities of our brains synchronize.
“To put it another way, the brain activities of two people in the conversation became synchronized, establishing a connection between their minds.” Humans 2.0
Complex Social Networks
Humans have a deep need to communicate with each other and they accomplish it through a sophisticated intellectual process. In contrast, animals also communicate (and possess many other amazing abilities) but they do not work with abstractions or ask philosophical questions.
”The oscillations of our brain’s electrical activity couple with the rhythmic patterns created by speech, suggesting our brain is hardwired to support our desire to communicate with one another symbolically. It is equally intriguing that our brains become coupled at an even deeper level when we converse, consistent with our theory of mind and human capacity to enter into complex social relationships.” Humans 2.0
Animal communication differs in kind from open-ended human language. Animal memory differs in kind from human mental time travel. Problem-solving in animals differs in kind from human abstract reasoning. Empathy displayed by animals differs in kind from morality.
“Social cognition in animals differs in kind from the cumulative culture possessed by human beings.” Suddendorf
Ethics and Morality
Egoism – each acts in one’s own self interest
Libertarianism – maximizing individual liberty
Utilitarianism – promoting the greatest good for the greatest number (The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.)
Relativism – subjective and changing standards
Pragmatism – whatever works, works
Egoism – Humans 2.0
“There seems to be no legitimate means for settling conflicts between individuals and between groups. Hotly competing self-interests can easily degrade into anarchy. The system appears to be arbitrary in insisting that the interests of one group count more than the interests of another.
Self-sacrifice, the opposite of self-interest, seems necessary in many critical relationships in life and society (e.g., marriage, parenthood, friendship, citizenship, etc.).”
Relativism – Humans 2.0
“A morality relative to either a person or a culture is ultimately incoherent (in effect, such a morality denies itself). Moral relativism, which pervades much of Western culture, leads to the logical quagmire of thinking that no human is better than another, no code of values exceeds any other, and all moral choices are equal.”
Theism
We Shall Not Commit Murder – EVERY human bears God’s image and has inherent value. Gen. 9:5-6.
We Shall not VERBALLY ASSAULT another person – Jesus equates verbal assault with murder! Matt. 5:21-22
We are commanded to LOVE our neighbor. – Jesus identifies the greatest commandment is love God and the second greatest is LIKE IT, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Matt. 22:35-41
”We are commanded to help the MARGINALIZED – Because all humans bear God’s image we must do whatever we can to help those people in need. Matt. 25:42-45 and James 4:14-15.
We are commanded to stand against INJUSTICE – to do whatever we can to make that which is wrong, right. To OPPRESS and EXPLOIT another human being is equivalent to ASSAULTING GOD himself! Isa. 1:10-20, Amos 2:4-8.” Human 2.0.
”We are to RESPECT human identity – Our identity as human beings is sacred and defined by the image of God. We are “very good” and “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Gen. 1 and 2, Psalm 139, Psalm 8:4-5.” – Human 2.0.
“Because we bear God’s image, there is something sacred about human nature and identity that extends beyond the value human beings inherently possess. We are to bring NATURE under our control – We’ve been designated caretakers of the planet. Our Creator expects us to use the earth’s resources wisely—avoiding damage and preserving the environment.” Fuz Rana – Gen. 1:28-31, Psalm 8
”The responsibility God has given us to care for creation makes it necessary to learn whatever we can about how nature operates. This learning provides the motivation for science.
As we learn about nature and how to develop technology that allows us to flourish as a species, we gain knowledge that can serve us well as the planet’s caretakers.
Notice that in all of these mandates, we are NEVER told to Worship nature as a force unto itself!” Fuz Rana
Do we see correlation between theism and Human Exceptionalism?
Symbology – The Bible itself!
Language, symbols, biography, poetry, – WORSHIP!
Open Ended Generative Thinking – Parables
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Matt. 13:34-35
Theory of Mind – Testing, theorizing, the concept of a unique mind is seen in these scriptures.
“All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”— but this was beyond me. Whatever exists is far off and most profound— who can discover it? So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.” Ecc. 7:23-25
“When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” Matt. 5:15
Brain Synchronization can be seen in these scriptures:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8
Complex Social Networks are seen in the early church.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
Ethics
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:25-29
Hopefully, these concepts will start many conversations. As human beings, we must rise above being “mere animals” if we are to respect each other as equals. Tomorrow, I will post the final cover and launch dates for “The 1st Demon: Imago Diaboli”~
How Did This Happen?
