Here's the headline; if you've been allured, led astray, by the recent vogue for heaven tourism books, this is the necessary antidote. And i'm sorry.
Let's deal with those two statements backwards. I'm sorry because if you've read such books as 'Heaven is for real,' or 'To Heaven and Back' two cite to popular books, then, at some level you've been let down by the church. No one who is even familiar with the Bible should need books like these to help their faith, no one who is even familiar with the Bible would accept these books as compatible with Christianity. The fact that these books sell so well points to a systemic failure in the church. And it stinks. And i'm sorry.
This book, The Glory of Heaven, is the antidote. This book will fill you with longing for Heaven, actual heaven, the Heaven we find in the Bible, not in the, at best, dreams, or, at worst, demon inspired accounts of the near dead.
The Glory of Heaven was originally published in 1996, and the recent republished work is much the same, save for a new introduction, a new chapter at the beginning, and appendices at the end which deal, idea by idea, with three of the best selling Heaven tourism books. This lack of editing is an undoubted strength of the book. Why? Because MacArthur, with his typical faithful and probing exegesis focuses this book on what Heaven is like, and that never changes. The best way to deal with error is not neccesarily to refute it, but to tell the truth. Don't just sit there and tell me that Big Macs are bad for me, feed me steak. The reasons why heaven tourism books simply can not paint a real picture of Heaven are as long as your arm, but much better to focus on truth than error. The appendices are helpful for dealing with the errors in those books, but i'm thankful, for the sake of my heart, that the majority of the book retells the Biblical visions of heaven.
MacArthur writes chapters on what Heaven will be like, what we'll be like when we're there, the new Jerusalem, and angels. Reading it made me hungry for Heaven, hungry for Jesus, and hungry for the Word. It made sin seem foolish and Jesus seem glorious. It reminded me that Heaven is glorious in the most terrifying sense of the world, and that no one who has really been to Heaven and back could come back speaking of anything other than Jesus' glory. That, after all, is the theme of Revelation.
It's a fairly short book, only 215 pages including the appendices, but, if you want a beautiful, Biblical portrait of Heaven, there's nothing i've read like it. If you're not interested in Heaven tourism books, you should read this anyway, for the sake of your faith, for the sake of your heart. And if you've been drawn away from the Bible by what those books have to say, run, don't walk to imbibe the antidote, which makes Jesus look big and us look small. Truly the theme of Heaven itself.
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Monday, 15 July 2013
Monday, 10 June 2013
On Biography
Hebrews 11 is the divine mandate for Christians to reading biography. We should look to the heroes of the past and learn from them, and to do this, we are blessed with an abundance of good books we can read to learn from people who have lived an died, and now, because of their faith, live again.
Reading biography does have this impact on me, as i saw again reading a biography of John Macarthur by Iain Murray, and of CS Lewis by Alister McGrath. Two very different men, who lived very different lives in very different contexts, but loving and serving the same God.
These two men inspired me in different ways, Macarthur by illustrating that God will take care of the width of a ministry as long as you take care of the depth. Macarthur never would have guessed when he started as Pastor of Grace Church that decades later he'd have travelled the globe, preached through the new Testament, founded a college among much else. But his one desire, his one resolution was to preach the Gospel, and that's it. And that's what he did. In an area, and through a time when the Gospel waxed and waned in it's fashion, his devotion to it never waned. He stood in front of his people week after week and preached the Gospel. God took care, and takes care of the rest. The pressure to use quick growth gimmicks is something that will never go away, but Macarthur is a great example of how God's work does God's work.
If Macarthur's story is fairly straight forward, Lewis's is anything but. What are we to make of this enigma? The great strength of this book is that the author never knew the subject. CS Lewis is 'Lewis' all the way through, never 'Jack.' McGrath is also great at interacting with primary sources, leading him to re-date Lewis's conversion from theism to Christianity from early 1929 to mid 1930. Despite the unorthodox choices that Lewis made there is no doubt there he was a Christian. But Lewis's relationship with Mrs Moore, his clandestine marriage to Joy Davidman, and his sympathies with Catholicism do raise some flags. Lewis is not someone we should read for doctrinal clarity. His strength is in anything but, his strength is in his use of imagination and emotion to provide depth and clarity to truth. For that reason we should read Lewis, and his use of the mind in this area inspires me as much as Macarthur does in his preaching.
The great thing about biography is that it makes us think and it helps us to think. We can't be the major player when we're reading about other people. We are forced to see the world through another set of eyes, and this is necessary to our health as a Christian. It helps us to think about the world, to see the world differently and see our faith, to see our saviour from a different perspective.
