Broken Works Best

When you pick up a book that has the subtitle of ‘when God turns your pain into gain’ you think that you’re buckling up for a cheesy ride.

However, Campbell does a great job when it comes to the topic of suffering.

Sometimes when authors write about suffering and pain they forget to live in the real world. Campbell does a great job of opening up this difficult topic with her own story and the story of others who have suffered horrendous pain in their lives.

Instead of focusing simply on physical pain which is a result of living in a fallen world, like many do, she writes about the pain that we will suffer for Jesus.

I always find in times of pain and suffering the place to go is to God and learn from what His Word has to say, to rest in the knowledge of His sovereignty and His care. I also find it helpful to read the stories of other who have suffered, to learn how they ‘dealt with’ their pain and what they learnt about God in the process.

If you are suffering and want to read a book that contains biblical truths, challenging insights and an attitude of praise and devotion to God I encourage you to read this book.

Campbell’s story is riddled with pain and suffering, yet she explains how through all of it she was taught to depend on the Lord. She speaks of how God spoke to her, through His Word, in both the good and difficult times and speaks of the comfort that memorised verses were.

Many authors can try to dodge to question ‘why?’ But Campbell takes it head on and uses her own story to tell the tale.

Her pain of loosing two daughters at such a young age, her pain of not seeing them be independent and healthy made me feel for her and pray for their family. As difficult as it all was, and without a doubt still is, I was touched by how both Catherine and her husband are using their story to touch people’s lives.

Jesus is the great shepherd who cares, loves and teaches his sheep. We might not understand why certain things happen, but Campbell encourages us through stories from the Bible and other people that we should learn from and not waste our pain.

Rating 4/5

The End of Religion

I picked up this book because a friend of mine wanted a review on it, and once I received it in the post and read, on the back of the book, ‘sick of religion? So was Jesus’ I was intrigued.

Reading a sentence like that got my attention alright, and so I took the book with me on holiday to read.

At the beginning of the book Cavey says that Jesus should be the focus of our attention, and I completely agree. However, the way he leads people into this conversation is quite strange. Cavey starts by discussing some of the big shifters in the world, people who have said/done things that have changed the world. Quite rightly Jesus is one of them, but I wouldn’t put them on the same par. Cavey says that church history and Christians today often follow their institution or denomination as opposed to following Jesus’ teaching. Sadly this is true in many cases, but Cavey doesn’t pick up on any of the difficult stuff that Jesus talks about. For example, there is no mention of hell (something that Jesus spoke a lot about), there is no mention about why Jesus had to die on the cross and how his death paid the punishment for sins.

I think that Cavey’s main message is ‘let legalism die and let’s follow Jesus’ this is a message that I can wholeheartedly get behind. He rightly point out that religious acts or rituals can become habits and no longer challenge us. But, the whole approach of the book is slightly disconcerting. His exegesis suggests that he is reading his own idea into the bible, instead of allowing the Bible to shape his view.

Although Cavey speaks about Jesus he doesn’t explain the necessity for people to come to God through Jesus, he doesn’t say clearly that Jesus is the only way to God. Rather, he speaks in a way that one could understand, without critically thinking about it, that simply following he teachings of Jesus is enough to be made right with God.

I found myself reading the book and thinking ‘I think this is what he means… or I hope that this is what he means’.

Sin is only mentioned at the end of the book, and the consequences of believing in Jesus or not aren’t stated at all.

I’m afraid that anyone could pick up this book and believe that if they do a good job in life, then God has got there back, that people can be good Christians without going to church and joining fellowship with fellow believers.

However, this is contrary to the message of the Bible.

I don’t believe that Cavey is trying to mislead people, but I think that in his approach of trying to be so accessible to all readers means that he has lost the fact that the gospel is exclusive, you either believe it or you don’t.

I’m not one to tear people down for their work, because I am called to love my fellow brother in Christ, but I cannot recommend this book. I wholeheartedly agree with the whole ‘let legalism die’ idea, but in his approach of this topic he has blurred lines that I think are quite important.

Should Christians be careful to not become like the Pharisees? Yes.

Should we strive to live as Jesus taught in the gospel? Yes.

Does that means that we walk out the church because history shows that a lot of people have misapplied the Bible? No.

Rating: 1/5

Heaven on Earth

There are so many books on the market today about heaven, and rightly so because as Christians heaven is where we will spend eternity. There are so many things on this planet and in our lives that point to the glory of Heaven and the New Heavens and the New Earth.

There are so many false-ideas about what heaven will be like, who will be there, where heaven will be, and the list goes on and on. Whether they are a Christian or not, most people ask the question at some point in their lives ‘what happens when I die?’

Thomas says “For all the skepticism that abounds in our time, people still want to know what happens after death.”

So many of the books that can be found on Christian bookshelves contain a lot of speculation, but not many of them derive their ideas from the Bible. Don’t get me wrong, there are good books out there on heaven, but they are vastly outnumbered by the not so good ones.

From the many books I have read on the subject of heaven, Heaven on Earth is the best. Not only does Thomas engage with what the Bible teaches, but he also says where speculations begins and does not explore further.

As I read this book I found my own ideas of heaven and the New Creation being corrected, and it made me think about where I got my ideas from.

Because heaven is the focus of many Christians in this world, because we have our eyes fixed on our eternal home, we tend to believe many things that aren’t necessarily in the Bible. Thomas corrects such views with good and faithful Bible handling, with a pastors heart and with the rigorous mind of a theologian.