“My son was raised in the church and became a Christian at age ten. He’s in college now and he just told us he no longer believes in God! He has walked away from his faith! How did that happen? What do I do? He has questions I can’t begin to answer. Please help me.”
I have had this question asked to me dozens of times in the last twenty years. Yes, twenty years! It is not a recent dilemma for parents. And the subject of that question could be any love one or friend, not just a child. I’ve been at book signings for my Jonathan Steel Chronicles where perfect strangers had no idea I was trained in Christian apologetics (the defense of the truthfulness of the Christian faith through evidence from science, history, and philosophy) and would ask this question. I’ve had total strangers ask me this while vacationing at the beach or at Disney World!
My teaching partner, Mark Riser, once had a sign made to put on out table in the coffee shop at Brookwood Apologetics inviting people to ask questions. I wonder some times if I have a sign on my forehead that says “The Apologist is IN” like Lucy in Peanuts.
I don’t mind it. I welcome the conversation. But I wish I had a good answer for this dilemma. Last year, I attended the Mamabear Apologetics weekend at a church in Forney, Texas. Amy Davison spoke and lit up my mind! I was the only man in a room full of 220 women, mamas, grandmamas, aunts, children workers. I felt a little out of place but I was welcomed by everyone I met.
And I had the blessing of hearing Amy speak. You know how sometimes you may listen to an audiobook or podcast at 1.5 speed? This is how Amy talks because she has so much to say and every word is precious.
Amy gave an overview of apologetics and then covered the current cultural influences on our kids — pre school through college and beyond. I came back to Brookwood Baptist Church and spoke to Lauren, our children’s minister and Daniel our youth minister as well as Scott our Discipleship Pastor and now we are hosting Mamabear speaker, Amy Davison this coming Saturday night from 6 to 830. And she will be speaking to us all not just Mamas!
You can go to this link for information. She will also be interviewed by David Rice, our pastor, in Sunday’s worship service.
You will NOT want to miss this if you influence in the life of any child or young person. Sign up today and I will see you there. Without any apologies!
A Tribute to Mark Sutton
“Bruce, what is that card you have in your shirt pocket?”
I sat before the desk of my pastor, Mark Sutton with a sullen and disturbed spirit. Just moments ago, my Associate Pastor, Randy McGee had asked me to teach a new college and career Sunday School class and I had used my “card” to help me say “no”. I was about a year into my therapy for major depression and my “card” was a tool to help me make better decisions and find a comfortable way to tell someone “no”.
Randy had been shocked and had replied, “You’re telling me no? I can’t believe you’re telling me no!” Randy, and I loved him dearly, used guilt many times to get his way and he admitted it was a strategy he learned while being a corporate negotiater before surrendering to the ministry. And now, Mark had called me into his office no doubt to confront me about my refusal to teach this new class.
I took the “LifeFilter” card out of my pocket and handed it to him. He looked at it and his eyes widened.
“What is this?”
“It’s my LifeFilter. It’s a card I carry with me everyday to help make better decisions so I don’t go back into worsening depression.”
Mark sat back in his chair, still holding the card in his hand. He studied me and I waited nervously like a caterpillar on a leaf watching the approaching hungry bird.
Mark and I were best friends and for the past five years, I had been in charge of a large, growing drama ministry at Brookwood Baptist Church at Mark’s insistence. Frankly, my personal ambition at running the ministry had gotten me into hot water psychologically and spiritually and had been one big factor in my major depressive episode. I had let down Mark Sutton when I had to give up being the director of the ministry. Mark massaged his lower lip, a sign he was deep in thought about to share a thought. He leaned forward.
“Bruce, I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone outside my family.”
That statement surprised me. He wasn’t going to “preach” to me about taking the teaching position?
“I suffer from horrible depression.”
I almost fell out of the chair. “What? No, you can’t do that! You’re a pastor. Pastors can’t be depressed.” I blurted out.
He almost smiled and then shook his head. “Bruce, I’ve lived with depression for most of my adult life. I don’t keep guns in the house and Susan keeps the knives hidden.”