Reading biography does have this impact on me, as i saw again reading a biography of John Macarthur by Iain Murray, and of CS Lewis by Alister McGrath. Two very different men, who lived very different lives in very different contexts, but loving and serving the same God.
These two men inspired me in different ways, Macarthur by illustrating that God will take care of the width of a ministry as long as you take care of the depth. Macarthur never would have guessed when he started as Pastor of Grace Church that decades later he'd have travelled the globe, preached through the new Testament, founded a college among much else. But his one desire, his one resolution was to preach the Gospel, and that's it. And that's what he did. In an area, and through a time when the Gospel waxed and waned in it's fashion, his devotion to it never waned. He stood in front of his people week after week and preached the Gospel. God took care, and takes care of the rest. The pressure to use quick growth gimmicks is something that will never go away, but Macarthur is a great example of how God's work does God's work.
If Macarthur's story is fairly straight forward, Lewis's is anything but. What are we to make of this enigma? The great strength of this book is that the author never knew the subject. CS Lewis is 'Lewis' all the way through, never 'Jack.' McGrath is also great at interacting with primary sources, leading him to re-date Lewis's conversion from theism to Christianity from early 1929 to mid 1930. Despite the unorthodox choices that Lewis made there is no doubt there he was a Christian. But Lewis's relationship with Mrs Moore, his clandestine marriage to Joy Davidman, and his sympathies with Catholicism do raise some flags. Lewis is not someone we should read for doctrinal clarity. His strength is in anything but, his strength is in his use of imagination and emotion to provide depth and clarity to truth. For that reason we should read Lewis, and his use of the mind in this area inspires me as much as Macarthur does in his preaching.
The great thing about biography is that it makes us think and it helps us to think. We can't be the major player when we're reading about other people. We are forced to see the world through another set of eyes, and this is necessary to our health as a Christian. It helps us to think about the world, to see the world differently and see our faith, to see our saviour from a different perspective.
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Book Review: Iain Murray on Lloyd-Jones
In September of this year, i found myself in a second hand bookstall in an exhibition hall. Quite the life i lead.
Most of the books were Amish romance fiction and Children who have 'been to Heaven,' imagine my delight then, when, in a final 'just in case' sweep through, i saw volume one of Iain Murray's epic biography of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones being unpacked from a box in front of my eyes. And it was only $5! Which softened the blow of what i had to pay for volume two if nothing else.
Even though these volumes were published in the early 80s, and tell the story of a man who was born in the 19th century, they are wonderfully and powerfully relevant today. Lloyd-Jones was raised in rural Wales, and though he lived and ministered for the majority of his days in London, he remained a Welshman. He trained for the medical profession, and was one of the most promising doctors of his generation, until slowly, but surely, He was called back to Wales to preach the Gospel. He started preaching in Port Talbot, in what would probably today be called a church plant. He grew this small church in a poor town by simply preaching the Gospel, simply telling the truth. This devotion to the plain, deep truth of the Gospel was to be the mark of the rest of his ministry. Through a series of events that can only be put down to divine providence, he was led to Westminster Chapel, the church with which he is instantly associated today. It was here that he was to serve as the Assistant Pastor, then as Senior Pastor until poor health ended his days in the Westminster pulpit, but opened up what the author describes rightly as a 'world pulpit.'
So what did i learn from this book? Why should it be near the top of your 2013 reading list?
Firstly, as i've touched upon, never overlook God's mysterious providence. Had Lloyd-Jones not been worked to the point of exhaustion in his first ministry, he probably never would have ended up at Westminster. Had he not suffered from cancer in the mid seventies, he never would have had the time to prepare his manuscripts for publication, and never would have had to worldwide, posthumous ministry that he has today.
Second, information is a great servant and a terrible master. For the majority of his local church ministry, Lloyd-Jones's position on the major issues of the day was misunderstood. This was down in part to the fact that so few of his thoughts were disseminated. His messages on the state of evangelicalism and ecumenism, on Pentecostalism and revivalism to name some of the issues he faced simply didn't read a big audience. They weren't podcasted, or streamed online. Some of his messages lay in a drawer in his study for twenty years. Via social media and the internet in general we can keep pace with tomorrows controversy. And this is important, but it's not the most important thing. Lloyd-Jones was influential despite those disadvantages, his priority, when it came down to it, was his local church. And ours needs to be. I don't need to keep pace with what's happening in Minneapolis or Seattle, i don't need to hear which foundational doctrine Rob Bell has just denied. I need to know where the people of Trinity are at, and how i can serve them.
