Lessons from Nature

For the first time I am recommending a book I have not read yet. My mom is currently reading Lessons from Nature and the Spirit's Revelation of the Things concerning Christ, a collection of articles by Sister Alice Hopkins, every night and shares bits and pieces with me. It's amazing how many lessons we can draw from the natural world to apply to the spiritual. Sister Alice Hopkins has a knack for making the reader feel as though she is speaking directly to them in person. G.E. Mansfield states in the forward, "We hope it will provide many enjoyable hours of delightful and meditative reading. Since each chapter is complete in itself, the reader can select any one and enjoy a fifteen minute contemplative reading. Not only will this provide an outline of the beauties of the divine handiwork, but draw the mind to reflect upon the spiritual principles therein" (p. 6). Well said! I plan to read this, Lord willing, this year.

Buy it here

Family Life in the Lord

As far as I know, Family Life in the Lord compiled by Don and Ellen Styles is the only book available for and by Christadelphians about raising a Godly seed. It is a wonderful resource for all family members, most of all parents. On the cover page it says, "A collection of articles designed to improve the quality of family life to the honor and glory of God." That describes exactly what it is--a book instructing and explaining how family life should be and practical ways of implementing them into our daily lives. Even if you have read this book once, read it again! This is also a great read for those planning a family or just newly married.

Buy it here

While I'm at it, I would love to introduce a new book to you. It is called Family Man, Family Leader: Biblical Fatherhood as the Key to a Thriving Family by a father of six, Philip Lancaster. I have only read parts of it but what I have read has been more than excellent! All fathers and fathers-to-be should read this book from cover-to-cover. There may be minor doctrinal errors that can be overlooked.

Buy it here

Women of the Bible

From what I can tell, it took awhile to get this book written and put together. I am grateful that dedicated Sisters decided to compile a book called, Women of the Bible. Who knew there were so many lessons to be pulled from the lives of women long ago? The mini-essays contained within are wonderfully written and easily read. I recommend this book to mothers to read to their daughters, teenagers, and anyone interested in learning more about the lives and works of women of the Bible.

Buy it here

"Psychology's inroads into Christian life are due primarily to psychology's ability to offer emotional experiences sufficiently close to the experience of faith to be mistaken for faith itself. Because evangelical and charismatic Christians place such a great emphasis on the experience of faith, they are particularly susceptible to these imitations. That part of the world the Christian finds most attractive will often seem like Christianity itself. There will be much talk in it of brotherhood and love and the spirit. It will sound right. It will feel right. But it is wise to remind ourselves in the face of such temptation that the sacred can be drowned in a well of warm feelings just as surely as it can dry up in a secular desert." ~Psychological Seduction, p. 179

"Of course it's one of the things Christians are criticized for, even by other Christians: 'Why can't they sing any new songs?'; 'Church is always the same'; 'I already know what I'm supposed to know.' Yes, and you probably know that you should send your grandmother a thank-you note when she gives you a present. But it's easy to forget. That's why mothers and fathers and the people who care about us are always reminding us of things: 'Don't forget to thank your grandmother'; 'Remember to congratulate Johnny on his new job'; 'Remember to wear your motorcycle helmet.' It seems a bother. But without those reminders, we often wouldn't remember.

Christianity won't let you forget. Christians are supposed to pass on the story, to remind each other that they are on a journey, and to make sure the next generation gets intact the message and the map that goes with it. They are to sing marching songs along the road to keep the spirits up and the memory keen, and they must sing all the louder in the vicinity of Sirens or Circes.

Christians are not called on to create some new way of salvation. It is not their business to engineer a better road or to expand it to eight lanes or to redirect it to avoid swamps or mountains or the hill of Golgotha. Their business is the business of one foot up and one foot down." ~Psychological Seduction, pp. 134-135

"The philosophy of self-esteem is everywhere. One would think that by now it would have had time to take effect. Yet depression is rampant. So is suicide. Adolescent suicide is up almost 300 percent over the last twenty-five years. Suicide among children--at one time a rare phenomenon--is on the rise. The philosophy of self-esteem doesn't cause these problems, but it doesn't seem to prevent them either. 'I arm you with the sword of self-esteem,' says the psychological society to its children. 'It will serve you well in battle.' But it is not a good weapon, and our enemies are not so easily slain. The power of the opposition has been sadly underestimated, and our own powers greatly exaggerated." ~Psychological Seduction, p. 70

The Failure of the Psychological Faith: "However good-intentioned and however nice, it is not at all clear that the psychological establishment knows how to help. Everywhere there are dark hints that the faith doesn't work. Despite the creation of a virtual army of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychometrics, counselors, and social workers, there has been no letup in the rate of mental illness, suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse, divorce, murder, and general mayhem. Contrary to what one might expect in a society so carefully analyzed and attended to by mental health experts, there has been an increase in all these categories. It sometimes seems there is a direct ratio between the increasing number of helpers and the increasing number of those who need help. The more psychologists we have, the more mental illness we get; the more social workers and probation officers, the more crime; the more teachers, the more ignorance." ~Psychological Seduction, p. 31

