Total Abandon by Gary Witherall

I've just finished reading Total Abandon: The Powerful True Story of Life Lived in Radical Devotion to God by Gary Witherall. In order for this review to ever get posted, I must keep it short. 


I met Gary a couple of weeks ago and really wanted to read his book (after my best-friend recommended it to me). It hasn't been published in French (yet) and so we may be interested in it.


The story:
Gary and Bonnie Witherall were living among the Lebanese, a war-torn people. Gary discribes how God led both their individual lives to meet one another, led them to Lebanon and finally led Bonnie to pay the ultimate price. While working in a clinic for Palestinian women, she is shot-dead by a gunman.


My review:
I recommend it. I have a few things that pleased me less, but all in all, this is a good book.


I love Jesus because he first loved me. And in the same way Jesus came out of his rightful place in heaven, to live among us, we are called to go to all nations to make Him known to all peoples. So I love mission-stories, because I grow comfortable too easily.
The book is well-written, pleasant (in style) and well put together. The Gospel is clearly there. Gary is portrayed in a very human manner. By that, I would mean that there are times when I'd like to ask him why he did this or that. But that has the advantage of clearly not being polished PR. Gary is the real thing. 
In closing I would say that such recent stories (the events take place in 2002) are good for the church, good for the believers and good for the Gospel. I'm sure much good has come of Bonnie's murder. The description of her funeral service in Sidon, Lebanon is very moving. But God continues to use Gary and Bonnie's death for great good, just read the book to find out.


You can buy it on Amazon

Tim Keller's Gospel for the Post-Modern

This Sunday, every church member is going to give their testimony in 59 seconds. It's part of an attempt to think more clearly about the Gospel, our salvation and the meaning of it all. While doing my research on the Acts29 website, I found this interesting quote by Tim Keller. In context, he's just explained his gospel for the religious. Now he explains the Gospel he preaches to the areligious (Post-Modern). Remember that Keller is a New York City pastor :

"However, Manhattan is also filled with ‘post-modern’ listeners who consider all

moral statements to be culturally relative and socially constructed. If you try to

convict them of guilt for sexual lust, they will simply say, “you have your standards

and I have mine.” If you respond with a diatribe on the dangers of relativism,

your listeners will simply feel scolded. Of course, postmodern people

must at some point be challenged about their mushy views of truth, but there is

a way to make a credible and convicting gospel presentation to them even before

you get into such apologetic issues.

I take a page from Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death and define sin as

building your identity—your self-worth and happiness—on anything other than

God. That is, I use the Biblical definition of sin as idolatry. That puts the emphasis

not as much on ‘doing bad things’ but on ‘making good things into ultimate

things.’ Instead of telling them they are sinning because they are sleeping with

their girlfriends or boyfriends, I tell them that they are sinning because they are

looking to their romances to justify and save them, to give them everything that

they should be looking for from God. This idolatry leads to anxiety, obsessiveness,

envy, and resentment. I have found that when you describe their lives in

terms of idolatry, postmodern people do not give much resistance. Then Christ

and his salvation can be presented not (at this point) so much as their only

hope for forgiveness, but as their only hope for freedom. This is my ‘gospel for

the uncircumcised.’"

You can find the whole PDF manuscript of the Dwell conference here. 

 

Flyering in Recquignies, Again...

With the world in such a state of panic, you'd expect people to start behaving differently. In many ways, I think God will bring many people to ask themselves existential questions. Even in a stone-hard country like France, I'm praying that He will save my people.

Yesterday, we did our monthly flyering route. There are 950 mailboxes in my town and each month we distribute a small full color tract. Each month the topic changes, but the aim is always the same: to lead people to Jesus.

This time, we started early and it being Saturday (and sunny), many people were already out and about. That is probably why we faced some real opposition. No stoning or jail, but people tearing up the tract or telling us they don't want it anymore. Supposing that the person who said this was a staunch atheist, I asked her if she didn't believe in God. She answered with the ever-so typical, "it's a private matter!" I wonder who taught her that?