Harbinger: One that indicates or foreshadows that is to come; a forerunner.

    Can a family story be a modern-day harbinger of things to come? We live in a culture that looks for signs of things to come. Sometimes, thosesigns have been with us all along, illuminating paths that continue to betraveled. America has experimented with many religious and secularmovements in this past century. I want to recount a family story whichtells of paths that have been traveled, paths that await us all.

   It is a story with which I am very familiar, along with its consequences.Every family story speaks of consequences, but not all bearthe same spiritual impairment as my family story. My story is about twomen; one born just before the turn of the 20th century and the other,his son, born during the Roaring Twenties. Clifton was my grandfather.Wade was my father.

   They were born a generation apart, but it could have seemed likecenturies with the rapid change taking place in America at the time.One was born into a Christian home in conservative 19th century America.The other was born during the rise of a new secular age. Clifton, mygrandfather, diligently searched the Scriptures for answers. Wade, myfather, diligently searched humanity for answers.

    My father initially took to his Christian upbringing but left it whenhe came of age. This happened during World War 2, the years whichovershadowed his rise from youth to manhood. My father rejected
Grandpa Clifton's faith. Dad thought he rejected faith altogether, but heactually embraced a new faith: one which gained millions of adherentsin the space of a few decades.

    Why did my father reject the faith of my grandfather? I believe itwas largely because he could not reconcile the Genesis story of creationhe was taught as a child with what he learned from science. It's a tragic,yet prevalent story. I have a family story that tells the story of a civilization. My dad rejected God and he told me, after I embraced Christianityduring my own coming of age, that he had no use for religion. I foundhis old copy of Darwin's Origin of Species one day while I was goingthrough the attic of our abandoned farmhouse. I showed it to him, buthe had already completed his use of it many years earlier. Now it wasjust another dusty relic he left behind, a memory of the point in lifewhere he parted ways with his father's beliefs.

    This is ironic because my grandfather was just as diligent in searching as my father was, perhaps even more so. Grandpa Clifton was extremely curious and chose to tackle the book of Revelation, with all its challenges, as his life's burning devotion. He eventually unlocked its mysteries as few men did in that century. He recognized that Revelation is tied to many Old Testament prophecies that were being fulfilled during the time of the New Testament. It became a passion that solved many problems troubling Christians even to this day. Grandpa Clifton left a lasting legacy by engraving into his tombstone a pictorial overview of his beliefs. I marvel at his foresight. He continues to teach his beliefs from the grave.

    My grandfather chose to solve the riddle and he succeeded. My fatherchose to succumb to the Genesis challenge and moved on with lifein his world where he believed God does not exist. Dad was a lot likeDarwin in that he could not get past the religious dogma about what theBible teaches of origins. The dogma, rather than the reality, molded hisview and became an excuse for his unbelief.

   The greatest irony of all is my Grandpa Clifton's studies in Revelationprovided the keys to Genesis and quite possibly his own son's redemption. I believe Grandpa Clifton's views of Bible prophecy unlocked theproblems with which his son struggled, some of the very same problemsin Genesis that led my father to reject the Bible and Christianity alongwith it. But Grandpa Clifton never got that far since he concentratedprimarily on the book of Revelation. It is now too late for my father. Henever lived to see how his father's keys unlocked the book of Genesis.

    The inability of Christians to grasp the meaning and message ofboth Genesis and Revelation create a great divide in America. Christiansstruggle with both the beginning and culmination of the Scriptures- the Alpha and the Omega as they might be called. Both Genesisand Revelation bring a lot of baggage withthem to the Americanreligious scene.

   We have great division on end-times views stemming from misadventuresinto Revelation. Our confused teaching has scarred our culture and created a religious society that has wasted immense energy
preparing for the end of the world. The predictions have come and gonethese past decades.

    Genesis has been a more dangerous venture for some. Wrongly understood,it has the potential to undermine one's faith in the God of creation.My father is just one of many who left the path of life because hecould not reconcile its perceived problems with what he learned aboutthis world.

    I have been intrigued with Genesis for many years. My interestis due largely to my painful family story. But unlike my father, I havesearched for answers and refused to give up.

    You hold in your hands a book that offers a full picture of both endsof the story the Bible tells. You hold in your hands a book that bringstogether the story of origins with the story of redemption and providesthe most complete and comprehensive understanding that I have everseen in my decades of study. If my Grandpa Clifton had only understoodthat the keys he found in Revelation unlocked the confusion overGenesis, I might not be describing my dad's past in this manner today.How many more stories out there today are like my family story? Howmany tomorrow?

     If you want to understand the Bible from beginning to end, thisbook is for you. If you are at all concerned for how Christians in WesternCivilization handle God's Word in our day, from Genesis to Revelation,keep reading. The answers are coming.

    -- Norman Voss, 2007

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