The Next Evangelism by Soong-chan Rah

The Next Evangelism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity
by Soong-chan Rah

180 pages
IVP Books (May 2009)
English
ISBN-10: 0830833609
ISBN-13: 978-0830833603

I found these reviews

Review

"Soong-Chan Rah explores the impact of ethnic and geographic shifts on the present and future state of evangelicalism. He gives us fair warning that parts of his heartfelt book are 'intended to provoke,' and they will. But that doesn't stop his book from being timely, thoughtful and very rewarding." --Philip Jenkins, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University, and author of The Next Christendom

Review

"In this manifesto for change, Soong-Chan Rah calls for the church to break free from limiting and exclusive paradigms and fully embrace the dramatic cultural diversity that is rapidly defining the twenty-first century in the United States. His powerfully persuasive pen engages and challenges the reader in ways that radically transform how church life is to be understood, shaped and lived. Everyone who cares about the Christian church in the United States needs to read The Next Evangelicalism. This book ignites hope for reconciliation in the world through the church."

Key endorsement on the back cover from Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University:

"One of the most important changes now going on in America -- and indeed world -- religion is the profound transformation of evangelicalism, a movement which encompasses hundreds of millions of people. This book is the best and most balanced treatment of the subject now available. It is well researched, written and comprehensive."

The song of the two princes: Praise for my savior the Lord Jesus Christ

Okay, we live in a world that doesn't have lords and ladies anymore. At least not viable ones. And the only kings we see on television are more fodder for celebrity gossip shows or UN reports on atrocities. But in the realm of fiction -- my particular realm-- kings still exist. Although a self-sacrificing king is pretty rare. Not that I'm picking but even if they sacrifice themselves, it's not to the death. And even if they die for someone, they usually do so for good people and not for the sins of evil folks who hate their guts. So let's begin:

A long time ago two princes were born on either side of the world. The northern prince lived in a great palace. He was dressed in silk and linen and had many servants to wait upon him while he dined on rich foods every day,

The prince of the south had no palace but lived among his people. He was born in a pig sty, became a refugee at his birth, and lived among the poor. He didn't eat the fancy foods the northern prince did. And no one bowed down daily to worship him. As was his habit, he dressed in common clothes and attended the births, deaths, and marriages of his friends. War had been waged against both these lands. An evil usurper bent on killing, stealing, and destroying.

The prince of the north lived in such pleasure and happiness that he didn't really realize that war had been waged against him or his people. But one day the northern prince stepped outside his palace. It was the first time he had done so, and he was very surprised at what he saw. He had not known how powerful the conqueror was. The people outside the palace didn’t eat as well as he did. Sometimes they didn’t eat at all. Their tattered clothing did not protect their bodies from snow and heat, their heads and feet were not covered with shoes and hats as his was.

The prince had always been kindhearted, but when he saw the suffering of his people he burst into tears. He had a nervous breakdown and got so upset he couldn't eat. Then he found enlightenment and realized that if he stopped worrying about the sorrows of his people and accepted their suffering...all would be well with his soul.

I swear, whenever I hear some Buddhist friend tell me about Buddha's enlightenment I have to resist rolling my eyes.

Give me a religion which teaches me to hope and not to merely stoicly endure. Praise for my Lord, born in a manger, poor, suffering, acquainted with grief who tells us that we CAN conquer evil.

I remember one day going to a festival/procession of our Lady of Guadaloupe at Graymoor monastery just up the road from me. The priest officiating was a teacher at Maryknoll, someone who had been to Latin America and whose aim was to bring more young men into the priesthood. I went up to him after the service and asked him to pray for a miraculous healing for my son. Instead, he lay his hand on my son's head and prayed for me to be given grace to accept my son's sufferings. What a crock! I said to him, "Sir, I didn't ask you to pray that God give me grace to accept suffering. I asked you to pray for my son's healing. Who am I to pray that I should accept the suffering of someone else? And who are you to ask me to do such a thing?"

He gave me an angry look but a few weeks later he wrote me a letter apologizing. Seems he had been a priest too long, healthy too long, without sickly family members he loved... he didn't know how to enter into the suffering of a child. All he knew was a platitude. I'm glad I brought him back to his Christian senses. Even if I was nasty about it. Praise ye the Lord.