Third, this book has made me reflect on the state of British evangelicalism. A greater part of Lloyd-Jones's London ministry was spent thinking through, and dealing with the issues around whether evangelicals could responsibly stay in a denomination that was moving further and further away from the Gospel. Not much changes does it!?Lloyd-Jones was a prophetic voice, calling his generation back to the Bible, and counselling those behind him. Do we have that prophetic voice today? As the Church of England seemingly drifts further and further from the truth, where is the voice that a broad spectrum of evangelicals will listen to? Who is teaching non-conformists what exactly it is they don't conform to? Who, in a hostile world is helping my generation stand firmly on the Bible. I know part of the problem with this question is that few people would have answered 'Martin Lloyd-Jones' to those questions in his day, but i feel they're questions worth asking.
Finally this book has challenged me as i make some plans for 2013. Lloyd-Jones was a great reader. Now, of course, he had the advantage of weeks away from his desk in the summer to use for that purpose, but he has helped me dream a bit bigger when i think about my own reading for next year. Of course, some sort of systematic Bible reading plan will be central, but what then. Lloyd-Jones loved the Puritans, and he has inspired me to take down the copy of Overcoming Sin and Temptation, that has intimated me for so long. He believed in taking time to work through larger books, so, God willing, 2013 will be the year i read the Institutes every day. He hasn't introduced me to either John Owen or John Calvin, but has pushed me back towards them.
Reading this biography was helpful, and inspiring, and ultimately sanctifying. Add them to your 'to read' list for 2013, and you'll not regret it.
Most of the books were Amish romance fiction and Children who have 'been to Heaven,' imagine my delight then, when, in a final 'just in case' sweep through, i saw volume one of Iain Murray's epic biography of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones being unpacked from a box in front of my eyes. And it was only $5! Which softened the blow of what i had to pay for volume two if nothing else.
Even though these volumes were published in the early 80s, and tell the story of a man who was born in the 19th century, they are wonderfully and powerfully relevant today. Lloyd-Jones was raised in rural Wales, and though he lived and ministered for the majority of his days in London, he remained a Welshman. He trained for the medical profession, and was one of the most promising doctors of his generation, until slowly, but surely, He was called back to Wales to preach the Gospel. He started preaching in Port Talbot, in what would probably today be called a church plant. He grew this small church in a poor town by simply preaching the Gospel, simply telling the truth. This devotion to the plain, deep truth of the Gospel was to be the mark of the rest of his ministry. Through a series of events that can only be put down to divine providence, he was led to Westminster Chapel, the church with which he is instantly associated today. It was here that he was to serve as the Assistant Pastor, then as Senior Pastor until poor health ended his days in the Westminster pulpit, but opened up what the author describes rightly as a 'world pulpit.'
So what did i learn from this book? Why should it be near the top of your 2013 reading list?
Firstly, as i've touched upon, never overlook God's mysterious providence. Had Lloyd-Jones not been worked to the point of exhaustion in his first ministry, he probably never would have ended up at Westminster. Had he not suffered from cancer in the mid seventies, he never would have had the time to prepare his manuscripts for publication, and never would have had to worldwide, posthumous ministry that he has today.
Second, information is a great servant and a terrible master. For the majority of his local church ministry, Lloyd-Jones's position on the major issues of the day was misunderstood. This was down in part to the fact that so few of his thoughts were disseminated. His messages on the state of evangelicalism and ecumenism, on Pentecostalism and revivalism to name some of the issues he faced simply didn't read a big audience. They weren't podcasted, or streamed online. Some of his messages lay in a drawer in his study for twenty years. Via social media and the internet in general we can keep pace with tomorrows controversy. And this is important, but it's not the most important thing. Lloyd-Jones was influential despite those disadvantages, his priority, when it came down to it, was his local church. And ours needs to be. I don't need to keep pace with what's happening in Minneapolis or Seattle, i don't need to hear which foundational doctrine Rob Bell has just denied. I need to know where the people of Trinity are at, and how i can serve them.
