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by Paula White Ministries
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Paula White Ministries (2006)
ISBN: 0979209218
EAN: 9780979209215
Paperback: 151 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 031008AC16
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: highlighting and some creases in cover
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Product Description
A Guide to understanding and applying the powerful truths behind the principles of "first fruits" to your life.
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Customer Reviews
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Revitalize your faith. Here's how!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-10-15
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is an awe inspiring and fresh new look into the true meaning of Christian faith. I have put this teaching into action and it WORKS!! Go on...give God a try.
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by Paula White Ministries
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Paula White Ministries (2006)
ISBN: 0979209218
EAN: 9780979209215
Paperback: 151 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 031908AC01
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting......minor wear on cover...
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Product Description
A Guide to understanding and applying the powerful truths behind the principles of "first fruits" to your life.
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Customer Reviews
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Revitalize your faith. Here's how!
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-10-15
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is an awe inspiring and fresh new look into the true meaning of Christian faith. I have put this teaching into action and it WORKS!! Go on...give God a try.
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by Paula White Ministries
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Paula White Ministries (2006)
ISBN: 0979209218
EAN: 9780979209215
Paperback: 151 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 032308AC34
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting......minor wear on cover...222
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
A Guide to understanding and applying the powerful truths behind the principles of "first fruits" to your life.
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Customer Reviews
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Revitalize your faith. Here's how!
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-10-15
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is an awe inspiring and fresh new look into the true meaning of Christian faith. I have put this teaching into action and it WORKS!! Go on...give God a try.
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by DiAnn Mills, Gail Gaymer Martin, Melanie Panagiotopoulos, Lois Richer
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated (2004-02-01)
ISBN: 1593100817
EAN: 9781593100810
Dewy Decimal #: 813.540803543
Paperback: 352 pages
SKU: 102608017
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Book Description
Do all road really lead to Rome? From the busy streets of Rome to the fragrant hills of Florentine, and from the gorgeous Isle of Capri to the romantic canals of Venice, four independent American women are compelled to explore this historic country that their parents and grandparents called "home." As they investigate the past and discover the secrets of their family heritage, will they also find the forgiveness, the freedom, the life, and the love they seek? These four brandnew novellas show that God can sometimes use the events of yesterday to reveal hints to one's future. Four American women explore the historic country that their parents and grandparents called "home"--along the way finding God's plan for themselves.
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Customer Reviews
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Too religious
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-08-12
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book was great to read, but some parts were too religious and frustrating because they seemed very unrealistic. I'm a Christian woman, but it seemed as if the authors, also Christian women, were encouraging other women readers to submit to men. One chapter talked about a woman who tried to get away from her boyfriend by going to Italy, but he followed her and stalked her when she was there. The author romanticized this and made it seem as if this were "romantic", when in reality, he was smothering her and should have respected her and given her privacy to go to Italy on her own with friends and enjoy life.
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Contemporary Christian Romances Take Place in Italy
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-03-07
I have read many of these Christian novellas and I simply love every single one! This one I got because I am Italian and never have been to Italy!
This is a book made up of four short stories (about 100 pages each). That's four different girls meet four different boys and four happy endings. Yes, there are Christian undertones, so if you don't want to read about faith and finding God than this is not a book for you.
As a Christian, myself I feel reading stories like this strengthen my relationship with God.
Here is a little teaser about each story.
1. A photographer and a columnist for a fashion magazine are sent to Milan to get stories about Fashing Week there. The photographer is ver impatient and unfriendly. Will he learn patience and even love, while in Italy?
2. A girl goes to Italy to experience a romance great like her Grandmothers. She is so furious though, when her boyfriend shows up, she thinks he stalking her. What kind of romance will she find in Italy? What does she discover about her grandmother's romance?
3. A movie actress receives a letter from her long lost grandfather in Italy, who disowned his son for marrying another woman. The daughter of that marraige is orphaned and making a career as a movie actress. She has lost sight of God alone the way. Will she remember how to be a good Christian? Will she forgive her grandfather? Will she fall in love?
4. The last story is about a girl whose grandmother just died and her fiance just broke up with her. (Talk about bad days!) She is invited to come to Italy and stay with her grandmother's best friend. Little does she know that she is being set up with the woman's son, who has vowed never to marry. What will happen? Will she find love in Italy? If so, will it be with Nick who has vowed never to marry? What is his secret?
Great stories, that are fast and easy to read. Wonderful if you are developing your faith.
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Christian book alert
Rating  (1)
Date: 2006-04-12
1 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
if you are not into "Christian Literature" this book is not for you.
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Good
Rating  (4)
Date: 2004-11-24
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a highly enjoyable read for the romance fans. The Christian themes only add to these short pleasures.
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"From Italy with Love"
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-03-08
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
"From Italy with Love' contains four novellas, each portraying different cities in Italy. The history lessons are great and of course what better place than Italy for romance. Each heroine found love and most importantly a greater relationship with God. In "The Lure of Capri," Ryan and terri were both able to grow and the proposal was one othe most romantic I've read. I am ready to get out my learn Italian cd.
