We are sad to announce the passing of our father, James Willis, Sr., who died at home in South Carolina, on Friday afternoon, June 7th. We know that as a minister, teacher, and author, he meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people, all over the world. Robert Kalil, host of Typical Skeptic, once said that Jim "mastered the esoteric and spiritual principles and lived the life." He has been called an inspiration by many trying to find their own path to a greater and broader grasp and perception of their own sense of spirituality.
A theologian, historian, and musician, Jim Willis earned his Bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music, and his Master’s degree from Andover Newton Theological School. He has been an ordained minister for over 40 years. While serving as an adjunct college professor in the fields of comparative religion and cross-cultural studies, he was the host of his own drive-time radio show and part-time musician. His concern for spiritual growth in modern-day society prompted a series of lectures on historical studies and contemporary spirituality. Upon retirement, he was determined to confront the essential, mystical Reality that has inspired humankind since the very beginning of time. A background in theology and education led to his writing more than twenty books on religion, the apocalypse, cross-cultural spirituality, and arcane or buried cultures, specializing in research bridging lost civilizations, suppressed history, and the study of earth energy, dowsing, and out-of-body experiences.
This book was mostly useless. Obviously many of the prophecies are Christian prophecies, and the authors clearly have no idea what a Christian believes or the church as a whole believes. Like many other books and people, the book takes quotes from the Bible out of context. While everybody does this, the authors do so irresponsibly and use these short quotes to justify their claims on what Christians believe. They use quotes from anti-religious people to justify their claims on what the bible says and what Christians believe. I guess it wasn't convenient enough to use a quote from the church or a Christian leader to say what they believe. It would be like letting a democrat tell you what a republican stands for and taking it for the gospel truth. Many claims were just plain stupid. For example, the gulf war was a religious war. By their logic it was also a race war and class warfare. The biggest problem I had was that they continuously made claims as to what mainstream Christianity believes. I am part of mainstream Christianity, and all of my views were described as part of the radical extreme wing of Christianity. The authors commonly would make a claim that only the most extreme Christians are opposed to something, when I do not know a single Christian who is for it and know for a fact mainstream Christianity is against it. Usually when they say that only the extreme is against it, it really means that only the extreme is for it. Waste of time.
This is a great resource of brief explanations regarding the diverse cultural, religious, and historical views of the end of the world from A (Abomination of Desolation) to Z (Zoroastrianism).