My mouth fell open. How could this be? This great man of God, this incredible communicator, this pastor who loved even the unlovable members of our church? Could it be true that he was just as depressed as I was?
“Mark, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“I keep it quiet. Tell me more about this tool.”
I told him about my LifeFilter card and the five questions I had to answer “yes” to before making a positive decision and moving on with a request. It was a necessary process for me to not fall back into over committing myself in my continuing efforts to make sure EVERYONE liked me. To say “no” risked others disapproving of me. On one side of my card were the questions. On the other side was one of 30 of my favorite verses, a verse for each day of the month.
That encounter led to numerous lunch and coffee shop conversations about our depression. Mark stated talking about depression from the pulpit and his counseling schedule filled up. As time passed, I realized I had found not just my friend but accountability. One lunch meeting at a local restaurant Mark made an astonishing suggestion.
“Bruce, with your medical knowledge and your LifeFilter tool, we should write a book on depression.”
I was stunned. Mark was a published author and I had always dreamed of writing novels and being published. I had tried many times over the past twenty years to get published without success. Could we really do this? Could God take my story and help others?
Out of that meeting came an incredible journey through publishing three editions of our book on depression.
I share this because Mark Sutton was not just my friend, pastor, and co-author, he was my mentor. Mark had the unfailing ability to turn failure into triumph in the work of the Lord. We shared many seminars on depression and I watched him focus on one person out of a crowd who needed personal encouragement and an ear to listen. I could write story after story of Mark’s interaction with these suffering souls. I do not have that discernment but I have prayed and worked on being an echo of Mark’s ability to commit “ordained acts of kindness”. We received dozens, if not hundreds, of emails testifying to how Mark’s words in our book “saved” their lives.
I am grateful and blessed to have shared this part of Mark’s journey on this Earth. His ministry to the hurting and the lost and the almost forgotten can never be completely told for there are so many stories he has never shared. Mark was not a man who sought the spotlight.
If you knew Mark, you know he was NOT patient at waiting in lines. He grudgingly put up with “receiving” lines. But I know that somewhere in heaven, there is a huge, long line of those waiting to thank Mark Sutton for the love and kindness he showed to them in those unrecognized moments of kindness. I only hope I can do the same.
He always said he wanted to finish well. My friend has! I am sure that Jesus is telling Mark Sutton, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
Link for obituary is here.
How does a person of faith deal with death everyday?
My novels always include faith based issues. I refuse to preach but the Message must be imbedded in my stories. With regard to my character, Dr. Jack Merchant, a radiologist who also consults with the coroner, how does a person of faith deal with death?
I see death every day. I’m not a medical examiner. I am a radiologist. I interpret imaging studies every day I work. On some days, I might go through up to 250 patients and their studies. While I don’t see a dead patient, at least rarely, I see the death sentence right in front of me on the study. It might be a lung cancer, or diffuse metastatic cancer throughout the body, or a large infiltrating tumor in a woman’s breast. It might be a dissection in the aorta (deadly if not treated immediately) or a massive hemorrhage in the brain with the blood devastating and destroying viable brain tissue. I might not see death at the moment. But I see it coming and often soon.
Early on in my training, I recall a young boy with multiple skull fractures. I was a student at that point and when I found out what had been done to this child to cause such damage, I almost quit medicine! Not only do I see impending death, I see the evil that lives in the hearts of all people.
How do I deal with these realities?
First, such horrific outcomes are rare. I would estimate about 10% of the cases I read every day have such a possible deadly outcome at that moment in time. There are LOTS of good news, hope, and treatable diseases. I thrive on these cases!
Second, my personal journey in my career in medicine began with a calling from God to enter the field of medicine. The story is too long for today’s post but perhaps one day I will share it. It has become a humbling experience to realize I may be the answer to someone’s prayer. I would never be in the position to help diagnose, and sometimes treat, patients as a radiologist if I had not heard and responded to the Call. This is foundational for me and continues to give me strength and endurance in the face of death.
Third, I do not take it home with me. I started out in internal medicine. In that field the pain and suffering were right in front of me in the flesh. With radiology, there is some separation. Finding this field, again because of God’s direction, led me to realize it fit my empathic personality much better. Nevertheless, I discovered Walt Disney World shortly after completing my internship in internal medicine. That internship year was the most dehumanizing, destructive experience of my life. Walking into the Magic Kingdom provided an enthralling and all encompassing escape from the daily walk among sick and dying patients. I needed that renewal. However, my strongest renewal occurs from my faith.