That said, merry christmas. When you give and receive gifts today, remember a king who gave his life and died for you.

Godology

Godology: Because Knowing God Changes Everything
Christian George
Moody Publishers
Paperback
176 pages
January 2009

Here's the blurb

“There’s nothing worse than catatonic Christians standing still in a world of falling people.” Godology is for those who crave to know more about God and why it matters. Think Knowing God meets Celebration of Discipline. For twenty-somethings. In each chapter, George discloses a biblical reality about the nature of God, a spiritual discipline that connects us to Him, and a practical way to express our faith. Using humorous experiences and honest reflections, George grapples with real life issues like purpose, despair, triumph, and tragedy.

In an age when thinking about God can be academic and abstract, George invites you to know God. But be warned, it will change everything.


About the Author
Christian George is an author and speaker who enjoys jazz, soccer, and art. Christian has traveled to more than two dozen countries for ministry and missionary work. He has participated in Baptist World Alliance conventions in South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Canada and England, and served at a Billy Graham crusade in Amsterdam, Holland. Before beginning his Ph.D. in Scotland, he and his wife, Rebecca, are taking a year off from school to speak, write at Starbucks, and search for God in unexpected ways. You can visit him online at www.christiangeorge.org

Jewish, Christian, Messianic Jew

Alysa Stanton Becomes First Female Black Rabbi
First African-American Jewish Rabbi To Be Ordained Was Raised in a Pentecostal Family

Okay, I saw this this morning and was feeling a bit downbeat. It's a bit of a "owning my race" kinda thing. I just get kinda sad when I see African-Americans becoming Mormons or Muslims or Jews. IT's common to all, I suspect because my Jewish friend who is an atheist/agnostic says that although she doesn't believe in God she gets very upset when she sees a Jew converting to Christianity. So, yeah, I'm not alone in this tendency.

I can see why many people would like Judaism. It's tough to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, especially when one sees bad Christian spirituality and the failure of Christians to move strongholds. And if we seem to have yet another religion -- in which we don't see the power of God, and only see words, semantics, behavior, morality-- then there really is no difference. There is also in the human soul a desire to do the works of God and as Christians we believe the error is that they don't realize that doing the works of God is simply allowing God to be the worker, that as Isaiah says "all our righteousness is like a filthy menstrual rag." We definitely need to see the power of the living God in our lives so that we can have Elijah Challenges and show that Jesus is Lord.

The trouble is that with all our church-going and Bible studies Bible-believers we simply do not know their Bibles and they don't know why they believe and they don't know anything about why they are Christians. They think they know. And it's hard to speak to folks who think they know. One doesn't want to call them close-minded or uneducated but often they are. So when someone comes up to teach them something they consider the teacher's knowledge "deep." As Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 13:19 "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh
the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart...." Jesus said that if you don't understand this parable you will not understand any of His parables. Quite simply, folks who leave Christianity did not understand the kingdom. They have never understood that Jesus came to free us from sin, the law, the demonic, and to prepare us to be children of a God who is spirit by making our minds less carnal and less focused on things of earth.

But I have met so many Bible believing Christians who don't understand apologetics that when they come up against a challenge to Christ they fail miserably. There is, it seems, a place in our studies from which we never rise. And, truth to tell, many of us are plain dumb about our religion...for all our studies. Trust me: I have an ex-friend who was very churchy and loved God and ended up joining a rastafarian cult.

St Paul warns those who have returned to legalism that they are under a curse. And I wonder about people returning to a Jewish denomination that is not really Biblical. Conversion to Orthodox Judaism is one thing, conversion to Reform Judaism is another.

Anyway, here is a verse Isaiah 44:5 I have never ever ever heard any minister preach on. It seems to say that in the last days there will be three kinds of people worshiping Jehovah: The People of Jacob, The Lord's People, and People of Jacob who are the Lord's people. At least that's how I understand it. One wonders why one rarely hears sermons on this in the Christian community. Am not saying we should not try to preach the gospel to our Jewish friends but when the days of the Church are over, the world will once again be divided between Jews and Gentiles. (The church is neither gentile nor Jew but called out.)