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by Leslie Rule
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (2004-09)
ISBN: 0740747177
EAN: 9780740747175
Dewy Decimal #: 133.1
Paperback: 240 pages
SKU: 110908036
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...crease in cover
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Macabre and fascinating, Ghosts Among Us offers true-life, haunting accounts of eerie visitations and paranormal experiences along with artistically shot black-and-white photographs of haunted sites.The personal, firsthand reports and chilling, full-length stories are bolstered by sidebars of actual accounts of "Ghosts in the News." Each chapter explores mysterious events-events that the reader will find hard to pass off as mere coincidence. In her quest to uncover explanations for each incident, Leslie Rule extensively researched library archives and interviewed credible witnesses, historians, renowned psychics, and parapsychologists. Throughout Ghosts Among Us, Rule's findings are mesmerizing. She writes about being raised in a haunted house. "To top that," Rule explains, "[my mother] introduced me to a serial killer when I was fourteen." The reader is invited to skip ahead to learn about that chilling episode . . . but the pages prior to that offer their own gripping, spell-binding encounters.
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Customer Reviews
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Great Ghosts!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-09-22
As a 1st time Leslie Rule reader, I was very impressed with the writing style. I found it told the stories without too many unnecessary words but also contained a thread of writing you would find in a first rate novel. The marriage of the two made for a great read. The B&W photos always help a book of this nature and found this to be especially true with this book. Particularly because the author took many of the photographs. This adds to the `reality' of the reporting. I also appreciate the forthrightness of the author's claim to be a true believer. Many of these types of books often obscure the authors belief so one is never sure if they are a skeptic or believer. This author lays it on the line and I appreciate that.
My favorite chapters were the Ghostly Letters and Haunted Hotels. I am a fan of haunted hotels and always greatly enjoy reading more about them; especially the ones I have never heard about. In addition, Leslie was kind enough to provide the physical address and telephone numbers. Now where did I put that Visa card?
The story that has stuck with me the longest was the one about the haunted clown doll. It is a very unusual story along with an actual photograph of the little creep. All in all, a fantastic little book on ghosts.
Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of Wingtips with Spurs
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very interesting story
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-18
Leslie Rule is a very exciting, talented writer with tougue-in-cheek wit.This book cntains some very interesting and eerie stories that keep you clinging on every word and awaiting what will happen next.
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Entertaining, not the best
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-01-04
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Having grown up in a haunted house, I'm a little picky when it comes to other peoples' ghost stories, so maybe I'm harder to please, but this book just did not have enough hard evidence to satisfy me. There are too many instances of "some say..." and "legend has it...," and while these little asides can be entertaining, I'm much more interested in real eye-witness accounts.
While I loved stories like the children on the carousel as well as some of the letters from real people, there were just not enough of these first-hand accounts to create any substantial goose bumps. There was too much unconvincing speculation that seemed to be reaching for credibility in stories that were just too vague, and simply lacked the in-depth detail to be considered serious documentation.
I did enjoy the historical info and was pleased with Ms. Rule's ability to round up eye-witnesses who were not only willing to share their real names, but were also willing to be photographed. However, there were too many unsatisfying half-page blurps which relied heavily on hearsay, and I thought the theory of the carousel as an energy vortex was just too over the top.
Overall, this was entertaining, but not one of the best collections I have come across. Perhaps it should have been called "Ghosts and Legends Among Us." If you are looking for a book full of ALL first-hand accounts that will really send chills down your spine, try "Nantucket Ghosts" by Blue Balliett.
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interesting
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-01-01
When I started out in this book, the first ten pages didn't really draw my attantion. Antway, reading further in the book, I must admid that it did hold, and could keep my attention! The story's are written quite well, and if you are interested in the subject, this is a must read!
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Read this at 3 a.m. in a graveyard under a full moon and you still won't be scared
Rating (1)
Date: 2007-11-14
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Really boring, amateurishly reported, slapped-together ghost anecdotes or portions thereof, without climax or resolution, just a lot of lazy, unsubstantiated speculation in the form of "Could it be...?" or "Was it perhaps...?????"
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by John Eidsmoe
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Crossway Books (1984-07)
ISBN: 0891073132
EAN: 9780891073130
Dewy Decimal #: 261.7
Paperback: 239 pages
SKU: 091308024
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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by John Eidsmoe
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Crossway Books (1984-07)
ISBN: 0891073132
EAN: 9780891073130
Dewy Decimal #: 261.7
Paperback: 239 pages
SKU: 091308024
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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by Jim Wallis
Product Group: Book
Publisher: HarperOne (2005-01-01)
ISBN: 0060558288
EAN: 9780060558284
Dewy Decimal #: 261.70973
Hardcover: 416 pages
Release Date: 2005-01-11
SKU: 100208037
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on dustjacket
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside? While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda—an agenda not all people of faith support—the Left hasn't done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God's way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soulless politics. The effect of this dilemma was made clear in the 2004 presidential election. The Democrats' miscalculations have left them despairing and searching for a way forward. It has become clear that someone must challenge the Republicans' claim that they speak for God, or that they hold a monopoly on moral values in the nation's public life. Wallis argues that America's separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. In fact, the very survival of America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics—a dependence the nation's founders recognized. God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition—that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. In the tradition of prophets such as Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Desmond Tutu, Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life.
