Back-Porch Theology

By Al Shifflett

I was a hybrid United Methodist preacher among the Baptist Knights of the Long Table--thats what I called them, as they met every morning at Jaspers Porch Restaurant in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Theological questions were discussed that wouldve made John Wesley or John Calvin proud. Although Baptist, they welcomed me like the father of the returning prodigal son. Those breakfast meetings were more enthusiastic and beneficial than any seminary classroom I ever remembered. The discussions were living proof that God is with us even though sometimes we wander about in the fields like Joseph hunting for his brothers. We covered the whole spectrum of Systematic Theology over multiple cups of hot coffee, ranging from the creation and fall, the mark of Cain, the Nephilim giants, the Great Deluge, and the final passion week of Jesus Christ, to name a few. Back-Porch Theology reveals that theology was never meant to be shut up in a seminary classroom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490857862

Al Shifflett

Al Shifflett is a native of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He is a pastor, holds a Doctor of Ministry degree, and has three published books and two children--a daughter in Bluffton, South Carolina, and a son in D.C. He lives in Ridgeland, South Carolina, with a ninety-pound golden chow named Buddy.

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Copyright © 2014 Al Shifflett.

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All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless so designated. The last two chapters of this book I’ve drawn heavily from my previous book, The Beast of the East, published in 1992.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5784-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5785-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5786-2 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/31/2014

Contents

Preface

Section 1:   Beginnings

Chapter 1:   The Genesis Creation

Chapter 2:   The Origin of Sin

Chapter 3:   The Garden Paradise

Chapter 4:   The Mark of Cain

Chapter 5:   Longevity

Chapter 6:   Giants on the Earth—Part 1

Chapter 7:   Giants—Part 2

Chapter 8:   The Great Deluge

Chapter 9:   The Tower of Babel

Chapter 10: Abraham

Chapter 11: Angels, Angels, Angels

Section 2:   Redemption

Chapter 12: The Passion Week of Jesus the Christ

Chapter 13: The Seven Feasts of Israel

Chapter 14: The Great White Throne Judgment

Chapter 15: The Nation of Israel

Chapter 16: The White Horse Rider

Chapter 17: Genesis 2

Epilogue

Preface

Back Porch Theology came about due to my breakfast meetings with about eight guys, all Baptist, who wanted to do more than eat breakfast and drink coffee. I called them the Baptist Knights of the Long Table, and we met in a restaurant called Jasper’s Porch, right off exit 21 on I-95 in Ridgeland, South Carolina. They had theological questions and once they found out that I was a preacher, they picked my brain like hungry men at a buffet.

These are good men, along with one woman who always came with her husband and held her own among the men. On occasion, she expressed astonishment at the questions. Once she exclaimed to one of the questioners, My Lord, what rock have you been hiding under?

We covered everything from creation to the second coming, or from Genesis to Revelation. In this book, I’ve attempted to cover some of the thoughts that arose from those meetings.

Those breakfast meetings were lively, never boring, and oftentimes a spin-off from the Sunday sermons or discussions at church or some relevant problem of life. I would hope that more of God’s children would be so interested in the plans of God and his daily workings. Preachers ought to feel glad that something said on Sunday morning comes home to roost on Monday. So not all is lost in the hours of sermon preparations and exhortations on Sundays—many of the comfortable are afflicted while others afflicted are comforted!

I was the hybrid among those Baptist Knights of the Long Table coming from an Anabaptist background and pastoring two United Methodist churches. As I approached the table each morning, I was almost always asked, What are you preaching on Sunday? My usual response was Sin. I’m preaching on sin!

Invariably, they’d respond, You’ve come to the right table!

So this book has come about after weeks and months of discussions of our theological wanderings. Sometimes, we might have been like the young dreamer Joseph wandering in the field while looking for his brothers. Regardless, I can tell you that those morning discussions were as lively, profound, and thorough as any I experienced in seminary classrooms. Fact is the light they brought to those breakfast meetings would enlighten any dull seminary theology class.

And that brings me to my final introductory point: theology. The study of God was never meant to be shut up in seminary classrooms but to be lived in the marketplace. It’s been my pleasure and joy to see it expounded not on a classroom blackboard but around a table in a restaurant over a hot cup of coffee. I can say with certainty that the phrase Emmanuel, or God with us, became reality in the daily breakfast meetings at the Jasper’s Porch restaurant.

I

dedicate this book to those Baptist Knights of the Long Table who faithfully gather at Jasper’s Porch. They are, in alphabetical order, John Benton, Tripp Daley, Paul Gordon, Benji Hankla, Mack Pope, R. B. Preacher, and Claude and Eunice Spillards.

Section 1

Beginnings

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

—John 1:1–4 (NKJV)

Chapter 1

The Genesis Creation

Genesis 1:1–31

It was over twenty years ago—Christmas Eve. Three men—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—left earth for a voyage around the moon and back. A few months later, man would set foot on the surface of the moon.

This is Apollo 8 coming to you from the moon, reported Frank Borman. Actually, they were circling the moon at the time. Something occurred on that flight, however, that will make it memorable. It upset the ACLU and atheists. Those three astronauts had sneaked a Bible onboard and took turns reading from the book of Genesis.

On Christmas Eve, as they encircled the moon, their cameras closed in and gave us the closest look ever; it really wasn’t made out of cheese as some had speculated.

Look, Frank, teased James Lovell. There goes the cow that jumped over the moon! Actually, he didn’t say that, as it would’ve upset cows everywhere.

Instead, those three astronauts read the first ten words of Genesis. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Those were ten of the twenty-two most important words ever written. What are the other twelve? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

In his book Close to His Majesty, David Needham talks about living not in the San Joaquin Valley where I once lived but in Southern California where the massive orange groves are located. Needham recalls that every year on his parents’ ranch of sixty acres of citrus trees he sprayed pesticide. They used a massive spray-rig pulled by a team of black Missouri mules. Apparently, they had made this rig themselves and he sat high above the mules, even above the citrus trees. He could see all the way to the ocean. And those black Missouri Mules were strapped to the massive rig, waiting for his command. Needham says that while sitting high up on that rig and looking at those mules, he felt like a god. He would snap the reins and yell, Geehaw! in his gravelly voice, and those mules would dig in and pull that rig down between the rows of trees as he sprayed the pesticide. He said it gave him a sense of power, and he imagined God with a great shout of Geehaw! ramming the world into being.

But then as he read the Genesis account, he came to realize that all God had to do was to speak—not shout—and the world came into being.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. —John 1:1–4 (NKJV)

The Days of Creation

The apostle John had written centuries ago just what Needham came to realize—that all God had to do was speak, and it was so. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, with just a word. God is omnipotent. He didn’t have to break a sweat.

Now as one reads this first chapter, which is the foundation chapter of the Bible, you discover that all God had to do was speak.

Day 1—Let there be light. God spoke, and we had the creation of our sun.

Day 2—Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Creation of atmosphere or sky with clouds filled with water, etc.

Day 3—Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear and it was so. The continents came forth.

Day 4—"Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from