Being a hospital based physician, I cannot share my faith or be sanctioned for proselytizing. However, if a patient opens the door to their own personal faith, I walk through fully and enthusiastically. I live for such moments!
So, how about Dr. Jack Merchant? Is he a man of faith? How does he deal with death, not only in his practice, but as a consultant to the medical examiner? The answer to that question is the substance of his journey in the current stories and the stories to come. He starts out with a faint connection to the divine and must decide how deeply to commit himself to faith. Part of his journey through the valley of the shadow of death is story I will tell. Be patient. God is not finished with Jack yet!
Aliens Among us?
Are extraterrestrials living among us? Have we been visited by alien races in the past? If life exists on other worlds, does that negate the Christian faith?
As a science fiction reader and writer, I have grappled with these questions for decades. How do I craft stories about other worlds, other life in view of my Christian faith? If an ET landed on the lawn of the White House tomorrow, what would that mean for my belief in God?
Well, you can find out. On Tuesday night, October 8th, at Brookwood Baptist Church my friend, Mark Riser and I will be giving a presentation: “Aliens Among us? Little Green Men and the Christian Faith”. Our monthly meetings were once affiliated with Reasons to Believe. However, in the past two months, RTB has moved away from supporting “local chapters”. We have reinvented ourselves as Brookwood Apologetics. What we will be doing does not change much. We still meet every month and we discuss evidence for the truthfulness of the Christian faith through science, history, and philosophy.
This upcoming special presentation will feature snacks and prizes. And we will be merging with other ministry groups for this one presentation. So beam me up, Scotty! Live Long and Prosper with us on October 8, 2024 at 630 at Brookwood Baptist Church, 9014 Brookwood Church Way, Shreveport, LA. For more information you can visit brookwoodbaptist.com.
Why I am a Doctor
Her name is not important but I will call her Sophie. Sophie’s skin was thin, translucent like fine white porcelain. Her eyes were teal blue and larger than life. At the age of seven, Sophie had become quite ill with fever and cough that left her listless and lifeless. Even though I was an intern in internal medicine at the time, I was called upon to speak to Sophie’s parents. Sophie had a very adult illness. She had leukemia.
I sat down with Sophie’s parents and laid out the grim prognosis for their child. We could certainly begin chemotherapy at our university hospital, but eventually Sophie would have to be transferred to a much more specialized hospital. I will never forget the look of utter horror on her parents’ faces as they gripped each others hands and tears rolled down their cheeks. The mother swallowed and said, “We will take Sophie home. If we have enough faith, God will heal her.”
Our Darkness, His Light
I noticed the decrease in the noise coming from outside our airplane. We were about 45 minutes into a 2 hour flight. It was far too early for the airplane to be slowing down for its descent. Along with the change in sound level, I noticed a queasiness in my stomach. I glanced out the window at the cloud level beneath us. Perhaps it was just turbulence. We were supposed to fly over a cold front moving through Alabama toward our departure city, Atlanta. I continued to read my book and noticed the persistence of the queasiness. I am prone to motion sickness and after ten or fifteen minutes I decided there was something not quite right about the motion of our airplane. I glanced across the aisle at my wife. She was asleep as usual. I could never sleep on a flight. I don’t like flying at all. I never have.
“When it’s your time to go, it doesn’t matter if you are in an airplane or not.” I’ve been told. But what if it’s the pilot’s “time to go”? My father passed away in October, 2012 at the age of 98 and he steadfastly refused to fly. Why? Because in the event of a crash he didn’t want “to wake up dead.” Hmmm!
The intercom crackled and this is what the pilot said. “Well, we are on descent for a landing in Birmingham.” Our destination was Shreveport, Louisiana — not Birmingham! “Just to let you know we have lost one of our two engines and we cannot get it restarted. There is no need for alarm because we can fly perfectly well with only one engine. But, we are making an unscheduled landing in Birmingham for safety’s sake and to check out the engine. We’ll be on the ground in ten minutes.”