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Amazon.com Review
Secular liberals and religious conservatives will find things to both comfort and alarm them in Jim Wallis's God's Politics. That combination is actually reason enough to recommend the book in a time when the national political and theological discourse is dominated by blanket descriptions and shortsightedness. But Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, offers more than just a book that's hard to categorize. What Wallis sees as the true mission of Christianity--righting social ills, working for peace--is in tune with the values of liberals who so often run screaming from the idea of religion. Meanwhile, in his estimation, religious vocabulary is co-opted by conservatives who use it to polarize. Wallis proposes a new sort of politics, the name of which serves as the title of the book, wherein these disparities are reconciled and progressive causes are paired with spiritual guidance for the betterment of society. Wallis is at his most compelling when he puts this theory into action himself, letting his own beliefs guide him through stinging criticisms of the war in Iraq. In his view, George W. Bush's flaw lies in the assumption that the United States was an unprecedented force of goodness in a fight against enemies characterized as "evil." Indeed, although both the right and left are criticized here, the idea is that the liberals, if they would get religion, are the more redeemable lot. Wallis's line between religion and public policy may be drawn a little differently than most liberals might feel comfortable with, and while he pays some lip service to other faiths most of his prescription for America seems to come from the Bible. Still, for a party having just lost a presidential election where "moral issues" are said to have factored heavily, God's Politics is a sermon worth listening to. --John Moe
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Customer Reviews
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Speedy delivery; great product
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-09-02
It's everything I was looking for in the purchase of a book on-online: I sought out the title, purchased it with ease and it was delivered within a matter of days in perfect condition. Short of including a cup of coffee, it was all I could hope for with none of the hassle.
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weak and inconsistent
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-08-19
This book is poorly written or poorly edited. It rambles along like a casual conversation, rather than a concise and principled exhortation. It is as if Wallis just talked into his tape recorder and no one ever took the time to edit or organize his stream of consciousness. He constantly digresses into subjects irrelevant to his then current topic.
Second, he is inconsistent, with no attempt to ever justify or explain. It is hard to believe that neither he nor his editors recognize these inconsistencies. He advocates for a strong government when it comes to the moral issues of poverty, etc, but a weak government on the moral issues of sex,abortion, and war........without ever explaining: a) why biblical principles somehow dictate a different role for government on these different subjects or b) why, as a practical matter, those issues must or should be attacked differently.
Likewise, he never explains why he loves to cite the Old Testament on the issues where he wants more government, but he ignores the Old Testament when arguing against all of the right wing's "moral" issues.
He strongly condemns President Bush, perhaps rightly, for overly confident, self-righteous language and a lack of self-reflection about his/the nation's own sin. But Wallis himself never once expresses the Lincoln-esque humility, self-doubt, self-examination that he so demandingly expects from Bush. Rather, Wallis not too subtlely sees himself as the modern day prophet of God.
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God's Politics
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-04-12
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a well-written book by a respected theologian. I suppose that is why so many conservatives give this book poor reviews. Jim Wallis has forgotten more about religion and Christianity than most so-called religious conservatives ever knew about those subjects. Wallis is critical of war, and critical of how certain elements of our society have hijacked religion and politics for their own gain, or at least to promote their own agenda.
The Bible can confuse and bewilder. Those who stand by it as their lifeblood often spew certain verses or Biblical references such as an eye for an eye when considering the current war in Iraq or the post 9/11 world in general. They conveniently forget Jesus' message of peace and forgiveness because it doesn't fit into their imperialistic world view.
Wallis shows how conservatives have played into the hands of those in Washington whose only goal is power. Christianity is being held hostage by the war machine. George Bush can say you are either with us or against us as if the world is so simple. Bush and his neo-conservative minions (actually one should say Dick Cheyney and his neo-conservative minions led by puppet Bush) forget the world is complex. For their part the Democrats are not really seen as the counterbalance to this mess, as they are really seeking a way to tap into the national sentiment of security and antiterrorism to get their own slice of the imperial pie. But one can love America and think this war is not worth either the cost in human lives or the billions of taxpayer's dollars being spent on it. Would George Washington support this war? One can only speculate, but our first president did advise against entangling alliances. What have us taxpayers got for our money? Not much.
Wallis illustrates how America has adopted the mantra of empire as a result of electing a president who convinced himself he's been put in power by God when the country needs such a person in power. Wow, the arrogance of it all. Wallis challenges Christians to stand up and take back their country in the face of hypocrisy and blatant blasphemy from the suits in power (I say suits because this mess is not just the making of Republicans and neo-conservatives, there are plenty of Democrats who buy into this imperialistic theory and want their piece of the action as well).
