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posted by Michael on 02/27/08

Our family recently read the short book of 2 John and I began to see how important this book is for every Christian to understand. “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. …He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” I have recently seen how ”new age” teaching is a monster of lust and hatred wearing a mask of love and peace. What would the enemy of our souls like more than to re-define Jesus Christ, deny the fact of sin, and mock at God’s salvation? By doing so he could do what he likes best: unleash the passions of sin to destroy life and property and hinder us from entering into eternal life. Why would we call on the name of Christ if Acts 4:10-12 is a lie? Furthermore, sin cannot be dealt with while I pretend it does not exist. Notice Psalm 45:6-7 “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Think of the joy and the freedom that comes from knowing God and hating sin and overcoming the temptations that Satan sends to destroy our lives. Remember Psalm 97, especially verse 10: “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of His saints…”, and again Hebrews 12: 28-29: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Finally, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

6 Comments » | posted in Book Reports, Tidbits

posted by Daniel on 10/5/07

A few months ago I received a gift from a cousin for participating in his wedding. It was a medium-sized book by C.S. Lewis. Not expecting much, I started it that evening, but little did I know how strongly it would enthrall me from the very first chapter.

With a comprehensive vocabulary and astounding way of describing things, C.S. Lewis outlines his intellectual and spiritual journey through the early years of his life, telling of his espousal of atheism and return to Christianity. In this autobiography of a conversion, I was continually amazed at C.S. Lewis’ literary genius and ability to put into words thoughts and feelings we have all experieneced, and which I’ve been aware of but never attempted to define before!

At one point, when describing a situation from his own life, he makes an interesting observation: “Nothing, I suspect, is more astonishing” (and, may I add, more exciting) “in any man’s life than the discovery that there do exist people very, very like himself.” This fact is, I believe, the reason this book was so thrilling for me to read.

The central motif of his story is the course of “Joy” in his life, which he defines as “the sublime experience of the transcendent” and must be strictly distinguished from both happiness and pleasure. It is that “unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction”, and which, when experienced, becomes of incalculable importance and causes all else to appear insignificant in comparison.

It is at the culmination of the book when he discovers that this “Joy” - that fleeting glimpse of the eternal - is actually a harbinger, a precursor of a greater Something (or rather, Someone), and finds true satisfaction in a fulfilling relationship with That which Joy was pointing towards.

I had previously associated C.S. Lewis exclusively with “The Chronicles of Narnia”, but reading “Surprised by Joy”  has broadened my understanding of him as an author. If his other works are as spiritually and intellectually rich and engrossing as this one, I certainly anticipate reading them!

6 Comments » | posted in Book Reports

posted by Donald on 07/6/07

Washington is one of the few presidents that have become well-known and remained well-known in schoolrooms across the world. So impecable was his character that not even his enemies could find an occaision to speak evil of him. The foundation for this tremendous accomplishment is explored in a book I have just finished reading: George Washington the Christian.

George Washington the Christian was given to me as a birthday present from my family this year. It was published in 1919 and provides a stepping stone as it were between the past and the present with direct quotations from Washington and those who knew him. Included among others are the testimonies of his relatives, those who fought with him during the war and those who found him at prayer. While a man of few and carefully-chosen words, his life spoke volumes.

In the back of the book is a list of some of the many names that Washington used to describe his Heavenly Father, including Providence. What may seem to us an indirect or impersonal title was, to Washington, a very dear term. After seeing the providential hand of God in saving his life, guiding his battle plans and founding his country, Washington was deeply aware that God worked, and loved to work, providentially in the lives of those who trust Him.

When I finished reading this book, I realized how well Washington could exhort the Christians of today with the apostle Paul: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for you sake” (I Thessalonians 1:5). I would recommend it for anyone who wants to know George Washington.

4 Comments » | posted in Book Reports

posted by Mom on 03/10/07

In the year 2002 my son Robert gave Don and I a book for Christmas entitled “Morning by Morning” by Charles Spurgeon. Finally last year, 2006, I decided to read this devotional guide.There was a paragraph for each day of the year with a very short, very uncommon scripture text. I found each paragraph to be a tremendous blessing to me. Through these devotionals the Lord was able to give me “the lift” I needed for each day. I have highlighted the phrases that were of special meaning to me and gone back many times when faced with a need to remember the rich insights.

One of these was the entry for Feb. 20th entitled “God, that comforteth those that are cast down” 2 Cor. 7:16. It read “And who comforteth like Him? Go to some poor, melancholy, distressed child of God; tell him sweet promises, and whisper in his ear choice words of comfort; he is like the deaf adder, he listens not to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely… you will bring forth no psalm of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. Be let God come to His child; let Him lift up his countenance, and the mourner’s eyes glisten with hope…Christian, when thou art dry, go to God, ask Him to shed abroad His joy in thy heart, and then thy joy shall be full. Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find them Job’s comforters after all; but go first and foremost to thy “God, that comforteth those that are cast down,” and you will soon say, “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”

I had first heard of Charles Spurgeon from my grandfather when I was a girl. Unlike myself, my grandfather read quite a bit and I remember him always having a pile of books beside his chair and more piles in his bedroom, much to my grandmother’s chagrin. I am now, out of curiosity, reading a biography of this incredible “preacher.” Maybe later I can tell you what factors in his life contributed to his literary success.

5 Comments » | posted in Book Reports

posted by Daniel on 02/4/07

This book is incredible. To the western mind it is almost hard to believe as true. Yet it is. Surprisingly recent as well, this amazing story of a dedicated Christian in Communist China is virtually packed with miracles.

Brother Yun made the tough decision of dedicating his life to God at a young age in a nation with a government extremely hostile to such beliefs. However, from the very beginning God’s faithfulness was evident through the many miraculous incidents He worked in his life.

Yet the primary message of this autobiography, I believe, is on how to respond correctly to suffering. God brought Brother Yun through many purifying trials and tribulations, ye he was able to rejoice because he saw what God was doing through them. This book is a remarkable demonstration of the power in a life which is full of the fear of the Lord, yet totally free from fear of man or what man can do.

Title: The Heavenly Man

Author: Liu Zhenying (Brother Yun)

Publisher: OMF  Literature, inc.

Date: 2002

7 Comments » | posted in Book Reports