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“If Bible teachers could only remember that the ‘Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ and gave us divinely inspired truth, and never for one remote moment meant to give us anything to satisfy our intellectual curiosity, they would realise that the prophets meant to give us truth to transform spirit and soul and bring us into holy living and holy believing. They never intended that we should have theological baby rattles to entertain ourselves.”
A.W. Tozer

You have to admire Tozer’s ability to just ‘say it like it is.’

I just started reading one of the ‘never before published’ titles that landed recently – ‘Living as as Christian’ – and in typical Tozer fashion im blown away in the first chapter. Challenged is perhaps a more apt way to describe BUT…………yes there is a big BUT!!

How often are we challenged by a book or by a sermon to the point where it brings about change? Let me explain….

“Today we sing songs that are so dishonest that i sometimes hesitate to sing them. Yet when we sing the average hymn, if God Almighty compelled us to be entirely 100% honest, we simply could not sing them because their words would not be true of us.” A.W. Tozer

I read that Tozer quote yesterday afternoon and as i stood in Church last night i stared at some of the words and found myself not singing…i couldn’t help but be stopped in my tracks as i pondered the words and whether i meant them or whether we were all just entertaining ourselves.

I don’t say this to boast because these moments are rare – i promise you that – i am no saint!

Each of you can examine your own heart – so, feel free to chuck away this blog post as another aimless rant if you have this all nailed down!

Sometimes i just don’t care about what theological subject you are a ninja with, how well you can argue for dispensationalism or what kind of worship you prefer………its a baby rattle!

I know some of you will say “but its truth, and this is the right way to do things” which is lovely, but how is your life? How is the Holy Living working out for you? Do others think of you as a rude arrogant sod who knows a lot about the Bible? Do you have all the doctrine hammered down tight but yet can’t look a brother in the eye to say hello to him?

Has all the knowledge and intellectual thinking changed who you are?

If not, then what are you rattling, what theological/doctrinal toy are you playing around with?

Holy living and Holy believing…..NOT Holy entertainment! Thats what we need………

Buy the book thats kicking my ass – here – let it kick yours also!!

I wasn’t a fan of the book despite the hype.

I don’t particularly like fiction anyway but my main issue – as unpopular as it is – was the casual heresy. But, this post is not about that…..

“William Paul Young’s bestselling novel about a father’s renewal of faith after suffering an unspeakable tragedy has spawned a tangle of lawsuits over royalties and even the book’s authorship.”

You can read the full story here.

This is pretty sad news but part of me is not surprised by the chaos that seems to have erupted. Before you jump to conclusions, i am not claiming that this is their reward for the heresy – though i am quite sure some will say that.

Its sad that Christians cannot be in business or partnership together!

Ok, i think we know that Christians can and do forge wonderful business partnerships that are full of integrity and honest practice BUT isn’t it sad that more often we just hear about the ones that end in disaster?

The amounts of money involved when you have sold millions of books is obviously huge – i have NO concept of how big that must make your ego but these folks are supposed to be Christians aren’t they?

I think this is why i am not surprised.

I have seen, experienced and know ‘Christians’ who turn into assholes when money is at stake! The reason?

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Thats 6 words i love to hear!

In fact, i use Amazon quite often & i know this statement to be true for pretty much everything, certainly for books & music. I will find what i want, quicker, easier and often less expensive via Amazon!

There will always be all kinds of debate about whether price is what drives customers to Amazon, or whether it is the ease of purchasing – 3 clicks is about as much as it takes – but i wonder how often the debate is about supporting your local bookshop. I often buy books in Waterstone’s so i’m not just referring to Christian Bookshops…..

But then i need to stop and ask myself, “who really cares if there is a bookshop in our town?”

In Christian circles, many will speak of the Bookshop as a ministry, but are they? I can instantly think of a LOT of customers who regularly visit the Ballymena shop, and they would really miss the ‘ministry’ aspect of the shop that many of you don’t see.

The last time i blogged about this stuff, someone said in the comments that customers want something else, they want us to go the extra mile, (i’m paraphrasing)  but what does that even mean?

Often, the customer doesn’t know what they want, but ‘cheaper than everyone else’ will make their mind up for them.

That is the harsh reality of where we are in retail – not just bookselling, and not just Christian Bookselling – iv been doing this for long enough to at least know that much!

With Wikipedia allowing you to handpick the contents that you want in any book about anything (see the video) – what is the future going to be like? The present is hard enough for many!

As i have said many times, we are about 10 years behind everyone else here in Northern Ireland so we have some catching up to do in the doom & gloom stakes. Christian Bookshops in Northern Ireland are still busy places, still supported by many Churches and may not be in steep decline just yet.

But, as i hear ‘you can get it on amazon’ more and more & even as i sometimes say those words myself i have to wonder if your town will have a ‘Christian’ Bookshop in 5-10 years and whether the ‘Christian’ people of your town will even notice its absence?

Just about to start reading this bio – the artwork is amazing

Check out more of Gabriel Moreno’s work here
You can buy the book here

We cannot obey Christ’s command in isolation. We have to be connected to each other in order to “Love one another.” Being in community forces us to drop ‘relationship fantasies’ – where everyone we know is easy to get along with and every conflict is resolved in happy compromise.

God shaped each one of us differently, and he knows we all bring different perspectives and needs into any community. The hurts, habits and hang-ups present in any group create potential for conflict, but God’s design is to use that conflict to help us grow in Christ.

I won’t be able to blog every single day or thought that springs before me as Church goes through the 40 Days of Community program but, i thought this quote was a good starting point.

I struggle with this stuff, perhaps you do also.

Whole denominations have sprung up due to people’s ‘relationship fantasies’ or ‘conflict’ on certain issues. People flock to Church’s where everyone loves the same style of music, dresses the same or come from the same social class, yet it will never satisfy, not fully – because thats just the sugar coating on top that tastes great but will rot the teeth right out of your head!

I’ll be honest, i have had reservations about this book and this program. I stopped reading The Purpose Driven Life after 2 chapters because i feared it might put me into a coma – maybe i was just being selfish!

If i just thought of myself and what i want, then i wouldn’t read this book! Simple as that!

This is the start of that ‘journey’ so il drop it into the blog and try to be honest when i can over the next few weeks