Wallis believes in Christianity's message of hope and love as opposed to embracing the shackles of oppression. He challenges Christians to ignore the seductive tendencies of empire and strive for a life of true Christian virtue. Who knows, maybe some day it will happen.
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A much needed antidote to the Religious Right
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-28
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have had this book since 2005 and find it to be even more appropriate today as we near the 2008 Presidential election. Wallis does an excellent job of making his case for why Christians have an obligation to be involved in the political process. However, he also lays out the rationale why Christians must be concerned with more than just the hot-button issues of abortion and gay marriage. Wallis shows why Christians have an obligation to care about poverty, environmental issues and equal rights among other issues. He also shows why it is wrong for religious and para-religious organizations to be used by outside interests and political parties and he makes a good case that candidates should be supported for their values and ideas, not simply because of party affiliation.
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A Missed Opportunity
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-02-21
10 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
I should have liked this book. I am what might be called a hesitantly blue evangelical (I'm not a very good democrat but was a worse republican) and mostly agree with him point by point. So when Wallis talked in his introduction about what I would call a 4th quadrant option (my terminology) that is not liberal, conservative or libertarian but passionate about life, justice and peace, I was pretty hopeful. But I did not enjoy this book and upon reflection came up with 3 reasons that, while the target audience, the book missed its mark with me:
1. It is really dry. Maybe it is because I had my MP3 player switching between chapters of Klosterman, Gladwell and Wallis, so the latter withered in comparison, but this book could have easily been a pamphlet. There are not many anecdotes (aside from occasional name dropping) or historical allusions to make the text move. Just repetitive exposition on a range of positions. `Budgets are moral documents' is a true and borderline insightful statement the first or even the second time for emphasis, but not the fifth.
2. It is not that insightful. Here is my problem. I could have written this book. There is little analysis, be it economic or exegetical, just repeated sweeping claims. Wallis does not reside enough in either the world of complex economic/political theory or in the world of the Biblical text to bring either insightfully to bear on the complex issue of a Christian's role in a democratic super power. Dubious economic and political theories were stated boldly without empirical support and the scriptures were used for selective proof texting (despite his decrial of the practice).
3. It is not what it claims to be. In his introduction Wallis bemoans the fact that since he isn't in the religious right he is automatically dubbed the religious left because the media lacks other categories. I agree that most lack the necessary categories to describe the needed fourth quadrant position that he describes. I just don't think that he holds it. I think Wallis is firmly in the religious left. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but please don't patronize us with the illusion or claim of a new way so desperately needed. You simply can not write a book that hopes to unite people of faith in a tent big enough for evangelicals by devoting just a couple pages to abortion and concluding that Clinton had it right all along (while, in fairness, suggesting `the left is far more dogmatic on this issue than the right'). Now abortion is a complex issue loaded with conflicting goods and evils that gets to the core of very important issues like personhood, personal autonomy, gender interests, economic justice, protection of innocents and many others. I get that it is not easy and probably should not be the centerpiece of a religious political theory. But that is why it deserved an entire chapter. The quest to restore a love of peace, justice and the poor in red evangelicals is road blocked by the religious left's indifference on this issue. Whether that makes sense to Wallis and those like him or not, it is the reality. If you are not going to talk about the things that make conservatives conservative than you are just preaching to the proverbial choir, congratulating yourself on your righteous stances and selling books.
So I guess I was mostly disappointed that this text was a missed opportunity on a very important thesis. I love Wallis' idea that the Church should refuse to be co-opted by any political artifice and should speak prophetically to all parties. I just don't think he represents this idea.
Post Script: Several of my conservative friends have accused me of leaning left because of a simple desire to be liked. Holding liberal positions is a low cost way to acceptance by a large number of people and avoiding the scorn generally heaped upon those who genuinely believe that the hope for the poor is in markets, industries and innovations. This critique has given me pause more than once and after watching Wallis' interviews with Jon Stewart (who I really enjoy), I fear might benefit him as well. A prophet does not try that hard to be liked.
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by Miles J. Stanford
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Zondervan (1981-07-09)
ISBN: 0310330017
EAN: 9780310330011
UPC: 025986330019
Dewy Decimal #: 248
Paperback: 96 pages
SKU: 051908036
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No Underlining or Highlighting...
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Product Description
This is the first book in the author's series on Christian maturity.
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Customer Reviews
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Reply to Kirk Bozeman
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-23
A friend and I talked about Mr. Bozeman's comment via email. His reply to me was truly great and I thought I would share it here. Please note that his comment was not written to be read by anyone but me, so I apologize for his direct and somewhat confrontational language and format. AS
Stanford had some very narrow, "old-school" Dispensational views not held by the mainstream of scholars today (at least the ones I've seen),
(This is an absolutely accurate assessment of Miles' dispensational understanding. His is a classic, Lewis S. Chafer, C. H. Mackintosh, John N. Darby, Patrick Fairbairn dispensational approach to Biblical interpretation. That is not what the current staff of Dallas Seminary or its recent graduates are teaching and following. Theirs is usually called Progressive Dispensationalism.)
and it shows in the way he understood Paul (especially) and the whole of Scripture in light of his writings, and is the undercurrent for this book.
