In short, we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus’ atoning work on the cross. As Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” When Christ said on the cross, “It is finished,” he truly conquered death and overcame sin for all who believe. His resurrection from the grave proves it. Many Christians do not struggle with this concept as a doorway into heaven and the church, but we frequently misunderstand that this is the path to holiness as well as salvation. We believe that Jesus is Lord for the purpose of saving us from damning sin, but not for the purpose of making us righteous today. For righteousness, we believe we must “work out our salvation” on our own (Philippians 2:12). “The spiritual reality is that it is God who is in us doing the work,” Jared explains. “The gospel is not just power for regeneration; it is power for sanctification and for glorification [as if these ideas can be separated-pw]. It is eternal power; it is power enough for life that is eternal.” Continue reading Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson
Category Archives: Non-fiction
The Gospel
“What’s the thing that’s supposed to captivate Christians, above all else?” Aaron Armstrong asks at the start of his review of Jared Wilson’s new book, Gospel Wakefulness
Multiple Falsehood Disorder
Back when I was in college, there was a TV miniseries (I never actually saw it myself) called “Sybil,” starring Sally Field. It told the story of a woman who suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, induced by horrendous childhood abuse. It was based on a “fact-based” book, with names and locations disguised.
Still, the word got around as to what the (supposed) facts were. The real Sybil was a woman named Shirley Mason, and she’d grown up in the little town of Dodge Center, Minnesota. Dodge Center is a neighboring town to my own home town, Kenyon. I remember riding through Dodge Center around that time, thinking, “It all happened here.”
Only it didn’t. Continue reading Multiple Falsehood Disorder
Endless War, by Ralph Peters
[Personal update: I stayed home from work again today. Still no voice. Maybe I’ll make it in tomorrow. I really don’t want to pass this nightmare on to the students, though.]
The conviction prevails, in privileged circles that, if we study history without reshaping it to our contemporary prejudices, history will corrupt us. May I suggest that the opposite is true?
…Those who deny history die of myth.
In that quotation from his Introduction, Ralph Peters sums up much of the lessons he propounds in his 2010 collection of essays and columns, Endless War
Our great mistake, as I read him, is our insistence on “understanding” our opponents. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but the way our academics and academically-trained soldiers do it is so informed by postmodern secularism that they end up violating both fact and logic. Better than academic anthropology and political theory, these people should read original historical and religious texts, and myth. Our enemies are fighting for a dream, not an ideology.
Peters (who is also the author, under the name Owen Parry, of the Abel Jones novels which I’ve often praised in this space) expresses some iconoclastic opinions on our current struggle. Contrary to what you’ve read, he says, Iraq was the “good war,” and Afghanistan (following the original incursion, which should have been more massive) is a waste of time. Afghanistan, he says, has no strategic importance, is impossible to govern, and was only the base for the 9/11 terrorists because they’d been kicked out of every other safe haven. In Iraq, he maintains, the terrorists chose to make their real stand, and Saddam Hussein was genuine military threat. Control of Iraq also gives us considerable strategic advantages.
Having read Endless War, I feel a little better informed than I was, though the whole question remains Endlessly Complex.
The only major problem I had with the book was one essay (can’t find it now) in which he said he was as afraid of Christian fundamentalists as of Muslim fundamentalists. That’s a remarkably “conventional wisdom” kind of observation for a thinker of Peters’ originality. He doesn’t repeat it, so perhaps he thought better of it later.
Full disclosure: I got this book free for my Kindle through a special offer.
Endless War is an extremely readable, highly original, and penetrating analysis of the struggle between East and West. Recommended.
Excerpt from 'Injustice' Exposé
J. Christian Adams, formerly of the Department of Justice, has a book on his experience there, arguing that the current administration has refused to enforce laws they do not agree with. Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department
The Lost Carthage
The art and history of Carthage isn’t as well known as we would like, because an ancient mob boss put the hit on them. Ed Voves reviews Richard Miles’ book Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
“Carthage, however, was not merely conquered by Rome. As the title of Miles’ book asserts, Carthage was destroyed. In three brutal wars, Carthage’s military power was annihilated by the legions of the Roman Republic. The city was ransacked and burned, down to its foundations. The people of Carthage were massacred or enslaved. The literature of the city was put to the torch. Not a stone was left upon a stone.”