If you have questions about heaven, and if you don’t now you will at some point, read this book and be captured by the glory of the Lamb. Read and eagerly wait for the chance to worship and work for our Creator for an eternity, but don’t forget that we live in a world where many people will not see heaven.

Reading books like Heaven on Earth excite me about the world to come, but they should also put a desire in our hearts for more people to hear about this glorious place where Christians long to dwell.

There are people in this world who have big questions about life after death, and as Christians, we have answers to some of their questions they will only know the truth if they are told.

Do we know everything about heaven? No!

Will be ever know everything about heaven? Probably not!

Should the idea of heaven excite us as we consider an eternity spent in the presence of our perfect God? Yes!

Should the teaching of heaven encourage us to tell others? Absolutely! Why would we want to such an amazing truth to ourselves?

Rating 4/5

Effective Evangelism…

Over the years I have become quite passionate about evangelism, this is because of the vast crowds of people in this world who don’t know Jesus, and it’s also because I know that I suck at evangelism!

Evangelism is difficult, this or something similar has probably been said by every Christian at some point or another in their lives. However, is this true or is it because we need a shift in our thinking?
Generally speaking, I think we do need a shift in our thinking but it is also true that evangelism is hard. Today many people think that Evenglism means the running of Christian events like courses, crusades, missions… But the biggest temptation is to take these tools, things that assist our evangelism but aren’t evangelism themselves, and treat them as the real deal.

Another temptation is to go on the defence and use apologetics in evengelism, arguing for or defending Christianity, instead of simply telling people about Jesus. This has resulted in many people feeling incapable of evangelising because they don’t “know all the answers”. Let me tell you a secret, you can have all the degrees in the world and still not understand the depths of the magnificent mystery that is the gospel!

Jesus didn’t do any of this in his evangelism, do you know how Jesus evangelised? He proclaimed the message “repent and believe in the gospel” Mark 1:15.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all these tools for evangelism and apologetics aren’t good, each of them have their time and place. But, we cannot let these be the only means by which we ‘evangelise’.
First and foremost evangelism is a declaration of who Jesus is, what he has done on the cross and what that means for people today. People need to know that they are lost, they need to know their problem, and they also need to know their solution….. Jesus!

I find it so mind boggling that God would use a fallen and corrupt individual, like me and like you, to do his work of spreading the gospel, that is what we are all called to do.
Instead of waiting for the right courses to come up, instead of reading all the apologetics books under the sun, let’s go and declare the good news of Jesus to our family, our friends and ultimately to the world.

A big temptation might be to ‘gloss up’ the gospel, to make it seem a bit more pleasant, to make Jesus more attractive. But in every attempt to do this we are effectively saying, albeit in our minds and hearts, that the gospel isn’t good enough for the world, it isn’t really good news.

Jesus didn’t mince his words, he told people what he knew their souls needed to hear and not what their ears wanted to hear. Do we do the same?

The goal of a Christian is to be more like Jesus everyday, let’s strive to do that in our evangelism too.
Let’s do what Jesus has commanded us to and to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20.

This is our command and this should be our passion and desire, to see the name of God glorified by having people hear the good news and respond in thankfulness as they are made right with God.

The Fellowship of the Suffering

Have you every asked the question, what is the point of my suffering?

I know that I have….

In 2013 I came down with a chronic illness which means I am in constant pain, I can’t sleep and my general health suffers as a result of this illness. When the doctors told me that there was nothing they could do, they can’t take away my pain, I did what every book worm would do; I dove into reading books on suffering, from Christian perspective.

The fellowship of the suffering is one of those books, it deals with suffering, our perception of suffering and some practical steps which have helped the authors as they have suffered.

My problem with many of the ‘suffering books’ that can be found on many bookshelves is that they have this kind of ‘it’ll all be ok, one day, just keep praying’ idea, whilst that is true, and I eagerly await my new creation body, it’s like giving Calpol to someone who has been shot.

It won’t help much.

One of the things that I like about this book is that the authors share their own stories of suffering, and they go beyond the physical. Often we focus on physical suffering but completely forget about emotional suffering by saying ‘it’s part and parcel of being in a fallen world’ whilst this is true we still need to care for people through their emotional suffering.

As with any book, I do not agree with everything that it says, but it is a helpful book that takes you through some of the ‘stages’ of suffering. One of the things the book does really well is that it explains how our suffering, as hard as it might be, can teach us things.

The authors pull on other materials and books written about suffering and use quotes from many different people, this is often a helpful thing because these quotes and footnotes can take you to the stories of other Christians that can leave a lasting impression on your life because of how they ‘suffered well’.

One of the things that the fellowship of the suffering does, which not every book on suffering does, is that it deals a lot with the Bible and how people in the Bible suffered. The Bible, in my mind and theology, is e first place that every Christian should go when thinking about any topic and it’s a joy to see that happening in this book more than in others that I’ve read.

If you are suffering, if you are in either physical or emotional pain run to God, turn to God and speak to someone. My wife has been my rock through my sufferings, and she continues to support me, find someone to talk to. Find a person who is willing to live with you in your pain and talk to them about the ups and downs, the good and the bad days, and call on the Lord together.

Would I recommend this book? Yes.
Does it give a whole new perspective on how to ‘suffer well’? No.
Does it point people to Jesus and encourage people to find their refuge in God? Yes.

Rating 3/5