(Again, absolutely true; however, the book is a compilation of letters from his file on subjects that he repeatedly addressed in answer to inquiries from people world-wide who wrote to him for clarification and Biblical understanding.)
(This is more evident in the "Complete" version, but not as evident in the "slim" version, which I feel is a bit deceptive to the reader, since the "slim" is more widely-read.)
This statement is purely based on ignorance. The "slim" version is the first book that Miles wrote in this series under the title Principles of Spiritual Growth. It was a grand primer for a new Christian. Later, that was expanded to The Green Letters, a broader set of letters in answer to more questions than were addressed in Principles of Spiritual Growth. Yet another book was issued called The Red Letters. Those were all combined by the publishers into The Complete Green Letters. Miles originally had his small books printed in Hong Kong and distributed entirely out of his small home office.
Whatever you do with this fact, (The only "fact" that he has mentioned is that Stanford does not embrace the Progressive Dispensational interpretation, but accepts and teaches the Darby, Mackintosh, Newell, Chafer interpretation)
the practical outworking of this ideology ("This ideology" begs for definition. On the surface it appears to mean `that dispensational understanding of the Brethren who defined it' compared with the understanding that is now taught and adopted by more recent teachers and preachers. For practical purposes that would be staff additions at DTS after Chafer's death and others who hold to the ideology of Progressive Dispensationalism, Covenant/Reformed/Calvinistic/Historical Dispensationalism as compared to Doctrinal Dispensationalism as an interpretive system)
for Stanford results in a very unbiblical view of sanctification (which may be defined by . . .?)
that makes it difficult to reconcile (The writer should have added; "that makes it difficult for me to reconcile)
many New Testament passages. It is difficult for me at this point to believe that the apostle Paul would have instructed believers to walk the way that Stanford does: the classic "let go and let God" mentality. (What does the writer object to about "let go and let God"?)
Stanford dresses this in very intelligent writing, drawing a very attractive, powerful picture of his "system". But, pretty as it may be, I now believe this line of thinking to be unbiblical. (He has made a serious claim without example or definition; or, as a lawyer might say; `based on facts not in evidence.')
This kind of teaching (Again, a claim without definition that must be taken as any form of "let go and let God" do His work in you.)
can lead believers to self-deception, replacing repentance, active faith, and active seeking of God with a "seated-in-heaven-spirituality" that is not allowed to examine itself, bordering on perfectionism and deep-seated in esoteric "breaking" experiences that simply will not happen in the life of every believer. (Miles Stanford taught throughout his life and ministry that the Believer's life and walk started with his union with Christ in His death [Romans 6] and his resurrection to new creation life in the risen Jesus. Further, that the source of his life here moved from Earth to Heaven when the Lord ascended 10 days prior to Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit. His life in the Grand Assembly began on Pentecost with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who had positionally sanctified forever the believer from the world and into Jesus the moment he believed, and who now indwells every Believer accepted in the Beloved. Now that I am accepted and forgiven, and that my sins are forgotten forever; it would be more than foolish for me to believe that any thought or act of `repentance' on my part would, or could, move God to do what more on my behalf? All has been done! For the Lord said on the Cross, "It is finished.")
"Active faith"--does that, can that mean anything other than faith which emanates from within oneself? Was it my faith that actuated the grace of God that saved me, or was it the faith of the Only Begotten Son of God in the will of the Father that moved in my life to bring me to salvation? Most assuredly, as Miles himself taught me, it was the will of the Father and the faith of the Son who wrought my salvation in the eternal counsels of the past. So, I have been seated "in Him" since before the foundations of the world. John, in his first general epistle, begs us to clear thinking on this, as he states; "he who says he has no sin deceives himself."
"Active seeking of God"--There is that word "active" again; this time attached to "seeking of God." It appears to mean that there is within man some capacity to turn one's self towards God and `actively' attempt to find and reach Him. If Scripture is to be believed, `there is none righteous, no not one' [Romans 3] and `there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God' [Romans 3:11 Darby]. The alternative to self-searching, self-seeking, pursuit of God is to stop! And, then let God wrap you in His arms at the feet of the risen Savior in Heaven, from where your life flows in torrents of living water; sustaining you until that moment when He comes and claims His Bride and removes Her to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
"Not allowed to examine itself?"--A pitiful bit of fiction at best, an attempt to distract from central issues, perhaps; a failure to read what Miles Stanford consistently wrote, or the expression of one already committed to the Armenian view that man has within him the ability to lay hold of God and claim his salvation based on his self-assessment and relative remorse and repentance. Miles' life was a series that consisted of the Hound of Heaven, hunting him down, finding him out, and dragging him from the mire of brokenness, onto the ground of peace. He cautioned us repeatedly that becoming self-absorbed took us deeper into the woods and away from the light of instruction and growth. That would lead, said he, to self-inflicted pain, and discipline by a loving Father. Better to examine yourself (the very essence of the Lord's Table) to make sure that what you testify to before your brothers and sisters in Christ is your soul bared and His righteousness appropriated.