Third, this book has made me reflect on the state of British evangelicalism. A greater part of Lloyd-Jones's London ministry was spent thinking through, and dealing with the issues around whether evangelicals could responsibly stay in a denomination that was moving further and further away from the Gospel. Not much changes does it!?Lloyd-Jones was a prophetic voice, calling his generation back to the Bible, and counselling those behind him. Do we have that prophetic voice today? As the Church of England seemingly drifts further and further from the truth, where is the voice that a broad spectrum of evangelicals will listen to? Who is teaching non-conformists what exactly it is they don't conform to? Who, in a hostile world is helping my generation stand firmly on the Bible. I know part of the problem with this question is that few people would have answered 'Martin Lloyd-Jones' to those questions in his day, but i feel they're questions worth asking.
Finally this book has challenged me as i make some plans for 2013. Lloyd-Jones was a great reader. Now, of course, he had the advantage of weeks away from his desk in the summer to use for that purpose, but he has helped me dream a bit bigger when i think about my own reading for next year. Of course, some sort of systematic Bible reading plan will be central, but what then. Lloyd-Jones loved the Puritans, and he has inspired me to take down the copy of Overcoming Sin and Temptation, that has intimated me for so long. He believed in taking time to work through larger books, so, God willing, 2013 will be the year i read the Institutes every day. He hasn't introduced me to either John Owen or John Calvin, but has pushed me back towards them.
Reading this biography was helpful, and inspiring, and ultimately sanctifying. Add them to your 'to read' list for 2013, and you'll not regret it.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Book Review: Gospel Deeps
Have you ever walked around your local book store, whether Christian or secular? Have you looked at what the popular books are? Self help books, dieting books, Amish fiction and children who 'went to heaven.' It's a brave man that writes books that fall into none of these categories.
Gospel Deeps is the third book i've read by Jared C. Wilson, following the excellent Your Jesus is too Safe, and the stellar Gospel Wakefulness. In those books Wilson pulled no punches in getting us away from 'Six flags over Jesus' and confronting us with the rugged, terrifying, comforting beauty of our Lord. Gospel Deeps is not a self help book. There are no 'six steps to going deep' in this book. There's no plan to change your life in thirty days, nothing that will fix your teenager by tomorrow evening. It's a breath of fresh air.
In last years Gospel Wakefulness, and in Gospel Deeps, Wilson shares something of his story with us, how he was brought, mercifully to the end of himself one day, lying on the carpet of his spare room. He's a man worth listening to because he knows the depths of Christ-less despair are matched only by the depths of Christ centred joy.
In ten chapters Wilson invites us to revel in the joy the Gospel, to glut ourselves on grace. He reminds us of the Gospel, he delights in the trinity, he calls us to remember the joy of fellowship with Christ and tells us again of the sharp, deathly edge to the atonement for sin. He doesn't hide from suffering, and shows us that God does indeed keep his best wine in the cellar of affliction. He rubs our hearts in the sheer bigness of the Gospel, and soothes our hearts with the immanence of our God.
Not a self help book. A helpful book.
You and I, your church, my church, The Church, we don't to spend our time analyzing and moralising, we need to spend our time remembering and proclaiming. We need to remember that the Gospel is the A-Z, the beginning and the end, we need to remember, and bathe, in the depths of the Gospel.
There is nothing new in this book, and that is the best recommendation i can give you. It reminds us, calls us, and allures us to the sweetness of the Gospel. And that's what we need.
Run, don't walk, to buy this book.
Gospel Deeps is the third book i've read by Jared C. Wilson, following the excellent Your Jesus is too Safe, and the stellar Gospel Wakefulness. In those books Wilson pulled no punches in getting us away from 'Six flags over Jesus' and confronting us with the rugged, terrifying, comforting beauty of our Lord. Gospel Deeps is not a self help book. There are no 'six steps to going deep' in this book. There's no plan to change your life in thirty days, nothing that will fix your teenager by tomorrow evening. It's a breath of fresh air.
In last years Gospel Wakefulness, and in Gospel Deeps, Wilson shares something of his story with us, how he was brought, mercifully to the end of himself one day, lying on the carpet of his spare room. He's a man worth listening to because he knows the depths of Christ-less despair are matched only by the depths of Christ centred joy.
In ten chapters Wilson invites us to revel in the joy the Gospel, to glut ourselves on grace. He reminds us of the Gospel, he delights in the trinity, he calls us to remember the joy of fellowship with Christ and tells us again of the sharp, deathly edge to the atonement for sin. He doesn't hide from suffering, and shows us that God does indeed keep his best wine in the cellar of affliction. He rubs our hearts in the sheer bigness of the Gospel, and soothes our hearts with the immanence of our God.
Not a self help book. A helpful book.
