Killing Death

By Andrew P Cannon

The biblical story is a more wonderful and uplifting journey than we often realize. Far from the stories of condemnation and destruction, the biblical story is the uplifting, encouraging, and transparent testimony about God--who loved the world such that He intervened to kill death on people's behalf.

The story is graciously sprinkled with romance, politics, philosophy, and strives to win people over not merely to a final destination, but a world characterized by justice, peace, mercy, and love.

These are the things the whole world desires. While we fail by our means, God has established the Kingdom of Heaven. He has coronated His king, whose name is Eternal Father and Prince of Peace. Upon His shoulders the government rests. There will be no end the the increase of His government or of peace.

Despite our wickedness and tendency toward injustice and violence, God has promised salvation for the whole world. He has promised never to destroy the world or curse the ground again. This story is good news. This gospel is proclaimed. God is inviting the nations in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304492265

Book preview

cover-image, Killing Death

Killing Death

Andrew P Cannon

Killing Death

Andrew P Cannon

ISBN- 978-1-304-49226-5

Ebook 978-1-304-49226-5.png

© 2024 by Andrew Paul Cannon. All rights reserved.

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All Scripture quotations are from the NASB95 unless otherwise noted.

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Killing Death

Contents

The Wonder of the Bible

Marching on Mordor

The Creation and Fall

Taking the High Ground

Initial Fortifications

Blessing the Wicked

Establishing a Nation

Plagues of Exodus

Blessing the Ground

Establishing a Throne

Infiltrating the Keep

Infiltrating the Keep pt. 2

The Kingdom at Hand

The Kingdom in Hand

Squelching the Resistance

Fire From Heaven

Rediscovering the Biblical Story

The Wonder of the Bible

The Bible is a wonderful book filled with romance, war, and salvation. Too often, especially in the reformed community, we get caught up in the minutia of words and letters. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good word study, but I fear we often do too much in our exposition. The Bible, after all, reads plainly. I fear we too often speak merely to affect the mind and not the heart. The exposition of Scripture is necessary. Our minutia is often not what is needed in the moment. It is what we like. If I am going to be honest with you, I have spent a good deal of time getting lost in exegesis without really enjoying the hope we find in the story we have been given. The story is one of hope and a bright future. It’s good news.

I remember growing up hearing people preach the Bible as if it were bad news. Not many people are getting into heaven. The world is going to Hell in a hand-basket. God doesn’t want you to enjoy your life. The current president is God’s judgment on our nation. Don’t get the mark of the beast. God is going to destroy this world in the future, and we are barely going to make it because He will remove those who truly believe in Christ from the earth before burning it. Don’t you want to be a Christian now? Don’t you want to avoid all the doom and gloom?

What a grim way to try to use the Bible. What a pessimistic gospel presentation. What terrible news. The worst part, I think this news actually contradicts the actual biblical narrative. I remember doing a study on John’s Revelation with my congregation when I pastored in Arizona. Before beginning the study, I hadn’t really decided on a millennial viewpoint. I was raised in a premillennial, dispensational church. Though I would classify myself in any way as a premillennial or dispensational, I am glad to fellowship and call those who do classify themselves as such my brothers and sisters in Christ. Disagreements on the grounds of future possibilities or even our organization of the Biblical text are not sufficient reasons for division. There is only one Christ. He has only one body. If you don’t believe me, you probably need to go read 1 Corinthians before starting this book.

As I worked through Revelation, which would have taken me more than two years to get through with my congregation at the time, I became convinced that John’s letter was good news meant to encourage believers living through a great tribulation in the First Century, not a prediction of the far-future. Such becomes evident when we look at the Old Testament, the teaching of Jesus concerning end-times, and read the history of the First Century Roman Empire. Perhaps I’ll publish my notes on Revelation soon. Understand, I had premillennial dispensationalists in my congregation. I had premillennial covenantalists in my congregation. I was, at the time, an amillennial covenantalist. I also had postmillennial covenantalists in my congregation. I can’t explain to you how difficult it was to walk through Revelation with such a diverse crowd, not to mention, the study was changing my out outlook of the whole Bible. There is a reason I could not finish the study at this particular church. The study became more about people trying to persuade others to join their theological camp than it did resting in the promises and encouragement of Scripture. That’s unhealthy.

The Bible is wonderful.

Before this, even with all my schooling (4 post secondary degrees, 3 of them in Bible), I never realized just how wonderful the Biblical story was. It’s a wonderful story all on its own, and we have reduced it to certain proof texts we think prove our own theological viewpoints for the purpose of persuading others—not of Christ but, instead, of a systematic theological category. What a cheap substitute. There is much we can learn from the Bible. Speculation, inference, and inductive reasoning can be quite healthy if we don’t take them too far.

We collect ourselves into denominations of extreme like-mindedness causing fractures in the body because we are afraid when people disagree with us. We point to our pet-verses in the Bible to persuade people that Calvinism is good or evil, that God will destroy the world or not, that wine is bad or not, the correct use of spiritual gifts, the proper mode of baptism, the substance of the eucharist, the timing or existence of a tribulation and rapture, the timing of Christ’s millennial reign, and, because the Bible has become for us a proof text for our own theological beliefs we forget that it is wonderful.

Thinking about all these ideas can be healthy. A read through the New Testament shows us that our theology ought to produce humility and unity in our ranks, not pride and division. It ought to bring us closer to Jesus, not sever us from the body. I don’t think it is wrong for anyone to be classified as a Calvinist, postmil, or covenantalist or whatever. It is detrimental, though, when it is our theology rather than Christ that defines our religion. So, I have a purpose beyond just arguing in favor of a theological viewpoint for building this Biblical Theological foundation. I want to show you the biblical story such that you fall in love with it again. I want you to remember what it was like for you when the Bible was not a tool for making arguments or condemning people—when it was good news—because I fear that if we continue down the road we are on, the modern-day church will be forsaken. There is a reason young people a leaving churches and either  (1) not participating with any local church,  (2) defaulting to a more traditional and dogmatic religious experience like Orthodoxy or Catholicism, or (3) running to a hyper-contemporary church with shallow teaching. It’s not because we don’t have the right music. It’s not because they can see grey hairs. It’s not because an organization lacks certain programs. They may say those things, but those are symptoms and not causes. They flee because the Bible has lost its sense of wonder. The Bible has lost its sense of wonder because we use it for things we ought