Be careful with this book! Don't forget that the same Paul who said, "you were made to die to the Law... to bear fruit for God" also said "I beat my body and make it my slave". Again, the same Paul who wrote so much concerning our certainty of and blessing from being "in Christ" said that he was still striving to be found Him, still striving to be conformed to His death, and still striving to be conformed to His resurrection. (But, you missed the point that he was striving against himself, against the Old Sin Nature within to which he died in Christ through union, the conformity that he wished to attain, as so with the resurrection to new creation life of which Christ was the "First fruit")
There is no lack of certainty of heaven or of being presently "in Christ" here in Paul's statements. They simply point to the reality that (Practical or conditional) sanctification is a process that MUST BE "worked out" through faithful obedience as God "works in". It doesn't just happen by "reckoning" once we "get to the end of ourselves" as "The Green Letters" describes. (Thankfully, once I `got to the end of my self by realizing that I died to sin and self, then my Position in Christ became by condition in life through declaring myself to be dead to the power of sin in my life [blessed Reckoning) free from the Law of sin and death, and free to serve God by considering (Reckoning) my life to be expendable in service of my savior--just as my late mentor was finally able to drive into my aging brain. I thank Miles J. Stanford, who is as important to our age and day as was Martin Luther to the Reformation.
CB
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Highly recommended for new Christians
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-02-26
Although a Christian for a number of years, I never heard teaching like this. The reformed churches stifle "grace teaching" even though they throw in the word 'grace' into the mix once in a while. Positional teaching like this has opened my eyes to all that I am in Christ already--there is nothing left for me to do but believe and appropriate all that is mine. This is foundational faith teaching that I wish I would have heard as a new Christian but am nonetheless thankful to have come across it.
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Really good and radical description of grace
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-05-16
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this for the first time when I was only 18 - and it helped to shape my view of God's grace
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No longer comfortable with "Letters".
Rating (2)
Date: 2005-03-21
I originally wrote a "glowing" review for this book, but I have since done much rethinking. Stanford may have some good things to say in "Letters" (if generalized and taken out of his context, frankly), but I am now uneasy about much of what this book teaches.
Stanford had some very narrow, "old-school" Dispensational views not held by the mainstream of scholars today (at least the ones I've seen), and it shows in the way he understood Paul (especially) and the whole of Scripture in light of his writings, and is the undercurrent for this book. (This is more evident in the "Complete" version, but not as evident in the "slim" version, which I feel is a bit deceptive to the reader, since the "slim" is more widely-read.) Whatever you do with this fact, the practical outworking of this ideology for Stanford results in a very unbiblical view of sanctification that makes it difficult to reconcile many New Testament passages. It is difficult for me at this point to believe that the apostle Paul would have instructed believers to walk the way that Stanford does: the classic "let go and let God" mentality. Stanford dresses this in very intelligent writing, drawing a very attractive, powerful picture of his "system". But, pretty as it may be, I now believe this line of thinking to be unbiblical. This kind of teaching can lead believers to self-deception, replacing repentance, active faith, and active seeking of God with a "seated-in-heaven-spirituality" that is not allowed to examine itself, bordering on perfectionism and deep-seated in esoteric "breaking" experiences that simply will not happen in the life of every believer.
Be careful with this book! Don't forget that the same Paul who said, "you were made to die to the Law... to bear fruit for God" also said "I beat my body and make it my slave". Again, the same Paul who wrote so much concerning our certainty of and blessing from being "in Christ" said that he was still striving to be found Him, still striving to be conformed to His death, and still striving to be conformed to His resurrection. There is no lack of certainty of heaven or of being presently "in Christ" here in Paul's statements. They simply point to the reality that sanctification is a process that MUST BE "worked out" through faithful obedience as God "works in". It doesn't just happen by "reckoning" once we "get to the end of ourselves" as "The Green Letters" describes.
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Basic and Inspirational for Mature or Maturing Christians
Rating (4)
Date: 1999-09-30
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is basic and inspirational for mature or maturing Christian. It can be summarized as: "Not I, but Christ who lives in me." I first read it in 1981 and have returned to it 5 or 6 times over the years. Now I am considering its use in discipling others. Each reading is short enough to be read devotionally. He doesn't waste words. Very appropriate and non-flowery language marshalling each word to clarify his point.
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by Miles J. Stanford
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Zondervan (1981-07-09)
ISBN: 0310330017
EAN: 9780310330011
UPC: 025986330019
Dewy Decimal #: 248
Paperback: 96 pages
SKU: 051908036
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No Underlining or Highlighting...
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This is the first book in the author's series on Christian maturity.