On the ground in ten minutes. Not necessarily the best choice of words! My heart skipped a few beats and I reached across the aisle and grabbed my wife’s hand. She was wide awake now having heard the entire message. We looked at each other wordlessly. What can you say? We could very well die. If the other engine failed, we became a flying brick — very little chance of gliding to a safe landing. So, we prayed. It was all I could think to do.
Curiously, I was not panicky. I should have been. I was a bit nervous, but that sickening feeling of impending doom never settled in. There was nothing I could do. I was at the mercy of the pilots and their skill level. The flight attendant merely smiled at us. It was a forced smile hiding her own nervousness. As she bustled down the aisle to make sure we were all belted in, the smile never broke. She had made a connection with my wife who is always gregarious and reaching out to other people to know more about them. She put a hand on my wife’s shoulder. “I knew something happened a few minutes ago. But, we are going to be fine.”
We landed without difficulty just like any ordinary landing except for the firetrucks racing down the runway keeping pace with our airplane. We all applauded at the landing and then fell silent at the sight of men clad in silver hazmat suits waiting at the gate. We pulled up to the exit ramp and the flight attendant immediately opened the door. But, the jetway stayed retracted.
“We will sit right here for a few minutes.” The pilot assured us over the intercom. “While the mechanics check out the engine. We’ll let you know in a few moments whether you will be deplaned or if we can get the engine fixed and take off again.”
Take off again? No way! I wanted OFF that airplane. It only took about 5 minutes and the jetway pulled up to the doorway. In the meantime, the flight attendant said over the intercom, “Don’t be alarmed at the fire trucks and the fire men. This is standard procedure whenever there is a engine, uh, engine, uh, malfunction.” The unspoken word was ‘fire’. She kept her cool and never uttered it.
We left the airplane and hurried into the Birmingham terminal. I glanced out the window at our aircraft. The right engine looked perfectly normal — no smoke or fire. My wife and I settled into some seats to await our fate.
Here is where things got very interesting. I am a people watcher. I love to see how people respond in unusual situations. What transpired over the next 4 hours did not disappoint me. The lady sitting next to me settled in beside my wife and they instantly struck up a conversation. I wandered down to the restroom to relieve myself and wash my face.
It took about an hour but the decision was made that a new airplane was being flown from Atlanta to take us on to Shreveport. We landed at 130 PM and we were told the airplane would land about 320 PM. A short, dumpy man sitting next to me began to mumble. “They are liars. Consummate liars. All of them. Don’t believe a word they say. If they are breathing they’re lying!” These comments returned every time there was an announcement. Mr. Grumpy continued to spew forth his vile pessimism endlessly for four hours. Over and over, he called everyone in earshot a liar. As time passed, he added curse words to his mantra. He called up the airline on his cell phone while announcements were being made overhead to chew out some hapless airline employee on the other end of the line. I finally had to get up and walk away.
Eventually we had a departure time of 4 o’clock and my wife and I and her new friend walked down the terminal to find some lunch. We settled down for an hour and my wife and her friend soon exchanged life stories.
Here is my first observation.
Women have an unlimited capacity for bonding together, even between total strangers. My wife and Vicky took only about 5 minutes to establish a level of friendly intimacy it would take a man and his friend to discover in a life time. Meanwhile, the men in the waiting room were either cursing or talking to their business destination about being late, or in one case, talking to a wife to make sure their life insurance was up to date. Business as usual for us, guys. No mawkish emotionalizing on our part UNLESS it was to ream out the airline for delaying our arrival at our destination. Men, we could learn a thing or two from our wives.
After returning to the gate area, I was amazed as I watched three men come to the desk and request some kind of refund or remuneration for the inconvenience of our our delay. Each time, the person was told that giving out cash or vouchers was not the policy of the airline when there was an equipment malfunction. All of these men went away angry and soon our waiting area was host to “twelve angry men”. However, Mr. Grumpy still took the prize. Our new airplane landed at 4 o’clock and we had a new departure time of 4:20 PM. We would be arriving in Shreveport about 5:30 PM four hours later than our scheduled arrival time. I went to the restroom and while standing at the urinal noticed that Mr. Grumpy had arrived at the urinal next to mine. He was still complaining and cursing as he emptied his bladder. I felt sorry for his body parts — they could not walk away from his complaining. But, at least he had one inseparable friend he could complain to who would never talk back!
Here is my second observation.