You and I, your church, my church, The Church, we don't to spend our time analyzing and moralising, we need to spend our time remembering and proclaiming. We need to remember that the Gospel is the A-Z, the beginning and the end, we need to remember, and bathe, in the depths of the Gospel.
There is nothing new in this book, and that is the best recommendation i can give you. It reminds us, calls us, and allures us to the sweetness of the Gospel. And that's what we need.
Run, don't walk, to buy this book.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Book Review: Delighting In The Trinity
Delighting in the Trinity, by Michael Reeves is a short, heartwarming book on the Trinity that you have to read.
Hold on, you say, there are so many problems with that opening sentence i don't even know where to start.
A short book on the trinity? How is that? Well it is short. Short and to the point. Weighing at 130 pages it manages to cover everything you need to know for an introduction to this most Christian of beliefs. Michael Reeves with an introduction and conclusion forming the bread for a sandwich with chapters on creation, salvation and Christian living in between. And yes, the doctrine of the trinity has a huge impact on each on of those areas of our faith. So it's a short book, but a weighty one. It loses nothing by being brief. It's short, but well put together. It hold the attention of the reader, as Reeves has a style and a wit all his own.
Ok, so it's short, but heartwarming? Isn't the trinity something made up by 'bored monks on a rainy tuesday.' Some that's interesting if you're keen enough to read and think about it, but not really relevant to life. And not something worth getting excited over. Well it's heartwarming in two different ways. It's heartwarming because in this book we are lovingly confronted with who our God is again and again. We're reminded that God isn't a Master, or a Slaverdriver but a Father. And, crucially, that God has always been a Father. We're reminded that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit who spread their love to us. We're invited to bathe in this loved and let it heat up our Bible reading and inform our prayers.
It's heartwarming in that this love is turned to us. Jesus came to spread this goodness, this love, to make known who His Father is. Jesus came to let us know, and let us in on this love. And we will spend eternity enjoying and exploring this love. Delighting in the Trinity is heartwarming because it reminds us who our God is, and heartwarming because it reminds us that this God is for us.
A book you have to read? Definitely! The doctrine of the trinity is at the centre of what we believe, and at the centre of, well, everything. Why are we saved? Because God is trinity, how can we be sure that God loves us? Because He is trinity, why does everything exist? Because God is trinity.
If Christians are coals then Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the fire. Take a coal from the fire and it cools down quickly. Why do we need to read this book? Because it sets our hearts in the center of God's amazing love, and amazing love for us. And we need that. The Gospel leaks out of us, read this book, be filled, and go out!
Hold on, you say, there are so many problems with that opening sentence i don't even know where to start.
A short book on the trinity? How is that? Well it is short. Short and to the point. Weighing at 130 pages it manages to cover everything you need to know for an introduction to this most Christian of beliefs. Michael Reeves with an introduction and conclusion forming the bread for a sandwich with chapters on creation, salvation and Christian living in between. And yes, the doctrine of the trinity has a huge impact on each on of those areas of our faith. So it's a short book, but a weighty one. It loses nothing by being brief. It's short, but well put together. It hold the attention of the reader, as Reeves has a style and a wit all his own.
Ok, so it's short, but heartwarming? Isn't the trinity something made up by 'bored monks on a rainy tuesday.' Some that's interesting if you're keen enough to read and think about it, but not really relevant to life. And not something worth getting excited over. Well it's heartwarming in two different ways. It's heartwarming because in this book we are lovingly confronted with who our God is again and again. We're reminded that God isn't a Master, or a Slaverdriver but a Father. And, crucially, that God has always been a Father. We're reminded that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit who spread their love to us. We're invited to bathe in this loved and let it heat up our Bible reading and inform our prayers.
It's heartwarming in that this love is turned to us. Jesus came to spread this goodness, this love, to make known who His Father is. Jesus came to let us know, and let us in on this love. And we will spend eternity enjoying and exploring this love. Delighting in the Trinity is heartwarming because it reminds us who our God is, and heartwarming because it reminds us that this God is for us.
A book you have to read? Definitely! The doctrine of the trinity is at the centre of what we believe, and at the centre of, well, everything. Why are we saved? Because God is trinity, how can we be sure that God loves us? Because He is trinity, why does everything exist? Because God is trinity.
If Christians are coals then Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the fire. Take a coal from the fire and it cools down quickly. Why do we need to read this book? Because it sets our hearts in the center of God's amazing love, and amazing love for us. And we need that. The Gospel leaks out of us, read this book, be filled, and go out!
