Articles

Living in Italy, I'm constantly aware of the presence of color and light. And I'm fortunate enough to be able to feel the first soft beams of dawn as they filter through my window.

As a Child, I became interested in my family background and hoped someday to cultivate ties with Norway, my ancestral homeland. During my school years, I learned about Norwegian culture, and eventually enrolled in a study-abroad program that placed me in Ringsaker, Norway.

In February 1903, in Atlanta, Georgia, the brilliant African-American scholar W. E.

In Official Reports, battles are most often described in statistics—this many casualties, this many miles of territory covered, this village won or lost. Less often covered are the personal experiences and spiritual struggles of soldiers and their families as a conflict rages.

Often, the response to disaster is to look back and see how things should have worked. There's an attempt to analyze what went wrong and why.

In an Apocalyptic moment, as it is generally conceived, the future seems to be closed, inevitable and inescapable. Since the future can't be averted, apocalyptic can only call people to personal repentance, so that after the catastrophe they might survive to enjoy heaven or a transfigured earth.

There's a Bible Story that fortifies me whenever I feel as if my individuality or inspiration is being threatened. Revelation 12 portrays a woman who is about to give birth, when a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns arrives to eat up her child.

Current events are creating lots of questions. Are we, for instance, moving into the final battle between good and evil, as prophesied in Scripture? Are recent events such as September 11, the war in Afghanistan, and continuing unrest in the Middle East the beginning of the end of the world? How should we look at the ancient prophecies? Were the prophets of yesteryear able to foresee our future? Are things set up to pan out a particular way and at a certain time, regardless of what we may or may not do? Can our choices make a difference? I don't pretend to be a scholar on prophecies—Biblical or otherwise.

Forty percent of Americans believe the world will end in the final conflict known as Armageddon. The name comes from an ancient Hebrew stronghold called Magiddo, a place where Israeli kings once stabled war chariots, and battles were fought between tribes and nations.

Some Years Ago, after settling into the back seat of a New York City cab, I asked the driver, "How are you doing?" He replied, "Wiser and weaker. " His comment left me asking myself, Is it true that with increasing years we may gain wisdom but lose the strength to make that wisdom productive? From this standpoint, life would seem an exercise in futility.