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
One person will say, "I belong to the LORD." Another will call on the name of Jacob. Another will write on his hand, "The LORD's," and he will adopt the name of Israel.

King James Bible
One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

American King James Version
One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

American Standard Version
One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

Bible in Basic English
One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will give himself the name, Jacob; another will put a mark on his hand, I am the Lord's, and another will take the name of Israel for himself.

Douay-Rheims Bible
One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

Darby Bible Translation
One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall write with his hand: I am Jehovah's, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

English Revised Version
One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

World English Bible
One will say, 'I am Yahweh's;' and another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand 'to Yahweh,' and honor the name of Israel."

Young's Literal Translation
This one saith, For Jehovah I am, And this calleth himself by the name of Jacob, And this one writeth with his hand, 'For Jehovah,' and by the name of Israel surnameth himself.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"This one will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write on his hand, 'Belonging to the LORD,' And will name Israel's name with honor.
I can see why many people really don't know where y,

But unlike Mormonism and Islam, Judaism accepts Yahweh and the Tanakh. So the issue of blacks and their conversion to Judaism -- which seems to be happening a lot lately-- got me thinking about this verse.

The Sacrifice of Praise

The Sacrifice of Praise


So there I was – or rather, here I am—three whole days and nights without sleep and feeling faint and nauseated. I know, I know…it really is all my fault. I went off my regimen and I wasn’t as good about water. And bingo! The thing comes back with a vengeance. And then there’s younger son who’s been battling an autism headache for about five weeks.

So I’m looking up at the ceiling of our bedroom wondering if I should wake the beloved for sex so I can get two minutes sleep. If that. Then I got to thinking. Which is always a bad idea. I think about stuff when I should be sleeping. And the mind just won’t stop. So I think about having two husbands and what that would imply. Cause I’m working on my present novel but also cause honestly, having two husbands would be kinda fun. Then I think about the difference between Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, and the Mormon Heavenly Father. So I start listing. Yahweh co-labors with his people. The Bible is a collaboration with man. God even allows man to use the street language of the Greek empire to write the New Testament and even uses Paul’s petulance. YHVH loves humans and allows all his prophets to be themselves. Heck he even allows himself to be made powerless in certain situations unless human faith is applied to the situation. And of course He says He is love and that He is our Father. Allah doesn’t call himself love. In fact Allah is offended if we try to anthropomorphize him because he is beyond all that petty small human stuff. And of course his book, the Koran, fell perfectly formed with all its errors (In some sections it seems as if Mohammed believes Mary/Miriam Jesus mother was the sister of Moses. And he states that Alexander the Great was a great holy man who lived a long life because he was blessed by Allah. Not to mention places where it contradicts itself.) Then there is Buddha. A rich prince who lives in wealth and peace then has a nervous breakdown when he realizes how crappy life is for everyone else. Then reaches enlightenment and learns to accept that sorrows exist in the world…while he continues his good life. To be fair, though, Buddha doesn’t go around saying he is Creator. Just enlightened. So he really should be compared to the Son of Man (although Jesus is also co-Creator). At least Jesus grew up poor and connects to the poor and develops a theology of conquering evil, sin, sickness, death, demons. As opposed to rich stressed prince who tells us to accept and submit to evil and to aim for inner purity because our next life will be better or we will disappear into nothingness so it doesn’t really matter. Mercifully, Jesus promises us that we will keep our personality, and all the wonderful things we love as humans. Then there is the Mormon Heavenly Father who was once a man on another planet and grew to godhead then had sex with Mary (okay, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and the oldtimey Mormons believed this). But honestly, Heavenly Father is a God who vacillates, changes his mind, and just plain changes.

So then I got to thinking about writing a children’s book about two princes or two boys who both grow up. One having a life like Jesus and the other having a life like Buddha. Maybe I’ll call it Joshua and Bodie. And all the while I’m sleepy and nauseated and just can’t sleep. And in between I’m thinking of having two husbands. And all the time I hear younger son crying in his room as he has cried for 18 years of his life.