Looks like a great book for ancient history readers.
But What Is a Press Release?
Joel Pollak points out the differences between Random House’s initial press release for The Rogue and the one this week. Back then, the author “will be highly respectful of his subject’s privacy as he investigates her public activities,” like years-old family affairs. This week, “The Rogue delves deeply into Alaska’s political and business affairs and Palin’s political, personal, and family life..” I’m glad Random House isn’t publishing exposés about people who are actually in or running for office, because that would be so dull. As for McGuinniss, he should probably get a real job and read Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
Rot-Gut Rumor Posing as Exposé
Books like this make me worry that it isn’t what you write but who you know that gets your material published. Joe McGinniss’ book, which he hoped would be “the last best chance to put the truth about Sarah [Palin] in front of the American people in a documented, verifiable way” is full of lies, rumors, and ill-wishes. For an overview of the book, read this.
A Cry For Justice, by Shelley Hundley
As you’re aware if you’ve been following my posts for a while, I have a personal interest in the subject of child abuse and recovery. I got Shelley’s Hundley’s A Cry For Justice because it was free for Kindle. I won’t say it wasn’t worth the price. It might even have left some ideas behind in my head that someday could be of use to me. But all in all I was disappointed with it.
Shelley Hundley grew up as a missionary kid in Colombia. If it wasn’t bad enough to be exposed to the daily violence of Medellin, where her family lived, she was also the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a minister, a trusted family friend.
She repressed all memory of the abuse for some years, she tells us, until she was about to go away to college in the U.S. Then everything flooded back, and she angrily rejected God and became a vocal atheist on a Methodist college campus. She suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, and it was only by what seems like a miracle that she was prevented from throwing herself from the roof of her dormitory one night. After that followed a period of institutionalization, culminating in a dramatic encounter with Jesus which began her process of spiritual and psychological healing.
There are some good insights here. I was particularly impressed when she pointed out that Peter, James, and John, the “inner circle” of Jesus’ disciples, are distinguished by being the ones about whom we know the most embarrassing stories. Apparently Jesus appreciated followers who weren’t afraid to jump in with both feet and make fools of themselves. That’s a tremendous truth, but much as I appreciate it, it doesn’t help someone like me much.
Hundley’s message of healing centers on seeing Christ as both Bridgroom and Judge, as Lover and Avenger. This, I think, is entirely sound and useful.
The bulk of the book, though, is not actually about dealing with the scars of abuse, but with what Hundley (who works with the International House of Prayer in Kansas City) considers her prophetic calling to turn America back to Christ. She lost a great deal of my interest in that part of the story, as I’m very leery of people who claim to have prophetic words for the church. I can believe that God may give someone a word for an individual or a congregation, from time to time, but claiming to have a prophetic message on a par with Scripture is something my church body does not believe in, and I (based on some experiences in my youth) agree wholeheartedly.
So while A Cry For Justice has some value, I can’t really recommend it.
Your Average Joe, Unplugged, by Joseph D. Schneller
Believe it or not, God does not want you to win them all. At times, you will swing and miss, you will submit and be rejected, you will try and you won’t succeed. You may miss your mark on a single attempt or for an entire season. And no, it won’t be due to some specific sin.
Today we will discuss the wonderful calamity of failure.
Occasionally a book from which you expected little is a wonderful surprise. Full disclosure: Your Average Joe, Unplugged is published by my own current publisher, and I got a review copy for free. But I’ve passed over other books by that publisher. This book impressed me very much, and was a blessing to me.
Joseph Schneller lost his business, a restaurant franchise, in 2008, about the same time the economy took a nosedive. As he struggled with the challenge of job-hunting, paying the bills, and being a husband and father to his family, he wrote a blog chronicling his spiritual battles. Those blog posts became the book, Your Average Joe, Unplugged.
It’s a one-month devotional, but more than a devotional. Schneller walks us through his own experience, as he applies the Bible and its promises to the day-to-day challenges and fears of an unemployed “average Joe.” There is much insight here, and courage I can only admire. Also humor, very well done.
I can hardly think of a more timely book. Your Average Joe, Unplugged is highly recommended, especially for those seeking jobs, underemployed, or worried about their jobs.
And who isn’t right now?