News and Views from the Owner of Kingsley Press
Can’t you tell I just love Randy’s writings? Let me share a few thoughts from another small book in the LifeChange series. You could read this entire small book in one sitting, but it could have a profound influence on your life. Here is how the first chapter starts out:
Eric stormed into my office and flopped into a chair. “I’m really mad at God.”
Having grown up in a strong church family, he’d met and married a Christian girl. Now he was the picture of misery.
“Okay…so why are you mad at God?”
“Because,” he said, “last week I committed adultery.”
Long pause. Finally I said, “I can see why God would be mad at you. But why are you mad at God?”
Eric explained that for several months he’d felt a strong, mutual attraction with a woman at his office. He’d prayed earnestly that God would keep him from immorality.
“Did you ask your wife to pray for you?” I said. “Did you stay away from the woman?”
“Well…no. We went out for lunch almost every day.”
Slowly I started pushing a book across my desk. Eric watched, uncomprehending, as teh book inched closer and closer to the edge. I prayed aloud, “O Lord, please keep this book from falling!”
I kept pushing and praying. God didn’t suspend the law of gravity. The book went right over the edge, smacking the floor.
“I’m mad at God,” I said to Eric. “I asked Him to keep my book from falling…but He let me down!”
Alcorn’s point: We all need foresight to see where today’s choices will leave us. With every little thought or glance that fuels our lust, we push ourselves closer to the edge, where gravity will take over and bring our lives crashing down. Don’t kid yourself that it can never happen to y ou–it can. And if you don’t think it can, it almost certainly will.
The basic premise of the book is that immorality is not just wrong, it’s stupid. Alcorn’s purity principle is: Purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid. Not sometimes. Not usually. Always.
Another of the Lifechange series of books is called The Grace and Truth Paradox. In this easy to read but powerful little book, popular author Randy Alcorn shows that Jesus Christ was full of BOTH grace and truth–full of grace, and full of truth–that’s 100% of each! This little volume will open your eyes on the balance that we as Christians need to strike between grace and truth.
Here is a quotation from the chapter, “What is Grace?”
“The cost of redemption cannot be overstated. The wonders of grace cannot be overemphasized. Christ took the hell He didn’t deserve so we could have the heaven we don’t deserve. If you’re not stunned by the thought of grace, then you aren’t grasping what graces offers you, or what it cost Jesus.”
Here are some thoughts from the chapter, “What is Truth?”
“Jesus didn’t say, ‘I am a way and a truth and a life; I’m one way to come to the Father.’ He said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (John 14:6, emphasis added).
“Raised in a culture that condemns such thinking as narrow and intolerant, even many Christians now consider it arrogant to say that only Christians will go to heaven. It certainly would be arrogant if we were the ones who came up with it. But we didn’t. We’re just repeating what Jesus said. We’re not trusting ourselves; we’re trusting Him. If it were up to us, we’d think up something more popular. But it’s not up to us.”
Some months ago while doing research on the resurrection for a Sunday School lesson, I came across the web site of Eternal Perspective Ministries (www.epm.org) and the writings of someone I’d never heard of: Randy Alcorn. What a discovery! I immediately ordered a couple of his books: In Light of Eternity and Heaven. What a feast! If you’ve never read either of these books, I have to tell you that you’re missing out on some of the best material available on the subject of heaven (we hope to add them to our online store eventually).
More recently I was asked to preach the Sunday evening service at our church and I felt compelled to speak on a much-neglect subject: Laying up Treasures in Heaven. I based much of my talk on material I gleaned from The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. Many people came to me after the message saying that they had been challenged and given much food for thought. This amazing little book contains tremendous insights on the use of money and how we can literally send our money on ahead into eternity. It’s definitely a life changer.
Randy’s books have been such a blessing to me personally that I have set a goal of trying to make every one of his books available through our online store. So far we have five titles, which you can find on the Randy Alcorn page of our store.
G. H. Lang was a gifted Bible scholar and teacher who moved among Open Brethren circles in the British Isles and worldwide. He was a prolific author with amazing insights into Scripture. As a young man, I devoured his books and still refer to them quite often. Many of them deal with prophetic matters, and I consider him an authority on many prophetic subjects. His mind seemed to grasp the whole sweep of God’s purpose for this age and the ages to come. I’ve been wanting to add his books to the Kingsley Press web store for some time, and am now happy to report that a number of Lang’s titles are available for purchase. I highly recommend his autobiography, An Ordered Life. This is one of the best Christian biographies I’ve ever read–certainly on a par with the biographies of Oswald Chambers and Harold St. John. G. H. Lang lived what he preached. He was a man of great faith, and his biography has many stories of answers to prayer.