My wife and I were on a flight from Atlanta to Shreveport when one of the two engines malfunctioned. We could have died. But, the two pilots managed to land us safely in Birmingham. Our inconvenience ended up being a four hour delay. I would say that is more than adequate payment in exchange for our lives! Instead of being grateful we were alive, some of us were demanding money in exchange for inconvenience and others were calling the people who saved our lives “liars” and other names I shall not repeat in mixed company. I leaned over to my wife and said, “Instead of complaining we should all be grateful we arrived safely without incident and we have a flight home on the same day!” Funny how things can change if you have the right attitude!
We loaded up on the new airplane and settled into the same seats. My wife’s new friend sat beside me and asked if I had heard the complaints of “Mr. Grumpy”. Seemed everyone had. He was way back behind us safely belted into his seat and I felt sorry for those who were around him for the duration of our flight home. We had a new crew and the same flight attendant. Just before boarding, I had watched the senior pilot take his bags and walk down the terminal. I wanted to run up to him and thank him for landing us safely. In retrospect, I should have. Instead, all he heard were strident voices of complaining and cursing. The man saved our lives!
After we took off, the flight attendant was delivering drinks and paused to speak to my wife. She told us they had put her on another flight but without a flight attendant, we would not have been able to fly home, even with a new crew. She insisted on finishing out our flight to make us feel more comfortable. She shared all of this with my wife. My wife thanked her for smiling and trying her best to make us feel safe. It was then the flight attendant delivered the bomb shell. She told us she had been flying with the two pilots on our original flight for a long time. And, then she told my wife that those two pilots had just completed training the day before on a flight simulator in, guess what emergency? You got it! They had just trained in the emergent scenario of landing an airplane with only one engine! My wife glanced at me and I got all weepy and wiggly inside. God was in control! This wasn’t a random series of events at all. She smiled at the flight attendant and said “That was God.” The flight attendant nodded. “Yes, I agree.”
Here is my third observation.
And, here my foundational beliefs do bias my conclusions. I recently posted on Speculative Faith and I was not received kindly by some of the commenters. One commenter said that we place too much emphasis on sharing the Truth with a capital T as Christians. That sometimes creating something of beauty is just that. Just go with it! Another commenter said my devotion to defending the truthfulness of the Christian faith was tantamount to being a “talking head”. Hmmm. Maybe all this God talk is overdoing it. Why don’t we just sit back and enjoy the ride?
Let me state unequivocally that everything I believe, everything I cling to, every rational shred of intellect, every emotional feeling of pain or love comes from my absolutely unshakable conviction that there is a God who brought this universe into existence and has designed it and built it for His glory and that He has invited us to be a part of a grand and wondrous Story that is unfolding from the very beginning of time and space until the end of it all. And that God, the triune God of the Bible, can be known, can become a companion that dwells in our laughter and in our light and is always there in our darkest moments even when we choose to be Mr. Grumpy or seek some type of material compensation to salve our tortured souls. It is a sad commentary on our central pride and arrogance that it takes a terrible crisis to make us stop and examine what is real and what is truly meaningful in our lives and that is not hubris or things — rather it is people and souls and time spent in the glow of God’s created beings — our companions on this journey toward forever — that will last beyond this universe into eternity. And, when we arrive at that conclusion and we finally see dimly with God’s eyes this terrible and wonderful Plan that is unfolding around us then we find true joy and true peace. For ultimately God will show us always that He and He alone is in control. He is God and I am not. I’ve seen His job and I don’t want it! Like our stalwart pilot who walked away lonely but triumphant his ears filled with jeers and curses — God endures our grumpiness and our demands for the material and our arrogance and our ego and loves us still and continues to deliver us from the enemy. His amazing love is truly unconditional!
Someone once said that faith is walking to the edge of your circle of light and taking one more step into the darkness. I disagree. Faith is knowing that beyond the failing light of our lives there is more than living and dying in the darkness — for God is there also waiting for us with an open hand to take us safely through the darkness into the ultimate Light of His love and glory. And that step we take, that hand we reach out can only happen because we have seen the evidence of His power and His plan and His love. Faith is acting upon that knowledge and being willing to put aside our own selfish point of view and see the world, the universe, eternity from God’s perspective. When we do we realize that our darkness is His light!
Bruce Hennigan 
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