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Book Review: Unplanned by Abby Johnson
I wonder what our great-grandchildren will regard as the great evangelical failing of our day? What will cause them to look at us and shake their heads sadly about our lack of action? Who will be the Wilberforce and Newton in this issue, who stands out from the majority. I guess the very nature of the question makes it hard to answer, but if there a chance that it might be our (relative) inaction on plight of the unborn?
On the plane to Utah (Utah is a long way...a long way from eastern North Carolina) i read Unplanned, by Abby Johnson. To sum it up simply, it's the story of one woman's journey from being the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to being an advocate for Coalition for Life. From pro choice to pro life. It's a fascinating book.
The great strength is that the author knows good people on both sides of the debate. It's gets pro lifers nowhere trying to demonize Planned Parenthood and their employees. It also helpfully turns the spotlight on some unhelpful pro life tactics. Does it help vulnerable women to show them a huge poster sized picture of an aborted baby, for example? Obviously not.
Abby takes us on a journey with her from the slightly naive girl recruited at Texas A&M, to the slow realisation that a company that makes most of it's money from abortion can never be objective about the rights of the unborn and the health of women. Whether this was a development in the nature of Planned Parenthood, or simply scales falling from the eyes of the author is something each reader can decide. The irony of the story is, if Planned Parenthood had simply let Abby Johnson quit her job, we never would have heard of her. But they pursued her, they dragged her into a pointless court case, and made her a national figure. Now her story is a bestseller.
Abby grew up going to church, but never made a connection between what she believed and the way she lived, at least not in this issue. This challenges me as a youth pastor to make sure that the truth i teach our teens makes the journey from head to heart.
There are good people who work for Planned Parenthood, people whose heart is to help troubled women. In the pro-life camp, we should remember that, these people are our best hope of change within that organisation, if we can reach them in a sensible and sensitive way.
Words really matter. Pro choice soounds so much nicer than pro life. But pro life we are, and pro life Christians must be. We must choose our words as carefully as our actions, remembering that financially and with the liberal media, we're the under dog.
God is capable of anything. So pray for your local Planned Parenthood clinic, and pray for your local pro life clinic, that both the rights of the unborn, and the health, both physical and spiritual, of women would be protected.
If i had one complaint about his book, it would be in it's ecumenism. But, it's not a theological text book, and it's strengths far outweigh it's weaknesses. So buy and read this book. And pray that this wouldn't be the issue that future generations look back on us and shake their heads because of.
On the plane to Utah (Utah is a long way...a long way from eastern North Carolina) i read Unplanned, by Abby Johnson. To sum it up simply, it's the story of one woman's journey from being the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to being an advocate for Coalition for Life. From pro choice to pro life. It's a fascinating book.
The great strength is that the author knows good people on both sides of the debate. It's gets pro lifers nowhere trying to demonize Planned Parenthood and their employees. It also helpfully turns the spotlight on some unhelpful pro life tactics. Does it help vulnerable women to show them a huge poster sized picture of an aborted baby, for example? Obviously not.
Abby takes us on a journey with her from the slightly naive girl recruited at Texas A&M, to the slow realisation that a company that makes most of it's money from abortion can never be objective about the rights of the unborn and the health of women. Whether this was a development in the nature of Planned Parenthood, or simply scales falling from the eyes of the author is something each reader can decide. The irony of the story is, if Planned Parenthood had simply let Abby Johnson quit her job, we never would have heard of her. But they pursued her, they dragged her into a pointless court case, and made her a national figure. Now her story is a bestseller.
Abby grew up going to church, but never made a connection between what she believed and the way she lived, at least not in this issue. This challenges me as a youth pastor to make sure that the truth i teach our teens makes the journey from head to heart.
There are good people who work for Planned Parenthood, people whose heart is to help troubled women. In the pro-life camp, we should remember that, these people are our best hope of change within that organisation, if we can reach them in a sensible and sensitive way.
Words really matter. Pro choice soounds so much nicer than pro life. But pro life we are, and pro life Christians must be. We must choose our words as carefully as our actions, remembering that financially and with the liberal media, we're the under dog.
God is capable of anything. So pray for your local Planned Parenthood clinic, and pray for your local pro life clinic, that both the rights of the unborn, and the health, both physical and spiritual, of women would be protected.
If i had one complaint about his book, it would be in it's ecumenism. But, it's not a theological text book, and it's strengths far outweigh it's weaknesses. So buy and read this book. And pray that this wouldn't be the issue that future generations look back on us and shake their heads because of.
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