Then the alarm goes off and younger son comes to our room but not before he kicks the walls and some more plaster falls off. There are portions to our house where all you see is the wooden slats and the studs because a certain person is in pain and aggressively has to kick something or someone. So husband and I get up and look at each other and there is this wink of joy to each other and we start smiling at each other. Smiling and somewhat on the verge of laughing!!!! Now, isn’t this the grace of God? Sometimes our life is so odd and so weird --and it has been like this for so long—that we just end up laughing. I tell the beloved, I am so glad you are the one who are my husband! Weird life as it is, stressing and sad as it is, it certainly is an interesting experience.

Then I force myself to get out of bed because younger son drags me out of bed and kicking me and beating me up…as if dragging me out of bed and kicking me is gonna cure that headache. I start whining and getting weepy and saying how crappy and nauseated I feel. And husband starts singing. So what do I do? I join in. We start singing. Marantha songs, old-timey campmeeting, Anglican hymns, songs we’ve made up over the years. Sick and crappy though I was I waltzed through the house singing. That’s what the Bible calls the sacrifice of praise. I sang about the blood of Jesus and his victory over death. And I meant it too!

I totally believe in the sacrifice of praise. When I had older son I got the worst case of post-partum depression. Just this overwhelming fear of death and panic. It was awful. But one day I got so tired of it I got up in the middle of the night feeling so fearful and anxious and I sang my little heart out. And the sorrow just left. It’s been a fun morning. I sang and I sang. I know something happened in the spiritual realm because of all that singing. God’s word, the Bible, says something happens when we give the sacrifice of praise. And I believe God. And again I say, if I had to live this weird kind of life, there is no husband who has been a better match for this unplanned journey than the beloved.

Great is the Lord who enables us to fight the fight one day at a time, one hour at a time. I love him sooo much. -C

Answered verse by verse -- two books I really love

The Bible says to study to show ourselves approved. These are two books every church person should have. These are two books every church group should study when they study cults.


Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse
David A Reed
Publisher: Baker Book House
Publication Date: 1997, c1986.

Here's the blurb from Logos.com

Jehovah's Witnesses Answered: Verse By Verse not only includes contested verses but also gives background to why Jehovah's Witnesses believe what they do. Additional information is also given about the Bible translation that Jehovah's Witnesses use. This section provides a greater context and explains how certain verses that seem so harmless can be understood by Jehovah's Witnesses in a completely different way.

Table of Contents
What Jehovah's Witnesses Believe
The Bible That Jehovah's Witnesses Use
Verse-by-Verse Answers for JWs - Old Testament
Verse-by-Verse Answers for JWs - New Testament
A Capsule History of Jehovah's Witnesses
Techniques for Sharing the Gospel with Jehovah's Witnesses
The Author's Testimony
About the Author
This resource's final chapter, entitled "The Author's Testimony", follows David Reed's journey from agnosticism to zealous Jehovah's Witness and finally to Bible-believing Christian. This story will undoubtedly aid the reader during conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses by giving a first-hand account of why he left the Watchtower for Christianity. David A. Reed has authored several other works on Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons including Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject, Jehovah's Witness Literature, and How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watch Tower .

Here's the blurb from Logos.com



Mormons Answered Verse by Verse
David A Reed
John R Farkas
Publisher: Baker Book House
Publication Date: 1997, c1992.

This resource starts with a synopsis of what the Mormon Church teaches and then moves into a subject-by-subject listing of Mormon beliefs on issues such as heaven, marriage, salvation, and women.

However, the majority of the book is dedicated to controversial verses that are incorrectly interpreted by Mormons. The electronic version of this resource is extremely beneficial as any reference to Scripture can be read in your preferred translation with only one click of your mouse.

Table of Contents

A Capsule history of Mormonism
What the Mormon Church Teaches
Mormon Scripture
Verse-by-Verse Answers for Mormons: Old Testament
Verse-by-Verse Answers for Mormons: New Testament
Verse-by-Verse Answers for Mormons: Book of Mormon
Some Techniques for Sharing the Gospel with Mormons
Testimonies of the Authors
About the Authors
John R. Farkas is a former Mormon and has co-authored other works such as How to Rescue Your Loved One from Mormonism and Mormonism: Changes, Contradictions, and Errors.

David A. Reed is a former Jehovah's Witness and has authored other witnessing tools such as How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watch Tower, Index of Watch Tower Errors and Jehovah's Witnesses: Answered Verse by Verse.