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Customer Reviews
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Reply to Kirk Bozeman
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-23
A friend and I talked about Mr. Bozeman's comment via email. His reply to me was truly great and I thought I would share it here. Please note that his comment was not written to be read by anyone but me, so I apologize for his direct and somewhat confrontational language and format. AS
Stanford had some very narrow, "old-school" Dispensational views not held by the mainstream of scholars today (at least the ones I've seen),
(This is an absolutely accurate assessment of Miles' dispensational understanding. His is a classic, Lewis S. Chafer, C. H. Mackintosh, John N. Darby, Patrick Fairbairn dispensational approach to Biblical interpretation. That is not what the current staff of Dallas Seminary or its recent graduates are teaching and following. Theirs is usually called Progressive Dispensationalism.)
and it shows in the way he understood Paul (especially) and the whole of Scripture in light of his writings, and is the undercurrent for this book.
(Again, absolutely true; however, the book is a compilation of letters from his file on subjects that he repeatedly addressed in answer to inquiries from people world-wide who wrote to him for clarification and Biblical understanding.)
(This is more evident in the "Complete" version, but not as evident in the "slim" version, which I feel is a bit deceptive to the reader, since the "slim" is more widely-read.)
This statement is purely based on ignorance. The "slim" version is the first book that Miles wrote in this series under the title Principles of Spiritual Growth. It was a grand primer for a new Christian. Later, that was expanded to The Green Letters, a broader set of letters in answer to more questions than were addressed in Principles of Spiritual Growth. Yet another book was issued called The Red Letters. Those were all combined by the publishers into The Complete Green Letters. Miles originally had his small books printed in Hong Kong and distributed entirely out of his small home office.
Whatever you do with this fact, (The only "fact" that he has mentioned is that Stanford does not embrace the Progressive Dispensational interpretation, but accepts and teaches the Darby, Mackintosh, Newell, Chafer interpretation)
the practical outworking of this ideology ("This ideology" begs for definition. On the surface it appears to mean `that dispensational understanding of the Brethren who defined it' compared with the understanding that is now taught and adopted by more recent teachers and preachers. For practical purposes that would be staff additions at DTS after Chafer's death and others who hold to the ideology of Progressive Dispensationalism, Covenant/Reformed/Calvinistic/Historical Dispensationalism as compared to Doctrinal Dispensationalism as an interpretive system)
for Stanford results in a very unbiblical view of sanctification (which may be defined by . . .?)
that makes it difficult to reconcile (The writer should have added; "that makes it difficult for me to reconcile)
many New Testament passages. It is difficult for me at this point to believe that the apostle Paul would have instructed believers to walk the way that Stanford does: the classic "let go and let God" mentality. (What does the writer object to about "let go and let God"?)
Stanford dresses this in very intelligent writing, drawing a very attractive, powerful picture of his "system". But, pretty as it may be, I now believe this line of thinking to be unbiblical. (He has made a serious claim without example or definition; or, as a lawyer might say; `based on facts not in evidence.')
This kind of teaching (Again, a claim without definition that must be taken as any form of "let go and let God" do His work in you.)
can lead believers to self-deception, replacing repentance, active faith, and active seeking of God with a "seated-in-heaven-spirituality" that is not allowed to examine itself, bordering on perfectionism and deep-seated in esoteric "breaking" experiences that simply will not happen in the life of every believer. (Miles Stanford taught throughout his life and ministry that the Believer's life and walk started with his union with Christ in His death [Romans 6] and his resurrection to new creation life in the risen Jesus. Further, that the source of his life here moved from Earth to Heaven when the Lord ascended 10 days prior to Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit. His life in the Grand Assembly began on Pentecost with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who had positionally sanctified forever the believer from the world and into Jesus the moment he believed, and who now indwells every Believer accepted in the Beloved. Now that I am accepted and forgiven, and that my sins are forgotten forever; it would be more than foolish for me to believe that any thought or act of `repentance' on my part would, or could, move God to do what more on my behalf? All has been done! For the Lord said on the Cross, "It is finished.")
"Active faith"--does that, can that mean anything other than faith which emanates from within oneself? Was it my faith that actuated the grace of God that saved me, or was it the faith of the Only Begotten Son of God in the will of the Father that moved in my life to bring me to salvation? Most assuredly, as Miles himself taught me, it was the will of the Father and the faith of the Son who wrought my salvation in the eternal counsels of the past. So, I have been seated "in Him" since before the foundations of the world. John, in his first general epistle, begs us to clear thinking on this, as he states; "he who says he has no sin deceives himself."