"True Christianity does not mix well with psychology. When you try to mix them, you often end up with a watered-down Christianity instead of a Christianized psychology. But the process is subtle and is rarely noticed. I wasn't aware that I was confusing two different things. And others in the church who might have been expected to put me right were under the same enchantment as I. It was not a frontal attack on Christianity--I'm sure I would have resisted that. It was not a case of a wolf at the door: the wolf was already in the fold, dressed in sheep's clothing. And from the way it was petted and fed by some of the shepherds, one would think it was the prize sheep." ~Psychological Seduction, p. 23

Psychological Seduction

Reading "Psychological Seduction: The Failure of Modern Psychology" written by William Kirk Kilpatrick is enough to make you say, "Wow!". Today, we don't even realize the amount of human thinking that is put into everything we observe and hear. Please take the time to read this book to open your eyes to how much psychology has not just crept in but sprinted into the ecclesia. Why does it often take someone from outside to open our eyes? This man does not have everything correct, but it is definitely worth reading and studying. We simply cannot mix the ways of men with the ways of God.

Buy it here
View it online here

"There is a very real wisdom in the institution of special evening and morning prayer, for it is at those time that the mind is most plastic, and habits of thought most easily formed. Let a man deliver his evening prayer from the heart, and then, dismissing worldly thoughts, woo sleep by thinking about the Kingdom of God, and his mind will be in the right condition for the silent night's work of renovation. It is by the encouragement of such ennobling thoughts that the positive habits are formed and evil habits are excluded. In this way also our power of controlling thought may be increased, and instead of being guided by the imaginations of an evil heart, the faculty of imagination may become subservient and fill a most useful part of giving us a broader outlook, and in enabling us to realize and bring home to our minds the truths we have learned." ~Conviction & Conduct, pp. 165-166

"There is only one work in which God has any actual need of your assistance, and that is the work of your own salvation. If, then, God regards you with favour, from His point of view, your most important task in life is to make your own calling and election sure. Any other work you may perform might just as well be done by others; all that is required of you is, that within the limits of your opportunities, you shall do your best: not the very best of which you might be capable with the most favourable conditions, but the best that is possible under the circumstances. The disadvantages under which you labour are included in the assessment of the talent given you." ~Conviction & Conduct, p. 155

"How far do we conform to the age in which we live, and how far are we drawn thereby from the path of perfect faithfulness? There is a lesson in the fact that the principal stumbling blocks which obstructed the path of the Israelites have been dissipated by time; and we may ask the question, How far are we influenced by the worldly fashions which vanish so quickly? Do we ever give God cause to address us as He addressed the Israelites, slightly altering the wording of the question to suit the modern difficulty, 'How long will it be ere ye believe that I have spoken?' Or if we believe, do we always remember, always realize that God is omniscient, that Christ will return, that we shall stand before him? And is it a belief 'from the heart unto righteousness', or do we sometimes tempt Him, sometimes murmur, sometimes lust after evil things?" ~Conviction & Conduct, p. 132

"How different is the Hope of Israel. Instead of a vague consolation for the hour of death it presents us with a tangible idea which has its foundation in the history of the past, its signs in the events in the present, and in its consummation it will transform this earth on which we dwell. Not only so, but in almost all ages, believers have expected an early realization of their hopes, and have apparently been purposely kept from knowing how long a time was to elapse before the day of blessing. The hope has thus been intimately connected with every-day life; brethren have felt that at any time their ordinary associations might come to an end, and the whole course of human history be changed. The hope of Israel... is so intimately connected with our present experience, that it is continually impressed upon us. It gives a new meaning to history, and throws a new light on politics. ... If we see wrong and injustice here [on the earth], we know all will be rectified when Jesus comes again, and perfect justice will prevail in the very place which suffers the evil now. If we see warfare, and warlike preparation, we know that just as truly as the first advent brought an increase of strive and division, so will his second appearance bring the promised 'peace on earth.' ... If we are to be prepared for our Lord at his coming, we must certainly allow the hope of the Kingdom to exercise our minds in all our walk through life. Our feet must be 'shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.'" ~Conviction & Conduct, pp. 109-110

"To 'fear God and keep his commandments', is 'the whole duty of man', and in that idea we have the foundation of all morality and all good. It is so simple that it seems almost an insult to human intelligence to labour the point, yet it has been so much neglected that even advocates of Christianity have followed secularists in trying to find another foundation for a more limited moral code, and the only other basis they can find is human fashion. If we desired to prepare to meet our fellow man, human fashion would be the best guide, but if we desire to prepare for that far higher society which will only admit those who are made partakers of the divine nature, our foundation must be the law of God." ~Conviction and Conduct, p.90

Conviction and Conduct

A few years ago I tried to read this book but without success. Recently, I have read parts of it. The pages out of Conviction and Conduct:The Faith that Works by Islip Collyer are intensely humbling and motivating. He reviews the philosophy of faith and living the life of faith. Reading this book is time well spent.

Buy it here