"Active seeking of God"--There is that word "active" again; this time attached to "seeking of God." It appears to mean that there is within man some capacity to turn one's self towards God and `actively' attempt to find and reach Him. If Scripture is to be believed, `there is none righteous, no not one' [Romans 3] and `there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God' [Romans 3:11 Darby]. The alternative to self-searching, self-seeking, pursuit of God is to stop! And, then let God wrap you in His arms at the feet of the risen Savior in Heaven, from where your life flows in torrents of living water; sustaining you until that moment when He comes and claims His Bride and removes Her to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
"Not allowed to examine itself?"--A pitiful bit of fiction at best, an attempt to distract from central issues, perhaps; a failure to read what Miles Stanford consistently wrote, or the expression of one already committed to the Armenian view that man has within him the ability to lay hold of God and claim his salvation based on his self-assessment and relative remorse and repentance. Miles' life was a series that consisted of the Hound of Heaven, hunting him down, finding him out, and dragging him from the mire of brokenness, onto the ground of peace. He cautioned us repeatedly that becoming self-absorbed took us deeper into the woods and away from the light of instruction and growth. That would lead, said he, to self-inflicted pain, and discipline by a loving Father. Better to examine yourself (the very essence of the Lord's Table) to make sure that what you testify to before your brothers and sisters in Christ is your soul bared and His righteousness appropriated.
Be careful with this book! Don't forget that the same Paul who said, "you were made to die to the Law... to bear fruit for God" also said "I beat my body and make it my slave". Again, the same Paul who wrote so much concerning our certainty of and blessing from being "in Christ" said that he was still striving to be found Him, still striving to be conformed to His death, and still striving to be conformed to His resurrection. (But, you missed the point that he was striving against himself, against the Old Sin Nature within to which he died in Christ through union, the conformity that he wished to attain, as so with the resurrection to new creation life of which Christ was the "First fruit")
There is no lack of certainty of heaven or of being presently "in Christ" here in Paul's statements. They simply point to the reality that (Practical or conditional) sanctification is a process that MUST BE "worked out" through faithful obedience as God "works in". It doesn't just happen by "reckoning" once we "get to the end of ourselves" as "The Green Letters" describes. (Thankfully, once I `got to the end of my self by realizing that I died to sin and self, then my Position in Christ became by condition in life through declaring myself to be dead to the power of sin in my life [blessed Reckoning) free from the Law of sin and death, and free to serve God by considering (Reckoning) my life to be expendable in service of my savior--just as my late mentor was finally able to drive into my aging brain. I thank Miles J. Stanford, who is as important to our age and day as was Martin Luther to the Reformation.
CB
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Highly recommended for new Christians
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-02-26
Although a Christian for a number of years, I never heard teaching like this. The reformed churches stifle "grace teaching" even though they throw in the word 'grace' into the mix once in a while. Positional teaching like this has opened my eyes to all that I am in Christ already--there is nothing left for me to do but believe and appropriate all that is mine. This is foundational faith teaching that I wish I would have heard as a new Christian but am nonetheless thankful to have come across it.
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Really good and radical description of grace
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-05-16
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this for the first time when I was only 18 - and it helped to shape my view of God's grace
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No longer comfortable with "Letters".
Rating (2)
Date: 2005-03-21
I originally wrote a "glowing" review for this book, but I have since done much rethinking. Stanford may have some good things to say in "Letters" (if generalized and taken out of his context, frankly), but I am now uneasy about much of what this book teaches.
Stanford had some very narrow, "old-school" Dispensational views not held by the mainstream of scholars today (at least the ones I've seen), and it shows in the way he understood Paul (especially) and the whole of Scripture in light of his writings, and is the undercurrent for this book. (This is more evident in the "Complete" version, but not as evident in the "slim" version, which I feel is a bit deceptive to the reader, since the "slim" is more widely-read.) Whatever you do with this fact, the practical outworking of this ideology for Stanford results in a very unbiblical view of sanctification that makes it difficult to reconcile many New Testament passages. It is difficult for me at this point to believe that the apostle Paul would have instructed believers to walk the way that Stanford does: the classic "let go and let God" mentality. Stanford dresses this in very intelligent writing, drawing a very attractive, powerful picture of his "system". But, pretty as it may be, I now believe this line of thinking to be unbiblical. This kind of teaching can lead believers to self-deception, replacing repentance, active faith, and active seeking of God with a "seated-in-heaven-spirituality" that is not allowed to examine itself, bordering on perfectionism and deep-seated in esoteric "breaking" experiences that simply will not happen in the life of every believer.
Be careful with this book! Don't forget that the same Paul who said, "you were made to die to the Law... to bear fruit for God" also said "I beat my body and make it my slave". Again, the same Paul who wrote so much concerning our certainty of and blessing from being "in Christ" said that he was still striving to be found Him, still striving to be conformed to His death, and still striving to be conformed to His resurrection. There is no lack of certainty of heaven or of being presently "in Christ" here in Paul's statements. They simply point to the reality that sanctification is a process that MUST BE "worked out" through faithful obedience as God "works in". It doesn't just happen by "reckoning" once we "get to the end of ourselves" as "The Green Letters" describes.
|
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Basic and Inspirational for Mature or Maturing Christians
Rating (4)
Date: 1999-09-30
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is basic and inspirational for mature or maturing Christian. It can be summarized as: "Not I, but Christ who lives in me." I first read it in 1981 and have returned to it 5 or 6 times over the years. Now I am considering its use in discipling others. Each reading is short enough to be read devotionally. He doesn't waste words. Very appropriate and non-flowery language marshalling each word to clarify his point.
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